Canada

Dominican government leaders have applauded Santo Domingo's selection as host city for the 2003 Pan American games, but some opposition leaders dismissed spending on the sports event as inappropriate during recovery from a vicious hurricane.

Ben Johnson's latest request to be reinstated as a sprinter has been directed to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports, which in turn is seeking $30,000 from the federal government to cover costs of a hearing.

The French capital announced it was bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

The Olympic organising committee in Quebec City was courted by "special agents" who offered to "buy" votes on the International Olympic Committee to help the city's bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics to succeed, Le Soleil newspaper has reported.

The Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) today approved an application by Beijing to bid for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The disgraced Salt Lake City Winter Olympics has had a boost after a key sponsor that had delayed a payment said it was reassured appropriate actions were being taken to clean up the scandal.

Finnish former athlete Pirjo Haggman has became the first member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to quit over bribery scandals buffeting the organisation.

International footwear giant Nike Inc. has centralised responsibility for branding and manufacturing all its hockey equipment in Montreal as competition and consolidation in the business tighten.

A growing scandal over cash payments made by Australian sports officials to snag the 2000 Olympics has stirred anger in Beijing, which lost the bidding war to Sydney by a razor-thin margin.

National governments have expressed serious reservations about the final declaration adopted at a global anti-doping conference.

Australia plans to host an international drugs-in-sport convention in Sydney this year to push for a tougher stance on drugs after the International Olympic Committee failed to approve uniform doping bans.

Osaka, Japan's second largest city, has formally launched its bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics saying its campaign would mark the rebirth of "clean" Games.

The fledgling US Arena Football League should receive a significant boost in stature following the announcement that the NFL has acquired a three-year option to purchase up to 49.9 % of the indoor league.

With less than 100 days to go before the opening ceremony of the 1999 Pan American Games, lagging ticket sales have become the primary concern of Games organisers.

The group of investors that won the bidding war to buy SkyDome Corp., home of baseball's Toronto Blue Jays, is having to dig deeper into their own pockets to pay the $80-million price tag.

The Canadian government looks set to step in with tax breaks to save its NHL teams.