Barry Bonds gets new indictment

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One of America's greatest baseball stars, Barry Bonds, has received a new indictment for perjury relating to an inquiry into steroid use.

Mr Bonds has been charged with 14 counts of perjury, and one of obstruction of justice, by a federal grand jury.

The indictment is a reformulation of the one served last November, which alleged 4 counts of perjury.

Mr Bonds previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In November Mr Bonds was charged with four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

But in February, a judge ordered prosecutors to rework the indictment, putting each alleged falsehood into a separate charge.

The new indictment does not contain any new allegations of lying.

Drugs probe

Prosecutors allege that Barry Bonds lied under oath when he said in 2003 that he had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

He has denied accusations that he used a previously untraceable steroid from a San Francisco company called Balco.

Last September he became the sport's record home run hitter, with 755.

Making it into the record books as the man who had hit more home runs than anyone else in baseball history should have been the crowning achievement of Mr Bonds' storied career, says the BBC's David Willis in San Francisco.

Yet, by then, the rumours were rife that the San Francisco Giants player's success owed less to raw talent and hard training and more to performance enhancing drugs.

An investigation into Balco's activities has already led to the downfall of several other top athletes, among them the Olympic sprinter Marion Jones.

She recently relinquished the five medals she won at the Sydney Games after admitting using steroids.