South African teenager Caster Semenya won the women's 800 meters gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, just hours after the sport's governing body asked for the 18-year-old's gender to be verified. Semenya crushed her rivals by streaking away to secure victory in a time of one minute 55.45 seconds -- the best time in the world this year. Defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya took the silver with Briton Jennifer Meadows claiming bronze. However, the race was ...

There was a smile, a quick wave hello, a brief chat. Yet, despite the exchange of pleasantries, the simmering tensions between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and one of the nation's most powerful clerics became quickly evident at a major ceremony in Tehran on Monday. Ahmadinejad and former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were attending the inauguration of Sadeq Larijani -- brother of Iran's prominent parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani -- who was tapped by Iran's supreme leader to be the new ...

The mass trial of a third round of detainees arrested in the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election began on Sunday. Prosecutors read out charges against more than two dozen detainees who are being tried in the Revolutionary Court. The defendants are among more than 1,000 people arrested after the government cracked down on days of street protests following the June 12 election. Iran's election authority declared incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the overwhelming winner of the race. Opposition supporters accused ...

Elders and religious leaders in southern Afghanistan are in talks with local Taliban leaders in an effort to reach a truce ahead of next week's election, a top Afghan official told CNN on Friday. Yet the Fastnet tragedy of 1979 in which 15 people were killed and ex-British leader Edward Heath went missing helped to usher in a new era of improved safety in the sport. It was 30 years ago today that a freak storm struck over 300 vessels ...

It is still remembered as one of the worst days in the history of modern sailing. Yet the Fastnet tragedy of 1979 in which 15 people were killed and ex-British leader Edward Heath went missing helped to usher in a new era of improved safety in the sport. It was 30 years ago today that a freak storm struck over 300 vessels competing in the 600-mile yacht race between England and Ireland. Mountainous seas and vicious high winds sunk or ...

Iran's influential parliament speaker dismissed allegations that post-election detainees were raped while in custody, calling the claims by an opposition leader "sheer lies," state-run media reported Wednesday. Ali Larijani said that a special panel of Iran's parliament, or Majlis, conducted a "precise and comprehensive inquiry" into the treatment at Tehran's Evin and Kahrizak prisons, and found "no cases of rape or sexual abuse," Press TV reported. Larijani's fiery response was to accusations made by opposition candidate Mehdi Karrubi who, along ...

Today, you get a call from a friend. They need a favor. Would you mind spending your vacation time this summer in Death Valley, a desert where temperatures hover around 130 degrees Would you be OK with sleeping in a van, if you get to sleep at all, for three days, because you'll be working your tail off spraying runners down with water, dunking them in ice and keeping track of everything that goes in (and -- yes -- ...

The European Tour looks set to suffer a major body blow this week when it announces a reduction in prize money for this year's flagship $20 million Race to Dubai and Dubai World Championships. A golf insider from the region has told CNN that the impact of the credit crunch on Leisurecorp, the company behind the concept, and the fact the Dubai World Championship has not attracted the handful of marquee sponsors hoped for, has led to a decision to ...

Michael Schumacher will not be able to test for Ferrari ahead of his F1 comeback after the rival Williams team refused to give permission. The 40-year-old Schumacher has been drafted in as a replacement for the stricken Felipe Massa and wanted to be granted a day at the wheel of the Ferrari F60 before the European Grand Prix at Valencia in three weeks time. Massa leaves hospital in Hungary Testing is banned during the season so Ferrari wrote ...

Michael Phelps wrested back his world 100-meter butterfly record after another titanic showdown with Milorad Cavic at the world swimming championships in Rome on Saturday evening. Olympic champion Phelps, who saw his Serbian rival beat his leading mark in Friday's semifinals with a time of 50.01 seconds, came home to win in a stunning 49.82. Cavic, who controversially finished second behind the American in a photo-finish in Beijing last year, also went below the previous best as he was runner-up ...