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/ 30 April 2008

Swiss discoverer of LSD dies, aged 102

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered the hallucinogenic drug LSD, has died aged 102, the organisation that republished his book on the mind-altering substance said. Hofmann died at his home in Basel, Switzerland on Tuesday, the California-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies said on its website.

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/ 1 April 2008

UBS in capital hike after huge loss

UBS AG doubled its writedowns from the subprime crisis, parted company with its chairperson and asked shareholders for more emergency capital on Tuesday in a second dramatic attempt to reverse its fortunes. The Swiss bank wrote down an additional -billion on United States real estate and related assets, causing a net loss of 12-billion Swiss francs.

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/ 12 March 2008

Blatter lends ear to NUM

Fifa president Sepp Blatter showed his solidarity with the construction workers who are getting 10 stadiums in South Africa ready for the 2010 World Cup. Blatter met with leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday and said he wanted them to be treated fairly while building and upgrading World Cup venues.

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/ 30 October 2007

Brazil officially named 2014 World Cup hosts

Brazil, the only bidding country, were named as the host nation of the 2014 Soccer World Cup finals by Fifa, world soccer’s governing body, on Tuesday. Brazil, who have won the World Cup a record five times and are the only country to have played in all 18 World Cup finals tournaments, last staged the event in 1950.

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/ 29 October 2007

Fifa end World Cup rotation policy

Fifa’s executive committee has voted unanimously to end its policy of rotating the hosting of World Cups through its six continental confederations. Executive committee vice-president Chung Mong-joon told reporters on Monday that the rotation policy had been dropped with effect from the 2018 World Cup.

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/ 29 October 2007

Fifa to decide on Cup rotation policy

Fifa’s executive committee is expected to drop its controversial Soccer World Cup rotation policy when it meets at the organisation’s headquarters in Zurich on Monday. World soccer’s governing body decided in 2000 that it would rotate its most prestigious tournament around its six continental confederations.

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/ 12 July 2007

Soccer stars to honour Mandela in SA

Pele and Samuel Eto’o headed the list of international stars on Thursday when Fifa announced the line-ups for a match to honour Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday. More than 50 players have confirmed their participation in the ”90 Minutes for Mandela” match on July 18 at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.

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/ 27 June 2007

Global wealth soars in 2006, study shows

Assets held by the world’s richest people rose by 11,4% last year, a study showed, but a slowing world economy might put a brake on the lavish expansion rate in coming years. Soaring commodity prices and equity markets and rapidly expanding emerging economies caused the global pool of wealth to expand to ,2-trillion at the end of 2006.

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/ 31 May 2007

Blatter gets third term as Fifa president

Sepp Blatter was given a third term as president of world soccer’s governing body by acclamation after standing as the only candidate at Thursday’s Fifa congress. ”I accept this mandate and I thank you for your continuing trust in me,” he told delegates from Fifa’s 208 member associations who gave him a four-year term until 2011.

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/ 30 March 2007

Record 204 teams enter for Soccer World Cup

A record 204 countries have entered the qualifying competition for the 2010 Soccer World Cup finals, Fifa said in a statement on Friday. The number beats the previous record of 199 teams that entered for the 2002 World Cup finals and only Bhutan, Brunei, Laos and the Philippines have not registered to take part.

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/ 19 December 2006

Cannavaro is Fifa’s player of the year

Fabio Cannavaro received recognition for his outstanding performance in leading Italy to World Cup glory on Monday when he was handed the Fifa World Player of the Year award to add to his European Footballer of the Year honour. The imperious Italy captain was a rock at the heart of a defence that leaked just two goals in seven matches.

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/ 7 December 2006

Fifa confident about 2010 preparations

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said he was confident that South Africa would be ready to stage the World Cup in 2010 despite concerns over delays in the building of new stadiums. ”We need to bring a little bit of fire [to the organisers],” Blatter told a news conference following a two-day meeting of Fifa’s executive committee.

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/ 6 December 2006

Fifa sets dates for World Cup

World soccer governing body Fifa announced on Wednesday that the next World Cup will take place between June 11 and July 11 2010, and granted South Africa an automatic berth as host nation. Fifa’s executive committee decided to maintain the qualifying set-up used at this year’s World Cup in Germany.

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/ 16 September 2006

Blatter to ‘fire up’ SA’s World Cup committee

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said Friday that he will visit South Africa shortly to urge lawmakers to speed-up building work for the 2010 World Cup, amid growing concern about delays. Blatter said he would meet South African President Thabo Mbeki and make an appeal to the country’s Parliament ”to explain the value of the World Cup and to fire up the organising committee”.

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/ 13 September 2006

Fifa to act on ticket scandal

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner and his son face a day of destiny on Friday as global football’s governing body investigates corruption and embezzlement accusations against the pair. They are both accused of making money through the illegal sale of World Cup tickets and Fifa is due to examine a report into the affair.

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/ 15 August 2006

Phonak disbands after Landis doping scandal

The Phonak cycling team will disband at the end of the year, team owner Andy Rihs announced Tuesday, ten days after team leader Floyd Landis was sacked because of the Tour de France doping scandal. Rihs said the Landis affair had been the deciding factor. ”As a passionate cyclist, I am bitterly disappointed that the sport of cycling apparently has become a synonym for doping,” he said.

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/ 25 July 2006

I’ll be back, says drug-tainted Ullrich

Drug-tainted German cyclist Jan Ullrich has vowed to win the Tour de France before he retires, despite being barred from this year’s race after being implicated in a doping scandal. Ullrich, who was subsequently sacked by T-Mobile after being prevented from taking part in this year’s Tour, said he wants to add another title to set alongside his 1997 triumph in the world-famous race.