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/ 1 September 2004
With the expected costs of hosting the Olympics likely to exceed 7-billion euros (,4-billion) — nearly twice the original budget — some Greeks fear that they might be paying for the venues for years to come. Despite Athens winning worldwide praise for hosting a successful Games, the return from the sale of about 3,6-million tickets, two-thirds of the number available, will not cover the costs.
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/ 1 September 2004
Former champion Marat Safin came to this year’s US Open seeded number 13 and was sent home early by Thomas Enqvist 7-6 (5), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Tuesday. Earlier, Justine Henin-Hardenne began the defence of her US Open championship, defeating 15-year-old qualifier Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic.
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/ 1 September 2004
Wayne Rooney became a Manchester United player on Tuesday despite a last-minute hold-up caused by the state of his broken foot. About 10 hours after he first went to Manchester to finalise the deal on transfer deadline day, United finally announced a deal reportedly worth £27-million to Everton.
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/ 1 September 2004
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is confident he can maintain England’s impressive record of qualifying for major soccer tournaments even though he is under fire for a lack of success when they get there. He is facing up to World Cup qualifying games at Austria on Saturday and Poland in eight days’ time.
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/ 1 September 2004
Clive Woodward said on Wednesday he is resigning as England’s rugby coach after seven years at the helm. Woodward, who has expressed interested in coaching soccer, met early on Wednesday with Rugby Football Union officials and then confirmed he will be leaving the post.
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The first of a new generation of airships designed by Germany’s Zeppelin corporation was forced to abort its maiden flight from Germany to Japan on Tuesday following delays owing to Russian red tape. In an embarrassing turnaround, the airship will be transported to its new owners in Japan by sea.
A proposed new law that is set to curtail the activities of NGOs in Zimbabwe has grabbed the attention of many among Southern Africa’s human-rights defenders. The NGO Bill of 2004 makes it mandatory for all charities, NGOs and community-based associations to register under a government-controlled authority.
The Sudanese government and the main rebel group in the south of the vast country have extended an ongoing ceasefire for three months, amid deadlock in talks aimed at ending 21 years of conflict, the chief mediator said on Tuesday. A civilian protection monitoring team has said that both sides have violated the ceasefire.
Portugal will not back down from its decision to bar a Dutch ship housing a floating abortion clinic from national waters despite pressure from pro-abortion groups, Minister of Defence Paulo Portas said on Tuesday. The ship had planned to stay in Portugal for two weeks to hand out abortion pills to women with unwanted pregnancies.