Defending world champion Russia lost to France 2-1 on Thursday in one of the biggest upsets in ice hockey history.

A team stacked with NHL and KHL players bowed to a group of mainly French league players who ended Russia's 13-match winning streak at the world championship.

Kimi Raikkonen is confident he can put questions about his future to one side and fight for the Formula One title this season.

Four races into the season, the 2007 champion is second overall and only 10 points behind three-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel heading into this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

Schalke announced the extension of the contract of rising star Julian Draxler on truck-mounted panels driven through the city on Thursday.

The 19-year-old attacking midfielder is considered one of Germany's most promising players. Draxler extended his contract prematurely by two seasons until 2018.

After a frustrating start to the season, Fernando Alonso retains high hopes of clawing back his 30-point gap on Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel starting at this week's Spanish Grand Prix.

The two-time world champion has drifted down to fourth place after four races. But the Spaniard feels that for the first time in years Ferrari has a car good enough to dictate the race to Red Bull, rather than waiting for opportunities and slip-ups from his main rival.

A team of smokejumpers parachuting into a fire in the mountains of Southern Oregon landed in an illegal marijuana garden being prepared for growing season.

The six smokejumpers found the site Monday evening, when there was a rash of lightning strikes.

The slippery blue clay may be gone, but the Madrid Open continues to produce surprises.

Second-ranked Roger Federer was ousted by Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in Thursday's third round, leaving Rafael Nadal as the either the clear front-runner for the title or the next big name who should be wary of an upset.

Ronaldinho seems to be thriving again just at the right time.

The two-time world player of the year significantly increased his chances of making Brazil's squad for next month's Confederations Cup after a superb performance in the Copa Libertadores.

Muneera al-Shatti has loved playing basketball since she was a child but it wasn't until Thursday that she had chance to show off her skills at a public arena in Kuwait.

As part of a new initiative launching sports leagues for women, al-Shatti and her teammates from Salwa Al-Sabah club downed Qadsiya club 63-13 in a game that attracted several hundred men and female fans. The initiative to launch basketball, table tennis and athletic leagues for the first time in Kuwait illustrates how the landscape for women athletes is improving across the Persian Gulf where hard-liners have long opposed women playing sports.

As a theater and film producer, Bill Kenwright knows a story when he sees it.

In his other life, as chairman of English Premier League club Everton, he has experienced a pretty special one close up.

The Vatican's culture minister says Mexico's folk Death Saint is a blasphemous symbol that shouldn't be part of any religion.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi says worshiping such an icon is a degeneration of religion.