Russia

Even the most experienced Olympic observers cannot agree on which city will win the battle to stage the 2008 Summer Games as the deciding vote draws near.

Fifteen days after its official launch, the new sports information channel, Eurosportnews, has reached a distribution agreement with two leading CATV operators, Kosmos TV in Moscow, Russia and Alma TV in Kazakhstan.

IOC leader Jacques Rogge has tried to douse concern about organisational problems within the 2000 Olympics, by saying Sydney had no real worries compared to some predecessors as host city.

The bitter battle for control of Russian football has heated up with the head of the league questioning the veteran federation boss about allegations that large sums were diverted from soccer into banks abroad.

World record-breaking pole vaulter Sergei Bubka is set to clear another new height this week in his rapid rise up the ranks of world sport's administration.

Olympic boss Juan Antonio Samaranch said on Tuesday he did not support Kim Un-yong's plan to allow IOC members to visit cities bidding for the Games if the South Korean is elected IOC president in July.

Bridon International, the UK-based steel wire and structural strand manufacturer, has secured a contract to supply cables for the major re-development of Lokomotiv Moscow's stadium in Russia.

The Japanese city of Osaka has pressed its claim to stage the 2008 Olympics against current favourite Beijing, saying it could outdo the Chinese capital in experience and facilities.

Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot is seeing a passenger boom on flights from Rio de Janeiro to Moscow as Brazilian soccer fans seek a cheap way of travelling to Europe for the World Cup soccer finals.

Vyacheslav Koloskov, president of the Russian Football Union (RFS), has won a bitter struggle to keep control of the country's soccer for another five years.

Juan Antonio Samaranch has left the intensive care unit of the Swiss hospital he has been in for a week after suffering from chronic fatigue.

Canadian lawyer Dick Pound will reveal today whether he will run for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in July. Pound is expected to be the last candidate to declare before the April 10 deadline.

Beijing declared itself ready for inspection for its bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, but urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to let politics influence its judgement.

Beijing is eyeing the 2008 Olympics as a cure for problems ranging from choking smog to taxi-clogged streets, and as an image boost for the Communist capital.

Star Brazilian striker Ronaldo, world soccer player of the year, has joined a United Nations campaign to slow the spread of the HIV virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among youth, a U.N. statement said.

Six men accused of the 1997 contract killing of the head of the Russian ice hockey federation have gone on trial in Moscow at the fourth attempt.