Ronaldinho, dropped by Brazil last year following a loss of form, has been recalled by coach Dunga for next month's friendly against Italy in London. However, there was still no place for Juventus striker Amauri who is embroiled in a controversy over whether he should play for his native Brazil or for Italy, where he has spent most of his career.

There is still plenty to be decided in the final round of group matches in the UEFA Champions League this week even though 13 of the 16 teams through to the knockout phase are already known. European Cup holders Manchester United and the likes of nine-times champions Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Arsenal and Liverpool have secured their places in the first knockout round.

Laughing off suggestions that his race seat is in danger, veteran driver Giancarlo Fisichella hailed Force India's recent technical partnership with McLaren-Mercedes for the next year, calling it a giant leap forward by the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit.

Steven Gerrard scored a controversial penalty deep into injury time to earn Liverpool a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in Champions League Group D on Tuesday. The Liverpool captain converted from the spot after he was challenged in the box by Mariano Pernia and Swedish referee Martin Hansson awarded a debatable penalty kick.

Romanian club CFR Cluj will believe anything is possible when they host Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League.

European countries begin their campaigns to reach the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa on Saturday.

Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko's Chelsea nightmare has ended after the London club struck a deal for him to rejoin AC Milan. Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani was overjoyed to re-sign the 31-year-old, who spent seven successful seasons at the San Siro.

Doves flew and confetti rained down as the Olympic torch was carried along the ancient Great Wall on a misty Thursday morning, the eve of Games that China hopes will demonstrate its modern-day strength. Hours before flying to Beijing for Friday's opening ceremony, US President George W Bush used some of his bluntest language yet in criticising China on human rights.

Argentina forward Lionel Messi will not play in the Olympic Games after a sporting tribunal ruled on Wednesday that his club Barcelona were not obliged to release him.

For all they know the next Cheetah Girls movie could be shot in the Antarctica but right now the platinum selling recording artists and actors Adrienne Bailon, Sabrina Bryan and Kiely Williams would love to return to India and dance on the streets, joining wedding parties and getting to know more about Bollywood. The three starred in The Cheetah Girls One World, shot entirely in India.

Beijing struggles to make its coming-of-age Olympics party perfect despite controversies, unsold tickets and media hyperventilation.

English alternative rock band Coldplay have rubbished accusations of plagiarism levelled against them by am unknown New York based group. The group's frontman Chris Martin angrily denied that they had stolen any of Creaky Boards' melodies for their number one album title track Viva La Vida.

Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto'o do not feature in Pep Guardiola's plans at Barcelona.

Germany squad penpix for Euro 2008

Italy squad penpix for Euro 2008

Sweden squad penpix for Euro 2008.

Turkey squad penpix for Euro 2008

Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero and Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano have been included in Italy's provisional 24-man squad for Euro 2008, coach Roberto Donadoni said on Tuesday. Del Piero, 33, has not played for the world champions in eight months but was expected to be included after finishing as Serie A's top scorer for the first time with 21 goals this term.

Atletico Madrid secured a place in the Champions League qualifiers on Sunday after a goal from Diego Forlan earned them a 1-0 win over Deportivo Coruna and ensured they could finish no lower than fourth in the table. Atletico are now level on 64 points with Barca, but are in fourth because the Catalans have a better record in head-to-heads.

Roshan Jamal Khan, from suburban Mumbai, was arrested from a mosque in Spain after morning prayers in January. His wife Farida and son Talha have been longing for news on Roshan's case. While there has been no response to letters written by Farida to the government, Spanish authorities too have not taken Roshan's case forward and he hasn't been produced in court even after spending more than 100 days in jail.

Frank Rijkaard will leave Barcelona at the end of the season and former captain Pep Guardiola will take over as coach of the team, club president Joan Laporta announced on Thursday. Former Netherlands international Rijkaard took charge of Barcelona in 2003 and led them to back-to-back league titles and victory over Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris in 2006.

Former club captain Pep Guardiola will replace Frank Rijkaard as Barcelona coach at the end of the season, Spanish media reported on Tuesday.

Former club captain Pep Guardiola will replace Frank Rijkaard as Barcelona coach at the end of the season, Spanish media reported.

AC Milan have failed to agree a transfer fee with Barcelona for Ronaldinho after a preliminary discussion.

Manchester United's lead in England was cut to three points when they could only play out a 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough while Chelsea won 2-0 at Manchester City. A round-up of weekend action in the main European leagues.

UEFA's executive committee will discuss the precise definition of own goals on Friday in an issue of huge importance to Europe's top strikers and defenders. European soccer's governing body is keen to end confusion over whether a goal should be credited to an attacking player, even when it has been diverted into the net by a member of the defending team.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis shrugged off a frustrating Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday and said the team's pace could not be fairly evaluated until after the fourth race of the season. McLaren started the year on a high note, Lewis Hamilton winning the opening race in Melbourne with team mate Heikki Kovalainen in fifth, but the pair could not match the Ferraris at Sepang after being penalised five places in qualifying.

Alessandro Del Piero's Euro 2008 hopes suffered a fresh blow on Saturday when Italy coach Roberto Donadoni left the striker out of his squad for Wednesday's friendly in Spain.

Fernando Alonso has played down his Renault team's chances of taking on Ferrari and McLaren in next month's Australian GP.

The iPhone was not the first touch-driven handset when it launched last year, or even the fastest for internet browsing over standard cellular networks but the impact of Apple's consumer smartphone on the world's handset business still reverberates through the telecom industry.

Google's comments echo figures released recently by AT&T and O2, which carry the iPhone exclusively in the US and UK respectively.

Nokia has launched a new series of cell phones that also double as navigation devices.

Barcelona have written permission from Cameroon to delay striker Samuel Eto'o joining the country's African Nations Cup preparations until Saturday, the Primera Liga club's coach Frank Rijkaard said on Tuesday.

Why does bad shopping happen to good travelers? Lynn Yaegar ponders vacation-induced shopping anxiety.

Pankaj Ghemawat is dismissive of the obsession with growth and scale economies -- he calls them 'dinosaur economics.' He would be much happier if companies considered all components of economic value while assessing cross-border alternatives.

Move over Baichung Bhutia. 23-year-old Sunil Chhetri is the new face of Indian soccer.

Schumacher retired at the end of the 2006 season but returned to the race track this month in a test that Ferrari described at the time as "half for pleasure, half for technical reasons."

Karun Chandhok said it was a dream come true to turn out alongside seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher on the race track during testing.

Michael Schumacher came out of retirement to set the fastest lap in testing for Ferrari at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

The ace driver received a call up from the Red Bull Racing Formula One team to test for them in Barcelona next week.