Briefs | Linden agrees to one-year deal with Canucks

NHL

Linden's base salary is $600,000: Popular forward Trevor Linden is returning to the Vancouver Canucks. The 37-year-old agreed to a one-year deal worth $600,000; he can earn an additional $350,000 in bonuses for games played.

Linden, who is entering his 19th season in the league, has 368 goals in 1,323 career games. He has played at least parts of 15 seasons with the Canucks.

"For the last week or so, I was, for the lack of a better word, getting a little cranky," Linden said. "Just with the uncertainty. Now it focuses in for me ... it just puts some closure to it."

WNBA

Fever standout missed final 13 games of regular season: Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings participated in her first full practice in a month and said she hopes to play Thursday in Connecticut in the opener of the best-of-three, Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Indiana was 16-5 with Catchings as a starter and 5-8 without her.

College basketball

Duke's McClure has knee surgery: Duke junior forward David McClure had surgery on his aching right knee and is expected to be out from six to eight weeks. He averaged 4.2 points and 4.9 rebounds last season.

Little League World Series

Lake Oswego cools Ohio opponent: Lake Oswego, Ore., defeated Hamilton, Ohio, 6-1 in chilly conditions to advance to the semifinals in the U.S. bracket in South Williamsport, Pa.

In other games, Tokyo defeated White Rock, B.C., 7-1 and Venezuela routed the Netherlands 21-2. Two other games were either suspended or postponed by rain.

Tennis

Henman to discuss his future: Sidelined by a bad knee and slowed by a painful back, Britain's Tim Henman is in tough shape.

Once among the top players in the world, the four-time Wimbledon semifinalist has fallen to No. 92 in the rankings. His slide prompted reports he might soon retire, and the 32-year-old Henman plans to discuss his future at a news conference Thursday in New York.

Olympics

Beijing officials contend traffic ban cleared the air: Despite a persistent gray haze, officials said an exercise that removed more than 1 million private vehicles a day from Beijing's gridlocked streets was a success that could mean a clearer sky during next summer's Games.

Humidity and wind conditions kept the pollution from dispersing, but the air during the four-day drill would have been much worse without the vehicle restrictions, said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Chinese capital's Environmental Protection Bureau.

Cars with even-numbered license plates were ordered off roads Friday and Sunday, and vehicles with odd-numbered plates were banned Saturday and Monday. Emergency vehicles, taxis and buses were among the exempt vehicles.

AP-NBC deal: The Associated Press and NBC Universal reached a deal that allows AP to include video links and other exclusive content from the 2008 Games in a premium online service, the companies said.

News outlets that subscribe to the premium service can feed it directly to their own Web site.

Horse racing

Breeders' Cup Distaff winners die: Hall of Famer Dance Smartly, who in 1991 become the first Canadian-bred to win a Breeders' Cup event, was euthanized last weekend because of an irreparable injury related to an arthritic joint in her knee. The 19-year-old mare was injured in her paddock in Milton, Ontario.

Dance Smartly took the 1991 Breeders' Cup Distaff.

The 1985 BC Distaff winner, Life's Magic, died of natural causes Tuesday near Lexington, Ky. She was 26.

Ouzts reaches milestone: Jockey Perry Ouzts earned his 5,000th career victory when he rode Kandinsky to a wire-to-wire win in the first race at River Downs in Cincinnati.

According to Daily Racing Form, Ouzts, 53, is the 22nd jockey to win at least 5,000 races in North America.

Soccer

U.S. women: The U.S. women's team will play Mexico on Oct. 17 at PGE Park in Portland. It is the middle game of a three-match series with Mexico.

Seattle Times news services