Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia  - Sweden's Helena Jonsson clinched the women's biathlon World Cup sprint title as Tina Bachmann led a German one-two in the 7.5-kilometre sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk Friday.

Bachmann, 22, made no shooting errors to cross the line in 20 minutes 49.8 seconds, with team-mate Simone Hauswald also without a mistake, 3.7 seconds back.

Sweden's Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek was third, 19.3 seconds behind Bachmann.

Moscow - An Iranian delegation in Moscow on Friday said they would not meet with US delegates on the sidelines of the international summit on Afghanistan, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia had earlier this week said it would be ready to facilitate talks between US and Iranian diplomats

Moscow - Washington is still in negotiations with Kyrgyzstan that may allow it to avert the closure of an air base in the Central Asian state key to supplying troops in northern Afghanistan, a top US administration official said Friday.

"We have received an offer to negotiate from Kyrgyzstan, and there is a possibility that our deal on the use of this base remains effective," the US official told journalists in Moscow, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Moscow  - Russia called on Friday for North Korea to hold back from testing a long-range missile, warning Pyongyang against an "unnecessary fanning of emotions" in the region.

"The situation now in the North-East Asia region is tense, and it would be better for our partners in North Korea to hold back from this launch ... there is no need for an unnecessary fanning of emotions," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin told journalists.

Denver, Colorado - The International Olympic Committee on Thursday voiced satisfaction with the progress being made by organizers of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Meeting in Denver, Colorado, the IOC heard from French skiing legend Jean-Claude Killy, chairman of the Sochi evaluation committee, that progress in preparing the games in the Black Sea resort city were making satisfactory progress.

Organizers said that construction of venues could begin as soon as May.

Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia  - Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen secured the season's World Cup biathlon title with second place in the men's 10-kilometre sprint on Thursday.

It was a sixth overall World Cup win for the 35-year-old who equals the record of Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden.

Race winner in the Siberian venue of Khanty-Mansiysk was Germany's Arnd Peiffer who celebrated a first World Cup race victory.

With two races remaining, Bjoerndalen has an unassailable 978 points, with Tomasz Sikora of Poland on 854 and Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway on 758.