Lazio president defends club after fans racially abuse Cagliari player

• Section of crowd targeted Cagliari's Victor Ibarbo
• Claudio Lotito: 'We can't control individual fans'

The Lazio president, Claudio Lotito, has again denied his club has a serious problem with racism after more abusive chanting marred Saturday's 2-1 win over Cagliari.

During the game, in which the away side's coach, Ivo Pulga, and two of his players were sent off, a section of fans in Lazio's notorious Curva Nord abused the Cagliari player Victor Ibarbo. While the rest of the stadium whistled in an attempt to drown out the chants, the referee warned both captains the match would be suspended if the abuse continued.

Live Nation in talks to host gigs at Olympic stadium from summer

World's biggest live music company understood to be in advanced talks to put on events at East End site

Live Nation, the world's biggest live music company which last year quit Hyde Park as a venue, is in talks to host gigs at the Olympic stadium in East London from this summer.

The company is understood to be in advanced talks to host events at the London Olympic stadium, which is set to re-open with an anniversary weekend of music gigs on the 27 and 28 July to mark the first anniversary of the start of the 2012 games.

Live Nation has been considering its options since quitting Hyde Park after more than a decade of putting on music events including Live 8, the Wireless Festival and Hard Rock calling.

Private New Year's memorial for slain Wash. ranger

PARADISE, Wash. (AP) -- A private sunrise memorial is planned on New Year's Day at Mount Rainier National Park in honor of a park ranger fatally shot a year ago.

Chief Ranger Chuck Young tells The News Tribune that many park employees plan to gather Tuesday morning at Paradise, Wash., to honor law enforcement Ranger Margaret Anderson.

Apple store in Paris robbed on New Year's Eve

Thousands of euros of goods stolen from flagship shop as armed robbers take advantage of festivities

Armed robbers targeted an Apple store in central Paris on New Year's Eve, taking thousands of euros worth of goods, a police official said on Tuesday.

The robbery took place at about 9pm on Monday, three hours after closing time at one of Apple's flagship stores behind the Paris Opera which sells products ranging from iPhones and iPads to iMac computers.

Saudi Arabia's riches conceal a growing problem of poverty

In a country with vast oil wealth and lavish royalty, an estimated quarter of Saudis live below the poverty line

A few kilometres from the blinged-out shopping malls of Saudi Arabia's capital, Souad al-Shamir lives in a concrete house on a trash-strewn alley. She has no job, no money, five children under 14 and an unemployed husband who is laid up with chronic heart problems.

"We are at the bottom," she said, sobbing hard behind a black veil that left only her eyes visible. "My kids are crying and I can't provide for them."

Millions of Saudis struggle on the fringes of one of the world's most powerful economies, where jobs and welfare programmes have failed to keep pace with a population that has soared from 6 million in 1970 to 28 million today.