New York

Pete Sampras, who won a record 14 Grand Slam singles titles, will play his first senior tennis event in Boston next May and might compete in other Champions Series events, the tour announced on Tuesday. The 35-year-old legend will play in the Champions Cup, and joins a one-year-old circuit for top names aged 30 and over.

Political stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would benefit the whole Central African region where conflicts have disrupted peace and development schemes, the United Nations said on Tuesday. ”Congo is the natural, yet still developing, pole of stability in the troubled region of Central Africa,” said UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is concerned that United States bombing in southern Somalia could escalate hostilities and harm civilians who are reported to have been killed in the airstrikes, the UN spokesperson said. Ban said that the rout of the Islamic movement offered ”a new opportunity” for the government to establish full authority throughout the country for the first time.

The smell of gas throughout much of Manhattan forced the evacuation of buildings and the suspension of a commuter train service on Monday, authorities and media reported. There were no immediate reports of injuries. ”We are getting several calls of a foul odour. Our units are responding. It’s in various parts of the city,” a police spokesperson said.

Rapper Busta Rhymes was arrested after a man complained that the hip-hop star had beaten him up in a dispute over money, police said. Rhymes (34) turned himself in and was booked on a misdemeanour assault charge at a Manhattan police station on Wednesday night, police Lieutenant John Grimpel said.

Shopping list: 340 000kg of grain; 45 000kg of meat; 10 400 cases of mixed fruits and vegetables; bees. These are just a few of the ingredients for a year’s meals to feed the elephants, big cats, bats, birds, and other beasts at New York’s zoos.

Iraq and the election, Israel and Hezbollah, George Allen and George Bush, Mel Gibson and Madonna: the people, issues, images and absurdities of 2006 were inescapable, playing over and over before our eyes. It was all on YouTube — all in that index-card-sized, pixellated box.

The number of residents in New York City could put such a strain on its infrastructure by 2030 that the demand for power exceeds the supply, housing becomes scarce and rush hour lasts all day because of an overwhelmed transit network. Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned that the city of 8,2-million people must start planning now for the expected population growth of another million over the next 25 years.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who leaves office in less than two weeks, is making a last-ditch effort to convince Sudan to accept a much stronger peacekeeping force in Darfur. Annan is sending a top aide, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, to Khartoum on Wednesday to pin down the government’s position on his proposal to build up the African Union mission already in Darfur.

An animal rights group on Friday accused Macy’s of selling a coat with a real animal fur collar even though it was advertised as fake fur. The Humane Society of the United States said a ,99 Sean John Hooded Snorkel Jacket for sale on Macy’s website was described as having an ”imitation rabbit fur collar”.

Outgoing United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan will ask on Friday how the international community can allow the ”horror” in Sudan’s Darfur region to continue and say there is more than enough blame to shared all around. In a speech to be given in New York, Annan says blame can be shared by those valuing abstract notions of sovereignty over human lives.

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday endorsed African peacekeepers to help prop up the interim government in chaotic Somalia but also urged the authorities to pursue peace talks with their Islamist rivals. A resolution adopted by the 15-nation council said Somalia’s transitional federal government offered ”the only route to achieving peace and stability”.

National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern, in a story in the New York Times on Tuesday, admits the league made mistakes in introducing a new ball that has proved unpopular with players. ”I won’t make a spirited defence with respect to the ball,” Stern told the Times.