A 7-year-old Syrian girl suffering from a rare form of cancer arrived in Italy on Thursday, the first of an estimated 1,000 refugees who are being brought here on humanitarian grounds in a pilot project aimed at dissuading people from embarking on deadly sea crossings.

Little Falak al Hourani, her parents and 6-year-old brother landed on a commercial flight at Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci airport thanks to the "humanitarian corridor" project launched by the Rome-based Catholic Sant'Egidio Community and the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy.

Napoli and Juventus delivered club record winning streaks to maintain their Serie A title challenges on Wednesday, while Hellas Verona finally recorded its first victory of the season.

Gonzalo Higuain netted his 23rd goal in as many league games to help Napoli win at Lazio 2-0, and match the club record of seven successive league victories, set in 1987-88.

Luis Suarez scored four goals and Lionel Messi a hat trick as Barcelona defeated 10-man Valencia 7-0 on Wednesday to move into position to reach the Copa del Rey final for the third straight season.

Suarez scored in the seventh and 12th minutes, and Messi got on the board in the 29th, 58th and 74th before Suarez closed the scoring in the 83rd and 88th minutes.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored again as Paris Saint-Germain beat Lorient 3-1 to set a new French league record of 33 consecutive games unbeaten on Wednesday.

After creating the opening goal for strike partner Edinson Cavani early in the first half, Ibrahimovic grabbed his league-leading 20th of the season shortly after the break as PSG eclipsed the record set by Nantes 21 years ago.

For a guy who loved a good party, it's hard to imagine Ken Stabler ever thought he'd be crashing one this week.

Not at this Super Bowl, the 50th anniversary version that has been carefully choreographed to be a celebration of all things NFL. Not in the Bay Area, where Stabler has long been a cult hero of sorts for leading the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl win 39 years ago.

The NHL barred Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman 20 games on Wednesday for cross-checking a linesman last week, the second-longest suspension in NHL history for abusing an official.

Wideman was suspended for violating the league rule on physical abuse of officials after he knocked down linesman Don Henderson during the Flames' game against Nashville on Jan. 27. The league cited Rule 40 in handing out the harsh penalty.

Neymar and his father maintained their innocence after appearing before a judge on Tuesday in an investigation into alleged irregularities regarding the player's transfer to Barcelona.

The Brazilian striker was in court for more than an hour and a half, and his father — who is also his agent — was questioned for nearly three hours. Neymar left without giving any details about his testimony, but his father said their position has not changed and they again denied wrongdoing.

Mohamed Salah ended a three-month goalscoring drought to help Roma win 2-0 at Sassuolo and move provisionally fourth in Serie A on Tuesday.

Roma was almost made to rue its profligacy in front of goal when Sassuolo was awarded a penalty with three minutes left — and with the scoreline still 1-0 — after a foul on Lorenzo Pellegrini by Radja Nainggolan, who was sent off for a second yellow card.

Jamie Vardy's stunning volley set Leicester on its way to a 2-0 victory over Liverpool on Tuesday, keeping the unlikely title challengers top of the Premier League on a night Manchester United rediscovered its scoring touch at Old Trafford.

Manchester City and Tottenham also won to stay in touch with Leicester, but Arsenal was held 0-0 by Southampton and dropped to fourth place.

Pep Guardiola's imminent arrival in the Premier League is a game-changer not just for Manchester City but for English football, bringing a coveted, visionary coach to a club already having a stated aim of being a "leader in the world of football."

City has thrown down the challenge to England's other powers, and their response will be fascinating.