European scientists are criticizing a decision by Italy's government to allow a handful of children to be treated in public hospitals with an experimental stem cell therapy.

The adult stem cell treatment was halted in May by the Italian Pharmacological Agency. But the government last week overruled the regulator after parents went to court to demand that the therapy be continued. The health ministry, citing ethical and compassionate concerns, said the therapy shouldn't be interrupted since it hadn't shown any "grave collateral effects" in the children, some of whom are terminally ill.

Maria Sharapova keeps drawing a different opponent in the Key Biscayne final, and has yet to find one she can beat.

Now she'll give it a try against Serena Williams.

Before any money changed hands, the Lebanese players were given detailed instructions on how to rig football matches. Once they'd carried out the fix, they went to a Beirut hotel to collect their reward — payments ranging from $8,000 to $12,000 per match.

The discovery last month that 24 players — including six involved in World Cup qualifying matches — had been implicated in cheating has shocked Lebanon, an Arab country of 4 million where football has helped unite the deeply divided population still recovering from 15 years of sectarian war that left the place in ruins when it ended in 1990.

A senior official for the 2022 Qatar World Cup again downplayed suggestions that the tournament should be moved from the fierce heat of summer for player and fan safety.

Hassan al-Thawadi, general secretary of the Qatar 2022 supreme committee, told the Associated Press on Friday "we always knew about it ... we know there is an issue with the heat."

Iran, North Korea and Syria blocked adoption of a U.N. treaty that would regulate the multibillion-dollar international arms trade for the first time, saying it fails to ban sales to terrorists, but other countries refused to let the treaty die.

The treaty's adoption required agreement by all 193 U.N. member states, but some countries said Thursday they would ask Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to bring the final draft before the General Assembly for adoption by vote as soon as possible. Observers said that could be as soon as Tuesday.

Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby will be out for up to nine months because of a knee injury.

The Premier League club said the France international tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee at a training session on Wednesday.

An inquest into the death of Piermario Morosini during a Serie B match last year has blamed four medics for their inadequate treatment of the footballer.

Morosini, who was on loan from Serie A team Udinese, collapsed and died during Livorno's match at Pescara on April 14 due to a heart attack.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it approved a new drug from Biogen Idec to control multiple sclerosis in adults with hard-to-treat forms of the disease.

The twice-a-day capsules, called Tecfidera, offer a new option for multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease in which the body attacks its own nervous system. U.S. -based Biogen Idec already sells two other drugs for the disease, but both require injections.

Israel on Thursday fully reopened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip that were closed following militant rocket fire during President Barack Obama's visit to the region last week, the military said.

Hours before the U.S. leader visited the West Bank, Palestinian militants fired two rockets from Gaza into a southern Israeli city, causing damage but no injuries. The attack prompted Israel to close its only border crossing for commercial goods with the coastal territory, and to restrict its only civilian crossing to humanitarian cases only. It also limited the stretch of the sea where Gaza fishermen were allowed to fish.

As Sebastian Vettel has established himself as the most dominant Formula One driver of his generation, racing fans have come to see him as the boyish, fun-loving face of the glamorous sport.

But after his victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, a more complex image of the German has emerged — that of a ruthless, cunning driver who will do whatever it takes to win a race and possibly his fourth consecutive drivers' championship.