The Court of Arbitration for Sport cancelled a hearing into the doping case of a Russian Olympic curler today, hours after reports said he had declined to appear.
"In the matter International Olympic Committee and World Curling Federation v Alexander Krushelnitsky, all parties have requested the Anti-doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport to cancel the hearing today," a statement said.
A decision in the case will be announced later and will be based on written submissions, CAS said.
Krushelnitsky, bronze medallist in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics mixed doubles curling, earlier told Russian media it was "stupid to deny" failing two drugs tests.
"I am ready for the appropriate verdict, which in such cases is predictably identical," Krushelnitsky said in a statement published by RIA Novosti.
"Due to this, having weighed all the pros and cons, I decided to pull out of the holding of the CAS hearing over my situation. I consider that under the current rules it is useless ..

Russian curler's doping hearing cancelled: CAS

PTI Automatic

Former world number five Eugenie Bouchard testified in US District Court in Brooklyn that she screamed in pain in a locker room fall at the US Open in 2015, US media reported.
"I screamed, 'Oh my God, it burns!" Bouchard told jurors, according to the New York Post.
The 23-year-old Canadian was testifying in her lawsuit against the United States Tennis Association, which operates the Grand Slam tournament at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York.
Bouchard's suit, which seeks unspecified damages, claims the USTA was at fault for applying a "slippery, foreign and dangerous" cleaning substance.
She hit her head in the fall, suffering a concussion and pulling out of the tournament.
The USTA has argued that Bouchard, who had played a late mixed doubles match, should have known that the room would be being cleaned at 11 pm, when her fall occurred.
A lawyer for the governing body had told jurors on Tuesday that the cleaning spray was only applied after management thought all the players had ...

Bouchard recalls locker room fall in lawsuit testimony

Despite a fraud conviction and sex scandal, Italy's 81-year-old former leader Silvio Berlusconi has one last political victory in his sights in general elections less than two weeks away.
Temporarily banned from returning to public office himself, the billionaire media mogul still hopes to influence the country's political direction by leading a right-wing coalition in the March 4 polls.
"I'm pretty confident of the result of the election and going to form a government with our centre-right allies," he told a rally of youth activists from his Forza Italia party in Rome yesterday, in a typically outspoken address.
"I can tell you how to stay young," he added. "I'll tell you the brand of my suppositories."
Berlusconi "wants to win one last time before retiring," his biographer Alan Friedman was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
The three-time former prime minister heads a coalition made up of Forza Italia and two far-right forces: the League and Brothers of ...

Berlusconi, 81, seeks one last win in Italy vote

Jose Mourinho described Scott McTominay as "fantastic" in response to his decision to select the young midfielder ahead of Paul Pogba for Wednesday's Champions League last 16, first-leg draw with Sevilla.
Pogba had been left out of the starting line-up for the goalless draw with Mourinho apparently unhappy after the French star withdrew from last weekend's FA Cup win at Huddersfield Town citing illness.
That followed criticism from Mourinho of Pogba's recent performances, with the Portuguese making a statement by selecting McTominay, 21, alongside Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic in midfield.
Mourinho later complained that there had been too much focus on Pogba before and after the match, and not enough on a player making his second Champions League start.
"In my pre-match interview I had four questions and three were about Paul, and Paul was not even playing. That's a bit strange," he said.
"If I was one of you (journalists), I would ask if the Manchester United manager agrees that ...

Mourinho hails McTominay after leaving out Pogba for Sevilla draw

Defending champion and top seed Elina Svitolina toiled for more than two hours to reach the Dubai quarter-finals while second seed Garbine Muguruza had to wait until 2 a.m. to complete her opening victory.
Play ran exceptionally late at the event, with lengthy, slow-moving matches to blame.
Svitolina took two and a quarter hours to overcome stubborn resistance from China's Wang Qiang 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.
Muguruza, the runner-up in Qatar last weekend, had to wait out a three-hour epic as Daria Kasatkina beat British seventh seed Johanna Konta 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 before the Spanish second seed got on court in the early hours of Thursday.
But Muguruza at least then picked up the pace to defeat American CiCi Bellis 6-3, 7-5, a match which took one and three-quarter hours and ended just before 2 a.m.
Svitolina had to save nine of 11 break points against world number 46 Wang who entered the field after the withdrawal of Petra Kvitova, the Qatar champion.
"I was a little bit angry at myself that I 

Good night and good morning as Muguruza wins late Dubai duel

Austrian Marcel Hirscher's quest for a third gold medal at the Pyeongchang Games came to an abrupt end today when he bombed out of the first leg of the Olympic slalom.
Hirscher failed to find his rhythm on a course set by his own coach, Michael Pircher, and eventually missed a gate.
The 28-year-old had already won the men's alpine combined and giant slalom, his first individual Olympic titles after having dominated the World Cup for the last six years.
He was aiming to become only the fourth skier in history to win a third gold medal at a single Olympics, joining Austria's Toni Sailer (1956), Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy and Croatia's Janica Kostelic (2002).
It was Hirscher's first failure in 21 slaloms, taking in the World Cup and world championships.
Hirscher said he had not been overwhelmed by pressure, but revealed he had not been comfortable training all week.
"No, no. After winning two gold medals there is no pressure at all," he said.
"Everything is fine, I feel sorry for my ...

Hirscher crashes out of Olympic slalom

The South Korean government spent more than USD 260 per meal per person for the high-level North Korean delegates including leader Kim Jong Un's sister who visited the Winter Olympics, reports said.
The nuclear-armed North sent four top officials including Kim Yo Jong and the ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam, along with 18 support staff, to the Pyeongchang Winter Games as it mounted a charm offensive.
The February 9-11 trip cost the Seoul government a total of 240 million won (USD 220,000), Yonhap news agency cited a unification ministry as saying.
That included 130 million won for accommodation including rooms at luxury hotels in Seoul and Gangneung, 50 million won for transport and another 50 million won for food, it said late yesterday.
On the basis that the delegates ate eight meals during their two and a half day stay, the food cost averages 284,000 won per meal per head, or USD 261.
The menus for the delegates included pollack, kimchi and soju at the South's presidential ...

Seoul picks up USD 260-per-meal tab for N Korea delegates: reports

The new freezers at Somalia's only forensic laboratory can store thousands of DNA samples, although for now there are just five.
The big hope is that they could be the start of a revolution in how the troubled Horn of Africa country tackles its widespread sexual violence -- provided some daunting hurdles are overcome.
The first sample arrived at the start of the year taken on a cotton swab from the underwear of a woman, a rape victim from the village of Galdogob.
It was wrapped in paper and driven 250 kms to the Puntland Forensic Centre in Garowe, capital of semi-autonomous Puntland, slipped into a protective glass tube and placed in one of the three ultra-low temperature fridges.
If DNA ID can be teased from the sample, this would be a crucial step in convicting the woman's rapist.
No longer would it be a case of he-said-she-said, in which the survivor is less often believed than the accused. Two decades of conflict and turmoil have made Somalia a place where lawlessness and sexual ..

Somalia's first forensic lab targets rape impunity

The White House is weighing additional sanctions against Russia, senior administration officials said Wednesday, pushing back against allegations that Donald Trump has been a soft touch on Moscow.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials said a "task force" has been set up to address potential meddling in the 2018 congressional elections and work is underway to introduce sanctions in response to Moscow's 2016 campaign.
Underscoring one step, one senior administration official said that Washington has already warned governments around the world that they could face sanctions if they carry out "significant transactions" with the Russian military.
That includes NATO ally Turkey, which has publicly announced the purchase of a Russian S-400 air defense missile system.
A second official said that "a couple of big countries" were reconsidering their purchases as a result.
Those type of sanctions were part of a package of measures passed by Congress approved last July, that were opposed .

White House denies being soft on Russia, says more sanctions to come

President Nicolas Maduro called today for snap legislative elections in Venezuela, proposing to bring them forward by nearly two years to coincide with a presidential poll set for April 22.
Maduro said he was proposing the change to the all-powerful Constituent Assembly "to advance the elections."
The idea of bringing forward the legislative elections to April 22 was already mooted by the number two of Maduro's ruling socialist party on Tuesday.
He also hit back at the opposition coalition, which said earlier it would not participate in the April 22 presidential election without guarantees that they would be free and fair.
"We are going to the elections come rain, shine or lightning, with or without the MUD," said Maduro, adding that he would also propose bringing forward the legislative vote to "renew" the opposition-dominated parliament.

Maduro calls for snap legislative elections in Venezuela

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that intelligence provided by his country foiled a plot by the Islamic State group to bring down a plane from Australia.
"The Israeli intelligence services thwarted the downing of an Australian plane, an unimaginable slaughter," the Israeli leader told an American Jewish conference in Jerusalem.
"This would have caused a major disruption in global air transport and this is only one of dozens of terrorist attacks we have foiled around the world," Netanyahu said, later referring to the failed plot as an IS attempt.
The Israeli army said one of its intelligence units, named 8200, provided the information in 2017 leading to the arrest of IS militants who were working "toward the execution of the attack".
The elite unit gathers and analyses intelligence using sophisticated information technology.
The Israeli military said thwarting the attack "saved the lives of dozens".
The time and route of the flight were not revealed.
Last year ...

Netanyahu says Israel intel foiled IS Australia plane plot

Venezuela's opposition announced today it would not participate in April 22 presidential elections without guarantees that it would be free and fair.
"Do not count on the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), or the people, to endorse what until now is only a fraudulent and illegitimate simulation of the presidential election," oppositon coordinator Angel Oropeza told a press conference.
The opposition has accused President Nicolas Maduro of engineering a second term for himself by bringing forward the election from December.

Venezuelan opposition says won't contest April 22 polls without guarantees

More than 100 girls were missing today, police said, two days after a Boko Haram attack on their school in northeast Nigeria that has raised fears of a repeat of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping that shocked the world.
Islamist militants stormed the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Dapchi, Yobe state, on Monday evening. Locals initially said the girls and their teachers fled.
But fears have been growing about the whereabouts of the students.
Around 50 parents and guardians converged on the school today to demand answers, as police said 111 were still missing.
The police commissioner of Yobe state, Abdulmaliki Sumonu told reporters in the state capital, Damaturu, that "815 students returned to the school and were visibly seen, out of 926 in the school".
"The rest are missing. No case of abduction has so far been established," he added.
The length of time since the attack and Boko Haram's use of kidnapping as a weapon during its nearly nine-year insurgency has increased fears of ..

More than 100 girls 'missing' after Boko Haram school attack

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Wednesday that China must not link its investments in the western Balkans to political demands.
"I have no objections to the fact that China wants to trade ... and to invest," Merkel said at a Berlin joint press conference with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.
"We are committed to free trade," she added, but stressed that "it must be reciprocal" and that openness must come "not just from one side but from all sides".
"The question is ... are the economic relations being linked with political questions?" she added, stressing that this would "not be in the spirit of free trade".
China has invested heavily in a massive "New Silk Roads" initiative of overland infrastructure links between Asia and Europe, raising European fears about Beijing's growing political influence.
Recent years have seen China make investments in strategic sectors and critical infrastructure, including the purchase of Piraeus port in crisis-hit Greece.
Some in Europe fear .

Merkel warns against China's influence in Balkans

Fears grew in northeast Nigeria today about the fate of potentially scores of girls who have not been seen since a Boko Haram attack on their school two days ago.
Militants stormed the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Dapchi, Yobe state, on Monday evening. Locals initially said the girls and their teachers fled the attack.
The jihadists gained worldwide notoriety in April 2014 when they abducted 276 girls from their school in Chibok, in neighbouring Borno state.
Fifty-seven escaped in the immediate aftermath and since May last year, 107 have either escaped or been released as part of a government-brokered deal. A total of 112 are still being held.
Monday's incident sparked fears of a repeat of Chibok and today morning some 50 parents and guardians gathered at the school demanding information.
"Our girls have been missing for two days and we don't know their whereabouts," Abubakar Shehu, whose niece is among those missing, told AFP.
"Although we were told they had run to ...

Scores of girls 'missing' after new Boko Haram school attack

The International Committee of the Red Cross asked today for access to an enclave near Syria's capital where a regime aerial campaign has killed over 300 civilians and wounded 1,400 others this week.
"The fighting appears likely to cause much more suffering in the days and weeks ahead, and our teams need to be allowed to enter Eastern Ghouta to aid the wounded," said Marianne Gasser, ICRC's head of delegation in Syria.
Syrian warplanes have this month intensified their strikes on the area, which lies just east of Damascus and is home to around 400,000 civilians.
The enclave has been controlled by Islamist and jihadist groups since 2012 and besieged by government forces for five years.
The unprecedented deluge of bombs unleashed by the regime on Eastern Ghouta towns has caused massive destruction and loss of life.
Access to the area has been very restricted and only one convoy of aid has been allowed in this year.
The ICRC argued that the scope of the catastrophe in Eastern Ghouta was .

Red Cross demands access to wounded in Syria enclave

Russia has paid the $15 million it was fined in December when it was suspended by the International Olympic Committee for mass doping, a source with knowledge of the issue told AFP today.
"The fine has been paid," the source said.
The payment of the fine by the Russian Olympic Committee is one of the IOC's key criteria in deciding whether to lift Russia's suspension before the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday.
The IOC barred Russia from the Olympics on December 5 after allegations that it had organised a huge system of doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where hosts Russia topped the medals table.
A team of 168 Russian athletes deemed to have proved they are "clean" have been allowed to compete in Pyeongchang under the banner Olympic Athletes from Russia.
But Russia was embarrassed by the positive drugs test for curling bronze medallist Alexander Krushelnitsky -- one of the competitors who was extensively screened before he was allowed to attend the Games.
His ...

Russia pays $15 million Olympic doping fine: source

A Spanish court today issued an arrest warrant valid only in Spain for a former Catalan MP who is in self-imposed exile in Switzerland to avoid jail while she is investigated over her role in the region's secession drive.
The Supreme Court "ordered the arrest" of Anna Gabriel, who failed to turn up today before a judge for questioning, it said in its ruling. The arrest warrant applies only "nationally", a court spokesman told AFP.
Public prosecutors had asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for Gabriel and ask Swiss authorities to extradite her.
Asked earlier today if extradition was a possibility, Swiss justice ministry spokesman Folco Galli said: "Switzerland does not grant, like most other states, extradition and any other form of mutual legal assistance for political offences.
"If there is a request, we have to look at it thoroughly, and from what the media say, it seems to be a political offence, so there is no extradition," he added.
Gabriel, a top member of the far-left ...

Spain court orders arrest of self-exiled Catalan separatist

An international crackdown on the illegal trade of cultural artifacts such as coins, maps and musical instruments led to the seizures of 40,000 objects last year, police organisation Interpol said today.
Between October and December in 2017, customs officials and police coordinated thousands of controls and raids in 81 countries to combat traffickers and recover objects of historical importance.
Auction houses, museums and private homes yielded firearms, Roman coins and illicit ivory sculptures, while investigators also targeted online sales sites where around 20 percent of all seizures were made.
"The involved law enforcement agencies monitored thousands of market places and internet announcements in order to detect and seize looted or stolen cultural goods," Interpol said in a statement.

40,000 artifacts seized in international looting crackdown

Three militiamen from forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar were killed today in a car bomb attack in the central Waddan region, a militia spokesman said.
The blast - which was not immediately claimed by any group - wounded two others at a checkpoint on the road leading to Tripoli, some 500 kilometres (310 miles) to the north, said commander Ahmed al-Mesmari.
Jihadists from the Islamic State group remain active in central and southern Libya despite being forced out of their northern stronghold Sirte in 2016.
Libya has been gripped by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.
Haftar supports an administration based in the east of the country. A UN-backed unity government based in the capital Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority outside the west.

Three militiamen killed in Libya car bomb attack

A German court today jailed for life a Swedish convicted killer -- dubbed "the laser man" for using a laser-scoped rifle to target immigrants -- for the murder of a Jewish woman.
John Ausonius, 64, has already received a life prison term in Sweden for a six-month shooting spree in 1991-92 in which he killed or wounded 11 immigrants.
The convict, who was extradited to Germany in late 2016, was today also found guilty of the murder of 68-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor Blanka Zmigrod in Frankfurt in 1992.

AFP

AFP

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