Author: The Guardian

US Olympic athletes have lost faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency to rid their sports of cheaters before next month’s summer Games in Paris, two former gold medalists told a House subcommittee on Tuesday night.The testimony by Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt followed revelations this spring that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned heart medication before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but were allowed by Wada to compete. Five of those swimmers went on to win medals, including three golds.Phelps is the most decorated swimmer in history and a 23-time Olympic gold medalist. Schmitt, a four-time gold…

World Player of the Year Adi Saviya says the All Blacks hope to settle some old scores when they face England next week. New Zealand’s No.8 made it clear that the home side have not forgotten the “blow on the nose” they suffered in the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-finals and which saw them forced to settle for a 25-25 draw in their most recent match. Kenham.Savia, who is back in the black jersey after a spell in Japan, has been impressed with England’s progress since last autumn’s World Cup but said he would be disappointed when Saturday’s two games…

I just turned 78, and frankly I’m scared about what might come down Thursday evening when the oldest candidates ever to compete in a presidential race debate each other.I’m less worried that Joe Biden will suffer a mental lapse or physically stumble than I am that Biden will look weak and Donald Trump appear strong.One of Trump’s most successful ploys has been to frame the upcoming election as a contest between strength and weakness, and to convince many Americans that stridency and pugnacity are signs of strength while truth and humility signal weakness.In 1960, when I watched John F Kennedy…

Stage 1, Saturday 29 June: Florence to Rimini, 206 kmIronically, this is Italy’s first Grand Départ in a country where cycling talent is almost scarce in this traditional heartland. There are almost no Italians in the starting lineup and there is zero chance of a repeat of the Italian team’s last championship win with Vincenzo Nibali in 2014. However, with three second levels to climb, who would bet on Tadej Pogacar trying to gain an early advantage?Stage 2, Sunday 30 June: Cesenatico to Bologna, 199 kmToday begins in memory of Marco Pantani, the 20th anniversary of his death. The ‘pirate’,…

Boeing’s public relations crisis is now out of this world: the company’s Starliner spacecraft – and the two astronauts onboard – is currently stuck in space.After what started as an eight-day mission, US astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore have now spent the better part of a month on their space capsule attached to the International Space Station as engineers work out the problems with Starliner.It remains unclear when exactly the astronauts will be able to make their return to Earth. A Boeing spokesperson told the Guardian they have “adjusted the return of Starliner Crew Flight Test until…

A spokesman for Incheon International Airport in South Korea said that takeoffs and landings at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport were disrupted for about three hours because a balloon launched by North Korea was filled with garbage.Incheon’s three runways were temporarily closed Wednesday after a balloon landed on the tarmac near the second passenger terminal, a spokesman said.North Korea has launched garbage-laden balloons into South Korea since late May, and hundreds of balloons have landed in South Korea.Several balloons were spotted in and around the borders of the airport, the spokesman said, adding that this was not the first time…

It is easy to feel hopeless about the future of British wildlife. The 2023 State of Nature report found that one in six species are at risk of extinction, with the groups most under threat including plants, birds, amphibians and reptiles, fungi and land mammals. But many of us can do something simple to help: gardening.“There are 23m gardens in Britain, so we can make a real difference,” says Rob Stoneman from the Wildlife Trusts. Gardens cover a bigger area than all the UK’s nature reserves combined, he says. “If you haven’t got a garden, perhaps you could have a…

Jeremy Renner no longer “has the energy” to take on challenging roles after his near-fatal snowplow accident 18 months ago, saying he’s “very scared” to act again.Speaking on the Smartless podcast, hosted by actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, the Oscar-nominated actor said he was finding acting more difficult than he was before January 2023, when he was on his Hospitalized in critical condition after snoring.”I just didn’t have the energy to do it. I had no fuel,” Renner said. “I have a lot of fuel to put into this reality, this body, all these things. I can’t…

The US and Russian defence chiefs spoke by telephone on Tuesday, in a rare conversation between the two powers and with tensions rising after Moscow blamed Washington for a deadly Ukraine attack over the weekend on the Russian-annexed Crimea. The two sides gave widely divergent accounts of the discussion – the first between US defence secretary Lloyd Austin and Russia’s defence minister Andrei Belousov. Austin initiated the conversation and it was the first such call since March 2023, Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder told reporters. Russia’s defense ministry, however, said that Belousov warned Austin of the dangers of continued US arms…

“My name is Julian Paul Assange.”And with that, the WikiLeaks founder uttered the first words that the assembled reporters and supporters had heard from him, as the latest — and perhaps final — extraordinary step in his legal battle A chapter has begun.In a wooden courthouse at the foot of a lush hillside on Saipan’s coast, Assange awaited a three-hour hearing in which he would plead guilty to violating U.S. espionage laws and enter into a deal that would allow him to be with his family in Australia.As Assange entered the courtroom under blue skies, he did not answer any…