France

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has dismissed claims New York should be automatically handed the 2012 Olympic Games in the wake of the suicide plane attacks in America.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has dismissed claims New York should be automatically handed the 2012 Olympic Games in the wake of the suicide plane attacks in America.

French cosmetic company Lancome is to remove all its hospitality units and brand advertisements for the Lancome Trophy which starts tomorrow in Paris.

A decision on whether London will bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games will not be known until after next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has angrily dismissed a rumour predicting the 2003 Rugby World Cup could be shifted from Australia and New Zealand to Europe.

Francis Baron, secretary of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), has confirmed they will bid to host the 2007 World Cup tournament which will put England in direct competition with France.

Sportsetail, the merchandising business owned as a joint venture by the UK’s Hay & Robertson and BSkyB, has reached a European product and distribution agreement with FIFA for the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.

Amer Sports - the B

The five cities bidding to host the 2008 Olympic Games have begun delivering their final presentations ahead of this afternoon's decision in Moscow around 3.30pm BST.

Beijing combined evocative images of ancient and modern China in its final bid for the 2008 Olympics on Friday just hours before the International Olympics Committee (IOC) votes on the host.

The Japanese city of Osaka was eliminated in the first round of voting by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the right to host the 2008 Summer Games.

Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games after an International Olympic Committee vote in Moscow.

Beijing's victory came seven years after it lost to Sydney by two votes in the election for the 2000 Olympics.

London’s hopes of staging the 2012 Olympic Games were enhanced after Beijing was chosen to host the 2008 games.

Vote totals from Friday's balloting to pick the host city for the 2008 Olympics:

The Dalai Lama's Tibetan government-in-exile slammed the choice of Beijing as the venue for the 2008 Olympics on Friday and said it would encourage repression in China.