• Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly denied that the country operated a state-sanctioned doping system. “Russia never had such a system – this is simply impossible and we will be doing everything we can to prevent such a system from being created”, said Putin at his final news conference of the year, reported RT. “There must never be such a thing as a state system of doping support”.

• World Rugby is seeking clarification from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) about why George North was not removed from the field of play during a 3 December match between Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints. ‘The player should have been immediately and permanently removed from the field of play with a suspected loss of consciousness’, read a World Rugby statement. ‘While recognising that there is always a risk of human error, we will seek further information from the RFU regarding the factors behind the apparent non-compliance with World Rugby protocols and the outcomes reached by the independent review group’. Video footage of the incident can be viewed here.

• On 19 December, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) published an updated list of cyclists that had been provisionally suspended following an adverse analytical finding (AAF); and an updated list of athletes serving a sanction for an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV).

• The Officer of the Commissioner of Baseball announced that five Minor League players have been suspended for doping on 22 December. The suspensions, four of which are related to amphetamine-based drugs and one of which is related to a ‘drug of abuse’, are for 50 games. The five new suspensions take the number of Minor League Baseball (MiLB) suspensions in 2016 to 104, down from the 108 reported in 2015. A list of suspensions, published on 9 December, is available here.

• A court in central China has jailed Xiao Tian, the country’s former Deputy Minister for Sport, after finding him guilty of bribery, reports Reuters. The news agency cited a statement from a court in Nanyang in Henan province, which said that Xiao had taken 7.96 million yuan (€1.16 million) in bribes between 1997 and 2014 when he held various official sports positions in exchange for help with promotions, building projects and holding of sports events. Tian was fired by the Chinese government in July 2015 following a corruption investigation by the Communist Party. In May, it was revealed that China’s Sports Ministry was being investigated for not doing enough to combat corruption.

• The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has published its updated Anti-Doping Regulations and Technical Rules for 2017. The 2017 Anti-Doping Rules are available here, and the 2017 Technical Rules are available here.