Sports News

NEW YORK - Baseball's drug-testing program was threatened when federal prosecutors seized player records and samples four years ago, baseball commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr said in letters to Congress released Thursday.

NEW YORK - Jon Lester pitched a sharp five-hitter while the Boston Red Sox roughed up Andy Pettitte, beating the New York Yankees 7-0 on Thursday night to end a five-game losing streak.

SEATTLE - Justin Verlander threw six strong innings, Michael Hollimon hit his first big league home run and the Detroit Tigers hung on to beat the Seattle Mariners 8-4 Thursday night.

SAN DIEGO - Former San Diego Chargers linebacker Steve Foley has agreed to settle his lawsuit against a police officer who shot him off-duty two years ago and ended his pro football career.

CINCINNATI - A judge has declared a mistrial in the assault case of former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry.

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Brett Favre dismissed an ESPN report that he's considering coming out of retirement as "all rumor."

NEW ORLEANS - Chris Paul and the Hornets reached a contract agreement Thursday that could keep the All-Star point guard with the team for at least the next four seasons.

WASHINGTON - Gilbert Arenas has agreed to re-sign with the Washington Wizards for $111 million over six years, essentially taking millions less so that his team could have more financial flexibility, two newspapers reported Thursday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - New Orleans All-Star guard Chris Paul agreed a four-year extension to remain with the Hornets, the Times-Picayune of New Orleans said on Thursday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Former Liverpool star Harry Kewell has passed up the opportunity to play for Australia at the Beijing Olympics to pursue a club career with Turkey's Galatasaray.

PARIS (AFP) - Raymond Domenech has survived the sack with the French Football Federation announcing Thursday that he had kept his job as manager despite France's poor showing at Euro 2008.

MUNICH, Germany (AFP) - Bayern Munich's goalkeeper Michael Rensing admits he will be glad to finally step out of Oliver Kahn's shadow after five years on the sidelines as he targets a place in the Germany team.

PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday signed goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a seven-year, $35 million contract, the third long-term deal inked with one of their younger players in two days.

NEW YORK - Just as the New York Rangers ushered in the Markus Naslund era on Broadway, they turned out the lights on the Jaromir Jagr show. Naslund, the longtime Vancouver Canucks captain, agreed to terms Thursday with New York on a two-year deal worth $8 million.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Rob Blake is heading up the California coast, hoping to end his stellar NHL career with a shot at another Stanley Cup title in San Jose.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The University of Kentucky Basketball Museum has shut its doors due to falling attendance and financial problems.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee signed football coach Phillip Fulmer and basketball coach Bruce Pearl to new deals Wednesday that will keep them with the Volunteers through 2014.

OXFORD, Ohio - John Pont, who guided Indiana to its only Rose Bowl appearance 40 years ago and also coached at Northwestern, Yale and Miami of Ohio, died Tuesday. He was 80.

LONDON (AFP) - Roger Federer's Wimbledon waltz collides with the wild world of Marat Safin on Friday as the volatile Russian looks to complete his All England Club fairytale and stop the Swiss superstar in his elegant tracks.

LONDON (AFP) - Venus and Serena Williams, who boast six Wimbledon titles between them, will clash for the third time in an All England Club final on Saturday.

LONDON (AFP) - Germany's Rainer Schuettler defeated Frenchman Arnaud Clement on Thursday to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in a tie which equalled the record for the second longest match in All England Club history.

BETHESDA, Md. - It's just like old times for the PGA Tour's annual stop in the nation's capital. There's no Tiger Woods to be found, and there's a potential first-time winner atop the leaderboard.

BETHESDA, Md. - In the 237 times Charles Howell III has teed it up on the PGA Tour, he never had a round end like Thursday at the AT&T National. After signing for an even-par 70, he was handed a pink slip. Howell was among the first players chosen for testing under the tour's Anti-Doping Program that went into effect this week.

BETHESDA, Md. - Tiger Woods does not know when he can play golf again, but he said Monday his rebuilt left knee has been sore his entire PGA Tour career and he looks forward to playing on two good legs.

SILVERSTONE, England - Formula One's leading driver, Felipe Massa, spun off the track and hit a wall during Friday's practice for the British Grand Prix but got out of his Ferrari apparently unscathed.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Troy Aikman. Terry Bradshaw. Tim Brown. Julius Erving. Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Jim Kelly. Mark Rypien. Roger Staubach.

The death of Scott Kalitta has shaken up the NHRA and sent the organization, its owners and drivers back to the drawing board on safety issues.

WASHINGTON - President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, the White House said Thursday. The announcement quashed any talk of a presidential boycott over China's violent crackdown after anti-government riots and protests in Tibet.

OMAHA, Neb. - Brendan Hansen clung to the lane rope, glaring at the scoreboard. No matter how long he stared, the shocking result just wouldn't go away.

EUGENE, Ore. - Before he kneeled into the starting blocks, LaShawn Merritt tugged on his new necklace — the red-white-and-blue one his friend gave him before the race.

NEW YORK - Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez and his wife have split less than three months after the birth of the couple's second daughter, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Brett Favre is considering coming out of retirement, according to an ESPN report. ESPN's Chris Mortensen said Wednesday that a Packers source told him the 38-year-old Favre told coach Mike McCarthy in the past two weeks that he has the itch to play.

WIMBLEDON, England - A spot in her seventh Wimbledon final already secured, Venus Williams headed back to Centre Court to catch the end of the next match.