
Column: Only 1 athlete of the year in 2012, Messi
'Tis the season for making merry and for choosing our top sports men and women of the year, two distinctly separate annual rituals that in fact ...

Messi edges Falcao at top of AP soccer rankings
Lionel Messi narrowly stayed on top of AP's Global Soccer Rankings this week despite breaking the record for goals in a calendar year. The Barcelona ...

Messi breaks 40-year record with 86th goal of 2012
Lionel Messi broke German great Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old record for most goals in a year by scoring for the 86th time in 2012 on Sunday.

Messi sets goal record for a year; Falcao scores 5
Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao were unstoppable Sunday on a night when both stars again demonstrated why their teams ...

Barcelona soccer club defends use of Catalan
Long a symbol of Catalan identity, Barcelona soccer club added its voice Wednesday to a simmering political dispute between the region of Catalonia ...

Messi, Ronaldo, Wambach up for FIFA awards
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta are the finalists for FIFA's world player of the year award. They were picked from a list of 23 ...

Independence drive falters for Spain's Catalonia
Voters in Spain's Catalonia region favored the right to decide on possible independence but split their ballots between fractious parties, making the ...

Spain's Catalonia punishes pro-referendum leader
Voters in the economically powerful region of Catalonia on Sunday punished the leader who made a referendum over breaking away from Spain a central ...

Bolt, Felix named IAAF World Athletes of the Year
Usain Bolt won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year award for the fourth time Saturday after defending his 100 and 200 meter gold medals at last ...

Catalan independence debate hits cold realities
As in towns across this wealthy northwestern region, the maze-like cobblestone streets of Girona's medieval quarter are fluttering with flags in favor ...

Chelsea on brink of elimination following 3-0 loss
Chelsea could become the first defending Champions League winner not to reach the knockout rounds, losing 3-0 at Juventus on Tuesday night as Fabio ...

Spain halts evictions for the needy after suicides
Spain approved a two-year suspension of evictions Thursday for some needy homeowners unable to pay their mortgages, but activists said the government ...

Austerity protests stall several European nations
Hundreds of thousands of Europe's beleaguered citizens went on strike or snarled the streets of several capitals Wednesday, at times clashing with ...

More than ever, Barca more than club for Catalans
Nearly 20 minutes into the latest clash between Spain's most popular football teams, Barcelona's 98,000-seat Camp Nou stadium erupted into a deafening ...

Spain anti-austerity protests draw thousands
Several thousand people marched to Spain's parliament in an anti-austerity protest Saturday, but were held back from surrounding the building by metal ...

As EU basks in peace prize, separatists on rise
Historic world port and fashionista capital, Antwerp has always lived on the crest of the wave. Now, a separatist party heading into municipal ...

Austerity cutbacks hit Spain's national day parade
Spain observed its National Day festivities in somber mood on Friday as the traditional military pageant was scaled back to cut costs. King Juan ...

Column: Ronaldo should edge Messi for Ballon d'Or
This time a year ago, the race between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the world player of 2011 award wasn't a race at all, with the Argentine ...

Spain crisis fuels Catalan separatist sentiment
Three weeks after a massive Catalan separatist march in Barcelona — the biggest since the 1970s — the independence flags still flutter from balconies ...

Tornado hits fair in Spain, flood deaths reach 10
A tornado swept through a fairground in a Spanish town, knocking down a Ferris wheel and injuring 35 people, while the death toll from flooding in the ...

Spaniards rage against austerity near Parliament
Spain's government was hit hard by the country's financial crisis on multiple fronts Tuesday as protestors enraged with austerity cutbacks and tax ...

Nepal IDs avalanche victims killed on Mt. Manaslu
Nepal's Tourism Ministry on Monday identified eight of the nine climbers killed in an avalanche that hit them before dawn a day earlier while they ...

Shakira pregnant with 1st child
Shakira is pregnant with her first child. The 35-year-old pop superstar posted on her website Wednesday that she and 25-year-old boyfriend Gerard ...

No handshake, no goals as Chelsea, QPR draw 0-0
Anton Ferdinand's snub of John Terry in the pre-match handshake overshadowed Chelsea's 0-0 draw at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday. The result ended ...

Massive anti-tax protest in Spain's Catalonia
Tens of thousands of people angered by Spain's financial crisis are protesting in Barcelona on the Catalonia region's 'National Day," claiming they ...