Zurich  - Four days ago, Cristiano Ronaldo miraculously walked away unscathed from the mangled wreckage of his Ferrari after writing off the expensive car on the way to training.

On Monday the Manchester United striker was named the FIFA World Footballer of the Year 2008, beating Argentinean Lionel Messi and Spaniard Fernando Torres into second and third place.

For the 23-year-old Portuguese international striker, who made history by becoming the first Premier League player to win the award, the accolade is just the latest in a string of awards and honours that he has won in his career.

Zurich  - Manchester United's Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who last month won the European Footballer of the Year, was on Monday named FIFA World Footballer of the Year 2008.

Ronaldo, 23, who made history by becoming the first Premier League-based player to win the award, convincingly beat Argentine striker Lionel Messi in second place.

Third place in the voting conducted by national team coaches and captains went to Liverpool's Spanish striker Fernando Torres.

Zurich  - Liberian footballer Melvin King has been banned for five months after submitting a positive doping test at a World Cup qualifying match earlier this year, the ruling body FIFA said on Thursday.

King tested positive for a glucocorticoid at a June 21 qualifier with Senegal and didn't have a therapeutic use exemption for the substance. He is banned from October 2, the day he was originally suspended, until March 1, 2009, from all football matches.

Zurich - European champions Spain remain top of the world football rankings issued Wednes

Zurich - Switzerland's second biggest bank Credit Suisse is stepping up its restructuring programme saying Thursday it was axing another 5300 jobs after reporting a
3 billion Swiss francs (2.5 billion dollars) net loss during in the first two months of the current quarter.

"Investment banking had a significant pretax loss, reflecting the adverse financial market conditions in the quarter and cost association with risk reduction," the Zurich-based bank said in a review of its fourth-quarter performance.

Zurich - Roger Federer will play only two tune-up events on clay in 2009, ahead of the only Grand Slam he has never won, the French Open.

The former world number one Federer said on his website that he will play at the Madrid and Rome 1000 Series (formerly Masters Series) events ahead of the May 24 French Open start in Paris.

Switzerland's Federer played four events on the dirt this year, but was beaten for the third time in a row by new number one Rafael Nadal of Spain in the Roland Garros final.

Clay is his least favourite surface.