Sports briefs: NHL to resume labor talks Friday

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Hockey • The NHL and its players' union are to resume bargaining Friday for the first time since the lockout began, although the talks will concentrate on secondary economic issues.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHL Players' Association special counsel Steve Fehr met Tuesday in Toronto and set up the session, which will be in New York. These will be the first formal negotiations since Sept. 12, when the players and owners exchanged proposals.

The lockout started Sept. 16, when training camps were to open. This is the third lockout since Gary Bettman became commissioner in 1993. The last lockout wiped out the 2004-05 season and ended when players accepted a salary cap.

Mayweather, Pacquiao settling defamation case

Boxing • Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are settling a federal defamation case in Las Vegas, clearing a key hurdle to a long-awaited bout between two top fighters who've traded verbal jabs for years but have never met in the ring.

Terms of the pretrial agreement cited in documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas are confidential, said Malcolm LaVergne, a lawyer representing Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s father in the case.

LaVergne said documents filed under seal ask U.S. District Judge Larry R. Hicks to dismiss the lawsuit, and that others involved in the case were preparing a public statement.

Nadal not sure when he'll return from knee injury

Tennis • Rafael Nadal still has no timetable for his return from a knee injury, and the 11-time Grand Slam champion isn't sure if he'll play the Australian Open in January.

The Spaniard hasn't played since losing in the second round of Wimbledon in June to little-known Lukas Rosol. Nadal is recovering from a partially torn patella tendon.

UNC: Roy Williams' tumor is benign

College Basketball • North Carolina says Roy Williams' surgically removed kidney tumor was not cancerous.

In a statement Tuesday, the school says tests have determined it is a benign growth that is often indistinguishable from kidney cancer on X-rays and doesn't spread like a cancerous tumor would.

From wire reports