The United States’s task of convincing the world it has the mad cow disease outbreak under control grew more difficult on Sunday after the US Department of Agriculture announced that infected meat had been distributed far more widely than initially believed.

Hundreds of wild elephants are the latest refugees from violence and disorder in Robert Mugabe’s crisis-torn Zimbabwe. The animals are fleeing the country by wading across the Zambezi river to escape being shot or trapped by so-called ”war veterans” and illegal hunters.

More than 20 rescue dog teams who have been working relentlessly since Saturday have failed to dig up any survivors from Bam’s suffocatingly powdery rubble left after Friday’s devastating earthquake that killed up to 30 000 people. Now the United Nations coordination agency is considering calling off the search.

Australian supermaxi Skandia sailed to a pre-dawn victory in the Sydney-Hobart yacht classic in Hobart on Monday, finishing just 14 minutes ahead of its New Zealand rival, Zana, after a neck-and-neck duel that began on Boxing Day. The pair were virtually abreast in the final stages.

Rangers kept their fading hopes of retaining the Scottish Premier League title alive with a clinical 2-0 win at Dundee on Sunday. Goals from Portuguese midfielder Nuno Capucho and left-back Michael Ball ensured a comfortable outing for Alex McLeish’s side.

Wayne Rooney grabbed the headlines again on Sunday when he came off the bench to score the only goal of the game to give Everton a 1-0 win over Birmingham at Goodison Park. It was the teenage striker’s third goal in four matches and took his tally for the season to four and his short Everton career haul to 10.

The 46-member South African rescue team arrived in Iran on Sunday to join a massive international rescue effort and lend assistance to Iran following a devastating earthquake in the country’s historic fort city of Bam on Friday.