Olympic flame which will be used for the London 2012 torch relay has been lit during a ceremony in Olympia, Greece. The flame was kindled by a “high priestess” who captured the morning sun’s rays in a parabolic mirror. The ceremony came amid political and economic turmoil in Greece, the home of the Ancient Olympics, where a week-long leg of the relay will be held. The flame flie…
he torch on British soil. After criss-crossing every region of the UK, the flame will be used to light the cauldron in Stratford’s Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on 27 July. At Thursday’s handover ceremony, crowds in the stadium stood beneath multi-colored umbrellas as the national anthems of the UK and Greece were sung by a British school choir and a Gree…
ic Games begin on 29 August 20012 and close on 9 September 2012. During the London 2012 Olympic Games top sportsmen and women from across the world will be competing in 26 sports which break down into 39 disciplines. There are 20 sports in the Paralympic schedule in the London 2012 Games. An Olympic Park has been created on 2.5sq km of land in east London from former industrial land that has been…
The biggest McDonald’s restaurant on the planet has been built in London, right in the middle of the Olympic park. The vast two-storey restaurant will serve up to 1,200 customers an hour and sell $5 million of fast food during Olympic Games. At 3,000 sq ft the building, next to the Olympic Stadium, is bigger than the current largest McDonald’s, in Moscow. The Russian restaurant will regain its ti…
…m’s training camp • On Tuesday, Heathrow is set for its busiest day for Olympics so far as it prepares to handle about 217,000 passengers, including some 1,200 athletes and coaches and more than 3,000 other Games-related arrivals • Motorists have faced long queues on routes where pre-Olympics modifications have been made to road layouts • And the Olympic torch is travelling from Kingston, in…
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, a senior Ukrainian Olympic official, has been suspended after a BBC investigation showed he was willing to unofficially sell 2012 tickets for cash. Volodymyr Gerashchenko, of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), told a reporter posing as a UK tout he would have up to 100 tickets to sell. It is a criminal offence, punishable by fines of up to £20,000 ($32,000),…
Women’s football is the first event of the Olympics and is to kick off later, two days before the official opening ceremony. The Team GB women’s football side will get 18 days of sport under way at 16:00 BST against New Zealand at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Designated Games Lanes, covering about 30 miles of roads and off limits to the public, have begun operating in London. And gov…
London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony has started with a performance charting a journey through a day in the life of the capital city. After 16 days of competition, the show, said to be a celebration of British people, music and culture, kicked off at 21:00 BST at the Olympic Stadium. More than 4,100 performers are taking part in A Symphony of British Music. The climax of the ceremony will see th…
…for our country”. “Seven years of waiting, planning, building, dreaming, are almost over – tomorrow, the curtain comes up, the spectators arrive, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012 can officially begin.” David Cameron also met the Republican candidate for the US presidency, Mitt Romney, during his campaigning and fundraising visit to London. Mitt Romney had earlier e…
The Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in four zones across the city, the Brazilian organizing committee has said. Plans for their eight-minute segment in the London 2012 closing ceremony on Sunday night have also been set out at London’s Olympic Park. They said pure Brazilian samba would demonstrate the country’s passion. Events will be at Copacabana Beach, the Olympi…
…had the swine flu pandemic at Glastonbury. We also looked at research from the Vancouver Games – neither produced any significant problems.” Dr. Brian McCloskey said that at Glastonbury in 2009, hundreds of thousands of people were densely packed in fields together for days at a time during the outbreak of influenza strain H1N1. Whereas he said at London 2012 visitors would only be at…
d around the Olympic Stadium, with Paralympics GB entering last to huge cheers. The opening ceremony, co-directed by Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, signalled the start of 11 days of competition by 4,200 athletes from 164 countries, including more than 300 athletes from the home nation. Queen Elizabeth II has declared the London 2012 Paralympics officially open, during a spectacular opening ce…
…kfast stop, she greeted athletes with a rousing speech as her bold wardrobe choice also spoke volumes. The red and white pattern on the jacket was a surprise choice for the normally impeccably dressed 48-year old, as she started to blend in with the America flags behind her. At the following event, held at Winfield House in Regent’s Park where U.S. Ambassador Louis Susman now resides, mingle…
ald the start of the 2012 Games In Trafalgar Square later, former boxer Michael Watson, wheelchair racer Dame Tanni Grey Thompson and Paralympic swimmer Chris Holmes will carry the flame. About 3,000 invited guests, including Paralympians, representatives from disability groups and local residents, attended Tuesday evening’s ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium. Some 150 local residen…
The official Olympic flag has arrived in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, the host city of 2016 Games. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes waved the flag after stepping off the plane with other officials and Brazilian athletes who competed in London. The flag was handed to Eduardo Paes on Sunday in London before the flame at the Olympic Stadium was extinguished. The move marks the official start of Rio&#…
Thousands of UK border staff (Home Office) will strike the day before London Olympics open, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has said. PCS members will strike for 24 hours next Thursday – when many thousands of visitors are due to arrive in the UK. Home Secretary Theresa May said the action was “shameful” as it threatens disruption to people travelling to London fo…
…ociety will accept this,” the official said. It is not the first time a Saudi monarch has backed a controversial reform against domestic opposition. King Faisal, who introduced television in the 1960s and was eventually assassinated, insisted on introducing education for girls. Today, Saudi women graduates outnumber their male counterparts. …
was dressed to impress. Nicole Kidman – who is a brand ambassador for the Swiss company – looked demure in a sleeveless black dress with black lace up sandals. The actress appeared years younger than 45 with her hair in soft waves to her shoulders and sported minimal make-up. Nicole Kidman obviously wore one of the famous watches but apart from dazzling earrings and her wedding ring, she wore no…
alleges, during a two-month investigation in which reporters posed as Middle Eastern ticket touts, it found corruption involving people representing 54 separate countries. More than one million London 2012 tickets were distributed abroad among all the nations taking part in the Games, but the IOC has strict rules to try to combat touts. National Olympic committees must ensure that their allocation…
Nick Buckles, the chief executive of security firm G4S, will go before MPs later to explain why his company was unable to provide the Olympics staff it promised. Nick Buckles has already apologized after 3,500 extra troops had to be deployed to meet the firm’s shortfall. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was no time for a “witch-hunt” but “contingency plans” were…
…ver: at least 99.96% and often 99.99%. “In simpler terms, this means that in an average 24-hour period, twitter.com has been stable and available to everyone for roughly 23 hours, 59 minutes and 40-ish seconds.” …
London’s Olympic Stadium will welcome the athletics events later in the day, ensuring the Olympic Park’s busiest day since the Games opened a week ago. More than 200,000 people will be at the park, prompting warnings for those not attending the Games to avoid the area. The Central Line, which serves the Olympic Park in Stratford, is suspended from Liverpool Street to Leytonstone. It f…
Armed forces in UK are on standby to provide an additional 3,500 troops to help with security at the 2012 London Olympics. It comes amid fears that private contractor G4S would not be able to provide enough trained staff in time. The armed forces were already providing some 13,500 personnel – this could now reach 17,000, meaning summer leave for some troops will likely be cancelled. G4S sai…
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Saudi Arabia will send two female athletes to compete in the London 2012 Games. Sarah Attar will compete in the 800 m and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani in the judo competition. The Saudi authorities lifted a ban on women from the Gulf kingdom competing in the Games last month. The public participation of women in sport is still fie…
…e made a rude gesture Adele added her Brits to the six Grammy Awards she won last weekend, capping a year of huge global success. According to her record label, the London singer’s second album 21 has sold 17 million copies around the world and hit number one in 24 countries. Accepting the best album prize – the final and most prestigious of the night – Adele said: “Nothin…
Hilaria Baldwin joins husband Alec at Cannes Film Festival 2013 to promote his documentary Seduced and AbandonedAlec Baldwin famously lost his cool with film producer Harvey Weinstein at last year's Cannes film festival. But it appears that Alec Baldwin, 55, has managed to keep his…
Jennifer Lawrence wears blue body paint to portray X-Men's MystiqueJennifer Lawrence has hit the X-Men set like a bolt from the blue and her fans have been given a glimpse of the 22-year-old star in all her painted glory as she reprises her…
Ray Manzarek dead: The Doors co-founder dies aged 74 after long battle with cancerRay Manzarek, keyboardist and founder member of the 1960s rock band The Doors, has died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 74. He formed the band with lead singer…
Christine White dies in a nursing home in Washington at the age of 86Actress Christine White, who played a calming wife on a classic 1963 Twilight Zone episode that featured a young William Shatner, has died at age 86. Christine White…
Macaulay Culkin at risk of lung cancerMacaulay Culkin is said to be smoking a whopping 60 cigarettes a day, leading to new health fears for the troubled former child star. “He's put his nicotine addiction into…
Eurovision 2013: Azerbaijan inquiry into "nul points" for RussiaAzerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has ordered an inquiry into why his country gave Russia "nul points" at Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Voters and the official Azerbaijan…
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