Chinese swimmers set for twice as many doping tests at Paris Olympics

Chinese swimmers will have undergone at least eight drug tests by the start of the Paris Olympics, twice as many as athletes from some other countries.

The sport’s governing body, World Aquatics, was under pressure to act after 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance, heart medication trimetazidine, seven months before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but were cleared of wrongdoing and went on to claim three gold medals. Eleven of them are competing in Paris this month.

After a review of its decision allowing the swimmers to compete in Tokyo, World Aquatics said the incident “weakened” trust in the anti-doping system.

To rebuild trust, it said, Chinese swimmers competing in Paris will have been tested “no less than eight times” this year by the International Testing Agency, twice the standard level.

It said “a certain number of athletes from specific nations will be tested four times” by the agency which runs anti-doping programmes for many Olympic sports.

Samples of Chinese athletes will ideally not be collected by the Chinese anti-doping agency and not be tested by laboratories in China.

World Aquatics is likely to publish the results of the tests before the Olympics opening ceremony next week.

“What is extremely clear and what cannot be taken for granted is that the trust of the aquatics community is vital to the continued success of World Aquatics as an international federation,” the governing body said.

The body is seeking to reassure the world of sport of its fairness after Michael Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, said the World Anti-Doping Agency, which conducted the 2021 tests, can no longer be trusted.

It was also targeted by a US federal investigation for accepting the explanation for 2021 test results when travel to China was not possible due to the Covid pandemic.

A Chinese investigation in June 2021 blamed the tainted results on mass contamination of food in a hotel kitchen, without providing evidence.

The matter came to public attention three months after the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD reported on it.

World Aquatics formed a panel to review its actions from three years ago, specifically its adherence to doping guidelines and its decision not to contest the Chinese claim before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The panel published its report on Monday, 12 days before swimming events start in Paris, and pledged to have more anti-doping tests for some countries, especially China.

It recommended that World Aquatics routinely publish details of athletes provisionally suspended for potential breaches of doping rules, how many times they were tested in the six months before a major competition like the Olympics or the World championships and by whom.

“World Aquatics must accept this challenge and intensify its communication with athletes,” the panel concluded.

Additional reporting by agencies

Scores feared dead as 11 bodies recovered from Nepal bus tragedy

Emergency workers in Nepal have recovered 11 bodies after a landslide swept away two buses carrying over 60 people into a river, as officials said they did not expect to find any survivors.

As many as 58 people remain missing and are feared dead.

Government administrator Khima Nanda Bhusal said on Monday that they have identified seven of the bodies so far. Three of them are Indians and the remaining Nepalese.

“We will continue the search as long as it is needed and have no plans to give up. We will work until all of them are found,” he said.

The buses were travelling on the highway connecting capital Kathmandu to southern Nepal on Friday when a landslide struck and swept them away into a swollen river near Simaltal.

Three passengers managed to jump off just in time and swam to safety.

“There are no chances of finding survivors. Our focus is on recovering bodies,” Bhesh Raj Rijal, a senior police official in Chitwan district, said.

The first body was recovered on Sunday, about 50km from where the buses fell into the river. Other bodies were found as far away as the border with India. Two of them were discovered in Tribeni, more than 100km away.

Police said five of the bodies were first spotted by local villagers.

As many as 15 teams of Nepal police have been mobilised up to 50km downstream of the landslide site and three teams from the army and 15 from the Armed Police Forces have been scouring the waters.

Rescuers have been using magnets, scuba diving equipment and underwater sonar imaging devices for the search.

Relatives of the missing passengers gathered by the river seeking information and pressuring authorities to expedite the search for their loved ones.

“They are requesting us to at least find the dead bodies. The scene here is grim,” said Mr Bhusal.

The weather cleared on Saturday and search teams were able to cover more ground. Heavy equipment cleared much of the landslide debris from the blocked highway, making it easier to reach the area as rescuers expanded their operation towards the southern region where the first body was found, Mr Bhusal said.

Fast-flowing rivers in the Himalayan country swollen by heavy monsoon rain in the past few weeks have made rescue work even more challenging. The rivers have turned murky brown, making it hard to see the wreckage.

At least 62 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the country in June, the home ministry said on 7 July.

Pakistan government says it will ban Imran Khan’s opposition party PTI

Pakistan is set to ban former prime minister and opposition leader Imran Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), officials said on Monday.

It comes just days after a court acquitted Mr Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi on charges of unlawful marriage.

Information minister Attaullah Tarar said in a press conference in Islamabad on Monday that a move to ban PTI would be discussed in cabinet and that the government would go to the Supreme Court to push it through, if necessary.

Citing several pending court cases against Mr Khan, Mr Tarar said the country cannot move forwards as long as Mr Khan’s party exists.

Mr Khan has been granted bail or acquitted in a number of the more than 100 criminal cases that have been brought against him since he was removed from office through a vote of no confidence. He says the charges are all politically motivated, and denies any wrongdoing.

A number of the cases against the former prime minister and his party stem from the unrest in May last year that followed his arrest, when some of his supporters attacked facilities associated with the military establishment.

“In view of the foreign funding case, 9 May riots, and the cipher episode as well as the resolution passed in the US, we believe that there is very credible evidence present to have the PTI banned,” Mr Tarar said, according to Pakistan daily Dawn.

He added that prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government would petition the Supreme Court to review a ruling from last week that PTI is eligible for reserved seats in parliament for women and minorities.

“You tried to damage the country’s diplomatic relations for the sake of your political interests and went on to get a resolution passed against Pakistan in the US,” Mr Tarar said, appearing to refer to a recent US House resolution critical of the country’s February election, in which PTI emerged as the largest single party despite having thousands of its activists arrested in the lead up to the vote.

Officials from PTI quickly responded to the minister, saying his argument has “no merit”.

Sayed Z Bukhari, a senior member of PTI who served in the former prime minister’s cabinet, said the minister’s comments showed Pakistan was under “soft martial law”.

“This is a sign of panic, as they have realised the courts can’t be threatened and put under pressure,” he said.

PTI officials have repeatedly warned that the country’s democracy is under threat from what they say is a government working closely with the country’s military.

In May this year, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif had warned that the government will ban Mr Khan’s PTI as it had attacked the “very basis of state”, something which could not be tolerated. He said at the time that any move to ban the party would require parliamentary backing.

Italian police free 33 Indian workers from farm ‘slavery’ ordeal

Thirty three Indian farm labourers have been freed from “slave-like” working conditions in northern Italy amid a crackdown on immigrant worker exploitation following the brutal death of a worker from Punjab.

Italian tax police said they seized almost half a million euros from two alleged gangmasters, also Indians, who got their compatriots to work in the European country.

The men were made to pay €17,000 (£14,275) each and promised a seasonal work permit and better life. They were instead made to provide manual labour on farms for 10-12 hours a day seven days a week, for wages as low as four euros a day.

Even these paltry wages were withheld by employers, who promised to pay up after the workers had settled their debts.

The police said some of the migrants were forced to continue working for free to pay an additional €13,000 for a permanent work permit, which they would never have actually obtained.

The accused gangmasters are being investigated for enslavement and labour exploitation after the police described the conditions the immigrants were made to work in as “slavery”.

The victims will receive police protection, job opportunities and legal residency documents, the police said.

The crackdown comes amid outrage over what have been described as modern forms of slavery in Italy as the European nation struggles with labour shortages.

The outrage was fuelled by the death of Satnam Singh, a worker from India’s Punjab. Singh was left to bleed to death after his arm was severed and his legs crushed while working on a farm in rural Latina in June.

Human rights groups and farmers held a protest march to demand justice for Singh and call for better working conditions for labourers suffering exploitation, harassment, and injuries at the hands of gangmasters, known as “capos”.

A report published by Moody’s in March said that Italy consistently had the highest number of modern slavery incidents in Europe, with about 32,000 cases over the five-year period from 2018.

Why China and Russia are holding joint naval drills

China and Russia are conducting joint naval exercises in a military port in southern China, in another sign the two sides are deepening their strategic “partnership.”

China’s defence ministry said that Russian vessels arrived in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, for the “Joint Sea-2024” exercises in the waters and airspace around the city throughout this week.

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has increasingly turned towards China for support as the West has ramped up sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. China’s Xi Jinping is seeking to set Beijing up as a global mediator, but the bigger pull in working with Russia is likely wanting to create alliances as a bulwark against the US and the West. Mr Xi will also see the exercises as a show of strength in the face of a number of US allies across the local region.

“The joint exercise aims to demonstrate the resolve and capabilities of the two sides in jointly addressing maritime security threats and preserving global and regional peace and stability,” China’s defence ministry said on Friday, adding that it would “further deepen the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era”.

Beijing’s Defence Ministry said the naval patrols have begun in the northern and western Pacific, adding that the exercise was not “targeted” at any other nation.

The Russian Defence Ministry said two of its warships had arrived in Zhanjiang, a city in Guangdong province. Zhanjiang serves as the headquarters of the Chinese naval forces assigned to the Southern Theatre Command.

The joint exercise will take place in the South China Sea.

There are also “joint anti-terrorist” military drills happening between the Chinese and Belarusian militaries at the Brestskiy training range next to the border with Ukraine and Poland, which was reported earlier on 8 July.

The joint exercises follow Belarus – a key ally of Russia – joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic and defence organization led by Russia and China.

The first phase will take place from Monday to Wednesday and will involve anti-air and anti-submarine attacks along with Chinese planes specialised in anti-submarine manoeuvres, the ministry said.

It said the exercises in the waters and airspace around the city will last until the middle of the month. The last time China and Russia conducted exercises in the area was in 2016.

The warships will conduct live-fire drills in multiple training courses including joint stationary defence, joint reconnaissance and early warning, joint search and rescue as well as joint air defence in waters and airspace near Zhanjiang.

China is using the Type 052D destroyer Nanning, Type 054A frigates Xianning and Dali, Type 903 comprehensive supply ship Weishanhu and shipborne helicopters and marines, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

Two Russian Steregushchiy-class corvettes named Gromkiy and Rezkiy arrived on China’s shores, the Russian Defence Ministry said. The frigates translate as loud and sudden respectively and will work alongside the Irkut oiler, CCTV said.

The warships being used for the China-Russia warship formation for the joint maritime exercises will include a Russian corvette named Sovershenny, the PLA Navy’s Type 052D destroyer Yinchuan, Type 054A frigate Hengshui and Type 903 replenishment ship Weishanhu, according to Russian News Agency Tass.

The number of personnel involved is unknown.

The objective is to demonstrate the “resolve and capabilities of the two sides in jointly addressing maritime security threats”, according to Zhang Xiaogang, a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson.

The exercises are aimed at demonstrating the capabilities of the navies in addressing security threats and preserving peace and stability globally and regionally, state broadcaster CCTV said on Saturday.

Japan said on Friday that the exercises near its territory pose a “grave concern from the perspective of national security.” It also said in its annual defence white paper that it was concerned about a spillover of the Ukraine war into the Indo-Pacific region, “particularly in East Asia”.

Inside the lavish, star-studded wedding of Asia’s richest man’s son

The youngest son of Asia’s richest man married his longtime girlfriend after seven months of extravagant pre-wedding celebrations. Celebrities like Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Nick Jonas, Priyanka Chopra, John Cena, along with politicians like Tony Blair, and Boris Johnson were all in attendance.

Anant Ambani, son of Mukesh Ambani, married Radhika Merchant in a traditional Hindu ceremony on Friday (12 July) in Mumbai, the capital of the western Indian state of Maharashtra. This was followed by a “shubh ashirwad” on Saturday — a ceremony held for the couple to receive blessings from guests and elders, culminating in a “mangal utsav”, the reception.

The guest list for the festivities was diverse, featuring Bollywood’s elite such as Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Rajinikanth, and Amitabh Bachchan with their families, alongside stars like Alia Bhatt and Ananya Pandey. Global celebrities including Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach, designer Prabal Gurung, and former world leaders Tony Blair and Boris Johnson were also in attendance.

Several Indian politicians and chief ministers, including Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Aaditya Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray, Akhilesh Yadav, Devendra Fadnavis, and former president Ram Nath Kovind, were also in attendance.

Anant Ambani, 29, is the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of the Fortune 500 company Reliance Industries, who has an estimated net worth of $113bn (£89.53bn), according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

Reliance Industries has interests in petroleum refining and marketing, chemicals, organised retail, telecommunications, and digital streaming services.

Radhika Merchant, 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and serves on the board of her father’s company, Encore Healthcare.

Videos shared widely on social media show the Ambani family dancing with Indian singer Daler Mehendi, while Afrobeats star Rema dazzled the guests with his hit song “Calm Down”.

The guests also enjoyed the baraat, a lively wedding procession for the groom featuring live music and dancing. Videos of Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh dancing to popular Bollywood songs quickly went viral on social media.

The groom wore a red and gold sherwani designed by celebrated fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, while the bride donned a hand-embroidered bridal lehenga by Indian label Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla. Her lehenga featured a 16-foot-long veil, and her skirt included a seven-foot-long detachable train.

The groom’s mother, Nita Ambani, wore an outfit reportedly crafted over 40 days by designers Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, along with artisans Vijay Kumar and Monika Maurya.

While the exact cost of the Ambanis’ wedding remains undisclosed, Indian media and wedding planners estimate the celebrations to exceed $300m, sparking both fascination and considerable criticism from the public.

Mumbai police imposed traffic restrictions in the city from 12 July to 15 July around the wedding venue located in the central business district.

Residents have faced traffic challenges, while bankers have had to adjust their plans, opting to work from home.

“It affects our earnings. I don’t care much about the wedding,” Vikram, a taxi driver told Associated Press.

“In a country where the monthly income of 90 per cent of households is below ₹10000 (approximately £94), Ambani wedding of $320m (₹2673 crores) is obscene. Legally it may be their money but such ostentatious expenditure is a sin against mother earth and poor,” Thomas Isaac, an Indian lawmaker and economist, wrote on X.

The cost of the wedding alone is staggering, but when including the pre-wedding celebrations that began in March, The Guardian estimates the total could reach up to $600m. For context, this amounts to just 0.5 per cent of the Ambanis’ net worth.

The couple initiated their celebrations in March with a three-day pre-wedding event in Mukesh Ambani’s hometown of Jamnagar, located in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The guest list featured prominent figures such as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ivanka Trump, the king and queen of Bhutan, and several world leaders.

A special glass palace was constructed for the event, featuring a spectacular light show with 5,500 drones and performances by Rihanna, Diljit Dosanjh, and Akon.

In May, a chartered cruise ship hosted 800 guests on a four-day trip through Europe, featuring performances by the Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, and opera star Andrea Bocelli.

Trump says he is ‘supposed to be dead’ after assassination attempt

Joe Biden struck a combative tone in his latest campaign reset interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday night following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last month, which led panicked Democrats to call on the president to drop out of the 2024 race.

Biden rejected the idea he should debate Trump again before the Democratic National Convention in August but admitted it had been a “mistake” to use the word “bullseye” during a campaign call with supporters urging them to focus on Trump’s agenda just prior to the attempted assassination of the former president on Saturday.

“It was a mistake to use the word,” Biden told Holt.

“I didn’t say ‘crosshairs’. I said ‘bullseye.’ Focus on what he’s doing. Focus on his policies. Focus on the number of lies he told in the debate.”

During a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, the newly-confirmed Republican presidential nominee was clipped in the right ear by gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, whose motive remains a mystery.

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi is meanwhile reportedly “convinced Biden will lose” in November and “working the phones” behind the scenes to plot his removal for the Democratic ticket.

Malayan tiger on ‘brink of extinction’ as spate of deaths sparks alarm

A recent spate of deaths has heightened fears for the Malayan tiger, with experts warning the feline is “on the brink of extinction”.

The population of the tiger subspecies found on the Malaysian peninsula has been decreasing due to poaching and deforestation, leaving it “critically endangered”.

Most recently, an adult male tiger, estimated to be around four years old, was found dead in a storm drain off a highway in Perak region. It had been hit by a car.

A month earlier, another adult male was found dead by an expressway in Pahang, believed to have been struck by a vehicle while trying to cross the road.

They were the third and fourth Malayan tigers killed by vehicle collisions between November 2023 and May 2024.

In late June, photos and videos of a dead tiger went viral on social media, provoking strong reactions from the public. The carcass, bloated and floating in a stream in Kelantan, showed no visible signs of injury from snares or gunshots. A postmortem examination was done by forestry officials to determine the cause of death but its outcome is not yet known.

These deaths highlight the many threats facing the species, experts said.

“The plight of Malayan tigers is a national crisis that requires the full attention and commitment of all Malaysians,” Henry Chan, director of conservation at the World Wildlife Fund Malaysia, told CNN.

The Malayan tiger is a symbol of national heritage. But despite government policies and plans for protection, the feline’s population has plummeted from around 3,000 in the 1950s to fewer than 150 today, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

The Malayan tiger was recognised as a subspecies in 2004. It is smaller than Indonesia’s Sumatran tiger and South Asia’s Bengal tiger. An excellent swimmer and powerful apex predator, it is distinguished by a slightly darker, reddish-orange coat.

Like all tigers, it needs large swathes of forestland to roam, making habitat preservation crucial for survival.

But the subspecies “suffer from habitat loss, prey depletion and retaliatory killings stemming from human-tiger conflicts,” Mark Rayan Darmaraj, country director of Wildlife Conservation Society Malaysia, told CNN.

Mr Darmaraj noted arrests of suspected poachers in Pahang region “in possession of the skull and bones of a tiger.”

Malaysia released a National Tiger Conservation Action Plan in 2020 in collaboration with nonprofit groups. The eight-year plan outlines priorities such as deploying conservation tools to aid conservation.

“By implementing a suite of concerted actions, backed by political commitment and public support, we as a nation and as part of the global conservation community can ensure that one of the most majestic and charismatic animals with which we share the planet will not vanish,” it stated.