Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has admitted that tension has increased between himself and Astana teammate Alberto Contador, as both riders battle for the yellow jersey in the 2009 Tour de France.

Armstrong is playing a waiting game until the vital stages in the Alps.

Normally each team directs its riders to support just one candidate for the top prize, a tactic that has been confused with two big-name riders from Astana riding so close to the lead.

After nine stages Armstrong, who sensationally came out of retirement to compete in this year’s event, sits in third place overall, eight seconds behind current leader Italian rider Rinaldo Nocentini and pre-race favorite Carlos Contador, who is six seconds off the pace in second.

The 37-year-old Texan told France 2 Television that there is an uneasy truce between them and that both were intent on winning.

“The honest truth is that there is a little tension,” Armstrong said.

“Contador is strong, and he is very ambitious.”

Armstrong believes that the race will be decided in the tough mountain stages in the Alps next week and that he would only play second fiddle if Contador proved himself the best rider.

“There’s not going to be a lot of change until Verbier,” Armstrong said, referring to stage 15, a mountainous 207.5km stage Pontarlier and Verbier in Switzerland.

“We’ll have more moments there when we’ll see who’s truly the strongest.”

Spain’s Contador took 21 seconds out of Armstrong on the seventh stage to leapfrog him into second place, but the Texan hinted that he was riding in the interests of the team by not chasing him down.

“I wouldn’t say that I could have easily followed, because it was an impressive attack,” Armstrong said.

“I probably could have gone, but I didn’t see it coming and it wouldn’t be correct for me to go across. So, I waited for the other guys. I expected them to be able to pull it back and they didn’t, but that’s life, that’s cycling, and I had to do the right thing.”

The Tour de France contenders are having a welcome rest day in Limoges on Monday before a series of stages which are expected to favor spinsters or breakaway groups including riders who have no chance of overall victory.

Nocentini, who has ridden superbly to keep the yellow jersey he won after being part of a breakaway group on stage seven, is predicted to stay in the race lead for another week.

But come the stages in the Alps, which begin next Sunday the focus will fall on Armstrong and Contador and their battle to win cycling’s most prestigious race.

Win or lose, Armstrong also strongly hinted that he would continue his remarkable comeback for one more year.

Asked by a French TV interviewer if this would be his last year at the race, he said:

“Probably not. Probably not. Maybe one more Tour.”

In the high-stakes game of climate change, the United States and other countries are betting on the idea that technology can make dirty coal cleaner.

A worker at a carbon capture plant near Berlin, Germany. The technology aims to combat climate change.

For years if not decades, U.S. efforts to develop big coal-fired power plants that push CO2 emissions into the ground instead of spewing them into the atmosphere have stalled.

The situation has gotten so bad that green-tech experts refer to this period of technological development as the “valley of death” for carbon capture and storage technology, or CCS.

But some CCS advocates say that new investments in the emissions-reducing technology will push it off the drawing boards and into reality.

“If we’re going to be able to add carbon capture and storage to our toolbox of ways to address climate change, the time to demonstrate it is right now — or yesterday, maybe,” said Sarah Forbes, a senior associate at the World Resources Institute. “CO2 emissions are continuing to rise, and we’re seeing impacts of climate change.”

A climate bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and up for debate in the Senate would provide research money and incentive for companies to work on the technology.

And President Obama last month announced a $1 billion revamp of the country’s flagship CCS research project, a near-zero-emissions coal-fired power plant in Illinois called FutureGen.

It’s urgent that both efforts succeed, Forbes said.

CCS is not the silver bullet for fighting climate change, but developing technology to make coal greener is necessary, said Kelly Sims Gallagher, director of energy technology innovation policy at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

“I don’t think that there’s any silver bullet,” she said. “I think we’re going to need to do a little bit of everything as fast as we can in order to adequately address the climate change threat.”

Governments are putting much of their money on clean coal tech, though.

U.S. investment in CCS research, development and deployment is expected to double between fiscal years 2009 and 2010, from $3.6 billion to $7.2 billion, according to a report by Gallagher and colleagues.

Obama’s stimulus package put about $14 billion, nearly twice that amount, into energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Supporters of CCS say the technology is essential to the climate change fight.

About half of U.S. power comes from coal, and the process of burning coal for electricity accounts for about 80 percent of the country’s CO2 emissions from electricity, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar — which, together, account for less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity production — won’t be able to ramp up fast enough to replace coal, said Scott Anderson, a senior policy adviser at the Environmental Defense Fund.

“We’re not champions of coal at EDF, but we’re realists,” he said. “Although we see room for a huge expansion of renewable energy and efficiency, in the near term, we don’t think that coal is going away. … We still have a huge existing base of coal plants that will be around, at a minimum, for a number of decades.”

CCS technology would reduce emissions by catching CO2 before it’s released into the atmosphere, transporting the emissions to a suitable location for underground storage and then injecting the gas into deep geological formations: either in the pores of rocks or in gaps left by oil and natural gas extraction.

The process is complicated, and the emissions can be captured in several ways.

But the two main pieces of that process — making coal into gas and storing gas in the ground — have been proved on small scales, Anderson said.

Still, some have criticized the U.S. government for leaning too far on CCS and dirty coal instead of investing more in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

“CCS is a scam,” said Daniel Kessler, a spokesman for Greenpeace, an environmental group. “It’s being used as a promise to the American people that we can keep burning coal, the world’s dirtiest fuel, in perpetuity.”

Every dollar spent on CCS could be invested more wisely in renewable energy, he said, adding that carbon capture and storage technology will not be ready soon enough to address the urgency of the climate change crisis.

There also have been questions raised about the long-term safety of pumping carbon dioxide into the Earth for supposedly permanent storage. And the world will be able to store only a limited amount of CO2 underground, Forbes said.

Another problem with CCS is the price. Currently, the price of storing CO2 underground is far higher than the greenhouse gas’ price on markets.

There’s also no large-scale demonstration of CCS in the world.

In the United States, many are pinning hopes on FutureGen to change that. The research plant was scrapped by the Bush administration because of its high cost but was revived June 12 by the Obama administration as part of its economic stimulus plan.

The project took a blow in late June, however, when two of its private-sector backers, American Electric Power Co. and Southern Co., withdrew.

Because of delays and cost overruns, the project has earned the nickname “NeverGen.”

Forbes, of the World Resources Institute, said FutureGen is essential for the United States to prove to itself and the world that there is hope for tackling climate change with technology.

“I feel like we should build it to show that CCS is possible and attainable,” she said, adding, “I worry that we may be fostering a history of planning these showcase projects and never building them, and I think that’s a waste of resources.”

Meanwhile, other nations are moving ahead.

In China, the similarly named GreenGen plant is expected to be completed before FutureGen. Australia has a project called ZeroGen, and several European countries are working on similar technologies.

Some have described the situation as an arms race. The country first to prove that CCS works may be able to export the technology elsewhere.

But Gallagher, of Harvard, said that what’s most interesting about the international situation is how well countries are cooperating on CCS technology.

Forbes agrees.

“To some extent, I can see why it’s described as a race,” she said, “but on the other hand, I think that [with] climate change, we’re at a point where we need to work together.”

Australia captain Ricky Ponting criticised England’s delaying tactics after the hosts clung on for a draw in a thrilling end to the first Test.

England sent their 12th man and physio on to the field in the closing stages in an apparent attempt to waste time.

“I don’t think that was required,” said Ponting. “I am not sure what the physio was doing out there - I didn’t see him call for any physio.

“I’m sure others will take it up with the England hierarchy as they should.”

With Australia running out of time to claim their final wicket, England sent 12th man Bilal Shafayat down to the playing area to give batsman James Anderson some new gloves.

When he returned with England physio Steve McCaig after the next over they were swiftly ushered off by some angry Australian players.

“He had changed his gloves the over before and his glove is not going to be too sweaty in one over,” added Ponting. “But it’s not the reason we didn’t win.

“They can play whatever way they want to play. We have come to play by the rules and the spirit of the game and it is up to them to do what they want to do.”

Asked about Ponting’s comments, England captain Andrew Strauss stated: “There was a lot of confusion. We firstly sent the 12th man out to let Jimmy and Monty Panesar know there was time left and not just the overs.

“Then drinks spilt on his glove and Jimmy called up to the dressing room and we weren’t sure whether we needed the 12th man or the physio.

“Our intentions were good so we weren’t deliberately trying to waste a huge amount of time.

“That wasn’t our tactics, those two were playing pretty well so the reality of the situation is Australia didn’t take that final wicket and we got away with a draw.

“I personally thought the game was played in a pretty good spirit the whole way through.

“I didn’t feel there were lines crossed and I think we’d all like it to stay that way.”

Ponting admitted his man-of-the-match award, for hitting 150, meant little after his side were held to a draw in a thrilling finale.

“I’d give it back straight away for one more wicket and 20 less runs!” he said.

“We haven’t really done anything wrong and we’ve got a lot to take out of this game. I’m disappointed we didn’t win, I thought we played well enough.

“There are four Tests to go in the series and we will have to play at this level if we want to win.”

When Paul Collingwood’s heroic 74 came to an end, there were still more than 40 minutes of the match remaining for England’s final pair of Anderson and Panesar to negotiate.

Ponting offered no excuses and commented: “Our bowlers tried valiantly, right through the game there wasn’t much assistance in the wicket. Everyone tried their hardest but we just came up a little bit short.

“You’ve got to give England some credit for hanging in there and Paul Collingwood for the way he played.

“Losing the toss, it was always going to be really hard to win with the wicket the way it was but we did everything we needed to do to give ourselves a chance and unfortunately we were just that little bit short.”

The Australia captain conceded the visiting dressing room was fairly sombre after the match but stressed that the tourists would come back strongly for the second Test at Lord’s on Thursday.

“It’s pretty quiet at the moment and there would have been a bit of celebrating and jumping up and down in the England room, I’m sure,” he admitted.

“A lot of our boys will be disappointed for half an hour after the game and then we can reflect and talk about a lot of the good things that we did.

“That’s the important thing, we did so many things really well in this game and we’ve got to take the confidence from that down to Lord’s and make sure we start there on the same note.”

The city is still very tense after last week’s unrest

Two ethnic Uighurs have been shot dead by police in Urumqi, capital of China’s Xinjiang province, officials have said.

A government statement announced that a third “lawbreaker” had been injured.

A reporter with Hong Kong’s RTHK radio said two police officers were also shot in a confrontation in a Uighur district of the city.

The violence comes after Chinese officials said calm had been restored to the city after at least 180 people were killed in rioting last week.

Other reports said police had fired at a group of Uighur men armed with knives and poles who had attacked the police.

Thousands of extra security personnel have been patrolling the city of about 2.3 million people since violence erupted on 5 July.

Ethnic Han Chinese make up the majority of Urumqi’s population, but Uighurs form a significant minority and have long-standing complaints of discrimination.

Rioting began during a protest by Uighurs over a brawl in southern China in late June in which two Uighurs were killed.

Chinese officials have said 184 people are known to have been killed in the violence in Urumqi, and 1,680 injured.

The officials said 137 were Han Chinese, 46 were from the indigenous Uighur community and one was an ethnic Hui, the officials said.

Uighur groups in exile have said hundreds of Uighurs were killed.

Danny Huston is the son of director John Huston

X-Men Origins: Wolverine star Danny Huston has signed on to star in Ridley’s Scott’s new version of the Robin Hood story, according to reports.

Trade paper The Hollywood Reporter said the 47-year-old actor would play King Richard I in the film, opposite Russell Crowe in the lead role.

The film has been shooting at locations across the UK for several months.

The as-yet-titled movie, which also stars Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian, is due for release in May 2010.

Huston is the son of actor and Annie director John Huston and the half-brother to actress Angelica.

He played Wolverine’s nemesis William Stryker in the blockbuster hit, and recently finished work on Clash of the Titans opposite Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, in which he plays Poseidon.

Scott’s movie was originally scheduled for release this year, but the production process has been turbulent.

The original script, a revisionist take on the Robin Hood legend, which portrayed the hero in a less favourable light than normal, has been rewritten several times.

This, and concerns over strike action by the Screen Actors’ Guild, caused filming to be delayed last year.

Bruno was released in the UK on Friday

Early North American box office figures show gay Austrian fashionista Bruno has enjoyed a big opening weekend.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s mock documentary took $30.4m (£18.7m), outperforming the $26.5m (£16.3m) opening weekend for his 2006 hit, Borat.

Bruno features the UK comedian as an Austrian wannabe going to extremes to achieve celebrity in the US.

Comedy cartoon Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs held firm at number two, with takings of $28.5m (£17.5m).

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which has spent two weekends at the top of the chart, dropped to three.

US AND CANADA BOX OFFICE 1. Bruno - $30.4m 2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - $28.5m 3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $24m 4. Public Enemies - $14.1m 5. The Proposal - $10.5m Source: Hollywood.com (formerly Media by Numbers)

Bruno took in nearly half of its weekend total - $14.4m (£8.95m) on Friday, followed by $8.8m (£5.5m) on Saturday and an estimated $7.2m (£4.5m) Sunday.

“Normally, you expect the film at least to be even on Saturday or above compared to Friday, because Saturday is the biggest movie-going day of the weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how it does over the long run.”

The only other new release, teen comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper opened at number 7 with $5m (£3.1m).

The film, which stars Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere, has had almost universally bad reviews.

Writing in the Washington Post, Ruth McCann said: “Perhaps the best thing that can be said about I Love You, Beth Cooper is that the title is correctly punctuated”.

Meanwhile film trade bible Variety commented that the film “peaks early - like, during the first three minutes - and rapidly goes downhill from there”.

Roads were closed off to allow the hearse to reach the event

Los Angeles city council officials have called for a review on who should foot the $1.4m (£864,000) bill for Michael Jackson’s memorial gig.

Councilman Dennis Zine claims taxpayers, who have been asked to make donations, “are getting ripped off”.

He has asked for a report on policing and traffic control costs for last week’s service at the Staples Center, which was attended by 17,000 fans.

Councilman Zine says promoter AEG Live or the Jackson family should pay.

But AEG president Tim Leiweke said that AEG did pay for the memorial itself.

However, security around the event resulted in high costs to Los Angeles at a time when the city is in debt for half of a billion dollars.

Roads were closed to allow the hearse carrying Jackson’s body to travel the 10 miles from the Forest Lawn cemetery to the venue.

And the memorial, watched on TV by more than 31 million people in the US and millions more around the world, required the deployment of thousands of police officers and emergency services.

Donations collapse

At a meeting on Thursday, Zine asked whether the event’s promoters or producers might provide “reimbursement to the city to replenish the public safety and other critical funds”.

Millions watched the memorial gig

Last week, the mayor’s office revealed around $17, 000 (£10, 400) had been donated to a website collecting cash before it collapsed.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson’s sister Latoya has told Sunday newspapers she believes the singer was “murdered” for his money, claiming money and jewels have since gone missing.

She told UK newspaper, the News of the World: “We don’t think just one person was involved in the murder. It was a conspiracy to get Michael’s money.”

Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson has also said he suspects “foul play” in the death of his pop star son.

Philips has denied the allegations

Dutch electronics giant Philips has said it will “vigorously oppose” any suggestion that it and Korean firm LG fixed the prices of LCD flat screens.

Philips’ comments came after European Commission competition regulators sent it a “statement of objections” to formerly outline their suspicions.

Brussels suspects Philips and LG may have been part of a wider cartel.

The investigation relates to a jointly-owned Philips and LG business - LD Display - which was set up in 1999.

Philips has subsequently sold its share in the unit.

US fine

Issuing a statement of objections is the first formal step in European Union anti-competition investigations, under which the Commission first informs the parties concerned about the objections raised against them.

It does not prejudice the outcome of an investigation, and firms can reply to the objections.

Last November, LG Display pleaded guilty to LCD price-fixing in the US, paying $400m (£249m) following a parallel investigation by US competition regulators.

Japan’s Sharp and Taiwan’s Chunghwa Picture Tubes were also fined by US authorities in that case.

Brussels has not said which other firms are involved in its investigation.

The news comes on the same day that Philips reported a 94% drop in second quarter profits due to a big decline in sales.

Opel and Vauxhall workers are concerned about their jobs

Belgian private equity firm RHJ International has re-emerged as a strong contender to buy a stake in carmaker Opel from General Motors.

The Brussels-based firm said it was in “advanced” negotiations with GM.

RHJ pulled out of talks in May, leaving Canadian car parts maker Magna as the front-runner to take over Opel.

But talks between GM and Magna appear to have stalled, with RHJ as well as Beijing Automotive Industries now back in the race for the German carmaker.

‘Falling out’

Magna has the backing of the German government and had, until now, been seen as the most likely buyer of Opel.

However, relations between GM and Magna have soured in recent weeks, analysts say.

The Canadian firm wants control of some GM intellectual property rights, as well as distribution rights in Russia, something which the US carmaker is not willing to hand over.

A mid-July deadline imposed by Magna to finalise an initial agreement is also seen as overly ambitious, analysts say.

GM is, therefore, “trying to ensure that it has a plan B”, according to Howard Wheeldon at BGC Partners.

To this end, it has been negotiating with RHJ.

“These discussions have been taking place over a number of weeks and are at an advanced stage,” the Belgian firm said in a statement.

Tactical game

The discussions may also be a way of forcing Magna into a compromise, Tim Urquhart at Global Insight told the BBC.

“Getting RHJ more involved is a tactic to put more pressure on Magna. GM is pushing back, saying to Magna ‘you’re not the only game in town,’” he explained.

Last week, GM confirmed that it had received a bid for Opel from the Chinese firm Beijing Automotive Industries (BAIC).

GM chief executive Fritz Henderson also said that negotiations were continuing “around the clock” to conclude a deal to sell GM Europe, which includes Opel and Vauxhall.

But much work is still needed before any such deal can be reached, according to analysts, as obstacles exist to all three bids.

“Long-standing enmity in Germany to private equity firms,” said Mr Urquhart, complicates the RHJ bid, while BAIC is also looking for intellectual property rights.

Job concerns

GM has just emerged from bankruptcy protection after losing billions of dollars following a massive slump in sales due to the global economic downturn.

As part of its cost-cutting measures, the carmaker is selling GM Europe, which employs a total of 54,500 workers across Europe, with 25,000 based in Germany.

Under the Vauxhall brand, the firm employs 5,500 UK workers and has plants in Luton and Ellesmere Port.

There have been worries that UK workers will suffer sharp job losses as financial support for Opel from the German government safeguards German jobs.

The Nabucco line has no guaranteed supply of gas

Four European Union countries and Turkey have signed an agreement to construct the long-planned 3,300km Nabucco natural gas pipeline.

Once completed, the line will bring up to 31 billion cubic metres of gas a year from the Caspian and the Middle East across Turkey and into Europe.

It will give an important alternative energy supply to Russia, which already meets 30% of Europe’s gas needs.

But much still remains to be agreed on, not least where the gas will come from.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said deal was an “historic moment”.

Long-running project

The five countries - Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria - have been working on the Nabucco project with the European Commission for seven years now.

But Monday’s decision to sign the deal has still come as a surprise, said the BBC’s David O’Byrne in Ankara.

He said that Turkey and the European Commission were still at loggerheads over how much gas Turkey would be able to take from the pipeline.

Our correspondent also said that it remained uncertain which countries would supply gas to the Nabucco scheme.

Following the signing, Mr Erdogan said that the legal framework for the construction of the pipeline would now be agreed within six months.

“The more steps we take [on realising the project], the more the interest of supplier countries will grow,” he said.

Supply issues

Azerbaijan will be the main source of Nabucco’s gas when the pipeline is opened, due by 2014.

However, two weeks ago, the country agreed to sell some of its gas to Russia, a move many understood as a warning to the Nabucco partners to sort out their differences or look elsewhere.

Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Egypt are all considered potential suppliers to Nabucco in the longer term.

Meanwhile, Russia is planning two of its own new gas pipelines to Europe, the Nord Stream, which will run direct from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, and the South Stream, which will run from southern Russia under the Black Sea to Bulgaria.