London, United Kingdom | AFP | Usain Bolt kicks off the defence of his world 100m on Friday in his swansong season, the first step to bringing down the curtain on his glittering career. Bolt, dubbed an “extraordinary competitor” by IAAF president Sebastian Coe, will take to the track in London …
Read More »New poster boy Van Niekerk no Bolt-like showman
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Wayde van Niekerk has been hailed as the next poster boy for global track and field, and the softly-spoken South African admits he’s taking on board as much as he can from the outgoing Usain Bolt. Although lacking the showman’s pizzaz of Bolt, who has …
Read More »Underdog’ Bolt ready to fire in 100m defence
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt labelled himself the underdog as he seeks to round off his glittering individual track career with the defence of his world 100m title this week. “That’s what I keep reading and what my team keeps telling me, so I’ve got …
Read More »Kenyan star Rudisha out of world championships
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Kenya’s David Rudisha’s hopes of adding world 800 metres gold to the Olympic title he won in a world record time at the same track in the 2012 London Olympics have been dashed because of injury. The 28-year-old — who ran an astonishing time …
Read More »World gears up for electric cars despite bumps in road
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Technological advances mean fossil fuel in cars could be phased out within decades but switching to electric carries its own environmental and economic concerns as more and more countries announce radical plans. Britain on Wednesday said it would “end the sale of all conventional petrol …
Read More »Macron puts France top of ‘soft power’ rankings: survey
Paris, France | AFP | France has leapfrogged the United States and Britain as the world’s top so-called soft power, helped by the election of President Emmanuel Macron, a study of countries’ non-military global influence showed Tuesday. While France has risen, Donald Trump’s ascent to the White House has seen the …
Read More »Athletics: South Africa top World U-18 for first time
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | South Africa completed a clean sweep in the boy’s sprints to top the medals table for the first time at the World Under-18 athletics championships in Nairobi on Sunday. South Africa, fifth in 1999 and 2005, amassed ten medals including five golds over the five-day championships. …
Read More »‘Ransomware’ wave seemed aimed at old flaw and Ukraine
San Francisco, United States | AFP | A global wave of cyberattacks on Tuesday exploited an already patched vulnerability in Windows software and appeared to have Ukraine as a primary target, according to computer security specialists. The first reports of trouble came from Ukrainian banks, Kiev’s main airport and Rosneft, …
Read More »WTF? World Taekwondo Federation rebrands over acronym
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The World Taekwondo Federation has changed its name to World Taekwondo after becoming uncomfortable with the “negative connotations” of its acronym, WTF. The body has been named World Taekwondo Federation since 1973, but it has been considering a change since the slang abbreviation ‘WTF’ …
Read More »Obesity ‘epidemic’ affects one in 10 worldwide
Washington, United States | AFP | More than one in 10 people worldwide are now obese and 2.2 billion are believed to be overweight, fueling a global health crisis that claims millions of lives every year, according to a major new international study released on Monday. Obesity numbers have more …
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