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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

China denies using social media to infiltrate German politics and business circles Chinaʼs spy agency created fake LinkedIn profiles to infiltrate political and business circles, a German intelligence service has said. China has called on Germany to avoid undermining bilateral relations. China denied Monday that it has been using social media to infiltrate German politics and business, a day after Germanyʼs domestic intelligence service had accused Beijing of targeting German citizens using the professional networking platform LinkedIn. "We hope the relevant German organizations, particularly government departments, can speak and act more responsibly, and not do things that are not beneficial to the development of bilateral relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. Germanyʼs Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said on Sunday some 10,000 German citizens had been targeted in an intelligence operation by Chinese spies.

Expectations low for World Trade Organization meeting Representatives of the 164 WTO member countries are in Buenos Aires for their biennial meeting. The odds of a breakthrough look grim against the backdrop of Donald Trumpʼs ʼAmerica Firstʼ policy and discord over China. The World Trade Organizationʼs biennial conference opened on Sunday — the first since US President Donald Trump came to office. The Buenos Aires meeting, which lasts until Wednesday,will be a major challenge for participants because of Americaʼs general hostility to multilateral trade accords. Trump has pummeled the body relentlessly over the past year, describing it as a "disaster." The Trump administration has also made the WTO a preferred target of its "America First" policy, threatening to pull the US out of the trade organization it says is hampering its ability to compete. In opening remarks Argentinaʼs President Mauricio Macri said that "WTO problems get fixed with more WTO, not with less WTO."

291/2017 • 13, DECEMBER 2017

Donald Trump rejects congressional sexual harassment probe On Monday, three of Trumpʼs accusers reiterated their claims

The White House has rejected calls by Democrats for a congressional probe into claims Donald Trump sexually harassed several women before becoming president.

Three women who have previously accused President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct renewed their claims on Monday, calling for a congressional investigation into his behavior. Rachel Crooks, Jessica Leeds and Samantha Holvey (pictured above) said at the news conference that they were speaking up again because of the current climate that has emboldened women to speak up about sexual misconduct. "The environmentʼs different," said Holvey, who claims Trump came backstage when she and other contestants were dressing at the 2006 Miss USA pageant. "Letʼs try again." Later Monday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders discussed the accusations, telling reporters that the president "has addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations.

"This took place long before he was elected to be president and the people of this country had a decisive election, supported President Trump," Sanders said. "We feel like these allegations have been answered through that process." Demo-

cratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Monday called on Trump to resign, after two other Senate Democrats made the same call a day earlier.

"President Trump has committed assault according to these women," Gillibrand told CNN. "And those are very credible allegations." Democratic Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Jeff Merkley of Oregon called over the weekend for Trump to quit. Democrat Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary panel, said it was unlikely the Republican-controlled Congress would act on the accusations, which were known before the November 2016 presidential election. "My hunch is it gets reviewed at the next election," Coons told CNN. Crooks, Leeds and Holvey spoke at a news conference in New York on Monday, as nonprofit filmmaker Brave New Films introduced a video featuring 16 of Trumpʼs accusers. In the film, women accused Trump of kissing them without permission, grabbing their private parts, putting his hand up their skirts, or making other unwanted advances.

China accuses Australian media of racism and paranoia Beijingʼs harsh words come after Australiaʼs prime minister Malcolm Turnbull acknowledged "disturbing reports about Chinese influence."

Canberra has said it may pass laws to curb future interference. China accusedAustralian media of racism and paranoiain its coverage of the East Asian country on Monday in the latest verbal exchange between Beijing and Canberra about alleged Chinese meddling in Australia. "This type of hysterical paranoia had racist undertones, and is a stain on Australiaʼs image as a multicultural society," the Peopleʼs Daily newspaper wrote in an opinion piece. The paper is considered the official publication of the Chinese Communist Party.

US, Japan and South Korea host joint missile tracking drills The US, South Korea and Japan have started joint exercises to track missiles from North Korea, Seoulʼs military has said. The two-day drills come just weeks after Pyongyang launched its most advanced missile to date. The US, Japan and South Korea began a twoday missile tracking drill on Monday, South Koreaʼs military has said. The drills were being held in waters off the coast of Japan, according to Japanʼs Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.

The exercises are aimed at "practicing tracking an object and sharing information on it among the three countries," according to a defense official.

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291/2017 • 13, December 2017

Russia vetoes last-ditch bid to save probe into gas attacks in Syria Russia used its veto twice in 24 hours to deny a new mandate to the UN team looking into chemical weapon attacks in Syria. Moscow said it would not extend the mandate of the probe without fixing its "fundamental flaws." Tensions were running high in the UN Security Council on Friday after Russia vetoed a last-ditch motion

by Japan to continue the UN-led investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria. The move comes only a day after Russiavetoed a separate US draft resolutionto extend the probe, and its own draft was in turn rejected by the US, UK, and France. Moscow has repeatedly criticized the findings of the UN-backed investigative body, dubbed Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) as biased and inaccurate. Last week, JIM released a report blaming the Syrian regime for the chemical attack which killed around 100 people in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in April. Russia rejected it as "invented" and insisted that the body needed to reform.

Ousted Venezuelan opposition leader escapes house arrest, flees to Spain Ousted Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma has likened his escape to a film. He plans to take the fight against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro abroad.

The ousted opposition mayor of Caracas arrived in Spain on Saturday after orchestrating a daring escape from house arrest in Venezuela. Antonio Ledezma landed in Madrid from Bogota, Colombia, where he arrived a day earlier after slipping across the border. He was greeted by his wife and two daughters who live in Spain.

Ledezma said he planned to organize resistance from abroad to President Nicolas Maduro, under whose rule millions of Venezuelans have suffered from shortages of food and other basic supplies. "I am going to travel the world to spread the hope of all Venezuelans to escape this regime, this dictatorship," Ledezma said. The 62-year-old opposition figure was removed as mayor of Caracas and arrested in 2015 on allegations he sought to topple Maduro. He was later put under house arrest due to health issues. Ledezma was one of the opposition leaders who led protests against the government in 2014, which also resulted in the arrest of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.

He remains under house arrest.

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Boris Johnson in Iran to press for aid workerʼs release Critics say a gaffe by the diplomat has harmed her case

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has arrived in Iran, where he is expected to lobby for the release of Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson met his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday to discuss "a number of consular cases involving dual nationals," a statement from the British Foreign Office said. The most high-profile of those cases is that ofNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who isserving a five-year prison sentencefor allegedlyplotting to overthrow the government— a charge she denies. She has been in custody since April 2016. Johnson did

Argentina navy loses contact with submarine with 44 crew on board No one has heard from an Argentinian submarine for at least two days. While authorities initially insisted it wasnʼt missing, Argentinaʼs navy has stepped up its search efforts. Argentinaʼs navy lost contact with one of its submarines and its 44 crew members, it announced on Friday. Although the German-built ARA San Juan has been out of contact for two days, the navy initially did not consider it lost. "Itʼs not that itʼs lost, because to be lost, you have to look for it and not find it," the navy told a local broadcaster. However, after an initial search operation in the submarineʼs last known position, around 430 kilometers (267miles) off the southeastern

not speak to journalists following the talks with Zarif.

But Iranʼs state news agency IRNA reported that Johnson had called for increasing bilateral cooperation and stressed Britainʼs support for Iranʼs 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. It did not mention talks about jailed dual nationals.

Ahead of the visit, Johnson said in statement he planned to press for the release of dual nationals "where there are humanitarian grounds to do so."

Valdez peninsula, bore no results, Argentina said it was stepping up its search efforts and calling on allies for help. "We have not been able to find, or have visual or radar communication with the submarine," navy spokesman Enrique Balbi told reporters at a news conference. "I donʼt want to dramatize the issue. Weʼre lacking communication and donʼt know what happened."

The incident has formally been upgraded to a "search and rescue" operation, Balbi added.

Cambodia charges 2 journalists with espionage The arrests are the latest in a widening crackdown on media and the opposition in Cambodia ahead of elections next year. The move further

Australia shutters Papua New Guinea detention center Around 600 asylum seekers have refused to leave the facility, citing fears of attacks from locals. Australian lawmakers have warned of a "humanitarian emergency" when authorities in Papua New Guinea shut off the water.

Private security staff at a controversial Australian detention center in Papua New Guinea left the facility for the first time in years on Tuesday ahead of its expected closure.

The facility formed an integral part ofAustraliaʼs expensive offshore detention programknown as "Sovereign Borders." However, Papua New Guineaʼs Supreme Court ruled that the facility is unconstitutional and needed to be closed. Some 600 asylum seekers residing at the facility have refused to leave, saying the alternatives provided are less secure.

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the campʼs closure would proceed, and that the asylum seekers have access to temporary residences nearby. "All have been informed for a considerable period of time that there is safe and secure alternate accommodation where health and other services will be maintained," Dutton told Reuters news agency in an emailed statement.

strains ties between the United States and Cambodia. Two Cambodian journalists who worked for a US-funded radio station were charged with espionage on Saturday, the latest move in a widening crackdown on critics of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Uon Chhin and Yeang Socheameta, former journalists of the Washington-based Radio Free Asia, were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly providing information to a foreign power. The offense carries up to 15-years in prison. Radio Free Asiaʼs Phnom Penh bureau closed its office in September, citing "intimidation" and threats that it was violating tax and registration regulations. The Cambodia Daily newspaper reported the two journalists were accused of setting up broadcasting equipment in the capital and sending news reports to Radio Free Asiaʼs Washington bureau.

291/2017 • 13, December 2017

Ryanair pilots vote for industrial action It has been a difficult few months for Ryanair. First the airline had to cancel thousands of flights and now it is facing the threat of strikes after some of its pilots across Europe voted to take action.

Ryanair pilots in Germany have joined counterparts from Ireland, Italy and Portugal in voting to take some form of industrial action in the near future. Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), the German pilots union that represents some Ryanair pilots based in Germany, announced the decision on Tuesday, although it is not yet clear when industrial action would take place or indeed, precisely what form it will take. In a statement, the union said: "This is intended to enforce collective bargaining to regulate fair

US and Poland strike $10.5 billion missile defense deal The US has approved the $10.5 billion sale of a Patriot anti-missile system to NATO ally Poland. Eastern European NATO states have been ramping up their military capabilities in the face of perceived Russian aggression.

In a move likely to irk Russia, the US and Poland agreed on Friday a major arms deal that could see the eastern European NATO member soon begin conducting air and missile defense operations. As part of the $10.5 billion (€8.9 billion) sale, Poland is expected to receive 208 Patriot Advanced Capabilty-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement missiles, 16 M903 launching stations, four AN/MPQ-65 radars, four control stations, spares, software and associated equipment. Made by US defense contractor Raytheon, the missiles are reportedly designed to detect, track and engage unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cruise missiles and shortrange or tactical ballistic missiles. In a statement issued following the sale, the State Department said that: "A secure Europe capable of deterring air and missile threats and other forms of aggression promotes peace and stability within NATO and on the European continent."

working and remuneration conditions for Ryanair pilots." VC president Ilja Schulz said: "We want to agree contracts with Ryanair. We see no other way". Any plans to strike would not take effect during the December 23-26 Christmas holiday period, the union added. Ryanair responded with a strongly worded statement, saying it had not been notified of any impending industrial action and also calling into question the motives of the VC union, with which it says it will not engage.

A new legitimate era for Bitcoin

Dealing in Bitcoin gets more real as the virtual currency starts trading on its first major global exchange in Chicago. The subsequent buying frenzy prompted skeptics to again warn of a bubble. When Bitcoin was first created in 2009 it was only worth a few cents. Since the beginning of the year though, Bitcoin has seen an amazing 15-fold gain. In another step toward legitimacy, it made its debut on a major global exchange on Sun-

day after gaining US regulatory approval— a milestone for a controversial digital currency that has no central bank backing and no legal exchange rate. Trading on a futures contract began at 6pm local time on the Chicago board options exchange (Cboe) at a price of $15,000 (€12,700) and quickly surged past $18,000. Heavy traffic even made the Cboe website inaccessible for the first 20 minutes.

Austrian full-face veil ban comes into effect Austriaʼs prohibition of full-face coverings has officially come into force. The government said the ban helps uphold Austrian values and promotes integration despite criticism from Muslim and refugee groups. People in Austria are now banned from covering their faces in public.

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291/2017 • 13, December 2017 Can the ad industry become sustainable?

A look at an entrepreneur who wants to revolutionize the ad industry. Andrea Henao is a former advertising executive who left the corporate world to found her own business — a boutique ad agency that vets its clients. ndrea Henao wants to change the ad industry. Two years ago, the Berlin-based French entrepreneur founded an ad agency that only works with sustainable brands. I met Henao in her offices, not too far from the Berlin’s notorious Alexanderplatz. The premises are decorated with second-hand furniture that she bought online, and art pieces collected and made with friends and colleagues. While showing me around, she shared the stories about the furniture and art. Henao understands the importance of stories. And she knows just how brands come up with stories that appeal to customers with certain values.

With rising consumer awareness about environmental issues and labor practices, brands increasingly emphasize ecological footprint and employee working conditions. Unfortunately, ad campaigns do not always tell the truth — they exaggerate, embellish and lie.

And this is something Henau wants to change. "We really believe that we are responsible for the ad that we promote, hence we promote exclusively sustainable brands," she tells me. The ad industry has yet to play a significant role in ensuring brands tell the truth.The onus to reveal false claims has generally fallen on activists, consumer groups and the media. But Henao believes advertisers can play a bigger role.

China sales behind German carmakersʼ rosy third quarter Strong vehicle sales in the wordʼs most important car market have been essential in enabling German carmakers to end their third quarters on a positive note. Their dependence on China is expected to increase further.

Germanyʼs top carmakers would not have been able to present positive third-quarter results without a booming auto market in China, a study by consultancy EY showed Tuesday.

It said China had long become the most important market for Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler, with one in three of their cars sold in the third quarter having gone to the Asian nation. To be more precise, the Chinese market accounted for 34 percent of Germanyʼs overall car sales between July and September, the highest ever rate logged so far.

Back in 2010, only 23 percent of Germanyʼs quarterly car sales ended up in China.

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Brexit: Hard-liners angered by Royal Mailʼs refusal to release Brexit stamp British advocates of Brexit have slammed the UKʼs postal service following reports that it will not produce a stamp marking the countryʼs exit from the EU. Some MPs said theyʼd push Royal Mail to reverse its decision.

Conservative Brexiteers attacked Britainʼs Royal Mail postal service on Monday following reports in the press that it would not release a stamp commemorating thecountryʼs departure from the European Union, scheduled for March 2019. ProBrexit Conservative ministers were quick to accuse the postal service of hypocrisy, saying that it had released a series of stamps celebrating

Germany bans sale of childsnooping smartwatches A German regulator has banned the sale of childrenʼs smartwatches that have one-way monitoring functions.

Officials said parents had been using the watches to listen in on teachers while their children were in class.

Certain smartwatches for children can no longer be sold in Germany as some of these models are equipped with a "wiretapping" function, a regulator said on Friday Germanyʼs Federal Network Agency, orBundesnetzagentur, announced the ban saying that these watches can be classed as "unauthorized transmitters."

"According to our investigations, parents were using the watches, for example, to listen in on teachers during class," said Bundesnetzagentur President Homann.

Germany Germany bans sale of child-snooping smartwatches A German regulator has banned the sale of childrenʼs smartwatches that have one-way monitoring functions. Officials said parents had been using the watches to listen in on teachers while their children were in class.

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Norwegian wealth fund plans to divest of oil and gas Norwayʼs trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund is proposing to drop oil and gas companies from its holdings, saying it already has enough exposure to the industry and wants to protect against fluctuating oil prices.

Oslo is set to decide in the fall of 2018 on backing a proposal from the countryʼs sovereign wealth fund —the worldʼs biggest— to cut oil and gas companies from its benchmark index.

In a letter to the government, the Norwegian central bank, which manages the fund, said on Thursday that the move would make Norway "less vulnerable to a lasting decline in oil prices."

"This advice is based exclusively on financial arguments and analyses of the governmentʼs total oil and gas exposure," the bankʼs deputy governor Egil Matsen said in a statement. "It does not reflect any particular view of future movements in oil and gas prices or the profitability or sustainability of the oil and gas sector," he added.

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Britainʼs accession to the European Community back in 1973. Speaking to the British press, David Jones, a former minister in Britainʼs Exiting the EU Department and a Conservative for Clwyd West, described the Royal Mailʼs decision as "outrageous," and said that he would write to the UK Business Secretary Sajid Javid, whohas oversight over the postal service, to complain.

Germans say Russia is more reliable than the United States

A new survey published by German public broadcaster ARD shows Germans trust Russia more than the US. Americaʼs brand appears to have suffered considerably since the election of Donald Trump as US president last year.

Germans increasingly see Russia as a more reliable partner than the US, a new study released on Saturday has found. The poll of 1,004 people by research institute Infratest dimap showed that 28 percent of respondents felt Moscow was a reliable partner, compared to 25 percent for Washington.

The result is the first time the publicʼs trust in the US has fallen below Russia in over a decade. An Infratest survey of public trust in Germanyʼs global partners in June found both countries tying at 21 percent. France and Britain fared far better in the German publicʼs eyes.

More than 90 percent said Paris was a reliable partner, while more than 60 percent said Britain, which has been trying to exit the European Union (EU), was a reliable partner.

291/2017 • 13, December 2017

UN resolves to end ocean plastic waste Although itʼs not a legally binding treaty, it could pave the way to one

At the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, more than 200 nations passed a resolution to eliminate plastic pollution in our seas.

More than 200 countries have promised to turn the tide on throwaway plastic packaging that is clogging our oceans and threatening marine ecosystems. At the United Nations Environment Assembly happening this week in Nairobi, a resolution has been passed aimed to end marine plastic pollution. In advance of the assembly, a UN marine ecosystems chief called marine plastic pollution a "planetary cri-

sis," and environmental groups had hoped for a "Paris-style" global treaty aimed at tackling it. The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, lays the fundamental groundwork for the world to take action on climate change. Scientists calling for a binding international agreement said the impact of ocean plastics on biodiversity, ecosystem services, food security and human health make it "a global threat."

Teachers for AI — can robots create more jobs than they retire?

While headway in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has many worried about potential jobs losses, others see this as a perfect opportunity to nurture an economy that is completely human-based.

Workers can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to 40 hours a week going through simple tasks on a smartphone, making AI all over the world more intelligent and efficient. By building platforms and crowd sourcing a large supply of workers, the companies that train AI were smart to realize the data needed could be processed by anyone with steady access to the internet. From this developed companies like Clickwork, Neurala,

and Alegion Inc., which utilize "human taggers" to push AI education.

With over a million "clickworkers" signed up, thereʼs an estimated 100,000 people logged on at this very moment, sifting through droves of information and lending a human touch to robot training. "Staring at security cameras or an airport scanner, remote-controlling a robot, driving trucks up and down a mine did not exist as jobs until recently," says Massimiliano Versace, CEO of Neurala, "and will probably not exist as jobs occupying a full-time human as they are today. Humans were created to do much more complicated and elevated tasks than watching videos 24/7."

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Germany must allow third gender in registry of births, court rules An intersex person has won a court case to allow them to enter a third gender into the registry of births.

The case was appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court after failing at lower levels.

Germanyʼs Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday called for a third gender option in the registry of births.

Intersex people, who are neither male nor female, should be able to register their sexual identity as such, the Karlsruhe court ruled. The court found that the general right to the protection of personality in Germanyʼs Basic Law meant the register had to be altered to allow a third gender. The court ruled seven to one that lawmakers must create new legislation by the end of 2018 to allow for a third sex, providing the examples of "intersex," "diverse" or another "positive designation of sex." Another possibility raised was to scrap gender entries altogether. "Assignment to a gender is of paramount importance for individual identity; it typically plays a key role both in the self-image of a person and in the way in which the person concerned is perceived by others. The gender identity of those persons who are neither male nor female is protected,"the court ruled.

Advent Feast at the Basilica November 24 - January 1

One of the ‘Best European Christmas Markets’ is a must-see event in the heart of Budapest Discover Hungary’s most acclaimed Christmas market: The Advent Feast at the Basilica is blending Central European traditions and modern attractions, turning the iconic St. Stephenʼs square into 3D cinema. For more details and information about the Advent Feast’s event schedule, check out thewww.adventiunnep.hu/enwebsite. Budapest 1051, Szent István tér Opening hours: MondayFriday: 11 am – 10 pm, SaturdaySunday: 10 am – 10 pm, and 10 am – 2 pm on December 24. Skating class hours: Friday from 2-8 pm, Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm and Sunday from 10 am -6 pm.

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Culture

New Hungarian film Aurora Borealis now screens in Budapest Becoming a mother is a miraculous time in a woman’s life. However, there are certain scenarios when the arrival of a newcomer is not entirely wonderful news. The new motion picture by eminent Hungarian director Márta Mészáros, Aurora Borealis, tells a touching tale, taking viewers back in time in Hungary and leaving them reaching for the Kleenex.

The story has two timelines. One transports viewers back to a western Hungarian village in 1953, where a descendant of an aristocratic family, Ákos, falls for a village girl, Mari. They try to escape to Austria together, but unfortunately with no success, and after being harassed by soldiers, Mari has to start a new life alone and pregnant in occupied Vienna. The other storyline is in the present, unfolding the events through the recollections of old Mari, now a pensioner living in her old village.

One day she gets a letter from Russia and falls into a coma. Her daughter Olga, a lawyer living alone in Vienna, comes back to care for her. Suspecting something about her mother’s past isn’t quite right, she starts investigating. This is only a fraction of the story, as anything else would be a major spoiler. However, even the trailer foretells that Olga’s dad might not be who she thinks after all.

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291/2017 • 13, December 2017

Case of wrestler throwing bout sparks anger in Iran

Tehranʼs ban on any contact with Israel has led to another case of an Iranian athlete being ordered to lose during an international competition. This policy is coming under growing criticism in Iran. "Ali Resa lose!, Ali Resa you must lose!" echoed through the venue in Bydgoszcz, Poland in the final moments of one of the semifinals at the U23 wrestling World Championships. This unbelievable but effective order from the Iranian coach to his athlete, Ali Resa Karimi (pictured above, right), can be clearly heard in a video recording of the semifinal.

The Iranian had a 3-2 lead over his opponent, Russiaʼs Alikhan Zhabrailov, with just moments to go in the bout. However, Karimi followed the orders of his coach, who was positioned at the edge of the mat, and demonstrably ceased to put up any resistance.

A victory for the IOC as Thomas

Athletics doping: IOC confident over Russia doping reform plans International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach believes Russia will resolve its doping issues and field athletes at next yearʼs Rio Games.

Russia was provisionally suspendedfrom world athletics after an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report alleged "state-sponsored doping". Bach met with his Russian Olympic Committee counterpart Alexander Zhukov to discuss the report. He said he was "confident" in the measures put forward by the ROC. Council members of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Friday voted 22-1 in favour of Russia being banned. As it stands, Russian athletes may not enter international competitions, including the World Athletic Series and Rio Olympics, which begin on 5 August next year. Russia will also not be entitled to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup in Cheboksary and the 2016 World Junior Championships in Kazan. "We are confident that the initiatives being proposed by the ROC, with the responsible international organisations - Wada and the IAAF - will ensure compliance as soon as possible in order to provide participation of the clean Russian athletes at the Olympic Games," said IOC president Bach.

Philipp Lahm named honorary captain of Germany He is also to serve as an ambassador for Germanyʼs bid to win the right to host Euro 2024

The German FA has named Philip Lahm as an honorary captain of the national team.

The widely expected move was announced in a statement issued by the German football association (DFB) on Friday.Philipp Lahm (pictured above, right) was nominated for the role by DFB President Reinhard Grindel (above, center) and it was approved at an extraordinary DFB assembly in Frankfurt. "Philipp Lahm is an outstanding sportsman, an outstanding

team player and also a socially committed human being," Grindel said. He also noted that the honor was also in recognition of "his great achievement as captain of our 2014 World Cup-winning national team." Lahm becomes the sixth player to receive the honor, after Fritz Walter, Uwe Seeler, Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthäus and Jürgen Klinsmann.

Bach stands up to Russia

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has finally flexed its muscles by banning Russia from the Winter Olympics. Itʼs a victory for its president but work remains to rid sport of drugs, writes DWʼs Michael Da Silva. Almost a year and a half after the McLaren report revealed the depth and breadth of state-sponsored Russian doping, it was still not a foregone conclusion that the International Olympic Committee would make the correct call.

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Vladimir Putin: ʼRussia will not boycott Winter Olympic Gamesʼ President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia will not prevent athletes from competing at the 2018 Winter Games under the Olympic flag. The statement came a day after the IOC banned the country over a doping scandal.

Just hours after aKremlin spokesman said Moscow would take some time to consider its responseto the International Olympic Committeeʼs (IOC) decision to ban Russia from the Olympic

Games, President Vladimir Putin (pictured above) confirmed that his countryʼs athletes would be free to compete.

"We will certainly not declare any boycott, we will not prevent our Olympians from competing, if they want to take part in a personal capacity," Russian news agencies quoted him as saying during a speech at an automobile plant in Nizhny Novgorod, where he also announced he would run for a fourth term in the 2018 presidential election.