Names In The News

French sailor FRANCIS JOYON "broke the record for the fastest sail around the world by more than four days when he won the Jules Verne Trophy on Thursday." Joyon, 60, and teammates took 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds. Frenchman LOICK PEYRON held the previous record set in '12 (BBC, 1/26). ... The possibility of RONALDINHO becoming an ambassador for Barcelona "is more and more likely." On Tuesday, Ronaldinho's brother, ROBERTO DE ASSIS, met with Barcelona CEO ÒSCAR GRAU. That meeting "was briefly joined" by Barcelona President JOSEP MARIA BARTOMEU (SPORT, 1/25). ... Bundesliga side Darmstadt 98 and midfielder AENIS BEN-HATIRA "have agreed to end his contract" over his support of an organization that authorities say is "close to hardline Islamists." Ben-Hatira, 28, "has made public statements of support" for Ansaar Int'l. German authorities "accuse the group of supporting a Salafist network in Germany" (REUTERS, 1/26).