Basketball: NBA season still on hold

TALKS IN the National Basketball Association labour dispute broke off in New York yesterday after the sides met for less than two hours, the shortest session since the lock-out began on 1 July.

"We were just sitting around the table not knowing which way to move next," the players' union director, Billy Hunter, said. "We thought it better to go back to our respective offices and look at where we were."

The biggest issue in the dispute is the owners' insistence on maximum salary costs and the union's refusal to accept a "hard" salary cap. The season had been due to start this week with 10 games on Tuesday night and 11 yesterday.