President Barack Obama said on Friday the NFL appeared to be "winging it" in dealing with former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice's domestic violence case but praised the league for later putting in place a new policy to handle such incidents.
When a wave of the NBA's biggest stars donned "I can't breathe" shirts - the rallying cry of demonstrators against U.S. policing tactics in black communities - it highlighted the power and influence wielded by today's professional basketball stars.
Islamic State's self-declared police force in western Syria decapitated four men after accusing them of blasphemy, a rights group monitoring the Syrian conflict said on Saturday.
U.S. lawmakers were expected on Friday to approve new sanctions on Russian weapons companies and investors in the country's high-tech oil projects, putting more U.S. pressure on President Vladimir Putin for interference in eastern Ukraine.
