South Africa - In the end, it was a split second and not a court’s decision that kept double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius from competing in the Beijing Olympics.

Pistorius was left off South Africa’s 1,600-meter relay team Friday, ending his hopes of participating in the Summer Games. He couldn’t hit the 400-meter qualifying time of 45.55 seconds, despite running a personal best 46.25 on Wednesday on his prosthetic blades at a meet in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Other disabled athletes have occasionally participated in the Olympics — legally blind runner Marla Runyan competed for the U.S. in Sydney eight years ago, for instance. Yet Pistorius’ tenacity and a bitter argument over whether his blades gave him an edge made his bid to run stand out. Read more » »

The Rahals team owner Bobby and his racing son Graham — returning to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a lot like eating comfort food: familiar and satisfying.

The track is about 50 miles from the Rahal Letterman Racing shop in Hilliard, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, and not far from New Albany, where 19-year-old Graham grew up and still lives.

The younger Rahal, now an IndyCar Series rookie driving for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, spent a lot of time at the track, nestled in rich, rolling farmlands.

That was a decade ago, when his father, a three-time champion in the CART series, was still racing and Graham spent long summer hours playing with friends and the children of other drivers in the paddock. Read more » »

Fla. - Jaguars wide receiver Jerry Porter had surgery Friday to repair a torn hamstring tendon and will miss all the preseason.

It was a significant setback for a team with Super Bowl expectations.

Porter signed a six-year, $30 million contract with Jacksonville in February and was supposed to give the team its first go-to receiver since Jimmy Smith retired. But he missed most of minicamp and organized team activities with hamstring problems.

Team doctors thought it would heal during the layoff before training camp, but decided Friday that surgery would be the best option to ensure Porter would be healthy during the season.
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Lobster-loving Canadians are trying to persuade a fish market in easternmost New Brunswick province to set free a huge crustacean believed to be more than 100 years old, its owner said Friday.

The 10-kilogram (22-pound) male named Big Dee-Dee was caught earlier this month in the Bay of Fundy and is now on display at the Shediac fish market Big Fish.

According the store owner, Denis Breau, it was to be auctioned off in the coming weeks.

But a massive campaign to stop it from landing in a pot of boiling water has unexpectedly kicked off, with online petitions and a woman in Vancouver on Canada’s Pacific Coast enlisting the help of the Vancouver Humane Society and animal rights group PETA.
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Border agents have stepped up searches and hundreds of traps have been placed on the California-Mexico line in an aggressive campaign to stop a tiny bug from bringing in a disease farmers say could wipe out the $1.3 billion citrus industry here.

Already, Asian citrus psyllid has hurt citrus production in parts of China and infested millions of dead and dying trees in Florida and Brazil. Growers say the bug has the potential to be more damaging than the Mediterranean fruit fly because entire groves — not just fruit — are at risk.

“This is not one more thing, this might be the last thing,” said Al Stehly, who manages 200 acres of oranges near Valley Center in San Diego County.

The tiny psyllids are the only transmitters of the disease, officially known by its Chinese name, huanglongbing, or “yellow dragon disease” for its visual effect on leaves. In the U.S., growers call it “citrus greening” disease because fruit fails to ripen. Read more » »

“The Dark Knight” lit up cash registers during its midnight debut, stealing away with a record $18.5 million from 3,040 theaters, distributor Warner Bros. said Friday.

That bested the 2005 performance of “Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith,” which took in $16.9 million during its midnight debut in 2,915 venues.

“The Dark Knight” figure did not include any of its 3 a.m. or 6 a.m. showings.

And while Batman only strikes at night, all indications are that “The Dark Knight” will keep landing blows: Advance ticket sales were booming.

The early numbers mean “The Dark Knight” will likely join the ranks of 10 other films that debuted on non-holiday weekends and cleared more than $100 million from Friday to Sunday, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC. Read more » »

The Abu Dhabi Investment Council prefers to be known as “the Council” rather than by the acronym of its subsidiary, the Abu Dhabi Investment Company. And if there were any doubts that the Council would have the heft to dictate its own nickname, it put them to rest this month when news broke that it had purchased a substantial stake in Manhattan’s iconic Chrysler Building.

The Council’s sudden interest in New York property raised almost as many eyebrows in Abu Dhabi as it did in New York. When the Council was created by a new law in 2006, many people concluded that it was intended to relieve Adia of its domestic and regional portfolio – a portfolio that, for reasons described above, Adia was not so excited about anyway.

That is not how the Council sees it, however. It may be much smaller than Adia, but it clearly has big ambitions. “The Council is responsible for investing part of Abu Dhabi Government’s surplus financial resources through a globally diversified investment strategy targeting positive capital returns through an expansive portfolio comprising highly diversified asset classes and active investment management strategies,” the Council wrote in response to queries about its role. This mission statement does not clearly distinguish it from Adia. Read more » »