Singapore - United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the US would not impose any conditions on Myanmar's military junta to force democratic change, but its sanctions would remain in place until significant progress had been made.

"The US is committed to a process to try to encourage and support Burma's [Myanmar's] path to democracy," Clinton said after a ministerial meeting at a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Singapore.

Berlin - Five-time Olympic speed skating champion Claudia Pechstein will be allowed to train fully while she fights a two-year ban imposed for blood doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled on Friday.

The court, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, said the 37-year-old German can train pending a decision on her appeal to the court against the ban, but cannot take part in competition.

Pechstein welcomed the decision, saying: "Looking ahead to the Olympic Games (in Vancouver in February) this will make a lot of things easier."

Rome - Italian cyclist Danilo Di Luca denied Wednesday using the banned blood-boosting drug CERA when he appeared at a hearing by the Italian Olympic Committee.

The 33-year-old former Giro d'Italia winner said after the one-hour hearing he was convinced he would be cleared of any wrongdoing and hinted he may have been the victim of a "plot."

The hearing was adjourned for a month to give the defence more time to prepare.

The hearings could lead to prosecutor Ettore Torri recommending that the committee's anti-doping tribunal ban the rider.

Vienna - An employee at Austria's anti-doping agency has become the target of a criminal probe for allegedly conducting tests for athletes to help them in their doping efforts, Vienna prosecutors said Thursday.

The investigation was set into motion by disgraced Austrian sports manager Stefan Matschiner, who said on German television earlier this month that he had received help from staff in more than one European laboratory accredited with the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Berlin - German discus medal hope Robert Harting caused a major stir on Tuesday when he issued a below-the belt attack on the victims of East Germany's state-sponsored doping system.

"When the discus hits the ground it should jump right against one of those glasses which the doping victims are distributing here. I am not a killer but I don't want them to see them anything anymore," Harting said after qualifying for Wednesday's final at the worlds.

Berlin - More than a record 1,000 doping tests are palnned around the upcoming world athletics championships, the ruling body IAAF announced on Tuesday.

The IAAF said that more than 600 blood samples will be taken before Saturday's start and an additional 400 blood and urine samples during the competition which runs until August 23.

The samples will be kept for possible retests and will be part of the athletes' blood pass which the IAAF introduced at the beginning of the year.

Manaus, Brazil - Three Brazilian athletes have been handed two-year bans for doping by the country's national federation (CBAt).

Sprinters Jorge Celio da Rocha Sena and Bruno Lins Tenoriode Barros (200m and 4x100m) as well as heptathlete Lucimara Silvestre da Silva received the minimum ban after waiving their right to having their B-samples tested and admitting to having taken an illicit drug.

Washington - David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, two giants of US baseball that helped end an 86-year title drought for the Boston Red Sox, tested positive for steroids in 2003, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Their names are on a now-infamous list of about 100 baseball players that tested positive for performance-enhancing substances in that year, according to unnamed lawyers cited by the newspaper.

Lausanne, Switzerland - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed an appeal Monday by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against a 15-day ban handed down to Italian footballers Daniele Mannini and Davide Possanzini.

The pair were found guilty by the disciplinary committee (GUI) of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) of non-cooperation with anti-doping officials after a Serie B game of their club Brescia against Chievo. Mannini has since moved to Serie A club Napoli.

Hanover, Germany - Five-time Olympic dressage champion Isabell Werth has accepted a suspension after a positive doping test on her horse Whisper, the German equestrian federation FN said Thursday.

The German rider, who appeared at a world governing body FEI tribunal hearing, has decided against a protest and will not request an examination of the b-sample.

Werth's horse tested positive for the psychopharmaca fluphenazine at a tournament in Wiesbaden almost four weeks ago.

Paris - The organizers of the Tour de France said Thursday they would not allow 2005 world road race champion Tom Boonen to take part in this year's race because he tested positive for cocaine.

"Tom Boonen's image and behaviour are incompatible with the image of the Tour de France," the Amaury Sports Orgainzation said in a statement issued in Paris.

Aigle, Switzerland - The International Cycling Union (UCI) called for disciplinary proceedings to be started against five cyclists based on suspicious data in their biological passports.

The UCI said cases were being opened against three Spaniards - Igor Astarloa, the 2003 world champion, Ruben Lobato and Ricardo Serrano - and Italians Pietro Caucchioli and Francesco De Bonis.

Madrid - Sheer stupidity: that is how Juan Antonio Samaranch jr. describes how the Spanish Judiciary is dealing with the Operacion Puerto doping case, which could become a threat to Madrid's aspirations of hosting the 2016 Olympics.

"In Spain there are three powers, and the Judiciary has done a really stupid thing in keeping the issue of Operacion Puerto secret and preventing it from being used," Samaranch told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview.

Stuttgart - Olympic 1,500 metres gold medallist Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain and Italian cycling road race silver medallist Davide Rebellin are among the athletes who tested positive for the latest generation of the blood booster CERA at a retest of samples from the Beijing Games, it was confirmed Wednesday. Ahmad Ben Hamad Al El Khalifa, deputy general secretary of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, told German Press Agency on Wednesday that the committee has been informed about Ramzi's positive test.

At the same time the Italian Olympic Committee CONI named Rebellin as a doping suspect.

Rome - Italian marathon runner Alberico Di Cecco has been banned for two years after testing positive for the blood-boosting hormone EPO, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said Tuesday.

The suspension begins from October 12 last year and runs to October 11, 2010, CONI said.

Di Cecco, who finished ninth at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, failed a test at the Italian championship in Carpi on October 12. dpa

Monte Carlo - China and the United States were among the most tested nations under the IAAF anti-doping programme in 2008, according to figures released by athletics' ruling body Thursday.

Russia, Belarus and Jamaica were also in the IAAF's top five countries for out-of competition testing last year but IAAF President Lamine Diack said attention had already shifted to nations participating in this summer's World Championships in Berlin.

Rome - A prosecutor for the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) recommended Tuesday that cyclist Emanuele Sella face a one-year ban rather than the maximum two years after admitting to doping.

Sella tested positive for the blood booster EPO in an out-of- competition test in July and subsequently confessed to doping during this year's Giro d'Italia, where he finished sixth overall, at a CONI hearing in August.