Australia

South African coach Nick Mallett has called for a shorter season as the world champions embarked on their seventh grand slam tour of Britain and Ireland.

The swimming programme for the Sydney 2000 Olympics has been extended from seven days to eight, Australian swimming authorities have said.

Profits earned by the organisers of the 16th Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur'98, Sukom Ninety Eight Berhad, are to be released in December.

Jahangir Khan, the record 10-times British Open Squash Champion from Pakistan,has been elected a Vice President of the World Squash Federation (WSF).

Australia's leading anti-doping expert wants the International Olympic Committee to start testing competitors as soon as they set up house in the Olympic village ahead of the Sydney 2000 Games.

Kerry Packer has purchased a stake in the management trust of the Sydney Olympic Stadium at Homebush Bay (New South Wales).

Majid Khan, chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has called for any player found guilty of match-fixing or bribery to be banned for life and his assets seized.

The 2006 Commonwealth Games athlete's village is expected to be built at a cost of up to $A275m according to Campbell Rose, the leader of the city of Melbourne's bid for the sporting event.

Australia's Institute of Chartered Accountants have said in a report on Monday that the Sydney's Olympics could be a bonanza for criminals, especially in the area of credit card fraud.

Greece Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos has denied that Athens was lagging behind in preparations to stage the 2004 Olympics.

Australian Aborigines plan to invite their indigenous brothers and sisters from around the world to an Olympics-style festival in the Sydney 2000 stadium.

Veteran boxer Joe Bugner has weighed into a bitter debate in Australia over whether girls should be permitted to fight in the ring.

Australian sports ministers have rejected a plan to ban children under 14 from competitive boxing, arguing such a ban would be impossible to enforce and was also unnecessary.

The Organising Committee for the Olympic Football Tournaments, Sydney 2000, has reaffirmed their ruling on age limits, and announced that the Men's Olympic final will be played in Sydney's new Olympic Stadium.

Businessman Rod McGeoch, who spearheaded Sydney's bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games, has resigned from the board of the Games' organising committee.

China's capital city of Beijing has announced it will bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the official Xinhua news agency has said.