MOSCOW, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Russia's national head coach Valentin Maslakov on Thursday claimed political reasons were behind the provisional suspension of seven woman athletes by the IAAF for suspected substitution of doping samples.

MOSCOW, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Seven top Russian woman athletes have been temporarily suspended for the suspected switching of urine samples in drug tests last year, athletics's world governing body IAAF said on Thursday.

The controls showed discrepancies in their DNA samples, the IAAF said, which indicated the samples given were not from the athletes in question.

BEIJING, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Reigning Olympic champions Argentina knocked off Serbia 75-60 while Australia beat Angola 81-78 on Thursday to reach the finals of the FIBA Diamond Cup, a warm-up event for the Beijing Games.

MACAU, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - LeBron James and Kobe Bryant ran Olympic-sized rings around Turkey as Team USA stepped up their preparations for Beijing with a 114-82 rout on Thursday.

James, who has already guaranteed the long-awaited Olympic gold, was his team's top-scorer with 20 points as Bryant supplied seven assists in front of 12,000 enthusiastic fans at Cotai Arena.

TOKYO, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - The head of the world's baseball governing body on Thursday defended the introduction of a time-saving tie-breaking rule at the Beijing Games as a necessary step to bring the sport back to the Olympics.

PARIS, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Governments and media groups on Thursday stepped up criticism of China and the International Olympic Committee over Internet censorship for foreign reporters during the Beijing Games.

BUCHAREST, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Two athletes have been kicked off Romania's Olympic squad after testing positive for the banned blood booster EPO, it was announced here Thursday.

The middle distance runners, Elena Antoci and Cristina Vasiloiu, were left behind in Bucharest when the rest of the Romanian squad travelled to Beijing on Sunday.

MOSCOW, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - International athletics' ruling body IAAF temporarily suspended six Russian athletes after discovering DNA convergence in their samples given for dope testing last year, the head of Russian athletics federation Valentin Balakhnichev said Thursday.

ZAGREB, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic will attend the Beijing Games opening ceremony next week, his office said on Thursday.

'Croatian President Stipe Mesic will visit Chinese region Liaoning from 5 to 7 August, and will assist on August 8 together with other world leaders the opening ceremony of the Olympics,' the statement said.

BEIJING, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Beijing is deploying 25,000 security personnel on buses and at bus stations to ensure safety for the Olympics, state media said Thursday, following deadly bus explosions in southwest China.