Twins conjoined at birth prepare to start school

Conjoined twin sisters who doctors said had a slim chance of survival are now preparing for their first day at school.

Rosie and Ruby Formosa were joined at the abdomen and shared part of their intestine before they had an emergency operation to separate them in 2012.

Parents Daniel and Angela Formosa, from Bexleyheath in Kent, could only wait and hope as their daughters underwent a five-hour operation at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Thankfully it was successful - and Mrs Formosa said the girls had now met their teacher and were "very excited" to be following big sister Lily, who is nine, to school.

Angela, thought she would never see the day. She said: ‘Four years ago it wasn’t in my mind that this would ever happen.’

Professor Paolo De Coppi, consultant paediatric surgeon at Gosh, said: “We’re thrilled that Rosie and Ruby are starting school this September.

“It’s always a joy to witness patients’ progress and to hear that they are reaching new milestones – this makes the job we do all the more rewarding.”

Super Star Cristiano Ronaldo wins Uefa's Best Player in Europe award

Real Madrid and Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has won the UEFA Best Player in Europe award for the second time.  The last time he won the award was after the 2013-14 season.

Ronaldo, a favorite for a fourth world player of the year award, beat club teammate Gareth Bale of Wales and Atletico Madrid’s France star Antoine Griezmann.

Ronaldo, scored the winning penalty for Real in the Champions League final against Atletico and captained Portugal to Euro 2016 glory in July.

The vote, by journalists from UEFA’s 55 member countries, was announced at the Champions League draw Thursday.

Which country rewards athletes best for Olympic success?

Winning an Olympic gold medal can mean triumph, national pride, self-fulfillment and the reward for a life of sacrifice.

Often, it also means cold, hard cash.

For the top countries participating in this year’s Rio Summer Olympics, a gold medal can fetch a handsome reward. Italy, Russia and France give each of their gold medalists $180,000, $135,000 and $65,000, respectively. China, for its part, rewards their top players with $31,400 per gold medal, while the United States gives out $25,000 for each gold medalist.

For countries who have been struggling to clinch at least a gold or two, governments offer a much higher incentive.

Singapore

A Singaporean athlete can get a whopping 1 million Singapore dollars, or $746,000, for winning gold under its Multi-Million Dollar Awards Program. While no one has won the prize yet, a few athletes have been rewarded for getting silver ($378,000) and bronze ($188,000).

Taiwan Taiwanese Olympic gold medal winners can get as much as 20 million New Taiwan Dollars, or $640,000, while silver medalists earn $223,000 and a bronze medalists earn $160,000.
Indonesia The Indonesian government announced a cash prize of 5 billion Indonesian rupiah, or almost $384,000, for gold medalists. Silver and bronze winners will get two billion rupiah, or $152,000, and one billion rupiah, or $76,000, respectively.
Thailand Thailand reportedly guarantees a 10 million baht cash incentive for gold medalists, which is around $287,000. A silver medalist gets 6 million baht, or $172,000. The private sector often adds cash prizes too, usually amounting to additional millions of Thai baht.
 Azerbaijan
In Azerbaijan gold medalists await a huge payday on top of the government-backed incentive of 400,000 Azerbaijani manat, which is almost $250,000. A silver medalist gets 200,000 AZN ($124,000), while bronze fetches 100,000 AZN ($62,000).
Kazakhstan In Kazakhstan, gold medal winners reportedly receive 86 million Kazakhstani tenge, or around $250,000. Silver wins 50 million KZT ($150,000), while bronze gets 25 million KZT ($75,000).
The Philippines Filipino athletes who bring home a gold medal are granted 10 million Philippine pesos, or $215,000. Silver medalists get 5 million PHP ($107,000), and bronze medalists get 2 million PHP each ($43,000).
India India announced that gold medalists will be rewarded with 10,000,000 Indian rupees, which is around $150,000. Silver medalists are awarded 7,500,000 Indian rupees, or about $112,000, and the bronze medalists are awarded 5,000,000 Indian rupees, or about $75,000.
South Korea In South Korea, gold medalists receive 60 million won, or about $55,000. Silver medalists earn 30 million won, about $27,000, and bronze medalists win 18 million won, or about $16,000. However, South Korean coaches are actually awarded even more money than the athletes.
On the lower end of the scale, countries like Australia and Canada only award their gold medalists $15,000 each. However, Great Britain doesn’t award their athletes any money. Instead, they get their face on a stamp, but they may receive sponsorship contracts worth more than most higher paying countries. Others  countries are

• Moldova: $132,000 one-off payment
• Romania: $79,000 + monthly income for life
• Malaysia: Cash bonus + $1,200 monthly payment for life
• Nigeria: $2,000 one-off payment

Kyrgyz Izzat Artykov weightlifter stripped of Rio2016 bronze medal

A weightlifter from Kyrgyzstan named Izzat Artykov  became the first athlete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics to be stripped of a medal after a positive drug test.

The 22 year old, entered the Rio 2016 Games as the reigning Asian Champion, winning bronze as he hauled a total of 339 kilograms in the men's 69-kilogram category final on Tuesday.

Izzat Artykov tested positive for strychnine after winning the bronze medal in the 69-kilogram division, the Court of Arbitration’s anti-doping division said Thursday.

Strychnine is a defined as a stimulant in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances. It is a highly toxic drug often used as a pesticide, particularly for killing rodents. However, it also has a long history in sports doping, used in small doses to tighten tired muscles. Strychnine was reportedly commonly used in the early years of the Tour de France to help cyclists survive the demanding rides.

CAS referred the case to the international weightlifting federation for possible further sanctions against Artykov, who could face a two-year ban from the sport. The federation and the IOC were asked to decide on the reallocation of the medal.

The 22-year-old lifter’s medal was taken away and he was kicked out of the games. Colombian Luis Javier Mosquera Lozano finished fourth behind Artykov and is in line for promotion to the bronze medal position.

14 Killed in Attacks on Police, Military in Turkey; 220 Hurt

A string of bombings, blamed on Kurdish rebels and targeting Turkey's security forces, killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 220 others, officials said Thursday.

Two of the attacks were car bombings that hit police stations in eastern Turkey, while a third — a roadside blast — targeted a military vehicle carrying soldiers in the southeast of the country.

Blasts at police stations in Van and Elazig killed four police officers and two civilians, reports said.

Five soldiers and a village guard died when their vehicle was targeted in Bitlis province.

Turkish officials blamed the Kurdish militant group, the PKK, for the attacks, which took place outside Kurdish majority areas in the region.

"Our fight against terror will never cease," said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The PKK has carried a series of bombings targeting the police in the largely Kurdish south-east since a ceasefire with the government broke down last year.

Last week, PKK commander Cemil Bayik threatened increased attacks against police in Turkish cities.

More than 180 PKK militants had been killed and 3,000 detained since the coup bid, Mr Erdogan said.

US swimmers were not robbed: Rio police chief

The dramatic account by Ryan Lochte and three other U.S. swimmers of a being robbed at gunpoint during an taxi ride earlier this week appeared to unravel Thursday as police said the story was fabricated and that the group was instead involved in an altercation at a gas station.

“We knew it wasn’t robbery on Sunday after talking to two of them. The stories did not match,” Officer Marcelo Carregosa, second in charge at the station handling the case, told the Washington Post. “Ryan was very evasive and he did not give details.”

Rio de Janeiro chief of civil police Fernando da Silva Veloso said it was still not decided what charges, if any, would be brought against the swimmers accused of having fabricated the story, which caused huge embarrassment to Rio Olympics authorities

Yelena Isinbayeva elected to IOC athletes commission despite Rio2016 ban

Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva has been elected on to the International Olympic Committee's athlete's commission - despite being banned from Rio 2016.

The 34-year-old, who has been elected on an eight-year term, was unable to defend her title after the Russian squad was hit with a blanket ban over the doping scandal which rocked track and field.

Isinbayeva, 34, a double Olympic gold medallist, is one of four new members elected by fellow athletes.

Also elected are German fencer Britta Heidemann, Hungarian swimmer Daniel Gyurta and South Korean table tennis player Ryu Seung-min.

More than 5,000 athletes from 23 countries voted in the elections, which take place at each Olympic Games. Of those, more than 1,300 cast their vote for Isinbayeva. She has been an outspoken critic of the decision to ban the Russian athletics team from the Rio Games.

She said the ruling was "a blatant political order", and sarcastically thanked the IAAF, the body that governs world athletics, for what she called "this funeral for athletics" in an interview with the Russian Tass news agency.

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Alistair Brownlee wins triathlon gold, brother Jonny second in Rio2016

Alistair Brownlee wins gold with brother Johnny taking silver as British duo dominate Olympic triathlon in Rio2016 , making the brothers the first to finish one and two at an Olympics since Italians Piero and Raimondo D'Inzeo of Italy in equestrian in 1960.

Alistair, 28, pulled away from 26-year-old Jonny around halfway through the 10k run in sweltering conditions.

The Yorkshire pair was close throughout the swim, cycle and road race stages, with Alistair walking over the line six seconds ahead.

Alistair Brownlee is the first athlete to win successive Olympic triathlon titles, while Jonny improved on the bronze medal he won at London 2012. Henri Schoeman was third, claiming South Africa's first triathlon medal.

US 4 X 100 women get reprieve after baton drop at Rio2016

It was a disaster, pure and simple. And then, a reprieve.

The United States failed to qualify for the finals of the women’s 4 x 100 meter relay at the Rio Olympics Thursday but was given a reprieve after a protest was upheld.

In the qualifying heats, US runner Allyson Felix seemed to stumble as she entered the exchange zone and could not catch English Gardner, the third runner in the relay, flipping the baton in desperation. The baton hit the ground as Gardner and Felix crashed into each other. The US team did finish the heat, coming in last.

The US protested to the International Association of Athletics Federation, and the statement from the IAAF:

"The Jury of Appeals for the Rio Games upheld the USA’s appeal, saying that Felix was indeed obstructed on the second exchange. The relay team will re-run the race alone tonight (7 p.m. ET), needing to post a time of at least 42.70 seconds to advance into the finals.

"But a successful re-run will create a second problem: Both China and Canada finished with identical 42.70-second times. Therefore, should the USA post a faster time, China and Canada would need to race again to decide which team makes the eight-country final."