Europe

Beijing officials defended China's human rights record on Wednesday but conceded it faced a challenge persuading world opinion that the Chinese capital should stage the 2008 Olympic Games.

A new online soccer gaming site, TotoPools.com, has launched in the UK to coincide with the new soccer season

ukbetting, the online bookmaker that made its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) last week, has signed a deal with troubled sports internet company Sportal for an undisclosed sum.

CricInfo.com, the digital cricket information company, has told sportbusiness.com that it has as big a chance of renewing its internet broadcasting rights to English cricket despite competing bids from the BBC and Channel 4.

A row has broken out over the sale of Sir Donald Bradman memorabilia, the value of which has soared since the Australian cricket legend died in February, aged 92.

UK broadband TV company Video Networks has become the exclusive video-on-demand partner for England’s Premier League soccer league.

Britain's leading cable companies NTL and Telewest Communications Plc have held debt restructuring talks with international banking group JP Morgan Chase, according to the UK's Sunday Business newspaper.

London soccer club Arsenal has become the first club to charge visitors to its website to view highlights of its matches.

Canal Plus, the pay-TV unit of media giant Vivendi Universal and Dutch cable network United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) have confirmed that a merger of their Polish satellite television platforms has taken place.

Officials from the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit will meet organisers of the Sharjah tournament to combat potential match-fixing at this year's tournament.

Officials from the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit will meet organisers of the Sharjah tournament to combat potential match-fixing at this year's tournament.

In recent years, the meteoric rise of technology, telecom and media (TMT) shares on the world's stock markets has changed the face of Formula One sponsorship. The recent downfall in the sector is now hurting the sport as it struggles keep sponsors.

The Thailand Football Association has written to FIFA to request a change of venue for their Asian World Cup qualifying match scheduled for Baghdad on Friday, a Thai official said on Tuesday.

The Italian government is to give police new powers to combat soccer hooliganism at and other sporting events, the Interior Ministry said.

The Scottish Institute of Sport today announced that golf and judo are set to benefit from inclusion as core sports which will enable them to take advantage of the Institute’s elite level support programmes which are already starting to benefit many of Scotland’s top athletes.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said the world governing body's member associations must be unanimous when sanctioning players guilty of doping.