BA execs said to face price-fixing charges

LONDON (Reuters) - Four past and present British Airways executives will be charged with fixing the price of passenger fuel surcharges on transatlantic flights, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

In an unsourced report, the newspaper said the case was being brought by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) against the four men, who face the threat of up to five years in jail.

British Airways' rival Virgin Atlantic blew the whistle on BA in 2006 after individuals at the two carriers discussed proposed changes to fuel surcharges, introduced to help airlines cope with rising cost of jet fuel.

Precise charges are due to be announced within weeks, the newspaper said.

British competition law makes tipping off a rival about price changes illegal and bans firms from agreeing prices.

Fuel surcharges soared from 5 pounds to 60 pounds per ticket on typical BA or Virgin long return flights between 2004 and 2006. British Airways has defended the rises, which came as crude oil prices surged.

In February British Airways and Virgin Atlantic agreed together to pay about $203 million (102 million pounds) to settle a lawsuit brought by passengers over the surcharge fixing. Last year BA agreed to pay roughly $247 million in a settlement with British authorities.

Swiss won't miss Olympics, but football takes first place

(CNN) -- Yes, we have Roger. Yes, we developed the "Bird's nest" Olympic stadium. But in Switzerland, the 2008 Summer Olympics are still far away -- and not just geographically.
For once, the Olympics are in second place.
Things will probably be different when the Olympics are almost upon us. But for the moment, the Swiss are focusing on another major sporting event taking place in 2008.
With its neighbour Austria, Switzerland is hosting the European football championship, Euro 2008.
Euro 2008 is the most important European sports event there is. It takes place in June, just two months before the Olympics. Switzerland has never hosted such a large-scale competition before. So it's Euro 2008 first, Olympics second.
Compared with other Olympic years, the Games aren't a big issue yet. Nobody doubts that this will change once the football is history.
The month of July will give weary sports fans (and sports journalists) time to recover. In August, everybody should be ready for the next big party, the Olympics.
But until then, we're taking one day at a time. The Summer Games play nothing like the same role in Switzerland as the Winter Games do. With Switzerland being an alpine country, winter sports are very popular.
The most important alpine downhill skiing races always get the best TV ratings of all sports events. When there are the races in Wengen around noon on Saturday or Sunday in the middle of January, Switzerland stands still.
In the Winter Games -- to be held next in Vancouver in 2010 -- Switzerland has medal hopes in every second or third competition, not just in downhill skiing, but also in bobsleigh, figure-skating and curling, to name just a few.
At the Summer Games, tiny Switzerland faces much greater competition, and medal hopes are scarcer. In any event, Switzerland is sure to bring two big stars to the Summer Games.
One of them is already there: the famous "Bird's nest," the all-new national stadium which will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field competitions.
The "Bird's nest" was designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. They won the Pritzker Prize, one of the most important awards in architecture, in 2001, and are well-known for their conversion of the Tate Modern in London.
Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron were both born in Basel in 1950. Quick quiz: Which sportsman was born 31 years later in the same town? It's easy for the Swiss, but maybe not for everybody else. Did you guess Roger Federer? Correct!
The four-time World Sportsman of the Year has won nearly every title in tennis, except the French Open, the Davis Cup and an Olympic gold medal.
In Sydney in 2000, a young Federer lost the bronze medal to Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale. In Athens in 2004, an early loss against a then almost-unknown Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic came as a huge shock.
Roger Federer has stated on several occasions that the Summer Games are one of this year's main goals. It will be a tough summer for him, starting with the French Open, followed by Wimbledon, the Games and the US Open.
Can he win all four of them? If anyone can, he can -- although he faces tough competition, led by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Lucky in love, unlucky at cards? Or is it the other way round? At the Olympic Games, Roger hasn't been too lucky on court. It's a different story off court, though. It was in Athens in 2000 that he met and fell in love with Mirka Vavrinec, who represented Switzerland in the women's tournament.
And did you know that Switzerland has its own Chinese gold medal winner? Gymnast Donghua Li left China in 1988 -- another sportsman to fall in love with a Swiss woman. He competed for his new country at Atlanta in 1996 and took home the gold medal in the pommel horse

Rules of NFL Football in America: by Freddie Brister

NFL football is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play. The object of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone.
A standard football game consists of four 15-minute quarters, with a half-time intermission after the second quarter.
A down ends, and the ball becomes dead, after any of the following: the player with the ball is forced to the ground or has his forward progress halted by members of the other team, a forward pass goes out of bounds or touches the ground before it is caught, or if a team scores.
You can score by getting a safety, field goal, or touchdown. If you get a touchdown, you have the choice of kicking the extra point or going for a two point conversion.
Fouls are punished with penalties against the offending team. Most penalties result in moving the football towards the offending team's end zone.
The offensive line consists of five players whose job is to protect the passer and clear the way for runners by blocking members of the defense.
The quarterback receives the snap from the center on most plays. He then hands or tosses it to a running back, throws it to a receiver or runs with it himself.
Running backs line up behind or beside the QB and specialize in running with the ball. They also block, catch passes and, on rare occasions, pass the ball to others or even receive the snap.
Wide receivers line up near the sidelines. They specialize in catching passes, though they also block for running plays or downfield after another receiver makes a catch.
Tight ends line up outside the offensive line. They can either play like wide receivers or like offensive linemen.
At least seven players must line up on the line of scrimmage on every offensive play.
The defensive line consists of three to six players who line up immediately across from the offensive line.
Behind the defensive line are the linebackers. They line up between the defensive line and defensive backs and may either rush the quarterback or cover potential receivers. Their main job is to cover the run up the middle.
The last line of defense is known as the secondary, comprising at least three players who line up as defensive backs, which are either cornerbacks or safeties. They cover the receivers and try to stop pass completions. They occasionally rush the quarterback. However, this leaves the field wide open for passing.
The units of players who handle kicking plays are known as special teams. Three important special-teams players are the punter, the kicker, and the long snapper.
Because the game stops after every down, giving teams a chance to call a new play, strategy plays a major role in football.
To stop the offense from advancing the ball, the defense must tackle the player with the ball by knocking or pulling him down. Tacklers cannot kick or punch the runner. They also cannot grab the face mask of the runner's helmet or lead into a tackle with their own helmet.