UPDATE 1-Baseball-MLB, players agree to expand drug testing

* HGH and testosterone testing to be used this season* WADA-accredited lab hails toughness of new MLB testing (Adds details, quotes)Jan 10 (Reuters) - Major League Baseball and the players' union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday.The advanced testing will start this season,...

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MLB to expand blood testing for HGH

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — Major League Baseball will test for human growth hormone throughout the regular season and increase efforts to detect abnormal levels of testosterone, a decision the NFL used to pressure its players.Baseball players were subject to blood testing for HGH during spring training last year, and Thursday's agreement between management and the Major League Baseball Players...

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UPDATE 2-Baseball-MLB, players agree to expand drug testing

* HGH and testosterone testing to be used this season* WADA-accredited lab hails toughness of new MLB testing (Adds USADA comment in paras 5-7)Jan 10 (Reuters) - Major League Baseball and the players' union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday.The advanced testing will start...

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Haiti plans low-key ceremony to mark quake

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Haitian government plans a low-key ceremony to mark the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the country.Haitian President Michel Martelly will preside over what an adviser calls a "subdued" memorial at the grounds of the former national palace.Presidential adviser Damian Merlo said Saturday's memorial would be a small public event with just senior...

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Argentine court charges officials for train crash

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine court is charging two former government officials and the owners of a train company in connection with a crash that killed 51 people last year.The Buenos Aires federal court on Friday ratified charges previously filed against former transportation secretaries Juan Pablo Schiavi and Ricardo Jaime.The court also charged Sergio and Mario Cirigliano, owners...

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Partial victory for Bolivia in coca fight

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Evo Morales' global crusade to decriminalize the coca leaf, launched in 2006 after the coca growers' union leader was first elected president of Bolivia, has finally attained a partial, if largely, symbolic victory.A year ago, Bolivia temporarily withdrew from the 1961 U.N. convention on narcotic drugs because it classifies coca leaf, the raw material of cocaine, as an illicit...

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Venezuela VP to travel to Cuba see Chavez, family

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's vice president said he will travel to Cuba on Friday to visit ailing President Hugo Chavez and his family.Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced his trip on television, saying he would also meet with Chavez's medical team. The government says the Venezuelan leader is fighting a severe respiratory infection a month after he underwent cancer surgery in Havana."I'm...

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Cubans eager to try new law easing travel rules

HAVANA (AP) — Like many Cubans, 16-year-old Ana Liliam Garcia is excited at the thought of seeing the world beyond this Communist-run island smaller than the state of Pennsylvania.Once an impossibility, today she dreams of meeting several relatives in Florida — and maybe even Mickey Mouse."My cousins and my uncles, they're all in Miami," Garcia said, her eyes lighting up as she talked about a new...

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Manning puts winning streaks on line against Ravens

(Reuters) - Peyton Manning, who has mounted a remarkable comeback with the Broncos, will be aiming to extend two big winning streaks when Denver hosts the Baltimore Ravens in the National Football League playoffs on Saturday.Manning and the Broncos are gunning for their 12th win in a row this season in the divisional round against the Ravens, a team he has beaten nine consecutive times, with eight...

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Jaguars no longer want hometown hero Tim Tebow

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Tim Tebow won't be playing for his hometown team.The Jacksonville Jaguars made it clear Thursday that they have no plans to pursue the popular and polarizing New York Jets backup quarterback.The Jets are likely to release the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner and Jacksonville native during the offseason, and many believed Tebow would land with the Jaguars.But new general manager...

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