A dog that became an Internet sensation after crashing a half marathon in the U.S. has died just a week after receiving a medal for completing the race.

The 100-pound (45-kilogram) chocolate Labrador retriever named Boogie ran most of the 13.1 miles (21.08 kilometers) in the Oct. 5 event in Midwestern Indiana state after escaping his leash the night before. Owner Jerry Butts made an appointment for the dog to be neutered after the race to curb his wandering ways.

"The Lion King" has more reason to roar — it's on pace to end the week as the first Broadway show to earn $1 billion.

According to The Broadway League, the show ended last week with a 16-year gross of $999,267,836, and it regularly pulls in between $1 million and $2 million a week over eight performances at the Minskoff Theatre.

Barcelona has recovered forward Lionel Messi from a minor leg injury and captain Carles Puyol after a seven-month absence in time for its upcoming games against AC Milan and Real Madrid.

Barcelona team doctors cleared Messi and Javier Mascherano on Friday after muscle injuries in their right legs.

Gareth Bale is fit and ready to play for Real Madrid as the club looks to improve on its recent lackluster showings for an eight-day stretch coach Carlo Ancelotti calls "very important," with games against Malaga, Juventus and fierce rival Barcelona.

Ancelotti said on Friday that "Bale is available" for Saturday's Spanish league game against Malaga with critical games against Juventus in the Champions League and the season's first clasico at Barcelona coming next weekend.

Germany coach Joachim Loew thinks his team will play a major role at next year's World Cup, although it would be "disrespectful" to single it out as the favorite without mentioning others such as Spain and Brazil.

Loew spoke on Friday after extending his contract past the World Cup by another two years. The German Football Federation (DFB) said the new contract runs through the 2016 European Championship in France.

Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame an awful second set to beat Daniel Brands of Germany 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 and reach the quarterfinals of the Erste Bank Open on Thursday.

No. 2 Tommy Haas and No. 3 Fabio Fognini also advanced from the second round, but No. 4 Philipp Kohlschreiber was upset 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (0) by Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium.

Just two weeks ago, Scott Dixon needed an enormous amount of help to take control of the overall IndyCar race. Helio Castroneves gave it to him with a broken gearbox during a wild doubleheader in Houston, allowing Dixon to head for California with his third series title in sight.

"It's been such an up-and-down season for us that it's kind of hard to believe we're here," said Dixon, the series champion in 2003 and 2008. "We started so poorly, but we managed to find some redemption at mid-season and got back in the hunt. And then Houston happened, and now we're here. It's been a wild ride."

Abusive price hikes of hotel rates and plane tickets during next year's World Cup will be monitored by a committee created by the Brazilian government on Thursday.

The group composed of members of different ministries was formed by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

When it was all over, when the San Antonio Spurs had let their fifth championship slip through their fingers and succumbed to the Miami Heat in a classic seven-game NBA Finals, Manu Ginobili just needed to get away. And he wasn't sure he was coming back.

He was a pending free agent, coming off one of his most challenging seasons yet and staring his 36th birthday right in the face.

Archaeologists began digging for treasure beneath a 19th century fort in northern India on Friday, after a popular Hindu holy man said a former king appeared to him in a dream and told him of the cache.

The treasure hunt began after Hindu swami Shobhan Sarkar relayed his dream to an Indian government minister who was visiting the swami's ashram last month.