Rafael Nadal's knee held up for a third straight day as he won a doubles match at the VTR Open on Thursday, and he will get twice the workout on Friday.

The Spaniard teamed with Juan Monaco to reach the doubles semifinals with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Guillaume Ruffin and Filippo Volandri; his third match in three days after being away from the game for seven months with an ailing left knee and a stomach virus.

Just when Tokyo was getting a boost in its bid to host the 2020 Olympics, an ugly scandal has surfaced within the Japanese sporting culture and threatened to undermine the nation's hosting hopes.

Tokyo bid officials were thrilled last month when a poll showed that public support for the bid had risen to 73 percent, given that low public support had derailed the 2016 bid.

The offices of the Beitar Jerusalem football team were set on fire early Friday in an apparent arson attack, police said, a day after four of the club's fans were charged with anti-Muslim chanting at a recent game.

The attack also followed an announcement by police that it would begin deploying undercover units and beefing up police presence at games to track down those fans involved in racist chants.

The Hong Kong-based owner of Birmingham City says it has been approached by a group that wants to buy the English Championship club.

Birmingham International Holdings Ltd. said in a brief statement Friday that its lawyers were in touch with the group, led by a sports management company, to clarify the offer.

No wonder they're endangered.

Galapagos tortoises at London's zoo lumbered around impassively as famous French pianist Richard Clayderman serenaded them with music from his latest album, "Romantique," on Thursday.

An Israeli woman has turned to Facebook to beat a parking ticket — and expose a Tel Aviv road crew.

Hila Ben Baruch says she parked her car legally near her Tel Aviv home only to find it gone and replaced with a handicapped parking sign. City Hall slapped her with more than $300 in fines. Making matters worse, she says a city representative accused her of lying when she called to complain.

A video posted online purportedly shows Syrian soldiers taking a break from the country's civil war by bopping around to American R&B star Usher's hit song "Yeah!"

The soldiers dressed in camouflage combat gear — some armed with automatic rifles or rocket-propelled grenades poking out of their flak jackets — form a conga line and shimmy past the camera grinning.

When will the sun come up today? In Russia, it's a matter of fierce debate, and one that may reflect the sinking stature of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev declared Thursday that he has no immediate intention of reversing his decision to leave Russia's clocks on summer time the whole year.

The high-end art market is weathering Europe's economic storm, with London auctions this week netting more than 280 million pounds ($440 million) as international bidders snapped up high-profile works.

Sales of Impressionist, modern and surrealist art at rival auctioneers Christie's and Sotheby's saw several pre-sale estimates shattered.

A major winter storm headed toward the U.S. Northeast on Thursday, with up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow expected for a Boston-anchored region that has seen mostly bare ground this winter, the National Weather Service said.

It will be a rare and major storm, the type that means "you can't let your guard down," said Louis Uccellini, director of the weather agency's National Centers for Environmental Prediction.