Wales will go into the Six Nations against a back-drop of political unrest between the Welsh Rugby Union and professional regions, while none of those teams - Ospreys, Blues, Scarlets or Newport Gwent Dragons - were good enough to secure quarter-final places in either the Heineken Cup or Amlin Challenge Cup this season.
The pool winners and three best runners-up will secure quarter-final places.
Joachim Loew's team knew a win against Denmark would secure quarter-final qualification and top spot in Group B. Goals from Lukas Podolski and Lars Bender in their 2-1 vintory in Lviv achieved exactly that.
A range of foreigners, including diplomats, students of Arabic, aid workers and journalists, have been abducted from once-secure quarters of Sana'a.
After the national team's nadir at the World Cup, the response of the English clubs has been impressive, a record five of them securing quarter-final berths in the Champions Cup.
Although usually associated in Western thought with Muslim practices, harems are known to have existed in the pre-Islamic civilizations of the Middle East; there the harem served as the secure, private quarters of women who nonetheless played various roles in public life.
Durham move up to fourth and need Notts to beat Worcestershire on Friday to secure a quarter-final spot.
Konta, ranked No66 in the world, had trailed 5-1 in the deciding set, but then reeled off the next six games to secure a quarter-final against Venus Williams.
Nottinghamshire had been the only team in the competition with an unbeaten record going into the game but they now face a battle to secure their quarter-final place with two more qualifying games to play.
Despite being publicly identified by the Algerian authorities as the European ringleader of the GIA and by French investigators as the key organiser, Touchent evaded capture, returned to Algeria and settled in a secure police quarter of Algiers.
