US praises Mexico

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said yesterday after meeting with Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto that Mexico is a critical partner to the US on a host of issues, including security and climate change.

“I am proud of what we’ve achieved,” Obama said, noting that with the heated rhetoric of the US presidential election campaign, Mexico’s importance to the US as a trading partner and neighbour is often not acknowledged.

‘Don’t ban Russians’

MOSCOW: Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has asked the International Olympic Committee to resist calls to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics over doping allegations.

In an open letter to committee president Thomas Bach and other IOC members, he said he was concerned by the possibility the innocent would be punished along with the guilty.

The World Anti- Doping Agency has recommended the IOC should consider banning all Russians from the Games.