Switzerland

Former IOC member, African football boss Halim dies

Former IOC member, African football boss Halim dies Lausanne, Switzerland  - Abdel Mohamed Halim of Sudan, a former African football supremo and International Olympic Committee member, the IOC said on Friday. He was 99 years old.

Halim was an IOC member 1968-1982 and later an honorary member of the Olympic body.

He made a big contribution to African football as founding member of the continent's football federation in 1957, organizer of the first African Nations Cup the same year in his native Sudan, and African football supremo 1987-1988.

CAS cancels Pizarro fine imposed by Peru federation

CAS cancels Pizarro fine imposed by Peru federationLausanne, Switzerland  - The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday cancelled a fine of 10,000 dollars imposed on Peru striker Claudio Pizarro by his nation's football federation (PFF) for allegedly misbehaving after a 2007 match with Brazil.

The CAS said in a statement that "the facts put forward by the PFF in relation to Pizarro were not supported by concrete evidence" and added that "the incidents reported by the PFF were not dealt with either in the PFF regulations, or in the FIFA regulations."

Pevenage: doping in Austria was an open secret in cycling

Pevenage: doping in Austria was an open secret in cyclingZurich  - Blood doping in Austria, and elsewhere, was an open secret in the cycling community, the former advisor of ex-Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich said in an interview published on Thursday.

Speaking in the wake of allegations that a Vienna blood bank was part of a doping scheme in Austria, Rudy Pevenage told Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) that "many in cycling knew three years ago that there was a nest in Vienna."

UN: Investments in farming needed to stave off world hunger

UN: Investments in farming needed to stave off world hungerGeneva - United Nations Assistant Secretary General David Nabbaro said Thursday that the best way to prevent hunger and sustainably reduce poverty was to invest in agriculture.

"Over the last 25 years many countries have cut back on investment in agriculture," he said.

Nabbaro warned that countries were finding it difficult to meet the UN's Millenium Development Goals, including halving the number of hungry people globally by 2015.

Pharmaceutical firm Roche's first quarter sales increase

Roche buys German cell analysis companyBasel - Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, said it was confident it would meet full year targets after reporting an 8 per cent growth in sales in the first-quarter.

Last month Roche bought for 46.8 billion dollars the remaining 44 per cent stake in the US biotech firm Genentech that it did not already own.

The Swiss company said in July it would set out its plan for the rest of the year to include Genentech, including bringing a head of the US company to the Roche board.

Brown bear on the loose in Ljubljana

Brown BearLjubljana - Stand still, play dead, because the beast can outrun, outjump and out-climb any human: These instructions were broadcast in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana Thursday morning, as the search for a brown bear roaming in the city began.

The animal had first been sighted at 4 am (0200 GMT) in the central city park. An alert was issued and a search launched after a head-count in the Ljubljana zoo confirmed that both resident bears were safely locked up.

Police said the bear probably became lost after crossing from the hilly woodlands across the highway belt encircling the city and warned people to stay away from the area of the sighting.

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