Champions Shakhtar stroll to Europa victory

Defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk opened the group stages of UEFA’s new-look Europa League with a comfortable 4-1 win away to Belgian club Bruges on Thursday night. The Ukrainian side, who won the final edition of the UEFA Cup last season after being knocked out of the Champions League group stage, went 3-0 ahead in the first 35 minutes to clinch their first win at the Jan Breydel Stadium in four attempts

Share

Greek firefighters continue to battle widespread blazes

Greek firefighters planned to continue to work through the night to contain dozens of wildfires, including a massive blaze outside Athens, authorities said. Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis called for calm on Saturday and said ground forces “will continue their superhuman efforts” until dawn, when air operations and water drops will resume. Authorities reported 75 fires across the country.

Share

IOC scraps global torch relay for 2012 Games

The Olympic torch relay for the 2012 London Games will be confined to Britain, organizers confirmed on Friday. The past two summer Olympics have seen the torch taken on a world tour, but the experiment, started for the Athens Games in 2004, has now been scrapped. It follows the widespread political protests which disrupted the passage of the torch ahead of last year’s Games in Beijing.

Share