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Fire breaks out at Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park; no injuries reported

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A fire broke out Wednesday morning at Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Park velodrome, prompting a major emergency response involving about 80 firefighters and 20 vehicles, authorities said.

Rio state military fire department said the blaze was under control and largely confined to the venue’s fabric roof. There have been no reported injuries, and the interior of the building — including the Olympic Museum — remained untouched.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere told journalists that a small portion of the city’s 1,000-item Olympic museum, which lies inside the velodrome, was affected but that it could be fixed with only minor repairs.

“The structure of the velodrome itself is preserved and the track has not been hit at all,” Cavaliere said.

While the cause of this latest incident is currently under investigation, the facility has a history of roof fires. Two similar blazes occurred in 2017, both caused by falling paper sky lanterns.

Since hosting track cycling during the 2016 Summer Games, the Velodrome has served as a primary training base for Brazil’s national cycling and weightlifting teams.

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Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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