Sport

In a scene that might have been plucked straight out of Grand Theft Auto, the online game BREAKAWAY culminates with a girl being abducted, forced into a locker and left there after continual bullying and abuse. But the game is not glamorizing gangs, instead it’s trying to teach boys and girls between the ages of 9 and15 what constitutes –- or doesn’t constitute — a healthy, equal attitude towards girls and women. The…

Jimmie Johnson’s foray into racing originated not in a car, but on a motorcycle as a 5-year-old in Southern California competing in motocross. A knee injury just before he became a teenager pushed Johnson into off-road truck racing. That began a career that would see Johnson, 40, eventually segue into stock cars and climb up the NASCAR hierarchy. As six Cup Series championships and 77 victories attest, he made…

RELATED: Complete race results | Updated standings DOVER, Del. – NASCAR’s new Dash 4 Cash format agrees with Erik Jones – even when his No. 20 Toyota is running on older tires.   Despite staying out on used rubber for a restart with five laps left in Saturday’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 200 at Dover International Speedway, Jones pulled away to beat runner-up Darrell Wallace Jr. to the finish line by 1.434 seconds.   The victory was Jones’ second of…

11:00 AM ET print DOVER, Del. — One of the biggest criticisms of NASCAR has been its inability for swift change, the inability to, for lack of a better term, shift gears at a moment’s notice. The sanctioning body appears to be working on that and yet at times it doesn’t appear to make changes quickly enough. That was evident Friday at Dover International Speedway in so many ways. Cars…

The XXXI Olympiad begins in less than three months and the host country is facing a devastating recession, a Zika epidemic and more political turbulence now that the president has been suspended and replaced by a right-wing government. Brazil has a lot to resolve before it puts on the competition it promised the world back in 2009, when the booming country beat out President Obama-backed Chicago to host the games…

The world’s most populous country is turning its attention to the world’s most popular sport. And if China can follow through on an ambitious plan pushed by President Xi Jinping, the nation could someday become a soccer superpower. Last spring Xi, a fervent soccer fan, signed off on the most sweeping reforms in the history of modern Chinese sport — ones that apply only to soccer. In a dramatic break…

From VOA Learning English, this is In The News. Brazil is preparing to host the Olympic Games in August, but the South American nation may not be celebrating. Political problems and other issues have drawn attention away from the games in Rio de Janeiro and toward the country’s troubles. This week, Brazil’s Senate voted to put President Dilma Rousseff on trial for manipulating the budget. She is suspended from office….

Associated Press/Silvia IzquierdoA man holds a banner designed with images of people killed during police operations against drug traffickers, framed in Olympic rings, with a message that reads in Portuguese; “”Rio, Olympic champion of the killing of Indians, and Black people for 450 years” during a protest at the Complexo de Alemao slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, April 2, 2016. See Also LONDON (AP) — Doping scandals. Bribery…

RELATED: Live weather updates   DOVER, Del. — Friday’s qualifying sessions for both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series were canceled due to inclement weather at Dover International Speedway.   On-and-off bouts of rain dropped from the skies above the “Monster Mile” early Friday morning of the tripleheader weekend, but it came on strong during the second NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, sending cars off the track during two separate incidents….

“Do you guys ever turn right?” As far as bad jokes related to NASCAR go, this one is up there. (We do turn right a couple of times a year when we run road courses. But yes, for the most part our races are on tracks where we just turn left.) Another common question — way too common, actually — is, “What do you do if you need to go…

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If the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro proceed as planned this summer, the threat of the mosquito-born Zika virus may substantially increase, according to Canadian professor and biologist Amir Attaran. Writing in an article posted to the Harvard Public Health Review this week, Attaran argues for postponing or moving the Rio Olympics. He says the games, which are estimated to bring 500,000 foreign tourists to Brazil, could both speed up the…

RELATED: Live weather updates   DOVER, Del. — Friday’s qualifying sessions for both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series were canceled due to inclement weather at Dover International Speedway.   On-and-off bouts of rain dropped from the skies above the “Monster Mile” early Friday morning of the tripleheader weekend, but it came on strong during the second NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, sending cars off the track during two separate incidents….

RELATED: Full results from opening practice   DOVER, Del. — Only four minutes into NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series opening practice on Friday at Dover International Speedway, Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart and Jamie McMurray all had single-car wrecks — a result of a gear failure on Patrick’s car that collected the other two drivers when her car left oil on the 1-mile racing surface. The Stewart-Haas Racing team — that fields Patrick’s and Stewart’s cars — confirmed the…

“Do you guys ever turn right?” As far as bad jokes related to NASCAR go, this one is up there. (We do turn right a couple of times a year when we run road courses. But yes, for the most part our races are on tracks where we just turn left.) Another common question — way too common, actually — is, “What do you do if you need to go…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

This is because we don’t have the same kind of mosquito control problem that Brazil has, even in our poorer areas where there is a lot of still water. Aedes mosquitoes typically lay eggs in and near standing water in things like buckets, bowls, animal dishes, flower pots, and vases. They are aggressive daytime biters, prefer to bite people, and live indoors and outdoors near people. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director…

DOVER, Del. — Tony Stewart suffered his first serious hit since his return from a back injury in a fiery three-car wreck at practice Friday at Dover International Speedway that also involved Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Danica Patrick. Patrick’s No. 10 dumped oil on the track, spun, and the rear of her Chevrolet burst into flames. Stewart was behind her and No. 14 hit the oil and smacked the wall. Stewart,…

x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Jeff Gluck previews the top story lines at the upcoming AAA 400 Drive for Autism. usa today sports Brad Keselowski has two victories in 2016, including the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.(Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports) As the freshness of the new NASCAR season wears off, there’s renewed concern over the Chase for the Sprint Cup’s impact on the…

Latin America has emerged as the epicenter of the Zika epidemic—and that has foreign businesses, medical experts and tourists all weighing the risks of travel abroad. Fanning the flames of the debate this week was a provocative article by Canadian lawyer and biologist Amir Attaran declaring that the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil “must not proceed,” released on the heels of Major League Baseball’s decision to move two games from…