London will be a guinea pig for future smart city technology after Intel pledged to spend a slice of £25m ($40m) on a new lab in the capital. The chipmaker will also plough millions into research centres dotted around Blighty.
Intel will set up the unwieldily monikered Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Connected Cities in the capital in partnership with Imperial College and University College London, it announced yesterday at an event at 10 Downing Street.
The company will spend the £25m over the next five years on all five of its Collaborative Research Institutes, but wouldn't give the breakdown of exactly how much London would be getting. ICL and UCL will also chip in some dosh, but again no figures were bandied about.
At the same event, Chipzilla said it will open a string of research centres around the UK, investing around £45m in an Intel Labs Europe UK R&D network: this will employ 350 researchers in labs including the one in London and others in Brighton, Swindon and Aylesbury to start with, and five more to be decided on by the end of the year.
"It is investments like this that will help us put the UK on the path we need to take to create new jobs, new growth and new prosperity in every corner of our country," Chancellor George Osborne said at the launch.
"We are determined to make the UK the best place to do business in the world and a great place for technology companies to invest and build new business. It is encouraging to see major tech partners like Intel investing in this country as a result of the policies that the Government has put in place," he self-congratulated.
Intel will use the London lab to suss out smart city technology and it will also team up with Shoreditch's Tech City entrepreneurs to use their "social media expertise" to "identify and analyse emerging trends with cities".
"Using London as a testbed, researchers will explore technologies to make cities more aware by harnessing real-time user and city infrastructure data," the company said in a statement, describing similar Skynet-like smart city research elsewhere.
"For example, a sensor network could be used to monitor traffic flows and predict the effects of extreme weather conditions on water supplies, resulting in the delivery of near real-time information to citizens through citywide displays and mobile applications."
Rattner: City under pre-planned stress
Intel CTO Justin Rattner also said that the London Olympic games would give the firm a great opportunity to look at a city under pressure and figure out where the weak points are.
"London is, as everyone knows, the host city to the 2012 summer Olympic Games, and we plan to use the event to understand the experiences of a city under pre-planned stress. What systems worked or didn’t work and why? How were the daily lives of the citizens, workers, and businesses of London affected?" he wondered out loud.
As well as giving Intel the opportunity to see it mess up, London is also a good choice for the research institute as the fifth largest city in the world.
"It has the largest GDP in Europe, and with over 300 languages and 200 ethnic communities, its diversity is a microcosm of the planet itself, offering an exciting test bed to create and define sustainable cities," Rattner enthused. ®
Source: www.theregister.co.uk
London 2012: 640,000 tickets put on sale this month have been sold - The Guardian
London 2012 organisers have sold more than two-thirds of the remaining tickets that were put on general sale this week, with many sports sold out.
Of the 928,000 tickets first put on sale this month around 640,000 have been sold. That leaves around 300,000 still to be sold, plus a further 150,000 to 200,000 that will come back on to the market as seating configurations are finalised.
In addition to those sports that had sold out before the general sales window opened, the 70,000 general access tickets to the Olympic Park have also gone, as have race walk, mountain biking, trampoline and shooting.
Organisers said there was still good availability in volleyball, football, taekwondo, handball, basketball, boxing, beach volleyball, canoe sprint, table tennis and hockey. However, most of the remaining tickets are at high-price points.
Paralympic sales were also described as encouraging, with a further 125,000 tickets sold this week, taking the overall total to 1.2m. In all, there are 8.8m tickets available for the Olympics and 2m for the Paralympics.
While the figures suggest that 25 of the 26 Olympic sports will sell out, allowing Locog to hit its £650m revenue target with ease, organisers face an uphill battle to sell the remaining 1.3m football tickets.
Locog will also put tickets for the main climb in the cycling road race and the cycling time trial at Hampton Court on sale next week at £15. The move has proved controversial with cycling fans used to watching the action from the side of the road for nothing.
On the same day, 29 May, general access tickets to the tennis tournament at Wimbledon – allowing access to Henman Hill and the outside courts but not the show courts – will also be made available.
London 2012 organisers – who warned earlier this week that users would face waits of half an hour on the site at peak times but said that it had remained operational throughout – this week defended their record on ticketing, insisting that they have managed to balance fairness with revenue raising.
"Do I think we have delivered the fairest possible system? I absolutely do. We got it about as right as we could. We wanted to hit our revenue targets, we wanted full stadiums and we wanted to treat everyone as equally as we could," said Locog's deputy chairman, Sir Keith Mills.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
London Games Conference returns on November 21st - MCV
The changing rules of digital games and marketing will be laid bare at November’s London Games Conference.
Returning for its fourth year, the popular conference and networking event will again examine emerging trends in digital games.
LGC 2012 is run by Intent Media, publisher of MCV and Develop.
The first 100 tickets are available at an early bird cost of £199. To attend, contact Hannah.Short@intentmedia.co.uk or call 01992 535 646.
The four-hour conference format returns, this time with extra presentation options during the after-event networking dinner for attendees.
For details on partner packages and sponsorship opportunities, contact Lesley.Blumson@intentmedia.co.uk or call 01992 535 646.
A call for speakers has also opened today – contact Michael.French@intentmedia.co.uk for more details.
Previous speakers have included influential execs from the global games business including Mike Mauler (GameStop), Heiko Hubertz (BigPoint), David DeMartini (EA), John Clark (Sega), plus representatives of trend-setting digital games firms like PopCap, Jagex, Ngmoco and Miniclip.
Last year’s audience-voting mechanic will also be part of proceedings.
“LGC has established itself as the most incisive event looking at the changing digital games business,” said Michael French, editor-in-chief of MCV and Develop.
“This year the event will focus on distribution platforms shaping the industry such as Steam and iTunes, plus how brands use social media, with best practice advice for Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.”
Advertisement
Source: www.mcvuk.com
Sussex RNLI warning over warm weather tombstoning - BBC News
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has warned of an increase in people jumping off piers and cliffs into shallow waters in Sussex over the weekend.
They fear the warm weather will seen a rise in so-called "tombstoning".
The RNLI said that taking part could lead to serious injury or death if a person misjudged the water depth.
In July 2011 a man suffered spinal injuries after jumping off Brighton Pier.
Mark Bell, from RNLI Brighton, said: "It's very difficult to judge the depth of the water beneath you.
"It's also surprisingly cold in the water, it's only around 10-11C at the moment and that can do all sorts of shocking things to your body when you jump in."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London 2012: Phillips Idowu faces monumental task - coach - BBC News
Olympic silver medallist Phillips Idowu is facing a "monumental battle" to win gold in the triple jump at the London Games, says his coach Aston Moore.
Idowu's main rivals, Frenchman Teddy Tamgho and American Christian Taylor, have better personal bests.
American Will Claye, 20, will also pose a threat to the 33-year-old Londoner.
"I believe it will be a monumental battle of will and talent. You hope that Phillips comes out on top," Jamaican-born Moore told BBC Sport.
"The fourth place could be a jump that would normally have won the competition, but you could finish fourth this year.
"[But] it's an Olympic medal, it's never going to be easy or everyone would be doing it."
At the Beijing Games, Idowu's best jump was 17.62m, but he was beaten into second by 17.67m from Portugal's Nelson Evora, who has been ruled out of the London Games by a stress fracture.
Since then new faces have emerged in the form of 21-year-old world champion Taylor, who beat Idowu in Daegu in August, world championship bronze medallist Claye and 22-year-old Tamgho, whose personal best of 17.98m is third on the all-time list.
"The two American guys are very dangerous," Moore continued. "Sometimes you can have good athletes but you know you've pretty much got their measure. [Yet] these guys are good winners.
"I'm almost forgetting the young French guy Teddy Tamgho, who we haven't heard from yet this year but he's been jumping 17.90s for the last two seasons."
Idowu, who came out on top against his rivals in his opening competition of the season at the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai last weekend, was devastated after coming second in Beijing and Moore says the 2009 world champion's target has not changed.
"The gold - that's what he's preparing for, that's what he's ready for and he will be disappointed with anything other than gold.
"He wanted to win the last one but he came second by 5cm. He wants to put that right on home soil.
"He's a Londoner, a Hackney boy. I think he's going to love it."
UK Athletics' national triple jump coach Moore, himself a former triple jumper for Great Britain, started working with Idowu a few months before the Beijing Olympics and admits he has seen a change in the athlete ahead of London.
"I wouldn't say that pressure is getting to him but certainly with a lot of the athletes, as it's a home Olympics, people are much more focused, and I've noticed that from him," said Moore.
"He's much more focused on what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. My job is to make sure it doesn't become over the top and he starts looking at every last detail. I think together we can manage that quite well.
"Those five years are his most successful so that makes our relationship reasonably tight because I am the person that has helped him through his best period as an athlete."
Moore guided Commonwealth gold medallist Ashia Hansen to a world record and has worked with UK Athletics since 2000, but he admits he will feel the nerves when Idowu lines up for his first jump at the Olympic Stadium in London.
"I'm usually most nervous in the first round, because this is the one. This is the one that sets the scene for everything.
"I want the jump to send a particular message out to every other competitor. So I'm most nervous about that one because I want him to nail it, and then get better from there. Normally my blood pressure and heart rate and everything jump on that one.
"Then, it's work as usual."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London Gets Gold for ID Fraud - Yahoo Finance
NOTTINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire -05/23/12)- London could be set for a rise in identity fraud this summer as new figures from Experian CreditExpert reveal that 7.7 million Britons from outside the capital are set to descend on some of the UK's worst areas for ID theft - while 1.9 million Londoners plan to escape.(1)
London, the boroughs around many of the Games venues in particular, is already home to the UK's worst ID fraud hotspots, with rates of attempted fraud up to 11 times higher than the national average. These include East Ham (11 times higher), Woolwich (6.5 times higher) and Stratford itself (six times higher).(2)
There will be a mass influx of people into these areas, carrying personal information in the forms of UK bank account details, and credit card details. This leaves individuals at a high risk of Identity Fraud with individuals, in unfamiliar surroundings, exercising less caution than they would normally adhere to in their normal surroundings. This presents a massive opportunity to fraudsters, with visitors likely to have passports and other pieces of personal identification about their person, be freely using smart phones and unsecured WiFi hotspots, and also potentially sharing hostels or rented accommodation with strangers all of which increase the risk of identity theft.
Visitors are therefore advised to keep a close eye on their personal information, and on their credit report following their visit for any signs of unusual activity. CreditExpert also provides alerts if your personal details appear anywhere unexpectedly online so it is easy to protect yourself pro-actively.
TOP FIVE RISKS TOP FIVE TIPS TO STAY SAFE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Passports Think about how much sensitive information you really need to have about your person - if your hotel booking has your card number and address, do you need to carry it around with you, for instance? Likewise, don't take your passport out with you unless you absolutely have to. If you are staying in a hotel for the Games, ask for sensitive documents to be securely stored in the hotel safe when you are not using them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PIN codes Make sure that no-one else can see you enter your PIN code at ATMs and chip and pin machines, particularly in large crowds. Do not write down or carry your PIN code with you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smartphones If you have a smartphone, you'll certainly want to photograph and tweet your time at the Olympics, but be particularly careful what you share when connected to an unsecured wireless network. Also ensure you switch off Bluetooth and roaming settings when not required and ensure you use a password. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post If you're going to be one of the lucky ones visiting London for a few weeks to enjoy the Games, think about what you'll do with your post. Intercepted post is one of the key ways in which fraudsters can take people's detail, so it could be worth setting up a redirect for the duration of the Games. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Face-to-face Check the credentials of anyone asking for your personal information, whether by phone, face-to-face or over the internet. If in doubt, don't do it!
The Experian CreditExpert research reveals that no fewer than one in six Britons (16 per cent) is planning on visiting London during the Olympics, half as tourists and half to attend the Games themselves. Seventeen per cent of people coming to the capital have not been for more than a decade, with a further three per cent making their first ever trip to the city.
Nearly six out of 10 (59 per cent) will be staying for several days. Although one in four (25 per cent) will be staying in hotels and one in five (21 per cent) with friends, a significant minority (four per cent) will risk staying in a hostel and two per cent will be renting a property or someone's spare room - some 154,000 people.(3)
And although they are concerned about large crowds (23 per cent) and the expense of London (20 per cent), just three per cent are worried about identity fraud.
The risk of ID fraud among visitors is arguably heightened by the decision of many Londoners to quit the capital during the course of the Games. One in 14 (seven per cent) are looking to leave London for the duration of the Olympics, with a further one in six (17 per cent per cent) planning to get out of the city for at least some of the period.
But it's not just newcomers who need to be careful. The one in 20 Londoners taking on a lodger or renting out a room or their whole property need to be aware they are putting themselves at risk of ID fraud by inviting a stranger into their home and are advised to ensure personal details are locked away and post collected promptly.
Peter Turner, Managing Director at Experian Interactive, commented: "This is set to be a once in a lifetime summer. But that doesn't mean people should let their guard down - just because you are holidaying in the UK, you should still take the same precautions you would if you were on a city break to Europe.
"Identity fraud is one of the fastest-growing crimes of the 21st century, and anyone could be at risk from fraudsters getting hold of their personal information, particularly if they are in an unfamiliar area, renting a flat short-term or a room in a B&B. Likewise if you are a homeowner letting a spare room just for the Olympics, do ensure all your personal details are kept safe from visitors."
"This is why it is so important to have proper safeguards in place to protect your identity. With Experian CreditExpert if the worst should happen you will be alerted to any significant changes to your credit report so that you can react quickly and keep the risks to a minimum."
Identity fraud hotspots
Top 10 10k households Top 10 in 10k households nationwide Cases London Cases ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slough 25 East Ham 78 London (all) 22 Woolwich 46 Gravesend 20 Stratford 43 Birmingham 17 Ilford 33 Luton 16 Walthamstow 27 Manchester 15 Harrow 27 Leicester 14 Cheapside 26 High Wycombe 13 Lewisham 26 Peterborough 13 Hatfield 26 Windsor 12 Enfield 26
To avoid becoming a victim of identity fraud this summer, Experian CreditExpert suggests some further tips:
1. Keep an eye on your credit report It's a history of all your credit accounts and will highlight any irregularities such as suspect applications for credit and rises in card balances. You can view your credit report free with a 30 day trial with Experian CreditExpert.(ii)((i)New customers only. Monthly fee after trial ends) 2. If in doubt, don't click If an email purporting to be from a hotel or linked to the Games seems suspicious, contact the relevant organisation and don't give out personal details. Your bank, credit card provider and any reputable business will never ask for confirmation of details by email. 3. If you do become a victim of fraud Don't forget you can sign up to Experian's CreditExpert whose dedicated victims of fraud team will work on your behalf to resolve the issue.
Notes to editors:
1. The UK adult population is 48,091,600 (ONS). Sixteen per cent of adults are set to come to London during the Olympics. Therefore: 0.16 x 48,091,600 = 7,694,656 or 7.7 million.
The population of Greater London is 7,753,000 (ONS) 24 per cent of Londoners are looking to leave the capital during some or all of the Games. Therefore: 0.24 x 7,753,000 = 1,860,720 or 1.9 million
2. Based on analysis of information from the National Hunter anti-fraud data sharing system and the Insurance Hunter database.
3. 0.02 x 7694656 = 153,893 or 154,000
Key benefits of Experian CreditExpert membership:
- Experian is the UK's most trusted credit reference agency
- Experian is the credit expert with more than 30 years of experience
- Free 30-day trial of CreditExpert(i)((i)New customers only. Monthly fee after trial ends)
- Unlimited access to your Experian Credit Score
- Weekly alerts of changes to your credit report
- Access to an award-winning, UK-based customer services team
- Identity Protection Insurance of up to GBP 75,000(ii) ((ii)terms and conditions apply)
- Expert advice and tools to help improve your credit rating
- Intelligent price matching to credit products suited to your credit history
- Consumers can apply directly from the website: www.creditexpert.co.uk
About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.
Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2012 was US$4.5 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 44 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
Sussex budget plan may include tax rebate - Delaware Wave
GEORGETOWN -- Sussex County is considering a tax rebate that would effectively cut county property taxes by 7.8 percent in the coming fiscal year.
Because of a 2011 budget surplus, a 3.5 cent property tax rebate is in the fiscal year 2013 budget unveiled Tuesday. To be eligible, property owners must be current on tax payments. The proposed budget keeps tax rates steady at 44.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Overall, the draft budget submitted to the Sussex County Council devotes $121.1 million to operating expenses and capital projects, which is down from $140.1 million in the current budget. Most of the difference comes because of the loss of federal stimulus funds for expanding sewer systems.
The proposal includes a 2.25 percent cost-of-living raise for county employees and a smaller adjustment for retirees with pensions. It also increases grants to local law enforcement agencies to $25,000 per town, the highest level since 2009, and allows for employee merit raises.
"We took a hard look at merits to make sure they are justified when they are requested," said Sussex County Administrator Todd F. Lawson.
The county's real estate transfer tax, its largest share of income, has fluctuated in past years, cresting at $36.3 million in 2005. It's now projected to bring in $13.2 million, about the same level as last year. .
"I feel this is the new norm the county will live by," Lawson said of the projection for the transfer tax.
Increases in one part of the budget reflect pain and strife in the housing market. The county expects revenue generated by the Sheriff's Office to rise to $4 million, up from $2.8 million, with much of the increase generated by fees collected for handling foreclosures.
The county is scaling back its work to expand public sewer pipes now that about $20 million in federal stimulus money is going away. But capital spending for other projects is increasing by 50 percent to $13.2 million. The county expects to spend $4.5 million for improvements to the Sussex County Airport runway.
The budget also supports a plan to expand the public library in Greenwood and make improvements to the Milton and South Coastal libraries. In Greenwood, $3 million in state and county funds will go toward tripling the size of the current library.
Source: www.delmarvanow.com
Sussex County Emergency Operations Center announces National Hurricane Preparedness Week May 27 thro - Sussex Countian
National Hurricane Preparedness Week will run from Sunday, May 27, through Saturday, June 2. Sussex County is urging local residents use the week to prepare now before the coming season brings a storm aimed at the coast.
Sussex County EOC Director Joseph L. Thomas says that preparation ahead of a storm is essential to limiting and preventing the loss of life.
"Based on the events of last summer with Hurricane Irene, I think everyone now realizes we are very much susceptible to tropical weather here," Thomas said in a Sussex County news release. "Hopefully, that was a wake-up call for our residents. As we enter the 2012 season, Irene can serve as a reminder of just how important it is to be ready, to have a plan, and to execute that plan when the time comes."
Hurricane Irene was the most significant threat to the mid-Atlantic region last season. Although it spared Delaware from substantial damage, the storm forced evacuations up and down the East Coast, including in Sussex County.
Forecasters are predicting a near-normal season this year. A near-normal season would have from nine to 15 named tropical systems. Of those, four to eight could become hurricanes. One to three of those could be major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Sussex County advises its residents to take the folllowing steps to protect their families and homes.
Those who live in flood-prone or other vulnerable areas should be prepared to evacuate quickly by planning a route and having have a storm kit ready.
If a storm is approaching, residents should secure all outdoor items, especially boats.
When evacuating, the county advises traveling during daylight hours and not waiting until the last minute to purchase gasoline and supplies.
Those who are ordered to evacuate and seek shelter elsewhere should follow the instructions of local emergency managers on where to go and when.
In case of a storm, phones should be uses sparingly and only for essential calls. Emergencies should be reported to 911. Mobile phones should be charged before a storm hits and power is lost.
If a hurricane or tropical storm hits, residents should expect polluted water, limited communication, no electricity, overflowing or backed-up sewers, undermined foundations, beach erosion and heavy damage to homes and roadways.
Hurricane season begins Friday, June 1 and runs through November. For more information on storm preparation and safety, visit www.sussexcountyde.gov.
Source: www.sussexcountian.com
Many tickets for London 2012 remain unsold - BBC News
The BBC has learned that nearly a third of the Olympics tickets which went on sale earlier this month remain unsold.
The London 2012 organisers had expected that the 928,000 tickets would all be snapped up quickly by eager buyers, but that has not proved to be the case.
There are still more than 20 sessions with availability for sports like boxing, basketball, beach volleyball and weightlifting.
In total there are nearly 300,000 tickets remaining on sale.
That is in addition to the more than one million football tickets which are left.
For the first time since London 2012 tickets went on sale last year there is now a genuine prospect of the Games not selling out.
Demand was so high last year, with 22 million tickets applied for in the initial ballot, that it seemed an inevitability that every ticket would be sold.
Ticketing, though, has turned out to be the greatest challenge for London 2012 organisers.
There have been a number of problems with the website, which is run by Ticketmaster, with some people last summer even having to be informed that they had not been successful in buying the tickets which they had originally been told that they had got.
Many others were frustrated by the ballot process, which left more than a million applicants empty handed after the first round of sales.
A London 2012 spokesman refused to be downhearted about the slow sales since tickets were made available again on May 11th.
"We have delivered on our promise to give those people who missed out last year another opportunity to buy tickets and thousands did.
Analysis
I'm sure that many of you will have your own views about why the demand for London 2012 tickets has dropped off so sharply. One of the main reasons is surely frustration with the process
"With nine weeks to go before the Games start, we are in a fantastic position - ahead of where we expected to be when tickets first went on sale in 2011.
"There are still tickets available, but many sports have limited availability."
The chances, though, of empty seats at London 2012 have definitely increased.
There are still another 150,000 non-football tickets which will not go on sale until next month.
So even if the London organisers manage to shift the current batch of 300,000 tickets, their job is far from done.
The BBC has learned that nearly a third of the Olympics tickets which went on sale earlier this month remain unsold.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: Kosovo athlete barred from competing as independent - The Guardian
Kosovo's best medal hope, judo champion Majlinda Kelmendi, has said she will compete at the Games for Albania after the International Olympic Committee ruled that she could not enter as an independent under the Olympic flag.
The decision came as the IOC also ruled out the idea of female Saudi athletes competing under the Olympic flag as a way of circumventing opposition within the kingdom to their presence in a Saudi team.
Kosovo's independence is recognised by 80 countries including the UK but not by the UN or the IOC. The sports minister of the former Yugoslav province, Memli Krasniqi, said Kelmendi and Kosovo had been treated unfairly, and compared their case with the invitation to Yugoslav athletes to compete under the Olympic banner at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, when the Serbian leadership in Belgrade was under international sanctions for its participation in war crimes.
"It is an extremely disappointing development and contrary to the values enshrined in the Olympic charter," Krasniqi said.
"There are no good reasons to turn down a genuine request by an athlete who is among the best in the world. Kosovo sport has been suffering from this isolation for 20 years and we have athletes who have been forced to leave in disillusion to compete for other countries."
The minister said it was ironic that a Yugoslav team had been allowed to compete in Barcelona despite international sanctions imposed because of the role of the then leader, Slobodan Milosevic, in orchestrating crimes against humanity. Kosovo was one of the targets of Milosevic's ethnic cleansing campaigns and 10,000 Kosovans were killed before Nato intervention forced Milosevic to withdraw his troops in 1999.
"In Barcelona, when Yugoslavia under Milosevic was under heavy sanctions, the IOC was so humane it invited athletes from Yugoslavia to compete. We would love to have similar treatment for our athletes," Krasniqi said.
Kelmendi is the fifth ranked judoka in the world in the under-52kg class, and won three Grand Prix and World Cup events last year. She has both Kosovo and Albanian citizenships and had hoped to represent Kosovo for the first time in London.
The decision on her participation came at an IOC meeting in Quebec City, Canada, which also saw the organisation's president, Jacques Rogge, rule out Saudi women competing under a neutral flag. "There is absolutely no need to consider the possibility of the participation of Saudi women under the IOC flag," he said.
Saudi Arabia is one of three countries to never include women in their Olympic teams. The others, Qatar and Brunei, plan to bring female athletes to London but the Saudis appear unwilling, an attitude which has brought criticism from human rights groups and others. "It's not an easy situation," Rogge said of talks with Saudi officials on the issue. "There is a commitment. We're working steadily with them to find a good solution."
David Mepham, UK director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has called for tough IOC action over the Saudi team, said the group was worried at the seeming impasse. He said: "It's looking unlikely now that the Saudis will include women in their team for the London Games, which is a great concern for us."
HRW is calling for the IOC to bar Saudi Arabia from London unless it takes steps beyond just including women in the Olympic squad, Mepham said: "We also want them to take steps back in Saudi Arabia to ensure that women and girls can participate meaingfully in sport. We've documented the systematic discrimination which really prevents this – there are a few private gyms, but essentially women and girls are not allowed to participate in sport."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment