The home of Cricket, allergy Lords, drugs is going to go through a face-lift after the MCC agreed a redevelopment on a “stand-by-stand” basis following a committee meeting.

Several options were put forward by the MCC’s Ground Working Party and considered by the committee before a decision was made to carry out the work in stages and on the club’s freehold land only.

MCC chairman Oliver Stocken revealed the project is likely to begin at the Pavilion End with work on the Tavern and Allen Stands.

Stocken said: “Since the process of looking at the long-term development began some years ago, pills the club has always prioritised the fundamental objective of maintaining and enhancing the reputation of Lord’s as the pre-eminent cricket ground in the world and the global home of cricket.

“The club also made it clear that the Vision for Lord’s project was subject to both the financial viability of the proposed development as a whole and reaching an agreement with the ECB on the number of major matches to be played at Lord’s in the coming years.

“As reported at the AGM earlier this year, the club has committed £3 million since 2008 on this complicated project. During this period, the economic climate has changed substantially.

“However, the club was awarded the Platinum Package of major matches by the ECB in September 2011, and that has provided the committee with the confidence to fund a redevelopment scheme on the club’s freehold land, on its own. This is the course of action that the committee has today decided to pursue.

“MCC would like to thank Almacantar, the property developers with whom we have been working over the last few months, for their work in presenting possible development options to the club.

“Ultimately, the committee agreed on the way forward for the long-term redevelopment of Lord’s, probably beginning at the Pavilion End with the rebuilding and enhancement of the Tavern and Allen Stands, which will provide significantly improved amenities.”

Once the club has produced a revised development plan, supported by a sustainable business plan, consultations will take place with Westminster, the GLA and other interested parties, including the local community. At the end of this process, the approval of MCC members for any scheme will be sought.

The weekends discussions between the NBA and its players union bore no fruit despite owners and players meeting Saturday for more than seven hours in an effort to resolve the long dispute.

The parties are expected to meet today, due to both parties being apparently “miles apart,” according to union executive director Billy Hunter. NBA commissioner David Stern said the two sides will meet in small groups Monday and the larger groups would come back on Tuesday to continue negotiating.

“We’re not near anything, but wherever that is, it’s closer than we were before,” Stern said. “We had a long, engaging and in some ways exhausting two days. We exchanged a lot of ideas, concepts, some may even call proposals, but we don’t get hung up on that.”

Union president Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers said there were no “major economic discussions.”

Instead, owners and players focused mostly on how to attack the salary cap.

Hunter said: “We want a system that’s somewhat reflective of the system that currently is. They obviously want a hard salary cap. They moved off the hard salary cap, but in the process they’ve coupled a lot of other things with it now that they think they’re entitled to they should make things more competitive. That’s where the conflict or disagreement is.”

Hunter said the union is “not quite comfortable” as to the latest proposal of the NBA’s owners.

On September 23, the league announced its decision to postpone training camps and cancel 43 preseason games. Camps were slated to open October 3 and preseason games were scheduled to begin six days later. All exhibition games from October 9 through October 15 have been canceled.

Coming into the weekend, Stern said he wanted to see significant progress in the talks. There was even a report that he would threaten the cancellation of the season to the players if that progress was not made.

“If we didn’t think there was any hope, we wouldn’t be scheduling the meetings,” Stern said of Monday’s and Tuesday’s expected negotiations. “That’s the best I would say right now.”

The regular season is set to open November 1, provided there is a new collective bargaining agreement in time.

Stern added: “Our desire would be to not cancel. We had been hopeful that this weekend would be a broader marker, but for reasons which we understand the players suggested we resume on Monday and we said ‘fine.'”

Hunter added that owners still want players to receive 46 percent of basketball-related income in a new deal and not the 57 percent that was in the last labor agreement.

The NBA locked out its players on July 1 after the most recent labor deal between the two sides expired. Unlike the labor strife that caused NFL lockout, which long appeared to be solvable, the problems facing the NBA have led observers to warn about a prolonged dispute like the one that canceled the 2004-05 NHL season.

An agreement was reached before the midnight (ET) expiration deadline of the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to extend the labour talks for a further 24-hours, between the National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA) and the League to avoid a potential lockout for at least one more day.

The League-owned NFL Network reported the extension on negotiations beyond the original deadline of midnight eastern time on Thursday to the same time today, Friday 4 March.

Both parties have been in negotiations with a federal mediator over the past week after talks over how to divide the NFL’s US$9 billion annual revenues had reached stalemate. Other key issues include the expansion of the regular season to an 18-game schedule, a rookie wage scale and pensions for former players.

The announcement of an extension came just hours after US President Barack Obama urged the warring sides to reach a deal without the need for political intervention.

Speaking at a press conference at the White House, Obama stated: “We’ve got owners, most of whom are worth close to a billion dollars. You’ve got players who are making millions of dollars. My working assumption at a time when people are having to cut back, compromise and worry about making the mortgage and pay for their kids’ college educations is that the two parties should be able to work it out without the President of the United States intervening.”

The first Generations for Peace camp outside the Middle East has been opened by the organisation’s founder and chairman, Prince Feisal Al-Hussein.

The camp is based in Sochi, Russia, the the host of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. It will bring together 57 leaders of youth from eleven European and Central Asian countries involved in various conflicts.

Prince Feisal said: “This is the first time ever an organisation like Generations For Peace has collaborated so closely with an OCOG (Organising Committee for the Olympic Games).

“I cannot stress enough what an honour it is to be welcomed to the city that has been chosen by the International Olympic Committee to host the next Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

“This is the first time ever an organisation like Generations For Peace has collaborated so closely with an Organising Committees for the Olympic Games; the first time ever we have had this fantastic opportunity to celebrate with such unity our shared belief in the supreme importance of the Olympic values we all hold so dear; of respect and tolerance; fair play and teamwork; peace, understanding and reconciliation.”

The Sochi Camp 2010 becomes the seventh Generations for Peace Camp.

English League Two club Exeter City FC have announced chairman Edward Chorlton has stepped down from his role with immediate effect.

Chorlton had led the Grecians’ board since December 2009 but was facing a vote of no-confidence from the Supporters’ Trust, who own the Sky Bet League Two club.

A statement on the club’s official website read: “Mr Chorlton wishes Exeter City AFC well in the future.

“He says the Club has a professional Board of Directors, an outstanding manager, a very talented young team, and a group of hard working staff.

“He thanks them for their support and friendship over the last four and a half years and wishes the club and its dedicated supporters a very successful 2014/15 season.”

In May earlier this year, the cash-strapped Exeter decided to take a £100,000 loan from the PFA in order to pay their players after a fall in attendance and ticket sales.

The Tokyo 2020 organising committee have added 28 new members, sale including Olympic athletes and seven women, medicine | to its executive board on Monday.

Among the athletes named were hammer thrower Koji Murofushi, ailment gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Games, judoka Ayumi Tanimoto, who won gold in Athens and Beijing in 2008, and Mayumi Narita, who won a total of 20 medals in swimming, including 15 golds, in the Paralympics from 1996 to 2004.

Music producer Yasushi Akimoto, who is behind the success of the popular girl group AKB48, was also appointed to the board, along with renowned photographer and film director Mika Ninagawa.

Seven women were added, apparently in response to a push by the International Olympic Committee calling for more female representation.

“I think (the selection of these members) is good as there is variety,” said Saburo Kawabuchi, former president of the Japan Football Association, who was selected to head the five-member council board just before it approved the new lineup at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.

Toshiro Muto, chief executive officer of the organizing committee, said the new selections make the executive board well-balanced.

“Women, Olympians and Paralympians joined (the board), so now we have the ‘All Japan’ organization put in place,” Muto said.

He added that he expect the sports figures on the board to contribute actively in light of their experiences at past Olympics.

Other notable figures include Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corp., Rie Tanaka, a gymnast who took part in the 2012 London Games, Yuko Arakida, a gold medalist in women’s volleyball in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and Upper House member Seiko Hashimoto, chief of the Japanese delegation to the Sochi Winter Games.

With the new appointments, the number of Executive Board members stands at 34, including its president, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, leaving it one short of capacity.

Fujio Mitarai, the former President of Canon, accepted the post of honorary president earlier in the day.

California-based World Skateboarding Grand Prix (WGSP) today announced it is actively seeking strategic partners in Turkey to bring the world skateboarding championship to the country in the next 24 months.

Set on a custom-designed, world-class skate park and featuring the most comprehensive group of professional street and vert skaters from around the world, WSGP events offer one of the largest prize purses in the action sports industry. The contest draws thousands of fans and reach 173 countries and 367 million homes through television broadcasts and live webcasts.

International sporting events like the world skateboarding championships provide positive tourism messages, help support local economies and promote host cities on a global platform. The recent South Africa world championships, the Kimberley Diamond Cup, drew some of the biggest names in skateboarding, including Nyjah Huston, Felipe Gustavo, Ryan Decenzo, Louis Lopez, PLG, Andy Macdonald and Marcelo Bastos.

“South Africa has experienced a skateboarding movement over the last few years and the Kimberley Diamond Cup was the most highly anticipated event of the year,” said John Block, MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. “This year’s contest had the largest number of skaters and the biggest names of any skate event we’ve ever hosted. The hotels in Kimberley were at capacity and the flights were sold out. This event has established Kimberley as a tourist destination and paid a tremendous boost to the local economy.”

WSGP CEO Tim McFerran commented: “We’re excited about the possibility of bringing a WSGP championship skateboarding event to Turkey. Our mission is to not only host a world-class contest, but to develop a program to support host cities economically and socially by promoting skateboarding as a positive and affordable recreational activity for youth of all ages.”