Sanction 'stiff' for LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling

The owner of the Los Angeles Clippers professional basketball team has been banned from the National Basketball Association for life after a recording emerged of him making racist remarks.

Donald Sterling may be forced to sell his interest in the team and will face a fine of $2.5m (£1.5m).

"It's unbelievably stiff," Sean Gregory, senior sports writer for Time Magazine, told the BBC of the expulsion.

"A lifetime ban speaks for itself," he added. "There could be no stronger message [the NBA] sent."