GENEVA (AP) — The international swimming federation says its top administrator has been ordered to testify as a witness in a U.S. criminal investigation into the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who failed doping tests in 2021 yet were allowed to continue competing.

The news comes just three weeks before the Paris Olympics, where 11 of the Chinese swimmers who tested positive for the banned heart medication three years ago are set to compete.

The swimmers won three gold medals for China at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, just weeks after the World Anti-Doping Agency declined to challenge Chinese authorities’ explanation of food contamination at a hotel to justify not suspending them.

Those decisions, which World Aquatics separately reached also, were not revealed until reporting in April by the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD.

A House Committee on China asked the Justice Department and the FBI on May 21 to investigate the case under a federal law that allows probes into suspected doping conspiracies even if they occurred outside the U.S.

World Aquatics confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that executive director Brent Nowicki was subpoenaed to testify in the investigation.

“World Aquatics can confirm that its executive director, Brent Nowicki, was served with a witness subpoena by the United States government,” the federation said in a statement to AP. “He is working to schedule a meeting with the government, which, in all likelihood will obviate the need for testimony before a Grand Jury.”

World Aquatics declined to answer questions about where and when Nowicki was served his subpoena and didn’t say which office was handling the investigation.

“Per our standard practice, the FBI does not confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation,” the bureau said Thursday in an email reply.

The Chinese swimmers case could become the highest-profile use so far of a U.S. federal law passed in 2020 in fallout from the long-running scandal of Russian state-backed doping in sports.

The 23 swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine in January 2021 and those were filed weeks later in the global anti-doping database. They included Zhang Yufei, who went on take Olympic gold in the women’s 200-meter butterfly and 4×200 freestyle relay, and Wang Shun, the men’s 200 medley champion.

A later investigation by Chinese state authorities said traces of the substance were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the team stayed. No explanation has been given about how and why the drug prescribed in pill form got there.

WADA accepted the theory which allowed the Chinese swimmers to continue to compete, and has since described it as “a relatively straightforward case of mass contamination.”

The agency has since defended its handling of the case that was kept secret in 2021, saying it had no way to independently disprove the theory during the COVID-19 pandemic when travel to China was not possible.

Lawyers for WADA said in April this year they did not have evidence to win separate appeals against the 23 swimmers before the Tokyo Olympics. Any appeals seeking suspensions for the swimmers would have been heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where Nowicki was a long-time senior counsel before joining World Aquatics in 2021.

“This scandal raises serious legal, ethical, and competitive concerns and may constitute a broader state-sponsored strategy by the People’s Republic of China to unfairly compete at the Olympic Games in ways Russia has previously done,” the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said in the letter to the Justice Department and FBI.

The case was also raised at a congressional hearing last month in which swimming great Michael Phelps said athletes have lost faith in WADA as the global watchdog trying to keep cheaters out of sports.

Officials from the Montreal-based agency declined an invitation to come to the hearing, saying it would be “inappropriate to be pulled into a political debate before a U.S. congressional committee regarding a case from a different country, especially while an independent review into WADA’s handling of the case is ongoing.”

That review report is pending from a WADA-appointed former public prosecutor in the Swiss canton of Vaud that is home to the International Olympic Committee and governing bodies of many Olympic sports.

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart suggested to The Associated Press an ongoing federal investigation could make sport officials traveling to the U.S. “fearful that they may have to answer questions about their activities from the FBI.”

The U.S. will host the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, and in Paris on July 24 the IOC should confirm Salt Lake City as host for the 2034 Winter Games.

The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, named for a whistleblower who exposed Russian state-backed doping, passed with bipartisan backing. It received broad support from the global sports world for its aims to criminalize doping.

However, WADA lobbied against what it saw as a risk of overreach from the “extraterritorial” jurisdiction it could give to U.S. federal agencies, and the IOC also voiced concerns.

The Rodchenkov Act, Tygart said, “was enacted in 2021 with broad athlete, sport and multinational governmental support because WADA could not be trusted to be a strong, fair global watchdog to protect clean athletes and fair sport.”

___ Pells reported from Denver, Colorado.

___

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

President Biden will speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu via phone on Thursday following Hamas’ response to a hostage and cease-fire deal, Fox News Digital can confirm.

Israel said Wednesday it is examining Hamas’ offer of returning the remaining 116 hostages who were captured by the terrorist group during the Oct. 7 attacks, which left nearly 1,200 people dead. 

Netanyahu is set to convene his security cabinet later today to formulate a reaction to Hamas’ latest position, which could prove to be a pivotal step in ending the nine-month-long Israeli air and ground war that has devastated Gaza. The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll in the war had climbed past 38,000, with at least 87,445 wounded.

NETANYAHU TRASHES NY TIMES REPORT CITING ANONYMOUS OFFICIALS WHO SAY ISRAELI MILITARY WANTS CEASE-FIRE IN GAZA

The U.S. has rallied world support behind a plan that would see the hostages still held by the militant group released in return for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. However, until now, neither side appears to have fully embraced it. 

The current deal is reported to be based on a resolution outlined by President Biden in May, which would begin with an initial six-week cease-fire and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas in Gaza and the return of Palestinian civilians to all areas in the territory.

Phase two would see “a permanent end to hostilities, in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in Gaza, and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.” 

Phase three would launch “a major multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of any deceased hostages still in Gaza to their families.”

GAZA MILITANTS FIRE ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL AS TANK ADVANCES INTENSIFY IN NORTH AND SOUTH

An Israeli firefighter walks near smoke and fire following over-border rockets launching into Israel from Lebanon, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in northern Israel on June 12, 2024. (REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu)

Hamas suggested “amendments” to the proposal last month, some of which the U.S. said were unworkable, without providing specifics. The group sent another response Wednesday to Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating the talks, without providing details. A U.S. official said the Biden administration was examining the response, calling it constructive but saying more work needed to be done. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

Hamas political official Bassem Naim said that the group has neither accepted nor rejected the American proposal and has “responded with some ideas to bridge the gap” between the two sides, without elaborating.

However, the transition from the first to the second phase has appeared to be the main sticking point.

Hamas is concerned that Israel will restart the war after the first phase, perhaps after making unrealistic demands in the talks. Israeli officials have expressed concern that Hamas will do the same, drawing out the talks and the initial cease-fire indefinitely without releasing the remaining captives.

Israeli Channel 12, citing a senior Israeli official, reports that Hamas has withdrawn its demand for guarantees that Israel would end the war and withdraw entirely from Gaza in order for it to even agree to the first stage of the deal.

Additionally, the Hezbollah-linked newspaper Al-Akhbar reports that the Hamas plan involves Israel withdrawing troops from the Rafah Crossing area in agreement with Egypt but without having to fully withdraw from the key Philadelphi Corridor.

Israeli hostage families carry the photos of their loved ones who are held hostage by Hamas in Gaza as they march to Jerusalem. (Matan Golan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Netanyahu has been skeptical of the deal, saying that Israel is still committed to destroying Hamas. 

“The war will end once Israel achieves all of its objectives, including the destruction of Hamas and the release of all of our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a video statement given in Hebrew earlier this week. Netanyahu was slamming a New York Times report quoting senior Israeli officials who claim some military brass want a cease-fire with Hamas. 

Over the past nine months, 109 hostages have been released, seven have been rescued by the Israel Defense Forces, and the bodies of 19 have been recovered by the military from Gaza, including three who were mistakenly killed by troops, The Times of Israel reports.

Fox News’ Yonat Friling and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Zaniar Matapour convicted on ‘terrorism’ and murder charges after attack that killed two people and wounded nine.

A court in Oslo has found an Iranian-born Norwegian man guilty of an attack during Pride celebrations in the Norwegian capital in 2022 and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

Two people were killed and nine were seriously wounded in the centre of Oslo, on June 25, 2022, in the shootings at three locations, including the London Pub, a hub of the local LGBTQ scene.

The Oslo District Court said on Thursday that Zaniar Matapour, 45, fired 10 rounds with a machinegun and eight shots with a handgun into the crowd.

“The attack undoubtedly targeted gay people,” the court said in its verdict. “The goal was both to kill as many gay people as possible and to instill fear in LGBTQ people more broadly.”

Prosecutors said Matapour, who police said has a history of mental illness, had sworn allegiance to the ISIS (ISIL) group.

He stood trial on charges of committing an “aggravated act of terrorism” and murder. His 30-year sentence was the highest penalty in Norway since terrorism legislation was changed in 2015.

During the trial, both the prosecution and the defence agreed that Matapour had shot into a crowd and there was no disagreement that the shooting was “terror-motivated”.

His prison term could be extended indefinitely if he is deemed to continue to pose a threat to society, according to Norwegian media reports.

However, Matapour’s lawyer, Marius Dietrichson, had sought an acquittal, saying his client had been provoked to carry out the attack by a Danish intelligence agent who was pretending to be a high-ranking member of ISIL.

The shooting shocked Norway, which has a relatively low crime rate but has experienced so-called lone wolf attacks in recent decades.

“This is a big relief,” the head of the support group for survivors and victims’ relatives, Espen Evjenth, told public broadcaster NRK.

The verdict comes days after the annual Oslo Pride Parade, which paid tribute to the victims of the shooting. An estimated 70,000 revellers marched in this year’s event.