Spanish prosecutors lodged an appeal Friday against a judge's decision to summon King Juan Carlos's daughter Princess Cristina as a suspect in a corruption case, an unprecedented blow to the royal family's prestige. The anti-corruption prosecutor said it was basing its appeal on the principle of "equality before the law", implying that the princess was being unfairly treated because of her royal rank.

An appeal panel at the French handball federation on Friday overturned a six-match suspension against double Olympic champion Nikola Karabatic and two other players over match-fixing claims. Karabatic was one of seven players slapped with a hefty ban on February 5 in connection with a high-profile illegal betting case on the result of a match between league champions Montpellier and Cesson last year. Montpellier lost the game against Cesson 31-28 but suspicions were raised because of large bets placed at half-time on a defeat for the champions.

By Julien Pretot PARIS, Feb 5 (Reuters) - French Olympic champion Nikola Karabatic and his brother Luka were among seven handball players handed six-match bans on Tuesday for their involvement in an illegal betting scandal. The French handball league (LNH) said on its website (www.lnh.fr) that the Karabatic bothers, Olympic champion Samuel Honrubia, Mladen Bojinovic, Dragan Gajic, Primoz Prost and Issam Tej had been found guilty of having "directly or indirectly, placed bets on the result of the game".

BARCELONA, Spain, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Croatia completed a hat-trick of bronze medals in as many major tournaments when they beat neighbours Slovenia 31-26 on Saturday to finish third in the 2013 handball world championship. Having finished third at EURO 2012 and the London Olympics, Croatia emulated the achievement with a mature performance against a youthful Slovenian team who did well to reach the last four in Spain.