Russia’s sporting return on hold for inquiry into official’s alleged role in doping cover-up
Russia’s return to international sport has been delayed following allegations that its head of anti-doping was involved in covering up drug test results at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.While the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday that athletes from Belarus should now be free to compete under their own flag and anthem, it admitted it still had “concern” over Russia.Sources have confirmed that concern relates to recently reported claims linking the Russian anti-doping agency’s director general, Veronika Loginova, with the government-supported doping programme at the Sochi Games.While not naming Loginova, the IOC’s president, Kirsty Coventry, said the allegations had caused “great concern” and had “led to the World Anti-Doping Agency [Wada] looking into a potential doping allegation”.“It is of huge importance for me to do whatever we can to ensure that the field of play, whenever any athletes are coming back to competition, is the cleanest and fairest field of play that we can provide,” added Coventry.
The allegations, which were first published in the Insider in April, also claimed that Loginova’s partner was a member of the Russian security service, the FSB.Under Wada rules, there should be no government interference in a country’s anti-doping programme.In a statement, Wada said it “noted with concern the contents of an article published by the Insider that made certain allegations related to the chief executive of Rusada and the anti-doping system in Russia.“Wada is taking these allegations very seriously and immediately alerted its independent Intelligence and Investigations department accordingly,” it added.In its statement, Wada also told the Guardian that since December 2025 it had been looking into “another serious allegation made by a known source against the same individual”.
“While Wada will not speculate on what the findings of the latest Russia-related enquiry might be, if the allegations made either by the source or The Insider article were verified, it would be a cause of significant concern for Wada, and further action would be initiated,” it said.Last month Loginova dismissed the accusations as “fantasies” and told the New York Times she was working on educational programmes during the 2014 Games.“I had no potential involvement in the anti-doping laboratory’s operations, much less influence on the collection of doping samples and their subsequent testing,” she said.Rusada has been approached by the Guardian for comment.However, the IOC’s decision was greeted with frustration by Russia’s sports minister, Mikhail Degtyarev.
“The Russian Olympic Committee has long since provided the IOC with a comprehensive set of documents demonstrating the elimination of all legal grounds for further banning the ROC,” he said.“Linking the decision to reinstate the ROC to any irrelevant matters is unacceptable.The restoration process has clearly been delayed, and we see no reason for it.”Meanwhile World Athletics said it would not be welcoming Belarus or Russia back into the sporting fold until there was “tangible movement” over peace negotiations in Ukraine.“We all hope this will be soon, but until that happens the Council continues to be united in standing behind the decision it made in March 2022 and revisited in 2023 and 2025,” it added.
Financial stability risks are rising as AI fuels cyber-attacks, IMF warns; oil below $100 on Iran peace hopes – as it happened
Newsflash: The International Monetary Fund is warning that financial stability risks are rising as artificial intelligence fuels cyber-attacks.In a new blogpost, just published, the IMF singles out Claude Mythos as an example of how quickly risks are increasing.The Fund is calling for “resilience, supervision, and international coordination” to safeguard global financial markets, and protect them against attackers with new AI tools.It warns that AI tools such as Mythos can “dramatically” cut the time and cost needed to identify and exploit vulnerabilities, which raises the risk of weaknesses in key systems being discovered and exploited.IMF experts Tobias Adrian, Tamas Gaidosch and Rangachary Ravikumar write:double quotation markMythos could find and exploit vulnerabilities in every major operating system and web browser—even when used by non-experts
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BP plans to sell shares in flagship carbon projects as it pulls back from green agenda
BP plans to sell stakes in two flagship carbon capture and storage projects in the north-east of England as the company continues to retreat from the green agenda.The oil company hopes to reduce its share in the Net Zero Teesside (NZT) project, which aims to develop the UK’s first gas power plant to be fitted with a controversial carbon capture system to remove its emissions.It also plans to cut its stake in the Northern Endurance Partnership project (NEP), which plans to build a network of offshore pipelines to transport carbon dioxide from the Humber, including the Teesside power plant, and store it under the North Sea.BP’s flagship carbon capture projects were backed by Bernard Looney, the company’s former chief executive, as “the right thing for the world, a tremendous business opportunity” which would create the nation’s first major carbon capture project and “maybe the world’s first zero-carbon industrial cluster”.His departure almost three years ago has led to a tumultuous period for the 117-year-old company, including a leadership overhaul and a steady dismantling of Looney’s green agenda, which failed to win over BP shareholders
JD Sports says Iran war and youth unemployment to hit consumer spending
The sports fashion retailer JD has said that profits will fall this year amid a “muted market” hit by concerns about the Middle East conflict and weaker spending by young people facing rising unemployment.The company, which runs 4,800 stores worldwide including the JD, Blacks and Millets chains in the UK, said it expected profits of between £750m and £850m in the year ahead, after reporting £852m in the year to the end of January.Régis Schultz, the retail group’s chief executive, said its core youth market had been hit by rising unemployment, adding: “Those 10-30 hour contracts they do allow them to buy the sneakers they would love to have.”He said this was not just a UK problem, with sales to 14-18 year olds down by more than 10% across Europe, including the UK, according to industry data.JD said there had been “no material business impact to date” from the war in Iran, but the company warned that the conflict may end up pushing up costs and prices
Dawn airport drinkers call out Ryanair boss on proposal to ban ‘holiday ritual’
For most people, the idea of a pint with breakfast is pretty grim. But at the Wetherspoons in Stansted’s departure lounge on Thursday morning, it appeared to be the beverage of choice.“It’s a holiday ritual,” said Dee Wood, 60, a waste policy officer, who was enjoying a pint while waiting to board her Alicante-bound morning flight. “It’s like the start of holiday,” said her friend Rachel Almond, 59, a community planner, who was treating herself to a lager. “We don’t get drunk, we just have a pint, say cheers and off we go
Revealed: owner of former WH Smith stores is charging fee to use fictitious ‘family’ brand
The investment company that owns the former WH Smith high street stores is charging the retailer millions of pounds in licence fees for the right to use its widely derided TG Jones name, the Guardian can reveal.Modella Capital, which bought the chain from WH Smith’s parent company last year, on Wednesday blamed weak consumer spending as it laid out a restructuring plan that could shut 150 of its 450 shops. It also said “the forced name change from WH Smith has also negatively impacted consumer awareness”.However, documents seen by the Guardian showed Modella, which bought the paperclips to books chain for £76m last year, was so far owed £2.9m in royalty fees for use of the fictitious “family” name now used on the former WH Smith stores
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