A person with knowledge of the situation revealed Manchester United has rejected a bid from Chelsea for striker Wayne Rooney.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not publicly authorized to discuss the bid.

The 17th stage of the Tour de France has started, with riders setting off in reverse order on a hilly time trial in the Alps.

Because the overall classification is reversed for the race against the clock, this means that overall leader Chris Froome will be the last to start the undulating 32-kilometer (20-mile) route from Embrun to Chorges.

The trainer for Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson has insisted he didn't give the sprinters performance-enhancing drugs and says it's time for them to take "responsibility for their doping instead of looking around for a scapegoat."

In a statement The Associated Press received on Tuesday from one of two email accounts for Chris Xuereb, the trainer is quoted as saying he has done nothing wrong since the Jamaicans hired him in May to provide massage therapy and nutritional help.

A judge has issued an arrest order for former professional wrestling champion Ric Flair for not paying his estranged wife more than $32,000 in spousal support.

The Charlotte Observer newspaper reports that Flair, whose real name is Richard Morgan Fliehr, was ordered to pay $4,000 a month to Jacqueline Beems, who filed for a legal separation last summer. Court documents say Flair didn't pay $32,352.51 following two court orders.

A Romanian museum is analyzing ashes found in a stove to see if they are the remains of seven paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and others that were stolen last year from the Netherlands, an official said Tuesday.

Prosecutor spokeswoman Gabriela Chiru told The Associated Press that Romania's National History Museum is examining the ashes found in the stove of Olga Dogaru. She is the mother of Radu Dogaru, one of three Romanian suspects charged with stealing the paintings from Rotterdam's Kunsthal gallery in a brazen daytime heist.

Sorry, ladies, but Adam Levine is off the market.

The Maroon 5 singer's representative confirmed Tuesday that Levine is engaged to model Behati Prinsloo.

Jay-Z's new album has sold more than 500,000 units its first week.

Nielsen SoundScan said late Tuesday that preliminary data shows that "Magna Carta Holy Grail" moved about 527,000 copies. It will debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week.

Gunmen have assassinated a prominent Syrian pro-government figure at his home in southern Lebanon, state-run media in Damascus and Lebanese security officials said Wednesday.

The SANA news agency said Mohammed Darrar Jammo was gunned down by "terrorists" outside his home in the southern coastal town of Sarafand.

Iran's president-elect has sent messages to Syria's Bashar Assad and Hizbullah, reaffirming support for the two allies.

The official IRNA news agency on Tuesday cited Hassan Rowhani as saying close Iranian-Syrian ties will be able to confront "enemies in the region, especially the Zionist regime," or Israel.

Four months after a Florida man was found unconscious in a Palm Springs, California, motel, doctors are looking into the mystery of his identity after he awoke with no memory of his past and speaking only Swedish.

Michael Boatwright, 61, woke up with amnesia, calling himself Johan Ek, The Desert Sun newspaper reported. Boatwright was found unconscious in a Motel 6 room in February. After police arrived, he was transported to the Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs where he woke up.