Americas

Iran, the United States and Northern Ireland have been jointly awarded FIFA's 1998 Fair Play prize.

Superstar Shaquille O'Neal and his Los Angeles Lakers are the centrepiece of a condensed post-lockout NBA schedule which forces every team to play on three consecutive nights at least once.

The Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe, France's showcase horse race, has had its purse increased by about 20 percent.

Triple Olympic champion Michelle Smith-de Bruin will not have her appeal against a four-year ban heard until May 3, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has announced.

The US federal government has this week joined a private lawsuit against the New York Yankees and New York City for allegedly failing to make Yankee Stadium accessible to people with disabilities.

U.S. agents have arrested three Taiwanese and a U.S. citizen on charges of smuggling millions of dollars worth of counterfeit golf equipment into the United States, the U.S. Customs Service has said.

Major League Baseball's 2001 All-Star Game will be held in Seattle's new retractable-roof stadium, league officials have announced.

Philips Electronics has put its name to a sports venue in the States in a record-breaking deal estimated to exceed $120 million.

The Chicago Bears have named a new president to replace the grandson of team founder George "Papa Bear" Halas, following an embarrassing episode in which its first choice as new coach bolted the club.

The man who ran the ill-fated 1996 Atlanta Games offered some advice to Sydney 2000 Games organisers on Friday: ignore an Olympic corruption scandal and trust that everything will come out right.

None of the Olympics? major corporate sponsors have plans to abandon their sponsorship deals following the Salt Lake City fiasco, vice-president of the International Olympic Committee Dick Pound said.

A Boston millionaire with strong ties to Utah was named on Thursday to head the panel organising the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics as part of a sweeping restructuring aimed at putting a bribery scandal to rest.

A U.S. insurance giant and major Olympic sponsor has said the committee responsible for Sydney's successful bid for the 2000 Games appeared to have been involved in bribery.

Romania's sports minister has said his country would send more than 200 competitors to the Sydney 2000 Games, contrary to previous doubts raised by the head of the Romanian Olympic Committee Ion Tiriac.

A former leader of Atlanta's bid for the 1996 Olympics said his group violated the gift rules of the International Olympic Committee in its pursuit of the Summer Games.

The District of Columbia's new mayor plans to announce his support for a $300 million major league baseball stadium in downtown D.C., the Washington Post has reported.