France, United States | featured news

The names change, not the results. Just call the U.S. women's basketball team Olympic champion - again. The Americans won their fifth straight gold medal Saturday, routing France 86-50 and putting more distance between themselves and the rest of the world heading into the 2016 Rio Games.

Allison Schmitt rallies the Americans to victory with a strong anchor leg... The U.S. took the gold with in an Olympic record time of 7 minutes 42.92 seconds. Australia, which had led after three legs,
was second in 7:44.41 and France was well back in 7:47.49 to take the bronze.

France earned an Olympic-sized upset in the 400 free relay Sunday, when 20-year-old Yannick Agnel chased down Ryan Lochte on the final lap to avenge the Americans' 2008 victory... The win is France's first in the history of the event. Not only that -- it's France's first relay victory of any kind, men or women, in the history of the Summer Olympics.

The hiccups outnumbered the highlights, and for a while the U.S. racked up fouls faster than points. The opener wasn't artistic. However, it was enough - easily enough. Kevin Durant scored 22 points in his Olympic debut, Kevin Love added 14 and LeBron James had eight assists as the American men's basketball team overcame some sloppy moments with a 98-71 win Sunday over France.

In a joint opinion piece to be published Friday, the leaders of the United States, Britain and France lay out in stark terms their contention that Libya's future must not include its leader, Moammar Gadhafi.

For young, established N.B.A. players, the possibility of not being needed on the national team can be an eye-opening experience.

It is already the longest tennis match in history, and it is still not done. John Isner of the United States and Nicolas Mahut of France fought to a fifth-set standoff, 59-59, after 10 hours of record-setting play in their first-round match at the 2010 Wimbledon championships.

The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China on Wednesday voiced support for making the Middle East a nuclear-arms-free zone, which would mean Israel would have to scrap any atomic bombs it has.

U.S. President Barack Obama accused Iran on Friday of building a secret nuclear fuel plant for several years and demanded that Tehran comply with international rules on nuclear nonproliferation.