Morning Brief: Narsingh Yadav Fails Dope Test; 3 Chinese Scribes Expelled; Nepal PM Oli Resigns

BIG SETBACK

India’s hopes of winning a medal in 74 Kg freestyle wrestling has been dealt a blow. India’s entry into this division, Narsingh Yadav failed the dope test. He tested positive for methandienone - a banned anabolic steroid. He was chosen over Sushil Kumar, a two-time Olympic medal winner after a long drawn legal battle. Sushil’s request for a trial between the two wrestlers was dismissed by the Delhi high court.​

Yadav believes that there was foul play involved in the entire episode. “Someone has sabotaged my food supplements and water intake,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Will Sushil be sent in place of Yadav now? Indian Olympic Association Secretary General Rajeev Mehta ruled out the possibility saying that the last date for sending Olympic entries, July 18, is well behind them now and there is no chance for Sushil to replace Yadav.

OLI GOES

K.P. Sharma Oli has resigned as prime minister of Nepal. He quit the post before a no-confidence motion could take place in the parliament. He didn’t think he had the numbers to win the vote on the floor of the house.Oli who is considered close to the Chinese leadership was elected prime minister nine months ago. Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known by his nom-de-guerre Prachanda, could become the new premier.

CHINESE SCRIBES

India has expelled three journalists belonging to China’s official news agency Xinhua. They were suspected of being spies. The government received adverse reports from intelligence agencies about the “extra-professional” activities of the trio. For instance, they were found to have visited Nepal frequently during the past year, when China-supported anti-India sentiment was at a high. The news agency lobbied hard to get the decision reversed, but the government refused to budge.

NEW ADVISOR

Kerala’s Communist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has ruffled many feathers in his party by picking Gita Gopinath as his new financial advisor. A celebrated free market economist and a professor at the economics department of Harvard University, Gopinath is a member of the economic advisory panel of Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She completed her PhD from the Princeton University under the guidance of Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and Kenneth Rogoff, a former director of research at the IMF.

Many comrades of the chief minister are silently questioning his thinking behind picking a neoliberal economist as his advisor.

CM Vijayan has defended the appointment. “Economic experts might have different opinions and answers to problems. For us, she is one of the leading world economists with roots in Kerala. What is wrong in asking her views and opinions on the world economy and make use of whatever we want?” he said.

DNC EMAIL LEAK

Democratic party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has finally put in her papers after a leak of emails suggested that an insider attempt was made to sabotage the campaign of Hillary Clinton’s primaries rival Bernie Sanders, including by seeking to present him as an atheist to undermine him in highly religious states. Sanders campaign has been accusing the party leadership of siding with Clinton right from the beginning. These allegations have now been proven true.

Soon after Schultz announced her resignation, she got awarded with a plump post of honorary chairman of Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump who is angling for the support of disgruntled Sanders supporters was quick to taunt how the system was rigged against Bernie from the start.

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SWARAJYA SPECIAL

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