The International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted on Friday to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Olympics in London. Meeting in Singapore, the 127th plenary assembly voted in secret on all 28 existing sports, with baseball and softball failing to receive the majority required to stay on the programme.
Thursday’s deadly bomb attacks in London won’t affect the city’s determination to stage a successful Olympics, the head of the British Olympic Association said on Friday. The blasts came hours after London won the right to host the Games, which prompted an outpouring of euphoria, quickly dampened by the tragic news.
Bid leader Sebastian Coe and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are being credited with masterminding London’s stunning upset victory over Paris for the 2012 Olympics. As Paris bid chiefs start an inquiry into how they fell from being firm favourites to end up losers, IOC members were singing the praises of the London leaders.
London pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory to beat Paris and win the 2012 Olympics in Singapore on Wednesday. Moscow, New York and Madrid were all eliminated in three rounds of voting by the IOC members present, leaving London and Paris as the two survivors and one of them sure of victory.
French President Jacques Chirac made an impassioned appeal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday to trust his country and people in hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. ”I shall vouch for this, you can put your trust in France, you can trust the French, you can trust us,” Chirac said in a speech.
The five-city race to capture sport’s most glittering prize — the right to host the Olympics — has been reduced to a battle of two cities, International Olympic Committee (IOC) sources said on Tuesday. Only 24 hours before IOC members will decide the winner of the 2012 Games, it seems to be down to London and Paris.
If the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s much ballyhooed evaluation report on the five cities vying to win sport’s most glittering prize was what mattered, then next Wednesday’s vote in Singapore by the IOC’s rank and file would be a done deal. Instead it will be geo-politics, self-interest, friendships and even revenge for past snubs which separate the winners form the losers.
A South African gaming company is prepared to spend over -billion as it takes on the world’s top industry players in a high-stakes battle to build and run casino resorts in Singapore. Peermont Global is among 14 companies invited by the government to submit detailed plans for two resorts that will include Singapore’s first casinos.
President Thabo Mbeki described the new African era as the season of hope for the continent and one in which Africans are prepared to take care of their own. He was addressing the 26th Singapore Lecture on the island during his one-day state visit on Thursday. He was invited to give the lecture, one that former president Nelson Mandela was also ”honoured” to provide.
South Africa opened their defence of their Singapore Sevens title in style when they beat minnows Thailand 77-0 at the national stadium in Singapore on Saturday. Playing in muggy conditions, the Boks ran in 11 tries to set the highest-winning margin in the IRB Sevens series this year.
Crude futures slipped on Monday, as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it will further increase output by half a million barrels daily from next month to help meet an anticipated demand surge. Light, sweet crude for the May contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 17 cents to ,15 a barrel.
Crude futures held above a barrel on Monday even after members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) assured traders that the cartel will not likely cut production, and that some members might pump above their output quotas, to cool down overheated markets.
Crude futures fell sharply on Monday on the first trading day of the new year as milder winter weather across the north-eastern United States eased demand on heating oil in the high-usage area. Mid-morning in Asia, crude for February delivery fell 70 cents to ,72 per barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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/ 17 December 2004
Three students in sweltering Singapore realised their dream of seeing a snowman by scouring the internet for information and constructing the city-state’s first one, the trio said on Friday. Undeterred by the perpetual heat and humidity, they erected a 3m-tall snowman with a girth of 5,5m and weighing 2,5 tonnes.
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/ 9 December 2004
A high-profile hunt for a mystery caged tiger allegedly being kept as a pet in Singapore has taken a new twist with Tiger Beer offering a year’s free supply of its brew for a successful tip-off. Fifty billboards offering the reward have been posted around the wealthy district where the tiger is believed to be kept.
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/ 1 December 2004
Rich foreigners can gain immediate permanent residency in Singapore if they park five million Singapore dollars (-million) in local financial institutions, under a new
scheme unveiled by the city-state’s central bank. A Monetary Authority of Singapore spokesperson said on Wednesday these foreigners must also have personal assets worth at least -million to qualify but they will still go through routine immigration checks.
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/ 18 November 2004
Internet junkies, take heart: Microsoft chairperson Bill Gates receives four million e-mails daily, most of them spam, and is probably the most spammed person in the world. But unlike ordinary users, the software mogul has an entire department to filter unsolicited e-mails and only a few of them actually get through to his inbox, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said in Singapore on Thursday.
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/ 17 November 2004
Singapore will not sponsor a “publicity blitz” to promote condom use “out of respect” for residents who hold “conservative views”.
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/ 11 November 2004
Lazy pet owners shying away from the demands of dogs, cats or even goldfish are delighting in ants and shrimp that fend for themselves in self-contained ecosystems. The latest craze among workaholic Singaporeans are creatures that never need feeding or pats, but are fascinating to observe.
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/ 28 October 2004
Scientists in Singapore have invented a contact lens capable of releasing precise amounts of medication to treat glaucoma and other eye diseases so doing away with eye drops, the developers said on Thursday. The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology is now looking for partners to commercialise the product, which also minimises the harmful seepage of drugs to other body organs.
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/ 21 October 2004
Crude oil prices moved within range of again on Thursday, a day after briefly surpassing the mark over a fall in United States distillate fuels stocks that raised fears of shortages as the northern-hemisphere winter approaches. US distillate stocks fell for a fifth straight week, the US Department of Energy said on Wednesday.
Couples who fancy a literally wild wedding party can now hold their reception among the animals at one of Singapore’s top nature parks. Newlyweds can choose from a variety of themed receptions at the Singapore Zoo or Jurong Bird Park, which are managed by Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
Laggards at work are costing economies billions of dollars a year, a multi-country study said on Saturday. In absolute terms, the United States incurs the biggest loss in wasted talent and management time, -billion dollars yearly, followed by the United Kingdom at -billion, according to the global firm SHL.
Most Asian and Pacific governments are investing large amounts of money to ensure their citizens and companies have an affordable chance at broadband, or high-speed internet, International Data Corporation (IDC) said in a report on Monday. Revenues from broadband access are forecast to reach -billion in 2008 for the region excluding Japan, IDC said, with a 16% annual growth rate between now and then.
Excavation on a new subway line caused a section of highway to collapse near Singapore’s central business district on Tuesday following an underground explosion, leaving at least one man dead and three workers injured. Workmen said they believed as many as 20 of their co-workers were trapped beneath the rubble.
The growing popularity of camera handphones will be the major driver behind the resurgence of the global mobile phone sector, Japanese-Swedish joint venture Sony Ericsson said on Tuesday. ”Consumers are flocking to purchase new phones. This is the beginning of a new replacement cycle,” a company vice-president said.
Al-Qaeda is expected to launch attacks every three months in 2004, with growing threats from a number of smaller terrorist organisations, an international terrorist expert warned on Wednesday. ”The West is likely to witness another mass casualty attack on Western soil,” he said.
Dirty bomb sparked US alert
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/ 1 September 2003
Singapore’s major hospital has gone on ”heightened alert” for Sars following reports of seven health-care workers in Hong Kong developing flu-like symptoms last week.
Doctors involved in the surgery that led to the deaths of conjoined Iranian twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani on Tuesday admitted the operation would raise ethical questions, but they maintained their decision to proceed was correct.
Complications slow surgery on twins
Laleh Bijani died on Tuesday just hours after her sister Ladan died in delicate surgery aimed at separating the 29-year-old Iranian twins who born joined at the head, a nurse involved in the surgery said.
Complications slow surgery on twins
PC users were warned on Wednesday to be careful responding to online polls asking them to vote for or against the US-led war on Iraq that could be a hook to launch a new virus.
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/ 27 January 2003
Affluent Asian couples finding it tough to make babies will soon get help from a Singaporean ”sex guru” offering a novel program to ease a severe decline in the island’s fertility rates.