Venezuela's sick Chavez misses own inauguration bash

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez remained on his sickbed in Cuba on Thursday while supporters planned to rally in his honor on the day he should have been sworn in for a new six-year term in the South American OPEC nation.The postponement of the inauguration, a first in Venezuelan history, has laid bare the gravity of Chavez's condition after complications from a fourth cancer...

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Censors kept busy as strike-hit Chinese paper hits newsstands

GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - A weekly Chinese newspaper at the centre of anti-censorship protests appeared on newsstands on Thursday as a newsroom strike ended amid fresh calls for the Communist Party leadership to loosen its grip on the media. The strike at the Southern Weekly in affluent Guangdong province came after censors watered down a page-two editorial in the New Year edition. Calls for China...

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Steroids loom in major-college football

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight - 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes - without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid...

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The saddest athletes of 2012

Disclaimer: This list is depressing enough without death and police reports; as such, we've omitted some notable tragedies. McKayla Maroney, gymnast, U.S.A. More so than Usain Bolt's dominance or Michael Phelps's swan song, Maroney's "not impressed" face will likely be the most lasting image of the London Olympics. But the levity of one of the year's most widespread memes overshadows...

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Tears and smiles by the billion at London Games

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain spent nearly nine billion pounds ($14.42 billion) to create a magical and ambitious wonderland of venues for the 2012 Olympic Games, where fans were thrilled across a capital whose grime and grandeur alike got a makeover of global glamour.The Games proved a timely shot in the arm, spiritually if not financially, for a bruised nation struggling with economic recession. The...

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