Todd Smith NY

Nicklas Bendtner scores a hat-trick as a rampant Arsenal side thrash Porto 5-0 at The Emirates to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel keeps alive his faint hopes of winning this year’s Formula One world title with a convincing victory in the Japan Grand Prix at Suzuka. He is 16 points behind leader Jenson Button — who finished eighth.

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho will be banned for the next three Italian Serie A games following a gesture he made during Saturday’s controversial 0-0 draw against Sampdoria.

Birmingham City avenged their FA Cup quarterfinal defeat at Portsmouth on Saturday, beating the English Premier League bottom side 2-1 to nudge them closer to relegation on Tuesday.

FIFA announce the seedings for Friday’s 2010 World Cup finals draw in a statement on their official web site, leaving former champions France unseeded.

Italy’s Valentino Rossi gave his bid to seal a seventh Moto GP world title at the Malaysian Grand Prix a boost after qualifying for the race in pole position.

Frenchman William Bonnet avoided a crash in the finishing straight to secure victory in the second stage of Paris-Nice — the first major race of the European cycling calendar.

Bellamira Neira sits staring at the belongings that chronicle a lifetime, sprawled out on the sand for any stranger to see.

Europe League favorites Liverpool scraped to a narrow 1-0 win over Unirea Urziceni at Anfield on Thursday as striker David Ngog scored the winner nine minutes from time.

The Ukrainian Klitschko brothers, Vitali (above) and Wladimir, will flip a coin to see who fights Briton David Haye in an attempt to unify the world heavyweight titles.

Hertha Berlin have reacted to their slump to the bottom of the German Bundesliga by announcing that coach Lucien Favre has been relieved of his duties.

A British oil rig is due to start drilling off the Falkland Islands in a move likely to stoke further tensions between Argentina and the UK over the disputed South Atlantic territory.

The magnitude-8.8 earthquake that rocked the west coast of Chile last month was violent enough to move the city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west and the capital, Santiago, about 11 inches to the west-southwest, researchers said.

Golfer Tiger Woods will break his silence Friday, nearly three months after the infamous car crash that spiraled into a sex scandal.

Just weeks before a major earthquake rocked Haiti, a British disaster committee released a report noting the lessons learned in rebuilding after a massive tsunami destroyed large swaths of coastline around the Indian Ocean five years ago.

After more than a month in a Haitian jail, an American missionary was free Monday night, looking forward to a hot shower and a long night in bed on home soil.

In-form Borussia Dortmund made it five straight wins on Sunday with a topsy-turvy 3-2 Bundesliga victory at Cologne having looked like they had thrown the three points away.

The widely anticipated results of gender tests conducted on South African runner Caster Semenya will not be made public, the country’s sports ministry announced Thursday.

The only thing that seemed to frighten Pedro Munoz that dark morning was that a guilty conscience would haunt him if he did nothing.

Last year’s runner-up Paul Casey will resume his titanic World Golf Championship Match Play semifinal against Camilo Villegas on Sunday after the Colombian missed a golden opportunity at the fifth extra hole in Arizona.

Luke Donald holds a one-stroke lead over fellow Englishman Simon Dyson and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy going into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews on Monday.

Liverpool’s hopes of claiming the fourth and final Champions League place in the English Premier League suffer a setback as a first half Hugo Rodallega goal gives struggling Wigan a 1-0 home victory on Monday.

Honduras is accusing Brazil’s government of instigating an insurrection within its borders, and gave the Brazilian Embassy 10 days to decide the status of ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who has taken refuge there.

Barcelona star Lionel Messi was named FIFA World Player of the Year in Zurich on Monday, capping a remarkable 2009 for the Argentina star.

An Organization of American States commission condemned Monday the slayings last month of three Honduran political activists opposed to a military-led coup that removed the elected president in June.

Real Madrid’s big summer spendings continue their scoring spree in a 3-0 Champions League win over Marseille but fellow European giants AC Milan suffer a shock 1-0 home defeat to Swiss minnows FC Zurich.

Eduardo Ravani Jr. was photographing a wedding reception early Saturday at Las Terrazas dela Reina on the hills overlooking Santiago, Chile, when the party disc jockey told him: “Hey, I think the building is moving.”

Charisa Coulter, one of two American missionaries detained for more than a month in Haiti on suspicion of kidnapping 33 children after January 12’s devastating earthquake, was released Monday.

Sir Richard Branson confirms in a London press conference that he is taking over the newly-formed Manor GP team, which will be re-branded Virgin Racing for the 2010 Formula One season.

Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo Sosa was sworn in Wednesday as president of Honduras, bringing an end to the de facto government that ruled the country following a June coup.