October 22, 2012

Top News Story –

Lance Armstrong stripped of all seven Tour de France wins by UCI

Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by cycling’s governing body.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has accepted the findings of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (Usada) investigation into systematic doping.

UCI president Pat McQuaid said: “Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling. He deserves to be forgotten.”

McQuaid added that Armstrong had been stripped of all results since 1 August, 1998 and banned for life.

Armstrong, 41, received a life ban from Usada for what the organisation called “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen”.

The American overcame cancer to return to professional cycling, before winning the Tour de France for a record seven times in successive years from 1999 to 2005.

He has always denied taking performance-enhancing drugs but chose not to fight Usada’s charges against him.

Lance_Armstrong
Lance Armstrong in 2009

[BBC]

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  • The chairman of the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, likely will not stand for re-election to that post. Ben Bernanke has reportedly told friends he will leave when his term ends in January 2014 regardless of who wins the Presidential election campaign. (New York Times)

International relations

Law and crime

Politics and elections

  • Okinawa‘s legislative assembly passes a resolution expressing “overwhelming indignation” at the alleged rape of a Japanese woman by two U.S. soldiers, the latest of 5,747 crimes on record allegedly involving U.S. personnel over the past 40 years, and condemns the worsening criminal activity of foreign troops on the island. (Al Jazeera)

Sport

  • U.S. former professional road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong is stripped by the International Cycling Union of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from participating in UCI-sanctioned events. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • A football fan is jailed after an attack on former England international goalkeeper Chris Kirkland during a match last week. Twenty-one-year-old Aaron Cawley was filmed on live television jumping from the stand and striking Kirkland with both arms on the head following a goal during the league match at Hillsborough. Kirkland, who described the assault as like being “hit by a ton of bricks”, was thrown off balance, crashed to the ground against his goal area and required treatment for his injuries. (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)

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