London 2012: Olympic Games portal opens on Facebook - BBC News
Facebook has announced a dedicated portal for London 2012 to allow fans to "connect with their favourite Olympians" at the Games.
The section features dedicated pages for athletes and sports, including a complete timeline history of the competition since the 1800s.
The IOC said the portal would create a "social media stadium".
However, restrictions on what athletes can or cannot post will restrict some content from being published.
Participants are subject to tight guidelines over content posted on Facebook and Twitter, particularly in relation to brands and broadcasting deals.
It restricts the posting of any video from within an Olympic venue.
'Ambush'Mark Adams, from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said that while visitors to the Games would be able to post videos and stills, athletes' activities would be curbed.
“Start Quote
End Quote Boris BeckerIt's impossible to think all day and all night about the next match, interacting with fans is a good thing”
"It depends on where they are," he said.
"If they're in a stadium, they can't. We have a relationship with various broadcasters around the world which provides the funding [for the Games]."
In addition, he said, the IOC would be watching for any attempted "ambush" marketing.
"It's something we always have to keep in our mind," he said.
"It does take away money from the Olympic movement. It's something that we have to protect."
Facebook, which announced the portal at its central London offices, said it hoped the portal would mean Olympics fans could interact with athletes in a way that had not been possible in previous Games.
Alex Balfour, from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) said there was now a "perfect storm" of technology to allow a "really rich experience" wherever fans were in the world.
"We want make sure our Games is available to that new audience of digital consumers," he added.
Facebook said it would allow fans to use the network to discover footage of their favourite athletes - but some content would be geo-targeted, meaning certain footage might not be available in certain regions of the world.
Mr Adams admitted that the IOC had been slow to adopt social networking, but was now ready to embrace it for London 2012.
"The way I like to think about the IOC and our relationship with social media is that the Olympics is one of the oldest social networks that has ever been.
"Everyone has an experience and shares that experience with their friends and their family - everyone has an emotional attachment to the Games. We're just digitising that experience."
Hot waterFormer world tennis number one and Olympic gold medallist Boris Becker told the BBC that using social media could help athletes prepare.
"It's very positive. It gives athletes the chance to get real opinions and real questions and to answer back.
"It's fun - everyone's online anyway. It's impossible to think all day and all night about the next match, interacting with fans is a good thing."
However, he warned that it was inevitable that some athletes might not think before they tweeted and so land themselves in hot water during the Games.
"The world and people are not perfect," he said.
"There will always be athletes who will take it out of line, but that doesn't mean that the platform is wrong."
Great News For Vauxhall In Britain - PRLog (free press release)
Vauxhall dealer group – Northern Motors – with branches located in Harrow, Ruislip and Watford are delighted with Vauxhall’s recent announcement that the next-generation Astra compact car will continue to be built at the manufacturing plant, Ellesmere Port, in Cheshire. In future, Ellesmere Port will be the lead plant of only two in Europe building the new model.
The decision follows the conclusion of a groundbreaking new labour agreement recently approved by the Vauxhall workforce. The agreement comes into force in 2013 and runs through the life of the next-generation Astra – into the early 2020’s. As part of the agreement, the plant will implement a number of creative operating solutions to improve flexibility, reduce fixed-costs and significantly improve its competitiveness. Ellesmere Port plant will become one of the most competitive plants in the Vauxhall/Opel manufacturing network.
In addition to creation of 700 plus jobs, Vauxhall will create investment locally via use of local suppliers and in the UK overall.
Vauxhall Chairman and Managing Director, Duncan Aldred, said: “This is great news for the Ellesmere Port plant, our employees, the local community, our suppliers, the Vauxhall brand and the UK. We have been able to develop a responsible labour agreement that secures the plant’s future.
With Ellesmere Port’s proven build quality and a new agreement that ensures excellent cost competitiveness, this facility will provide additional employment and, as the lead plant for the next-generation Astra, will be one of the cornerstones of our European manufacturing footprint.”
In 2007, Ellesmere Port became the first UK manufacturing plant to receive the Energy Efficiency Accreditation and in 2010 became the first European manufacturing plant to achieve the Wildlife Habitat Accreditation.
For further information, visit www.northernmotors.co.uk, www.facebook.com/
Andy White, Sales Manager at Northern Motors Watford, tel: 01923 813000
Derek Williams, Sales Manager at Northern Motors Harrow, tel: 0208 427 4444.
London bound: Blinded warrior to represent U.S. at 2012 Paralympics - msnbc.com
Dan Koeck for msnbc.com
Blind swimmer Tharon Drake, right, seeks the hand of fellow swimmer Lt. Bradley Snyder to congratulate him on winning the 400-meter freestyle event in record time on Thursday at the 2012 U.S. Paralympics Swimming Trials in Bismarck, N.D. Snyder earned a spot on Team USA's swim team for the Paralympics later this summer in London.
London is calling for Lt. Brad Snyder.
The former Navy bomb defuser, who last September lost both eyes in an Afghan explosion, formally gained a roster spot Sunday on the U.S. Paralympic team bound for England, after swimming what he agreed was the race of his life.
“I’m super excited,” said Snyder, 28. “Normally, I’m a little too prideful to admit I am nervous before a race. But I was a little nervous. There was a pretty sizable uncertainly” that he would swim well enough to qualify.
To earn a ticket to London later this summer, Snyder needed to swim at least 41 seconds faster than his previous best in his top event, the 400-meter freestyle. In competitive swimming, where outcomes usually are measured in tenths of seconds, 41 seconds is an eternity.
But Snyder didn’t simply meet his goal. He demolished it, going 54 seconds faster than he ever had since losing his sight. Snyder clocked a 4:35.62 – now the current, world-best time at that distance for fully blind swimmers.
Need more context? That time was just 1.5 seconds behind the mark he posted at that distance while swimming for the Naval Academy seven years ago, when he could see the lane lines, the competition and, most importantly, the wall.
Editor's note: This is the third installment that chronicles Lt. Brad Snyder's efforts to earn a spot on Team USA's roster for the 2012 London Paralympics. Read the first story here and read the second story here.
Lucky No. 12
Still, he had to wait until Sunday morning when the U.S. Paralympic swimming coaches announced the 14 names on the American men’s roster. To hear the news, hundreds of athletes, family members and coaches packed an academic hall at Bismarck State College, host of the meet. Dozens more people couldn’t be seated and waited for news while standing in a nearby hallway. Eleven names already had been read before Snyder finally heard his.
He stood, felt a massive wave of emotion rising in his throat and then walked, led via one arm by his brother, Mitchell, toward most of the rest of the men’s team already gathered at the front of the room.
Lt. Brad Snyder lost his sight in an IED explosion in Afghanistan last September. The Navy officer is now training to represent the U.S. at the London 2012 Paralympics.
“As I was walking him over, I was just staring down at the floor. I didn’t want look at anyone because I thought I was going to cry,” said Mitchell Snyder. “I was mostly thinking how far he’s come since September. I couldn’t have been prouder.”
At the swimming trials, Mitchell served as his brother’s “tapper” – a person assigned to touch a blind swimmer on the head or shoulder with a walking cane to warn him or her that the wall is near and that a flip turn or a finishing kick is needed. No other communication is allowed between the tapper and a swimmer.
“The moment his name was announced everyone erupted and I guess he got a standing ovation,” said Mitchell Snyder, 25. “He couldn’t see it. And I didn’t want to see it because I thought I was going to lose it.”
Snyder joins a rising corps of wounded U.S. servicemen and servicewomen who will again battle for their nation overseas – this time as Paralympians vying for gold medals in track, cycling, archery, wheelchair tennis and an array of other sports. More than 30 active-duty and retired soldiers and sailors are expected to make the 2012 American Paralymic team – double the number that competed for Team USA at the Beijing Paralympic Games four years ago.
Golden favorite
“You can look at it and say, unfortunately, we’re having a lot of guys hurt. But at the same time we’re having a lot of guys hurt who are finding relevancy in going out there and succeeding post-injury,” Brad Snyder said. “We’re finding a way to get past, finding a way to strive for success just the way we were in the military.
“After joining the military, you want to be the best in the world at your job because it means life or death. (After injury) we’re stripped of the ability to do that the way we used to do. But we can still find an avenue through elite competition.”
Lt. Brad Snyder, blinded by an IED explosion in Afghanistan, is now training for the London 2012 Paralympics.
This week, Snyder will return to his intern job at a Baltimore software company. And he will continue training at a Baltimore aquatic center with his coach, Brian Loeffler, in preparation for the London Games. At the 2012 Paralympics, he also will be considered a front runner for a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle. At the Bismarck trials, Snyder swam that event in 57.75 seconds – now the current, world-best time for blind athletes.
But he’ll never forget, he said, his very first race in Bismarck – the chase that offered Snyder his first solid proof that he could, once again, be the best in the world at something.
With an entry time of 5:29, Snyder wasn’t fully sure he could finish close to the 4:43 mark held by Spaniard Enhamed Enhamed – formerly the holder of the record in the 400-meter freestyle. Among blind swimmers, Enhamed has been a giant for years, collecting four gold medals at the Beijing Paralympics.
Unforgettable performance
Last Thursday morning, amid the preliminary heat for that same event, Mitchell Snyder glanced at the pool clock several times from his tapper position as his brother churned his arms and kicked his feet.
“But I was at the finishing end, so I had to make sure he was going to hit the wall safe and I couldn’t watch the clock when he touched,” Mitchell Snyder said. “Earlier in the race, though, it became abundantly clear during the first hundred meters, and the second hundred and the third hundred that, unless something drastically wrong happened, we had a No. 1 time in the world on our hands.”
“They’re strict in what the tapper can or can’t say,” Brad Snyder added. “So when I finished, I didn’t know what my time was. I can’t look at the scoreboard. And none of the people in front of the (starting) blocks can tell me. But I was fortunate that the announcer of the meet – and only by virtue of the fact that I was the first one to the wall – announced the time, 4:39. I kind of heard it. And I thought, 4:39, wow that’s kind of fast.”
Knowing he had a world-best time already tucked away in the prelim, Snyder said he was able to relax and swim the event’s final race that night much more freely.
But again, after he touched the wall at the finish, he didn’t know how he had fared.
Then somebody – somebody who was sitting behind the blocks – and I don’t even know who it was, whispered to me, “4:35!” I had shaved four more seconds off my time. They weren’t supposed to tell me. But I could definitely hear the excitement in their voice.”
Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com and author of “The Third Miracle.”
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London 2012: Mary Spencer awarded wild card to box at Olympics - Toronto Star
Boxer Mary Spencer will be gracing the Olympic boxing ring and magazine pages as the CoverGirl pugilist was awarded a long-awaited wild-card ticket to the London Games Monday.
The Windsor, Ont., fighter received word of the International Amateur Boxing Association decision while she lay in bed around 8 a.m. and promptly fell back to sleep.
Spencer had been waiting several weeks to learn her fate after failing to clinch a spot at the women’s world championships last month in China.
In addition to being the new face of cosmetics giant CoverGirl, she is featured prominently in a splashy ad campaign from the Canadian Olympic Committee.
But Spencer would not comment during a media conference call on whether her highly publicized makeup deal had been contingent on a London berth, calling the question “irrelevant.”
She did say she’s relieved to finally know for sure she’ll be competing at the Games.
“I’m almost speechless actually. It’s a very exciting time for me and we’ve been waiting for this news for a while now,” Spencer said during the call.
“I’m just looking forward to these next few weeks getting ready for the Olympics.”
Spencer, who won two bouts against the German woman’s champion in Montreal and Trois-Rivieres over the weekend, said her concentration and training had not taken a hit during the protracted wait.
“I wouldn’t say that it has affected it at all. I’ve been able to stay focused and that comes a lot from my coach (Charlie Stewart) and the people around me,” she said.
“As soon as we got back (from China) the No. 1 thing was getting back in the gym and training for the Olympics. It seems like it could have been a hard thing to do but everything came together very well.”
The two weekend bouts, however, did leave her exhausted and even news that she had won the London ticket could not keep her from falling back to sleep, Spencer said.
While consciously uncertain about the decision, Spencer says she was never fretful during her wait.
“I had a lot of peace about it. I had no idea what the outcome would be but I just felt good about it,” she said.
“I just felt like everything is out of my hands the only thing that I can do and the best thing to do right now is to stay focused on training for the Olympics because if that answer is a ‘yes’ I need to be ready.”
Still, Spencer compared her wild card selection to her career in terms of its ability to change her life.
“It’s like a second chance and it reminds me of when I first started boxing I felt like I was given a second chance and I was able to prove myself through boxing,” she said.
“And now I feel like I’m in that position once again. I never expected to be but I feel like I am and I can’t wait to really make the most and the best of the situation.”
The three-time world champion has been touted as one of Canada’s top medal hopefuls in London and her absence would have been a huge blow to the Canadian team.
“This is excellent news for Mary and great news for the 2012 Canadian Olympic team,” Canadian chef de mission Mark Tewksbury said in a statement. “I wish her good luck in training and can’t wait to see her in the ring.”
The news wasn’t as good for fellow Canadians Mandy Bujold and Sandra Bizier. They also failed to qualify through the world championships but were denied wild-card spots Monday.
“We’re disappointed for…our other two athletes but in sport these things happen and we certainly hope that they will continue with their careers,” Boxing Canada president Pat Fiacco said in a media conference call.
Spencer, 27, was the top seed in her 75-kilogram weight class but she lost her opening bout at the world championships. The event served as the Olympic qualifier.
The five-foot-11 fighter won gold at the Pan American Games last fall in Mexico.
“There’s no question as a three-time world champion and someone that has really, really created a significant amount of interest and spotlight on women’s boxing in the world that Mary rightfully deserves this spot,” Fiacco said.
Her remarkable consistency took a hit earlier this spring when she dropped a 27-14 decision to Claressa Shields in the final of the American Boxing Confederation’s continental championships.
Fiacco said that the China qualifier proved that a great deal of parity had come to women’s boxing and that competition in London would be fierce.
Spencer, who was born in Wiarton, on the Bruce Peninsula, carried the Canadian flag at the Pan Am Games closing ceremonies.
London 2012 Olympics: Scottish fencer Keith Cook to continue fight against Team GB omission - Daily Telegraph
It has, though, also emerged that national fencing coach Ziemek Wojciechowski contacted other members of the British foil team, including fencers ranked lower than Cook, urging them to resubmit their details to performance manager Newton ahead of the deadline.
Leading Scottish sports lawyer Rod Mckenzie, senior partner at Harper Macleod, who acts for the Scottish Premier League and is the legal adviser to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, has taken up Cook's case on a pro bono basis and sent a letter to British Fencing, as well as copying representation to the British Olympic Association.
Cook said: "I feel utterly sickened. To find out they had excluded me from the Olympic selection because of an email address was insane – surreal.
"I am going to fight this injustice tooth and nail – I don't want this happening to any of the amazing young kids I coach. I have taught them that the way to succeed is through hard work and dedication."
British Fencing were unavailable for any immediate response, but have always maintained their selection process is transparent and robust, with several fencers having seen their appeals against non-selection already rejected.
Communications director David King said in a statement last week: "British Fencing strongly denies any bias or inappropriate action in the non-selection of Keith Cook for a discretionary Home Nation place at the London 2012 Olympics.
"Like the other 25 athletes in contention for an Olympic spot, Mr Cook would have been fully aware of what was required to achieve consideration.
"We certainly understand the disappointment that any athlete feels when devoting one's life to training and working to achieve a goal like this and coming short."
Britain's top fencer Richard Kruse, who qualified directed for the London Games, delivered a bronze medal at the European Championships in Italy this weekend.
VAUXHALL ICON TAKES VICTORY AT CHOLMONDLEY - 3d-car-shows.com
- 86-year old OE-type 30-98 wins Cholmondley’s Coup d’Honneur Trophy
- While 2012 VXR Maloo keeps pace with the world’s fastest supercars
Cholmondley/Luton – Vauxhall Motors’ debut at the Cholmondley Pageant of Power resulted in an overall win in the Classic Pre-War Cars regularity class for its 1926 OE-type 30-98 Velox Tourer, and a supercar-matching time for the 2012 VXR Maloo pick-up, which ran in the Autocar Super Car Class.
The 30-98 achieved the result on Saturday, when it set track times of 127.96 and 127.77 in the regularity run, both within 0.13 of a second of the bogey time of 127.83 set in practice. Despite wet conditions, the 30-98 – which is owned and maintained by Vauxhall’s Luton-based Heritage Centre – performed impeccably and demonstrated why it’s still regarded as one of the fastest road cars of itstime.
In stark contrast, Vauxhall fielded the latest version of the VXR Maloo pick-up in the Autocar Super Car Class. Competing for the fastest time on track, the 431PS V8 rear-wheel drive Maloo was up against stiff competition from the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini. But it still managed a fastest time of just 72.82 seconds on the notoriously tricky 1.2-mile sprint course, beating the more expensive and powerful Noble M600, as well as the Lexus LFA and Chevrolet Corvette.
‘Cholmondley Pageant of Power was a great way for Vauxhall to demonstrate the breadth of its heritage and new-car range,’ said Vauxhall’s PR Manager, Simon Hucknall, who drove both cars at the event. ‘The 30-98 is one of 70 cars that Vauxhall owns and maintains at its Heritage Centre in Luton, and it didn’t miss a beat, despite being driven harder than normal. The Maloo also raised a few eyebrows, its best time within a second of the Mercedes SLS-AMG.’
Showcasing its very latest technology, Vauxhall’s Andrew Duerden demonstrated the European Car of the Year-winning Ampera on the race track during lunch on each day of the event, providing crowds with a taste of how quickly and silently an electric vehicle can perform.
New buyers may lift London art sales to $1 billion - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - London's art market is attracting the lion's share of business from an emerging class of super-wealthy collectors from Russia, the Middle East and China, and they are likely to be a big factor in a summer season of sales valued at up to $1 billion (638 million pounds).
Christie's, Sotheby's and smaller rivals like Phillips de Pury hold a three-week series of auctions featuring works by artists as diverse as Rembrandt, Renoir and Gerhard Richter.
Euro zone turmoil and slowing Chinese economic growth are giving investors the jitters, yet the high-end art market has defied gravity on a record-breaking streak.
New York has long been considered the global capital of the auction world -- most recent records have been set there, including the $120 million paid for Edvard Munch's "The Scream" at a Sotheby's sale in May.
London, a more natural fit for Russian tycoons who have homes in the city and Middle Eastern buyers just a mid-haul flight away, may be closing that gap.
Sotheby's has calculated that, while the number of lots sold to buyers from "new" markets has risen in both cities so far this year, the increase has been far more marked in London (33 percent) than New York (six percent).
"Particularly the Russians feel very comfortable bidding in the London sales as many of them have second homes and are very active here," said Helena Newman, chairman of Sotheby's impressionist and modern art department in Europe.
"I think that because of our geographic situation, we are the gateway to the East ... Central Asia, the Middle East and the East," she told Reuters at the company's London headquarters where star lots from the upcoming sales were on display.
"We definitely see that in the sales of recent years. It is a growing trend."
BILLION-DOLLAR BONANZA?
Beyond bragging rights, auctioneers are not overly concerned with who buys what where. Key lots for sale in London come from the United States, for example, and the market overall has become more globalised.
One of the prize lots of the season is English artist John Constable's "The Lock", being offered by Christie's for 20-25 million pounds and the only one of a series of six important landscapes by the painter to be in private hands.
It goes under the hammer on July 3 and should eclipse the 10.8 million pounds raised when it was sold in 1990 - a British painting record it held for 16 years.
On the same night, Rembrandt's "A Man in a Gorget and Cap" is on course to raise 8-12 million pounds.
On Wednesday, a Renoir nude is set to fetch 12-18 million pounds and the next week the same auctioneer offers Yves Klein's "Le Rose du Bleu", estimated at 17-20 million pounds and Francis Bacon's "Study For Self-Portrait" (1964) (15-20 million).
Christie's, the world's largest auction house, expects to raise at least 310 million pounds from its sales of impressionist, modern, contemporary art as well as those of British paintings and Old Masters.
The upper estimate is closer to 500 million pounds, and combined with Sotheby's low target of 210 million pounds, a billion-dollar art bonanza looks within reach.
"The four week summer season of major international auctions at Christie's ... is set to become one of the richest and most valuable series of auctions in company history," said Jussi Pylkkanen, head of Christie's Europe.
MIRO RECORD IN SIGHT
At Sotheby's, the top work of the season could be Joan Miro's "Peinture (Etoile Bleue), valued at 15-20 million pounds and in sight of the artist record set this year of 16.8 million.
Its appearance so soon after the February record is no coincidence -- auction houses tailor sales to reflect the latest tastes, and the Miro, along with works by Henry Moore and Surrealist Paul Delvaux, all follow recent auction highs.
The prominence of large, colourful, figurative works at Sotheby's, including Kees van Dongen's "Lailla", Marc Chagall's "L'Arbre de Jesse" and Delvaux's "Deux Femmes couchees", also reflects emerging market tastes.
Soaring prices for coveted works of art at a time of global economic uncertainty have long prompted warnings of a sharp correction and even collapse, but time and again in the last three years the market has defied the gloomiest predictions.
There has been weakening in Chinese demand and tastes can be fickle, but the very best works of art have generally risen in value since a sharp but brief drop in auction turnover in 2009.
The contraction was as much a reflection of sellers backing away as of falling demand, experts say, and auction houses believe they are back in a "virtuous cycle" of rising prices in turn attracting the very best works on to the market.
Institutional acquisitions have also played a key role in the recovery, with Qatar emerging as one of the biggest buyers of art in recent years as it fills a growing network of museums.
Widespread reports said the Gulf state paid $250 million for Paul Cezanne's "The Card Players" in a private deal, believed to be the highest price ever paid for a work of art. (Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
'Deadly game of cat and mouse': Teenage cyclist 'killed by driver racing his girlfriend at 80mph' - Daily Mirror
A teenage cyclist was killed when she was hit by a motorist racing his girlfriend at speed, a court heard today.
Amy Hofmeister, 13, died when she and her friend were both struck by a Vauxhall Vectra driven by Leonard Jones, 42.
Jones - who eyewitnesses described as driving at 80mph - was racing his girlfriend Leanne Burnell, 21, through the streets of Taunton.
He had just overtaken Burnell's Ford Focus when he lost control, overturned and hit Amy and her friend, who were riding along a nearby cycle path.
The schoolgirl died and her friend was injured in the crash, which happened on the evening of June 15 last year on Blackbrook Way.
Prosecutors allege Burnell was "egging on" her boyfriend by playing a dangerous game of high-speed "cat and mouse" and using their cars as "toys" and the roads as a "playground".
The details came during the first day of Burnell's trial at Taunton Crown Court, where she is accused of causing death by dangerous driving.
Jones, of Mulberry Close, Taunton, has already admitted the same charge and awaits sentence.
Prosecutor William Hunter told the jury of seven men and five women that Burnell was jointly responsibility for the crash.
"Leonard Jones was driving far too fast because, the prosecution say, he was playing a high speed game of chase or racing with another car," he said.
"He was winning that game. The prosecution case is that as a result of game playing - this high speed and dangerous game - on a road in built up area with a speed limit of 30mph, Amy Hofmeister was killed.
"This defendant was playing games with Leonard Jones and as a result was jointly responsible for her death."
Mr Hunter told the court that the chase began when Burnell sped off from a Harvester pub where she had been drinking with Jones and friends.
Witnesses said that they had each had a pint of Strongbow cider.
Jurors watched a four-minute compilation of CCTV footage showing Jones chasing the speeding Burnell through the town, including turning down a no-car bus lane.
Burnell's Ford Focus was leading but Jones caught her up and overtook her at around 80mph - despite Jones's front seat passenger Larry Grant telling him to slow down.
One motorist who witnessed Burnell's high speed driving described seeing her laughing at her boyfriend, who is known as Nitty.
"She saw the defendant turn around towards the other car and smile and smirk," Mr Hunter said.
"The prosecution say they were clearly playing games with each other."
Other witnesses described seeing Burnell's car get "faster and faster".
"The car seemed like it was being driven at full throttle," Mr Hunter said.
"Five to six seconds later the witness says he saw a Vauxhall Vectra following the Ford Focus and almost losing control around the bend.
"They thought the Vectra was trying to catch up with the other car. He says they were driving dangerously and they went through the bus lane as if they were taking a short cut.
"They ignored the 'bus and cycle only' sign which perhaps shows their attitude to the rules and laws of the road."
Police crash investigators calculated Burnell's average speed as around 65mph while Jones was doing nearly 81mph.
When Burnell was arrested she denied racing her boyfriend and said she was driving between 20mph and 25mph.
She also maintained that she had never driven down the bus lane.
"The defendant has lied when she said she was driving at 20mph to 25mph and she lied about the route she took," Mr Hunter told jurors.
"There is clear evidence that she is driving at high speed.
"By the manner and actions of her driving she was encouraging Leonard Jones to drive dangerously. She was in effect egging him on.
"A car is not a toy and the road is not a playground.
"The prosecution's case is that she has used her car as a toy and the road as a playground.
"Call it chase, call it racing, call it cat and mouse. It is as a result of using the road a playground that Amy Hofmeister lost her life."
Burnell, of Bishop's Hull, Taunton, denies a single charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.
London 2012: IOC suspends ticket sales for 2014 during investigation - The Guardian
The International Olympic Committee is to suspend the sales process for the Sochi 2014 Winter Games while it investigates allegations that Olympic officials and agents representing 54 countries offered London 2012 tickets on the black market.
In the wake of a Sunday Times investigation that sparked an immediate IOC probe, it is understood that the process of approving the list of Authorised Ticket Resellers contracted by the Sochi organising committee has been suspended until after it reports. The investigation is expected to lead to a shake-up of the way Olympic tickets are allocated ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The London 2012 organising committee chairman, Lord Coe, said the revelations were "deeply depressing", especially after he had warned the Association of National Olympic Committees of the risks of breaking IOC rules on the resale of tickets at their general assembly in Acapulco in 2010.
The Sunday Times, which is expected to hand its dossier of evidence to the IOC this week, alleged that 27 agents representing 54 countries were prepared to sell thousands of tickets for up to £6,000 each.
Spyros Capralos, the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee who was implicated in the illicit sale of tickets to undercover reporters, claimed the allegations were "untrue and misleading".
"The whole process was totally transparent and in accordance with the laws of the Greek state," the HOC said in a statement. "Therefore, there can be no issue on creating a 'black market' by the HOC which did not buy any tickets, whatsoever."
The HOC also claimed that quotes attributed to Capralos were "fragmentary and a patchwork of answers, made in a way that served the authors of the article".
It added: "The journalists of the Sunday Time, violated all principles of journalistic ethics, pretended to be representatives of a ticket selling company, and had even created a fake webpage."
It said that its entire allocation had been signed over to a company controlled by the Ipswich Town owner, Marcus Evans, so it did not have any tickets to sell.
Evans paid €300,000 – 10 times more than the HOC received during the Beijing Games – for the exclusive rights to resell the tickets but it said all the money went towards team preparation.
"The whole sum was exclusively allocated to the preparation of Olympic athletes of top level, at a time when, due to difficult economic conditions, the state stopped funding the Olympic preparation," it said. They claimed that the conversation with The Sunday Times journalist referred to the Sochi Games.
The former Olympic swimmer Yoav Bruck, authorised to sell tickets in Israel and Cyprus, also denied allegations that he offered undercover reporters the best seats in the house at the 100m final.
"The report is swamped with untruths, lies and inventions that cries to the heavens," he told Israel's Channel 2 TV. "I am saying that we are clean … we are not selling anything we are not allowed to."
London 2012 organisers will continue to lobby to return any unsold tickets from the 1.1 million allocated overseas to the British public. They claim that more than 50% of unsold tickets have already been re-routed for UK sale, the first time that has happened. But they will not seek to requisition tickets already allocated to the regions implicated, for fear of disadvantaging genuine purchasers in those regions.
Denis Oswald, the head of the IOC's co-ordination commission and a member of the executive board that held an emergency meeting in response to the claims, has said anyone found guilty of breaking IOC rules should be expelled from the Olympic movement.
"If you know you are breaking the rules and still do it, it is unacceptable. It is an attitude which is not acceptable and which is why I am sure the IOC want to take this very seriously and take appropriate sanctions," he said.
The IOC ethics commission is highly unlikely to report before London Games, although interim action could be taken against a handful of individuals in the meantime.
The report was the latest in a string of similar allegations. In May, a top Ukrainian Olympic official resigned following allegations that he offered to sell tickets for the London Games on the black market.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, secretary general of Ukraine's national Olympic committee, was accused by the BBC of telling an undercover reporter posing as an unauthorised dealer that he was willing to sell up to 100 tickets for cash.
New Astra hatch and Sports Tourer unveiled today - YAHOO!
Vauxhall has today lifted the wraps off the next Astra Hatch and Sports Tourer models to be built in Ellesmere Port this summer and go into showrooms in September without any increase in prices. (Source: Business Car Manager)
(PRWEB UK) 18 June 2012
They are joined by the latest addition to the GTC range, the 195PS BiTurbo diesel model.The revised styling by VP of Design Mark Adams gives the cars a more bold and aggressive appearance. Both body styles get a new front grille, with repositioned logo-bar in the upper section and a re-styled lower section too. New front indicator lamps and a new design of fog lamp (where fitted) complete the front-end revisions. The rear of both models has also been refreshed, with new rear-panel styling complemented by a chrome lower moulding.
The Astra GTC 2.0 CDTi BiTurbo, will become the most powerful non-VXR model in the range, producing 195PS and 400Nm of torque. And while the extra power and torque give it a healthy lift in performance with 0-60mph arriving in just 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 139mph, the BiTurbo still achieves a combined 53.3mpg and CO2 emissions of 139g/km. All BiTurbos receive Vauxhall’s Start/Stop system as standard.
Uniquely in this class, the GTC uses a sequential turbocharging system, with the smaller turbo accelerating quickly at lower speeds to eliminate ‘lag’, providing 350Nm of torque from just 1500rpm. In the mid-range, both turbochargers work together providing maximum torque of 400Nm between 1750-2500rpm.
The Astra GTC BiTurbo enters the range at £23,925 – a premium of £995 over the GTC 2.0 CDTi 165PS model – but in addition to extra power and torque, receives: bespoke 18-inch alloy wheels, Electronic Climate Control, 6mm lower ride-height, a new body-kit and ‘Track’ interior trim, with a flat-bottomed leather steering wheel.
Enhancing the appeal of all Astra models still further is the introduction of a raft of options previously unseen in the range. Customers can now order the Driver Assistance Pack, which for £750 includes features like Forward Collision Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Traffic Sign Recognition and Following Distance Indicator.
Other new options for the Hatch and Sports Tourer only include a Rear View Camera Pack, Winter Pack (heated steering wheel and seats for £345) and LED daytime running lights (£145). Three new colours – Sculpture Bronze, Phantom Grey and Deep Sky – have also been introduced, while the Astra’s standard DAB radio has been upgraded to a DMB (Digital Media Broadcast) system across the range.
As with all Vauxhall passenger cars, Lifetime Warranty is standard, giving first owners the peace of mind of a warranty that literally lasts the car’s lifetime, up to a maximum 100,000 miles.
The prices range from £21,595 for the Astra Sport 1.7 110ps to £23,925 for the Bi Turbo 2.0 195ps .
Keep up to date with the best in the business car leasing guide and look at the company car tax calculator to work out what it will cost.
Businesscarmanager.co.uk
Conrad Swailes
Weboptimiser Group Ltd
0800 614 421
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