A grenade blast during a match at Afghanistan's main cricket stadium wounded four spectators and briefly halted the game on Friday, officials and police said.

Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte underwent knee surgery during the offseason and will not return before September, manager Pep Guardiola said Friday.

The Spain international, who was a mainstay at center back for City last season, hurt his knee in the 5-1 win over Wolverhampton in the third-to-last Premier League game of last season. He managed to play through pain in the team's final two games.

Xavi Hernández can scratch the last item off his wish list after Barcelona struck a deal for France defender Jules Koundé.

Barcelona said that Sevilla agreed to transfer the highly touted center back for a still-undisclosed sum. The deal will be complete after the 23-year-old Koundé undergoes a medical exam.

Ukraine's envoy to Turkey on Thursday expressed "sadness" over a chant of "Vladimir Putin" that rang out at a Champions League qualifying round football match in Istanbul involving Dynamo Kyiv.

Safe-standing areas will be allowed on a trial basis at European club games involving teams from England, Germany and France this season, UEFA said.

European soccer's governing body said it will assess the findings of what it calls an "observer program" at the end of the season and decide whether to continue or expand it.

There have been messages of support and praise from the royal family and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The coverage is widespread, across the rolling news channels and both the front and back pages of the nation's newspapers.

Crystal Palace confirmed the signing of United States center-back Chris Richards from Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old Richards signed a five-year contract with the south London club, which paid Bayern a fee reported to be about $15 million.

Three members of Cuba's athletics delegation at the World Championships in the United States, including former discus world champion Yaime Perez absconded, the country's sports institute said on Wednesday.

Neymar is due to face trial in Spain in October just a month before the World Cup over alleged irregularities in his transfer to Barcelona nearly a decade ago, judicial sources said on Wednesday.

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner said at her trial Wednesday she had no intention of smuggling drugs into Russia and that she came to the country despite U.S. warnings so as not to let down her Russian team.