Berlin - Police and demonstrators have been flexing their muscles in the run-up to this week's summit celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of NATO.
Around 150 anti-NATO campaigners clashed with police Tuesday night on the outskirts of the French city of Strasbourg, co-host to the April 3-4 gathering along with Kehl and Baden-Baden in Germany.
Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters who had gathered to voice their anger at the strict identification checks imposed to prevent troublemakers from disrupting the summit.
Sydney - Australia learned Thursday that they must wait three months before confirming a place in next year's World Cup after Bahrain beat Qatar 1-0 in Manama.
The win put Bahrain third in Asian Group 1 behind Australia and Japan. If Bahrain win their last two matches and Australia lose their final three, Australia's entry would not be a certainty.
Australia top the pool on 13 points, Japan are second with 11, and Bahrain are now third with seven points. Uzbekistan and Qatar are on four points and cannot qualify.
La Paz - Former world top scorer Joaquin Botero was the hat- trick hero for Bolivia as they stunned Argentina 6-1 Wednesday in the South American World Cup qualifiers.
"Bolivia was better than us and gave us a thrashing that would have seemed impossible if we had thought about it before the game," Argentina coach Diego Maradona said. "They did well to beat us, and we have to start again. Bolivia has been better than us in every corner of the pitch."
Miami - Novak Djokovic turned the corner in his career matchups with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, winning 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday to reverse a run of four straight losses to the Frenchman and book a semi-final place at the Miami Masters.
The 2007 champion also began turning around his reputation as a shirker, fighting through what he said was a stomach problem as he stayed on court to see out the victory.
Hamburg - England, the Netherlands and Spain maintained their 100-per-cent records Wednesday to stay well on course for places at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
Spain had to come from behind to beat Turkey 2-1 in their Group 5 match, while John Terry scored a late winner for England in their Group 6 game against Ukraine. In Amsterdam, the Netherlands comfortably beat Macedonia 4-0.