Sevilla right back Aleix Vidal scored two goals and set up another to lead the titleholders to a 3-0 win over Fiorentina in their Europa League semifinal first leg on Thursday.

Fiorentina had the better share of chances in the first half, but it was Vidal who struck first from long range in the 17th minute at Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

Alberto Contador has been riding a bit slower than usual this season.

That's by design.

Pele is recovering from prostate surgery in a Sao Paulo hospital.

The 74-year-old football great was in a "stable" condition after the surgery this week, the Albert Einstein Hospital said in a statement on Thursday.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Thursday night the scandal surrounding his use of deflated footballs in the NFL playoff last season hasn't detracted in any way from his Super Bowl title.

"Absolutely not," Brady told a friendly university crowd in his first public appearance since an NFL investigation concluded Brady likely knew Patriots employees were cheating.

Hizbullah stated on Friday that the number of fighters who were killed in Syria's al-Qalamoun front were only three, denying media reports claiming otherwise.

“Some Lebanese and Arab media reports continue to broadcast false reports on the number of Hizbullah fighters killed in the last few days in al-Qalamoun front claiming that the number has totaled 40,” the statement said.

Google's first campus for startups and entrepreneurs in Asia opened on Friday in a glitzy neighborhood of South Korea's capital Seoul.

Google cited South Korea's flourishing startup scene and pervasive smartphone use as the reasons for picking Seoul after opening similar sites in London and Tel Aviv.

A fire caused by a short circuit in a building housing Syrian refugees in southern Lebanon has injured three girls.

The fire erupted on the second floor of the four-story building in the Ouzai compound in the port city of Sidon on Thursday. The compound is home to more than 500 Syrian refugees.

There is such a thing as being too clever for your own good.

Pep Guardiola is undoubtedly smart, but his reluctance to water down his tactical thinking is one reason why his Bayern Munich team won't win the Champions League this year. That and because he looks out of his depth at the pinnacle in Europe without the unstoppable, match-winning force that is Lionel Messi.

A Chinese province where authorities have removed hundreds of rooftop crosses from Protestant and Catholic churches has proposed a ban on any further placement of the religious symbol atop sanctuaries.

The draft, if approved, would give authorities in the eastern province of Zhejiang solid legal grounds to remove rooftop crosses.

Seattle's mayor and environmentalists have vowed to block Royal Dutch Shell PLC from parking two Arctic offshore drilling rigs on Seattle's waterfront, an effort to thwart the new frontier in oil exploration and spark a national debate about fossil fuels and climate change.

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