IOC leaders stop short of complete ban on Russians from Rio

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Rejecting calls by anti-doping officials for a complete ban on Russia, Olympic leaders on Sunday gave individual sports federations the task of deciding which athletes should be cleared to compete in next month’s Rio de Janeiro Games.

Citing the need to protect the rights of individual athletes, the International Olympic Committee decided against taking the unprecedented step of excluding Russia’s entire team over allegations of state-sponsored doping. Instead, the IOC left it to 27 international sports federations to make the call on a case-by-case basis.

“Every human being is entitled to individual justice,” IOC President Thomas Bach said after the ruling of his 15-member executive board.

Bach said the IOC had decided instead on a set of “very tough criteria” that could dent Russia’s overall contingent and medal hopes in Rio, where the Olympics will open on Aug. 5.

Under the measures, no Russian athletes who have ever had a doping violation will be allowed into the games, whether or not they have served a sanction, a rule that has not applied to athletes in other countries.

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Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza inducted into Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Two players who began their careers at opposite ends of the spectrum nearly three decades ago ended up in the same place on Sunday — with their names etched on plaques at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

For Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, the culmination of their long journeys was tinged with tears all around.

“I stand up here humbled and overwhelmed,” Griffey said, staring out at his family and tens of thousands of fans. “I can’t describe how it feels.”

The two became a piece of history on their special day. Griffey, the first pick of the 1987 amateur draft, became the highest pick ever inducted. Piazza, a 62nd-round pick the next year —No. 1,390 — is the lowest pick to enter the Hall of Fame.

Griffey played 22 big-league seasons with the Mariners, Reds and White Sox and was selected on a record 99.32 percent of ballots cast, an affirmation of sorts for his clean performance during baseball’s so-called Steroids Era.

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Civil-rights marchers: US still needs to address inequality

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A half-century ago, thousands joined a march across Mississippi to challenge a system that condoned violence against black people and suppressed their rights — issues still reverberating in today’s national debates about police violence.

The March Against Fear in the summer of 1966 helped many find a voice to protest the injustices of the day, setting an example for contemporary movements such as Black Lives Matter.

The link between past and present was on the minds of participants in the march 50 years ago who recently told their stories to The Associated Press.

They say recent deadly encounters involving police show that Americans need to engage in honest dialogue about race — even if it’s uncomfortable for some people to acknowledge that black lives have long been devalued. They also lamented what they see as a lack of progress on many fronts.

“Literally nothing has changed,” says James Meredith, who launched the march. “That is not completely true. What has changed the so-called civil rights movement is completely at an end. It is over…. That’s why we have the crisis we have in the nation today.”

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Verizon said to be buyer of Yahoo for $5 billion: Reports

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon has agreed to buy online portal Yahoo Inc. for roughly $5 billion, according to multiple media reports, each citing a single unnamed source.

The deal is expected to be announced formally on Monday before markets open, the reports said.

Verizon had emerged in recent days as the front-runner for the beleaguered internet company. Yahoo is expected to sell its email service and news, finance and sports websites in addition to its advertising tools under pressure from shareholders fed up with a downturn in the company’s revenue during the past eight years.

The deal is likely to end the four-year reign of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, a former Google executive who flopped in her attempts to turn around the Sunnyvale, California, company.

Yahoo has been in a long, deep slump even as advertisers have been pouring more money into what is now a $160 billion market for digital advertising, according to research firm eMarketer.

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In Dallas, burgeoning movement overshadowed by shooting

DALLAS (AP) — The leadership of the Next Generation Action Network drove all night from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, arriving in Dallas early on July 7, just hours before the start of their hastily arranged march that ended in the worst attack on law enforcement since 9/11.

Dominique Alexander, a 27-year-old Baptist preacher and the civil rights group’s founder, said that after the shooting deaths by police of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, hundreds of messages poured into the group’s shared email and social media accounts, asking whether Dallas would hold a protest like those in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis. Black Lives Matter, which organized the other marches, doesn’t have a Dallas chapter.

“We should do this. We’ve got 24 hours. Let’s go,” Alexander recalled telling his companions on the trip, Next Generation’s attorney and its chief of staff.

So as they made their way to Baton Rouge to meet Sterling’s aunt, Alexander advertised on social media a rally the following day in downtown Dallas. Within hours, he said, more than 800 people had indicated they were coming, with another 800 marking themselves as “interested” on the march’s Facebook event page.

“You rally off that hype. If it’s just the right timing, you get a burst. You can get a stampede,” said Alexander, among the young activists who are leading a new civil rights movement in Dallas.

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Crash kills Nebraska punter, former Michigan State punter

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Nebraska punter Sam Foltz and former Michigan State punter Mike Sadler died in a car crash in Wisconsin after working at a kicking clinic, a sheriff’s department official said Sunday. LSU kicker Colby Delahoussaye was injured in the crash.

Waukesha County Sheriff’s Lt. Thom Moerman said speed was likely a factor in the single-vehicle crash that happened around 11:45 p.m. Saturday.

The 24-year-old Sadler, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was driving. He and 22-year-old Foltz, of Greeley, Nebraska, both died at the scene. Delahoussaye, 21 of New Iberia, Louisiana, was also a passenger. He was treated at Waukesha Memorial Hospital and released. A statement from LSU said his injuries were minor and that he was scheduled to return home Monday.

Moerman said in a statement that Sadler lost control on the wet pavement, left the roadway and struck a tree.

The University of Nebraska said Sunday the team will skip this week’s planned Big Ten media days in Chicago because of Foltz’s death.

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Turkish opposition party denounces coup attempt

ISTANBUL (AP) — Tens of thousands of supporters of Turkey’s main opposition group, joined by some ruling party members, rallied Sunday in Istanbul to denounce a July 15 coup attempt, a rare show of unity that belies opposition unease over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown since the failed uprising.

The flag-waving demonstrators in the city’s Taksim square reflected widespread rejection of the coup attempt in a NATO country that has endured several coups in past decades. Even so, these are tense times in Turkey, which has declared a three-month state of emergency and detained more than 13,000 people in the military, judiciary and other institutions.

Steel barriers were erected around the square to protect the marchers, who entered through security checkpoints. In addition to the violence during the insurrection, Turkey has been hit by deadly bombings and other attacks blamed on the Islamic State group and Kurdish rebels.

The rally was organized by the opposition Republican People’s Party, which was close to secularist generals who used to control the military. The party has lost clout since Erdogan came to power more than a decade ago with votes from a pious Muslim class that was sidelined under Turkey’s past secular rulers.

“The coup attempt was done against our democratic, secular, social state, governed by rule of law,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People’s Party, said in a speech.

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On their convention’s eve, Democrats bedeviled anew by email

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — On the heels of a tumultuous Republican convention, Hillary Clinton arrives in Philadelphia eager to show off a forward-looking Democratic Party united behind her steady leadership. To do that, she must overcome lingering bitterness among supporters of defeated rival Bernie Sanders and clean up a resurgent political mess of the party’s own making.

The resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee made for a rocky start on Sunday, as the Florida congresswoman heeded Sanders’ longstanding call to leave as party chief. Her departure comes a few days after the publication of 19,000 hacked emails, which Sanders said confirmed his belief the national party played favorites for Clinton during the primary.

“The party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people,” Sanders said.

Wasserman Schultz’s abrupt departure was undoubtedly an effort to keep the Democrats’ gathering from devolving into the tumult that marred last week’s GOP meeting, when runner-up Ted Cruz pointedly and publicly refused to endorse nominee Donald Trump. As he demanded Wasserman Schultz’s resignation, Sanders made clear he wants to see Clinton in the White House.

“I’m going to do everything I can to defeat him, to elect Hillary Clinton and to keep focusing, keep focusing on the real issues facing the American people,” Sanders said on CNN.

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Wasserman Schultz goes from favored to on the outs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five years ago, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was put in charge of the Democratic National Committee to usher in a new era for the party. Now, Wasserman Schultz is on her way out, after the publication of emails that suggest Democratic officials favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the nominating contests.

The scandal is rocking the party on the eve of their convention, and the fall is a stunning one for the tough-talking Florida representative who became the first woman elected to chair the DNC. Two other women have served in the role but were appointed.

On Sunday, Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down as DNC chairwoman at the end of the party’s convention, after some of the 19,000 emails, presumably stolen from the DNC by hackers, were posted to the website Wikileaks.

To Sanders’ supporters, the email scandal proved what they long suspected: The Democratic Party had become a clubby establishment that was resistant to change and reluctant to embrace a more progressive agenda.

For years though, it seemed, Wasserman Schultz was unstoppable.

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10 Things to Know for Monday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Monday:

1. CLINTON’S CONVENTION SET TO KICKOFF AMID DISCORD

Hillary Clinton must overcome lingering bitterness among supporters of defeated rival Bernie Sanders and clean up a resurgent political mess of the party’s own making.

2. DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE LEADER RESIGNS

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the successful fundraiser, party advocate and tough-talking mother and breast cancer survivor, is on the outs, after publication of emails that suggest Democratic officials favored Clinton over Sanders.