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olympic-games

Rio will be success despite ‘situation of crisis’: Bach

By Karolos Grohmann ATHENS (Reuters) – This year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be successful despite the country's financial and political turmoil which have made final preparations harder, International Olympic Committee President (IOC) Thomas Bach said on Wednesday. Brazil is faced with a severe economic downturn, having been awarded the Olympics with the country experiencing a financial boom back in 2009. “It is, as you know, six months before the Olympic Games and it is the most difficult time to prepare for Games,” Bach, speaking at the Greek Olympic Committee headquarters, told reporters.

Zika virus panic over birth defects in Latin America

With the sting of a mosquito bite and a fever, many pregnant women may not know that they caught the Zika virus — until it strikes their unborn child. Babies have been born with abnormally smaller heads, a condition doctors call microcephaly, which often causes brain damage. The scare has struck hardest in Brazil, which hosts the summer Olympic Games in August.