World
World swimming federation confirms US federal investigation into Chinese swimmers' doping tests
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
World
Video: Deadly Storm Causes Massive Flooding Across Gaza
new video loaded: Deadly Storm Causes Massive Flooding Across Gaza
By Jorge Mitssunaga, Nader Ibrahim and Saher Alghorra
December 12, 2025
World
Archaeologists uncover rare fresco of Jesus in town Pope Leo XIV recently visited
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Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered a fresco of a Roman-looking Jesus as the “Good Shepherd,” which is being hailed as one of the most important finds from Anatolia’s early Christian era.
The work of art was found in August in an underground tomb near the town of Iznik, where the Nicene Creed, a foundational statement of Christian belief, was adopted in A.D. 325. The tomb itself is believed to date back to the third century, when the area was still under the Roman Empire and Christians faced persecution.
POPE LEO XIV OPENS FIRST FOREIGN TRIP IN TURKEY WITH A VISIT TO CHRISTIANITY’S EARLY HEARTLANDS
Archaeologists clean and restore frescoes inside a 3rd-century tomb where a rare early Christian depiction of Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” was discovered, in Iznik, Turkey, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (Khalil Hamra/AP Photo)
The fresco shows a youthful, clean-shaven Jesus dressed in a toga and carrying a goat on his shoulders, according to The Associated Press, which was the first international media organization given access to the tomb. The outlet noted that researchers say the fresco represents one of the rare instances in Anatolia in which Jesus is portrayed with Roman attributes.
The lead archaeologist on the project believes the artwork could be the “only example of its kind in Anatolia,” the AP reported.
A fresco depicting Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” adorns the wall of a 3rd-century tomb in Hisardere, where archaeologists uncovered one of Anatolia’s best-preserved early Christian artworks, in Iznik, Turkey, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (Khalil Hamra/AP Phto)
POPE LEO XIV CALLS FOR ‘DIVINE GIFT OF PEACE’ IN MAIDEN VISIT TO MIDDLE EAST
Pope Leo XIV recently visited the town as part of his first overseas trip since taking the helm of the Vatican. While in Iznik, Pope Leo XIV marked the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which set forth the Nicene Creed that millions of Christians still read today.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) welcomes Pope Leo XIV (R) with an official welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkiye, on Nov. 27, 2025. (Utku Ucrak/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented a tile painting of the “Good Shepherd” discovery to the pope, according to the AP.
While in Turkey, Pope Leo XIV was joined by Eastern and Western patriarchs and priests as they prayed that Christians would one day be united once again. They prayed together over the site where the council produced the Nicene Creed. The men recited the creed, which the pope said was “of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making toward full communion,” according to the AP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Three years on, former MEP Kaili remains in limbo still awaiting trial
The detention of former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini earlier this month in a fraud investigation in Belgium has raised fresh questions about why suspects in the European Parliament’s corruption scandal still have not faced trial, three years after arrests that shocked Brussels.
Mogherini, who led the EU’s diplomatic service from 2014 to 2019 and then served as rector of the prestigious College of Europe, was questioned alongside two others on suspicion of alleged procurement fraud, corruption and conflict of interest related to an EU-funded diplomatic training programme.
The Italian top diplomat, who was eventually released pending charges, has since resigned from her post at the College of Europe.
Meanwhile, the protracted European Parliament corruption scandal investigation, which began with raids across Brussels on 9 December 2022, has moved at a glacial pace.
Greek MEP Eva Kaili became the face of the scandal when Belgian police revealed it had discovered €150,000 in cash — purportedly in large bags — at her Brussels residence during the raids.
Since then, Kaili has spent the intervening years in a legal purgatory, or what some have since dubbed “Belgiangate”.
Brussels rocked by Parliament sting
Authorities said they discovered a total of €1.5 million in cash during the 2022 sting, including €600,000 at the home of former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri and the money found at the Brussels residence of Kaili, who was also serving as one of 14 vice presidents of the European Parliament at the time.
Kaili’s father Alexandros was apprehended at the Sofitel hotel at Place Jourdan with a suitcase containing “several hundred thousand euros,” according to authorities.
A special police team accompanied by investigating judge Michel Claise then raided Kaili’s home that evening, arresting her in front of her two-year-old daughter.
Stripped of her parliamentary immunity, Kaili spent four months in pre-trial detention followed by house arrest with an electronic bracelet until May 2023, all while maintaining her innocence in what prosecutors allege was a scheme by three non-EU countries to buy influence in the European Parliament.
She remains charged with participation in a criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering.
The 47-year-old former MEP has consistently denied all charges. Her partner Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant and former aide to Panzeri, admitted accepting bribes but alleged Kaili was not directly involved in the corruption scheme. He is the father of Kaili’s daughter.
Byzantine court drama
The case centres on allegations that Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania sought to influence European Parliament decisions through bribes paid to MEPs and staff. Authorities say the scheme aimed to kill off parliamentary resolutions condemning Qatar’s human rights record and secure visa liberalisation for Qatari citizens. Both Qatar and Morocco deny the allegations.
Panzeri struck a deal with prosecutors in January 2023 to become a cooperating witness in exchange for a reduced sentence. Under the agreement, he committed to revealing “the identity of the persons he admits to having bribed.”
Defence lawyers have challenged Panzeri’s credibility and the methods used to secure his confession.
The case took another hit after Claise, the investigating judge who ordered Kaili’s arrest, was forced to recuse himself in June 2023 after it emerged his son was a business partner of Belgian MEP Marie Arena’s son — Arena herself later charged in the scandal.
Defence lawyers claim Claise knew about these connections and should have recused himself earlier, and that he protected Arena by delaying her indictment.
Marie Arena was charged only in January with participation in a criminal organisation but not with corruption or money laundering. Police found €280,000 in cash at her son’s home, according to Belgian media reports.
Another significant development came in September 2024 when a Brussels judge ordered Committee R, an independent body overseeing Belgian intelligence, to review the legality of “specific and exceptional methods” used by Belgian secret service VSSE in the investigation.
“It’s a very important and extraordinary decision that the appeal court made,” Kaili’s lawyer Sven Mary told Euronews at the time, adding that the finding could open a “new Pandora’s box” about the role Belgian intelligence played.
The Committee had issued an opinion in January confirming that the VSSE acted within the law. However, defence lawyers pointed out that Belgium’s penal code was not amended to criminalise foreign interference until April 2024 — a year and a half after the raids. At the time of the original investigation, only military espionage qualified as a prosecutable offence of interference.
Kaili has also challenged other parts of the investigation, arguing that Belgian authorities subjected her to “medieval” conditions during detention.
Her lawyers claimed she was held in solitary confinement for three days in January 2023 without adequate blankets, with lights on continuously, which they described as “torture”. Belgian prosecutors disputed these claims.
Case known as Belgiangate?
The procedural challenges facing the investigation are substantial. Defence lawyers have questioned the case on multiple fronts, including how Kaili’s immunity was lifted, the role of Belgian intelligence services, and the credibility of key witness Antonio Panzeri.
A crucial dispute centres on whether investigators artificially created a flagrant delicto situation. When Kaili’s father was arrested carrying a suitcase of cash on 9 December 2022, Judge Claise used this to justify an immediate search of Kaili’s home.
Defence lawyers argue immunity can only be lifted when someone is caught in the act, and that investigators manufactured these conditions specifically to bypass her parliamentary protections.
Questions about Panzeri’s reliability intensified after Giorgi secretly recorded an investigator saying, “Panzeri is lying.”
The recording, revealed by Belgian outlet La Libre, is said to have captured the investigator repeatedly questioning the credibility of the man Belgian authorities consider the scheme’s mastermind.
Prosecutors want the recording excluded, citing “unclear” circumstances. Defence lawyers insist it proves Panzeri’s cooperation agreement was granted too hastily and should have required court approval.
In September 2024, Kaili and Giorgi filed a defamation complaint against Panzeri with prosecutors in Milan.
In July of this year, Kaili won a legal victory when the EU’s General Court ruled that the European Parliament had wrongly denied her access to documents about her alleged mismanagement of parliamentary assistant allowances, part of an EPPO claim.
All still in limbo
The case has expanded significantly since the initial arrests. In March, prosecutors requested that parliamentary immunity be waived for Italian S&D MEPs Elisabetta Gualmini and Alessandra Moretti.
In total, at least 10 people now face charges, including former MEPs Panzeri, Cozzolino and Marc Tarabella, as well as lobbyist Niccolò Figà-Talamanca and Luca Visentini, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.
The Brussels Chamber of Indictment only began reviewing the legality of the investigation this week, with hearings involving more than 20 parties to the case.
Kaili, who did not seek re-election in 2024, now lives in Italy and Greece, where authorities froze her assets shortly after her arrest, while it remains unlikely a trial will begin before late 2026 at the earliest.
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