Australia

Bill Gates and Microsoft are throwing their financial support behind next year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, signing up as an official sponsor and technology supplier.

Australia-based Venue Management Association and the Australian Amusement Leisure and Recreation Association will break new ground this year with a joint Convention & Trade Show called Leisure and Venues 2001, to be held May 9-11.

Sponsors have warned Australia?s Wests Tigers rugby league side that deals worth around A$1m ($480,000) per year may be reviewed after a week which saw three stars fallen and fans staying away.

The 2001 Goodwill Games organisers say they are on track to deliver a successful event.

Ireland's three remaining Six Nations rugby union internationals have been postponed until next season because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

The Salt Lake Organising Committee is confident that its computer network will perform well for next February's 2002 Winter Games.

Ansett Australia has signed a six-year deal to sponsor the Australian Football League?s Rookie of the Year.

The United States Swim Coaches Association has added its voice to calls for the world governing body, FINA, to ban swimmers? bodysuits until they have been scientifically evaluated.

A U.S. congressional committee has approved a resolution urging Olympics organisers to reject China's bid to host the Games in 2008, citing concerns about Beijing's human rights record.

Australia?s Channel 7, anxious to avoid the criticism which rivals Channel 9 received for not showing this month's epic Australia v India Tests, is seeking the help of the ABC when it covers the Ashes series this year.

Melbourne?s transport operators have teamed up with the Australian Football League to produce AFL Metcards.

Two of Greece's largest dairies have been selected as sponsors of the 2004 Athens Olympics.

All online gambling in Australia will be outlawed under Federal Government legislation designed to ban Australians from Internet betting.

Three Australasian race horses have been ordered into quarantine immediately on return to Australia from the Dubai World Cup race meeting amid foot-and-mouth disease fears.

Jacques Rogge, a Belgian surgeon who has won a reputation for fixing the pains and strains of organising Olympic Games, on Monday joined the race for world sport's most powerful job - the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidency.

South Korean Kim Un-yong has joined the race for world sport's most powerful job -- the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidency.