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HOUSTON — Vessels contending with the BP Plc oil spill were returning to the site on Saturday as a Gulf of Mexico storm diminished, but work to permanently plug the well may not resume for a week, a U.S. government spokesman said.

While a rig drilling a relief well was returning to the spill site after moving out of the storm's path, it could take a week for it to resume operations because it has to be reconnected to the well, said Robert Donaldson, a spokesman for the U.S. government's joint incident command.

"The Development Driller 3 has started to move back out because the storm is not as fierce as we thought it would be," Donaldson said.

BP has said it expects the permanently plug the leak in mid-August.

That rig and other vessels were moved on Friday to avoid Tropical Storm Bonnie. But the storm has weakened into a tropical depression and appeared less likely to gain strength as it moved into the U.S. oil patch in the Gulf.

Other vessels that had been operating at the site were readying for a return as well, a spokeswoman for BP said.

Two ships, including the one that operates the subsea robots that provide a live video feed of the wellhead, were left at the site, Donaldson said.

BP's Macondo well ruptured on April 20, sinking a drilling rig and killing 11 workers. The accident caused the worst U.S. oil spill, but the company was able to stop crude from flowing from the damaged well by fitting it with a tight-sealing cap..

BERLIN — A stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans crushed 15 people to death and injured dozens at Germany's famed Love Parade festival on Saturday.

Thousands of other revelers keep partying at the event in Duisburg, near Duesseldorf, unaware of the deadly stampede that started when police tried to block thousands more people from entering the already-jammed parade grounds.

Police are still trying to determine exactly what happened, but the situation was "very chaotic," police commissioner Juergen Kieskemper said.

He said police closed off the area where the parade was being held because it was already overcrowded. They told revelers over loudspeakers to turn around and walk back in the other direction before the panic broke out, he said.

German news agency DAPD reported the victims were crushed in the large tunnel leading to the event site and that emergency workers had trouble getting to them.

Duisburg city officials decided at a crisis meeting to let the parade go on to prevent more panic and another stampede, said city spokesman Frank Kopatschek.

"The crisis meeting determined not to stop the event because at the moment there are too many people on the grounds," he said.

The Love Parade was once an institution in Berlin, but has been held in the industrial Ruhr region of western Germany since 2007.

The original Berlin Love Parade grew from a 1989 peace demonstration into a huge outdoor celebration of club culture that drew about 1.5 million people at its peak in 1999. But it suffered from financial problems and tensions with city officials in later years, and eventually moved.

By VANESSA GERA

Universitatea Craiova întîlneşte, de la ora 18:00, pe teren propriu, campioana CFR Cluj. Vezi AICI cele mai importante faze de la această partidă!


Urmăreşte AICI desfăşurarea liveTEXT a meciului U Craiova - CFR Cluj!

CNN) -- New France coach Laurent Blanc has chosen not to select any of the 23-man World Cup squad, that refused to take part in a training session during their disastrous tournament, for next month's friendly international against Norway.

Blanc, who took over from Raymond Domenech following France's exit at the group stage of the competition, opted to exclude the whole squad for one match as a punishment for their role in the protest that came just two days before their final match against host nation South Africa.

The French Football Federation confirmed the decision on their official website, with a statement saying: "Laurent Blanc proposed to the federal council not to retain any of the 23 players officially selected for the World Cup in South Africa, for the friendly match against Norway in Oslo on Wednesday August 11.

"Laurent Blanc will release the list of players selected for this match on Thursday August 5."

France's tournament fell into disarray after Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home following a row with Domenech.

Captain Patrice Evra then became involved in a heated public argument with coach Robert Duverne -- resulting in Duverne storming off the training ground with the squad retreating to their team bus and refusing to train.

Among the players now not available to Blanc are Arsenal trio Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Abou Diaby, Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery, Barcelona's Eric Abidal, Chelsea's Anelka and Florent Malouda and playmaker Yoann Gourcuff -- who Blanc coached when he the pair were at Bordeaux.

However, there is no suggestion that the ban will last longer than a single match and many of the players are expected to return for the opening Euro 2012 qualifier at home to Belarus -- although it remains to be seen whether Anelka and Evra, who were perceived as the ringleaders, will return to the squad.

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris earlier admitted to L'Equipe newspaper that the players had made a mistake in refusing to train.

"We acted as a team. To strike was the decision of a squad who felt lonely, who believed that no-one had stood up for them and who had a message to convey.

"We went too far. It was a very awkward decision, a big mistake. It was completely stupid. But there were so many problems."

Lloris' Lyon teammate Jeremy Toulalan told the Journal du Dimanche: "I'm not proud of what I did but I accept responsibility. There were no ringleaders and no slaves, no good guys and no bad guys. We were all involved and we are all responsible because nobody said a word against the boycott."

London, England (CNN) -- Theirs was a royal love affair immortalized in diamonds and gold.

Now, more than 70 years after England's King Edward abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, some of the couple's jewels are coming up for sale.

Sotheby's announced plans to auction 20 items that were owned by the couple in London in November. The items include 11 pieces by Cartier, some of which are estimated at more than 1 million pounds ($1.5 million) each.

"The offering comprises not only incomparable examples of the genius of Cartier in collaboration with the Windsors, but also pieces whose inscriptions tell the story of perhaps the greatest love story of the 20th century, the romance that led Edward VIII to abdicate the throne of Great Britain," said David Bennett, the chairman of Sotheby's Jewelry in Europe and the Middle East.

The couple commissioned jewels from the great European jewelry houses during their courtship in the 1930s and after they were married, Sotheby's said.

Cartier was one of their favored jewelers, and the company's high jewelry director Jeanne Toussaint created some of her best work just for the couple, who came to be known as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

One of the pieces she created was an onyx and diamond bracelet in the form of an elongated panther. Designed in 1952, the bracelet was among the finest of Toussaint's "great cats" jewels and is in the sale at an estimated 1-1.5 million pounds.

Also up for sale is a diamond flamingo brooch with feathers of rubies, sapphires and emeralds, and a beak of citrine.

The brooch, also estimated between 1 and 1.5 million pounds, was the showpiece of an earlier sale of the couple's jewels, held in Geneva in 1987.

All the items up for auction in November belonged to a single owner, but Sotheby's did not disclose their identity.

Edward had been on the throne for just 11 months when he decided to give up the crown in December 1936 to marry Simpson, an American divorcee. He chose to abdicate because, as supreme governor of the Church of England, he was not permitted to marry a divorced woman.

The abdication speech he gave Dec. 11, 1936, revealed his love for the woman who would later become his wife.

"I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love," Edward said.

The auction includes a favorite bracelet of Simpson's, made of diamonds and supporting nine gem-set Latin crosses -- each with an intimate inscription on the back, Sotheby's said.

The crosses represent special moments in her life, including her marriage and the assassination attempt against the king.

A heart-shaped brooch of rubies and diamonds was commissioned for the couple's 20th wedding anniversary and features the initials W.E. -- for Wallis and Edward -- in emeralds on the front.

Cartier also created a six-piece diamond-encrusted dress suite in 1935, with inscriptions on the back.

One piece is a gift Simpson gave to her husband -- an 18-carat gold and gem-set cigarette case, engraved with a map of Europe. It shows the routes of trips they had taken together and has gems marking meaningful locations. The inscription reveals it was a Christmas present in 1935.

Other items in the sale include a purse made by Van Cleef and Arpels of gold mesh, rubies, turquoise and diamonds, and a series of silver items and medals once owned by Edward.