Pat Graham

Schools reviewing safety protocols after deadly accident at Notre Dame football practice. Two universities said Thursday they will look at adopting specific policies for hydraulic lifts after a Notre Dame student was killed when one of the machines toppled over in high winds while he was videotaping football practice.

Pac-12 split for football divides Northern, Southern California schools. The new Pac-12 conference approved football divisions that will split the California schools and adopted an equal revenue-sharing plan Thursday as the league presidents and chancellors hashed out the important issues that arose because of recent expansion.

Olympic sprinting star Usain Bolt taking rest of 2010 off because of tightness in lower back. Coming off a rare loss at 100 meters, Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt is cutting his season short, saying he won't race again in 2010 because of tightness in his lower back.

US relay runners regain Olympic medals in appeal of Marion Jones doping case. American sprinters who were stripped of their 2000 Olympics relay medals because teammate Marion Jones was doping won an appeal Friday to have them restored.

NCAA on verge of adding coaches to academic performance data in bid for 'accountability'. John Brady has been the basketball coach at Arkansas State for two seasons, and he's facing a predicament. Although the Red Wolves are improving on the court, their academic progress rate is well below the NCAA's benchmark, so the team was recently docked a scholarship and hit with a practice time restriction.

Rangers acquire C Bengie Molina and cash from Giants for RHP Chris Ray, minor league pitcher. The AL West-leading Texas Rangers filled a significant need Thursday by acquiring veteran catcher Bengie Molina and cash from the San Francisco Giants for reliever Chris Ray and a minor league pitcher.

Winners and losers are being sorted out in the Big 12's near-death experience. The harrowing, near-death experience of the Big 12 Conference has affected every one of its member schools and had a ripple effect on others. Some are better off, some are not, and hardly any school broke even.

Kansas official says smaller Big 12 schools offered money to Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma. Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins said Wednesday that the five Big 12 schools in danger of being left without a conference came up with a plan that included offering money to keep Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma in the league.

Big 12 commish says league ready to cash in with new TV deals, even with 10 schools. Looking for the savior of the Big 12? Follow the money.

Syracuse, Colorado top list of BCS schools falling short of academic standards. The NCAA's big boys have figured out how to beat up the little guys in the classroom, too.

Manchester, Madrid ... Milwaukee? World Cup runneth over as soccer-themed pubs emerge in US. The pub is packed with beer-swilling supporters cheering on their home country during a recent "friendly" exhibition match. They're belting out songs and chants, many of them R-rated, as one fan keeps time by pounding on the giant drum he brought to the bar.

BASEBALL 2010: Halladay, Pedroia, Pujols, all of baseball again try to take down the Yankees. Everyone's ready to go, from Ichiro Suzuki and the refurbished Seattle Mariners all the way to Roy Halladay and the playoff-tested Philadelphia Phillies.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A small U.S. technology firm is suing the European Central Bank, claiming unauthorized use of its anti-counterfeiting technology on euro banknotes.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union has asked Greece to explain reports that it engaged in derivatives trades with U.S. investment banks that may have allowed it to mask the size of its debt and deficit from EU authorities.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank has to keep its monetary policy accommodative while it continues unwinding of some of its crisis liquidity measures, Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides was quoted on Monday as saying. Orphanides also told news agency Bloomberg he was concerned that inflation undershooting the ECB's price stability definition could start to impact inflation expectations, and said there are advantages to keeping full allotment policy in place in at least some of its tenders.

7 races, 7 days: After men's downhill postponed, officials shake up Alpine schedule. They saw this coming.

Tweet, tweet: Olympic updates coming from little birdies, or Facebook at the Twitter Olympics. What if the Miracle on Ice players had Twitter accounts?

'It's nice to be anonymous ... sometimes': Vonn hopes to boost skiing's profile at Olympics. Lindsey Vonn recalls being mobbed by fans when Alpine skiing's World Cup made its debut stop at Bansko, Bulgaria, a year ago.

LONDON (Reuters) - Global shares hit three-month lows and the euro fell to an eight-month low against the dollar on Friday as euro zone sovereign debt problems and nerves ahead of U.S. jobs data led investors to dump riskier assets.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - It is vital that Greece meets its stated goals for cutting its budget deficit and steps announced by the government this week are encouraging, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday.