FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi out six weeks after tearing thigh muscle

FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi will be out for six weeks after tearing a left thigh muscle, the club said Wednesday.

The Argentine star pulled up as he made a run during the team's 1-0 win over Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday. He left the field in tears in the 35th minute of the second-round, second-leg match at Camp Nou.

The injury is similar to the one which sidelined Messi for six weeks in December and January.

Barcelona said Messi would continue with special treatment for the remainder of the season.

Team captain Carles Puyol blamed the Spanish media for hounding coach Frank Rijkaard into recalling Messi to the …

Green light for R-R bid

A Bid to turn a piece of land earmarked for a GBP75 millionfactory development by engine maker Rolls-Royce into a protected openspace has been thrown out by councillors.

South Gloucestershire Council yesterday rejected an applicationfor the land between Gipsy Patch Lane and the A38 Gloucester RoadNorth in Filton to be designated a village green.

The decision removes a hurdle to the aero giant's plans to build anew plant, which it says will safeguard 3.500 jobs at the site forthe next 25 years.

Campaign group Community Against …

Completing Klehr v. A.O. Smith Corp., and resolving the oddity and lingering questions of civil RICO statute of limitations accrual

I. INTRODUCTION Civil RICO1 was left "limitations-naked"2 when enacted by Congress in 1970, and remained that way until the Supreme Court clothed the statute with a four-year statute of limitations period in a 1987 case, Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff & Associates.3 But the Malley-Duff Court did not determine when that limitations period should begin to run.4 In the wake of the Malley-Duff decision, the federal courts delineated essentially three conflicting rules for civil RICO statute of limitations accrual.5 Thus, for over ten years, RICO litigants have been asking: When does the civil RICO statute of limitations accrue? Many anticipated the Supreme Court would answer this …

Hoosiers add new receivers coach to Wilson's staff

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Indiana has hired Northwestern assistant Kevin Johns as its receivers coach and passing game coordinator.

The decision Tuesday comes one day after the Hoosiers' top playmaker, receiver Tandon Doss, said he would give up his senior season and enter the NFL draft.

New coach Kevin Wilson has been putting together a staff. Since being hired as the …

Capello: Man City could be key to English success

LONDON (AP) — Fabio Capello believes Manchester City's English players could be central to ending the country's trophy drought, having seen a Spain squad packed with Barcelona players win its first World Cup.

Six City players finished the match against Switzerland last month as England recorded a second straight win in European Championship qualifying.

And City went second in the Premier League by beating Newcastle 2-1 on Sunday with four Englishman starting — goalkeeper Joe Hart, defender Joleon Lescott, and midfielders James Milner and Gareth Barry — while winger Adam Johnson came off the bench and netted the winner.

While Milner is suspended for England's Euro 2012 …

Cowboys slap Switzer with $75,000 fine // Jones imposes largest penalty on NFL coach

AUSTIN, Texas Barry Switzer was fined a record $75,000 Wednesdayby Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who said his coach's arrest on agun charge brought "pain and embarrassment" to a team trying torepair its image. The fine is the largest imposed on an NFL coach.

"It's a serious and significant fine," Jones said. "I made thefine what I made it because of his role as a coach. It would havebeen different if he were a player."

Jones said Switzer's job was not in jeopardy. Switzer, whoearns an estimated $1 million a year, said he accepted the fine andthe responsibility for his actions.

"It hurts," he said. "It hurts not only financially, but muchmore than the …

Williams meets Clijsters in semifinal showdown

NEW YORK (AP) — Whether it's starting a family or starting a business, Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams have figured out how to make life about more than hitting a fuzzy green ball.

As for that tennis part — well, things are going pretty well there, too.

In the featured semifinal match at the U.S. Open on Friday, Clijsters tries to stay on track for her second straight title after a 2½-year layoff during which she got married and had a baby girl, Jada.

Not a bad second act.

The 27-year-old Belgian is trying to become the first woman to win back-to-back titles at Flushing Meadows since 2000-01, when Williams did it.

No woman has had a nine-year gap in between …