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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting. The entire Russian team is banned from the September Paralympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee approved the entry of 271 Russian athletes at the Rio games. That's about 70 percent of the country's original team. But the International Paralympic Committee strongly condemned Moscow's doping program, including at the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, and issued a blanket ban on Russian athletes hoping to enter the September competition also in Rio. Philip Craven is the IPC president: "I believe the Russian government has catastrophically failed its Para athletes. Their medals over morals mentality disgusts me." The Paralympic Games is conducted for athletes with physical disabilities. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed Sunday to continue fighting anyone or any power seeking to undermine his government. Addressing millions at a rally in Istanbul, he also vowed to root out those involved in last month's failed coup. It's a Thai election official. He is announcing that voters have approved a new constitution. Thailand's military leaders say this opens the way to elections. Preliminary results showed 62 percent of voters approved the new constitution. Thirty-eight percent rejected it. Critics see the vote as legitimatizing the military's role in the government for years to come. Syrian rebels Sunday broke a three-week government hold on the city of Aleppo, a major military setback for forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Rebel forces surged through regime territory in the eastern part of the city, pushing government forces out of military colleges and other locations they had held. This is VOA news. Defending champion Serena Williams battled high winds Sunday to reach the Olympic tennis second round, defeating Australia's Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-2. Reigning world champion swimmer Yulia Efimova of Russia was booed after winning her heat in the 100-meter breaststroke preliminaries. She served a 16-month suspension for doping and then tested positive this year for a now-banned substance. Iran has executed a nuclear scientist who was convicted of handing over to the United States top secrets about Iran's nuclear program. The execution of Shahram Amiri was confirmed Sunday by Iran's official news agency. A judicial spokesman said the court had sentenced him to death. The sentence was upheld by Iran's Supreme Court. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is questioning the mental health of his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump told a rally in New Hampshire Saturday that Clinton is an unbalanced, unhinged person. Trump told the crowd he has "a winning temperament." Officials said Sunday that mudslides triggered by what was left of Tropical Storm Earl killed 18 people along Mexico's Caribbean coast . Most of the deaths were reported in the eastern states of Veracruz and Puebla, where heavy rains sent rocks and mud cascading down mountains and hills. Storms have claimed the lives of at least 17 people in the Macedonian capital, Skopje. At least six people are missing, 60 people in a hospital, about 1,000 have been evacuated. A United nations peacekeeper was killed and four others wounded Sunday in northeastern Mali when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb. A U.N. statement said the blast occurred in the Kidal region and that all of the victims were from Chad. An Australian and an American have been kidnapped in the Afghan capital, Kabul. A local official says men disguised in National Security force uniforms kidnapped the two in Kabul. Police have launched an investigation. The kidnapped men are believed to be doctors working at local hospital. A Somali minister survived an assassination attempt on Sunday when a hand-grenade was thrown at his car in Mogadishu. Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan Noah, the Minister of Youth and Sport, told VOA the explosive device hit his car as he was shopping at a local market. Somalia has officially released election dates for 2016. The chairman of the election commission says presidential elections will take place October 30 and the election of the Lower House will be from September 24 to October 10. In Washington, I'm David DeForest. That's the latest world news from VOA. |