Baumgartner's supersonic freefall: Faster than you thought

Felix Baumgartner in the hatch of his balloon-hoisted capsule, 24 miles above the Earth.

(Credit:
Red Bull Stratos)

The wheels of bureaucracy do not turn at a supersonic rate.

It's been nearly five months since Felix Baumgartner traveled many, many miles into the sky in order to come hurtling back down to Earth in a freefall faster than the speed of sound. Judging by the data released by his backers at Red Bull Stratos, his jump was a breathtaking success. It was certainly thrilling to watch.

But it's not yet a world record (or as Baumgartner's group expects, several world records). For that, we're all still waiting for validation of the data by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that regulates air sporting events and certifies record claims for aviation and aerospace achievements.

The certification for Baumgartner's jump from his balloon-slung capsule may now be a little closer. Red Bull Stratos this morning released what it says is the final data from the October 14 freefall.

The numbers didn't change a whole heck of a lot from the preliminary findings. Red Bull Stratos now says that the maximum vertical speed was 843.6 mph, or Mach 1.25, ever so slightly faster than the earlier reported 833.9 mph, or Mach 1.24. The jump altitude, meanwhile, wasn't quite so high as earlier thought -- it now stands at 127,852.4 feet, down less than the length of a football field from the previous estimate of 128,100 feet. Either way, it still rounds out to a dizzying 24 miles up.

The distance of the vertical freefall portion (just over 4 minutes) of the overall descent (just over 9 minutes) was shortened a tad to 119,431.1 feet. The earlier estimate had been 119,846 feet.

And in case you were wondering what it feels like to go supersonic, here are some vital stats and other data tidbits from the October skydive by the 43-year-old Baumgartner:

• His heartbeat reached a maximum of 185 beats per minute (bpm) when he exited the capsule and ranged from 155 to 175 bpm during freefall -- 169 bpm when he hit Mach 1.25. (I think my heartbeat was higher just watching the you-are-there video stream. My palms were surely sweatier.) That compares with Baumgartner's heartbeat of 40 to 100 bmp during the "pre-launch oxygen pre-breathe."


• His respiratory rate hit a maximum of 30 to 43 breaths per minute during the freefall.


• He experienced 25.2 seconds of absolute weightlessness during the initial stage of his freefall.


• He was in a "flat spin" for about 13 seconds during a stretch of turning and spinning that reached a maximum rate of 60 revolutions per minute.


• The G meter on Baumgartner's wrist never experienced the 6 continuous seconds at 3.5 G that would have triggered deployment of his stabilization parachute. His cranial region, "the area of most concern," remained under 2 G for the duration of his spin.

This is one cool character under pressure -- you'd have to be, really, after more than 2,000 skydives, including jumping off the tallest buildings in the world, or into the occasional deep, dark cave. Here's how he described the supersonic freefall, in this morning's Red Bull Stratos statement:

It feels like you are floating into space, and then you pick up speed very fast -- but you don't feel the air because the air density is so low. For almost 35 seconds I couldn't sense the air around me because basically there was none. That kind of helpless feeling is annoying as a professional skydiver. And then when you finally enter a thicker air layer you have to keep yourself completely symmetrical because otherwise you start spinning, which is what happened to me.

So when can Fearless Felix expect the official word on whether, as expected, he set his world records? I put that question this morning to the FAI (which does have the preliminary data on record), and got back only the most bureaucratic of responses: "Sorry, we didn't received the dossier at this date."

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Ireland admits involvement in Catholic laundry slavery

DUBLIN Ireland has admitted some responsibility for workhouses run by Catholic nuns that once kept thousands of women and teenage girls against their will in unpaid, forced labor.

The apology comes after an expert panel found that Ireland should be legally responsible for the defunct Magdalene Laundries because authorities committed about one-quarter of the 10,012 women to the workhouses from 1922 to 1996, often in response to school truancy or homelessness.

"To those residents who went through the Magdalene Laundries in a variety of ways, 26 percent of the time from state involvement, I am sorry for those people that they lived in that kind of environment," said Prime Minister Enda Kenny on behalf of the Irish government, according to Reuters.

Survivors said they were unsatisfied with the prime minister's response. Steven O'Riordan, spokesperson for Magdalene Survivors Together, told Irish paper The Journal the apology was a "cop out."

Ireland stigmatized those that had been committed as "fallen" women - prostitutes - but most were simply unwed mothers or daughters of them.

The report found that 15 percent lived in the workhouses for more than five years, and police caught and returned women who fled. They endured 12-hour work days of washing and ironing.

The state apology could pave the way for payments to survivors.

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Boy Rescued in Ala. Standoff 'Laughing, Joking'

The 5-year-old boy held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is in good spirits and apparently unharmed after being reunited with his family at a hospital, according to his family and law enforcement officials.

The boy, identified only as Ethan, was rescued by the FBI Monday afternoon after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid and the boy was taken away from the bunker in an ambulance.

Ethan's thrilled relatives told "Good Morning America" today that he seemed "normal as a child could be" after what he went through and has been happily playing with his toy dinosaur.

"He's happy to be home," Ethan's great uncle Berlin Enfinger told "GMA." "He's very excited and he looks good."

Who Is Jimmy Lee Dykes?

"If I could, I would do cartwheels all the way down the road," Ethan's aunt Debra Cook said. "I was ecstatic. Everything just seemed like it was so much clearer. You know, we had all been walking around in a fog and everyone was just excited. There's no words to put how we felt and how relieved we were."

Cook said that Ethan has not yet told them anything about what happened in the bunker and they know very little about Dykes.

Ala. Hostage Standoff Over: Kidnapper Dead, Child Safe Watch Video

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Jimmy Lee Dykes Dead Watch Video

What the family does know is that they are overjoyed to have their "little buddy" back.

"He's a special child, 90 miles per hour all the time," Cook said. "[He's] a very, very loving child. When he walks in the room, he just lights it up."

Officials have remained tight-lipped about the raid, citing the ongoing investigation.

"I've been to the hospital," FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson told reporters Monday night. "I visited with Ethan. He is doing fine. He's laughing, joking, playing, eating, the things that you would expect a normal 5- to 6-year-old young man to do. He's very brave, he's very lucky, and the success story is that he's out safe and doing great."

Ethan is expected to be released from the hospital later today and head home where he will be greeted by birthday cards from his friends at school. Ethan will celebrate his 6th birthday Wednesday.

Officials were able to insert a high-tech camera into the 6-by-8-foot bunker to monitor Dykes' movements, and they became increasingly concerned that he might act out, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge told ABC News Monday. FBI special agents were positioned near the entrance of the bunker and used two explosions to gain entry at the door and neutralize Dykes.

"Within the past 24 hours, negotiations deteriorated and Mr. Dykes was observed holding a gun," the FBI's Richardson said. "At this point, the FBI agents, fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child."

Richardson said it "got tough to negotiate and communicate" with Dykes, but declined to give any specifics.

After the raid was complete, FBI bomb technicians checked the property for improvised explosive devices, the FBI said in a written statement Monday afternoon.

The FBI had created a mock bunker near the site and had been using it to train agents for different scenarios to get Ethan out, sources told ABC News.

Former FBI special agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said rescue operators in this case had a delicate balance.

"You have to take into consideration if you're going to go in that room and go after Mr. Dykes, you have to be extremely careful because any sort of device you might use against him, could obviously harm Ethan because he's right there," he said.

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Iran's Ahmadinejad in Egypt on historic visit

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Egypt on Tuesday on the first trip by an Iranian president since the 1979 revolution, underlining a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state.

President Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood politician elected in June, kissed Ahmadinejad as he disembarked from his plane at Cairo airport. The leaders walked down a red carpet, Ahmadinejad smiling as he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

Visiting Cairo to attend an Islamic summit that begins on Wednesday, the president of the Shi'ite Islamist republic is due to meet later on Tuesday with the grand sheikh of al-Azhar, one of the oldest seats of learning in the Sunni world.

Such a visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat who preserved Egypt's peace treaty with Israel during his 30 years in power and deepened ties between Cairo and the West.

"The political geography of the region will change if Iran and Egypt take a unified position on the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, on the eve of his visit.

He said he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbors Egypt to the east and is run by the Islamist movement Hamas. "If they allow it, I would go to Gaza to visit the people," Ahmadinejad said.

Analysts doubt that the historic changes that brought Mursi to power in Egypt will result in a full restoration of diplomatic ties between states whose relations were broken off after the Iranian revolution and the conclusion of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

OBSTACLES TO FULL TIES

At the airport the two leaders discussed ways of boosting relations between their countries and resolving the Syrian crisis "without resorting to military intervention", Egyptian state media reported.

Egypt is concerned by Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an uprising inspired by the revolt that swept Mubarak from power two years ago. Egypt's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population is broadly supportive of the uprising against Assad's Alawite-led administration.

The Mursi administration also wants to safeguard relations with Gulf Arab states that are supporting Cairo's battered state finances and are deeply suspicious of Iran.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr reassured Gulf Arab allies that Egypt would not jeopardize their security.

"The security of the Gulf states is the security of Egypt," he told the official MENA news agency, in response to questions about Cairo's opening to Iran and its impact on other states in the region.

Mursi wants to preserve ties with the United States, the source of $1.3 billion in aid each year to the influential Egyptian military.

His government has established close ties with Hamas, a movement backed by Iran and shunned by the West because of its hostility to Israel, but its priority is addressing Egypt's deep economic problems.

"The restoration of full relations with Iran in this period is difficult, despite the warmth in ties ... because of many problems including the Syrian crisis and Cairo's links with the Gulf states, Israel and the United States," said one former Egyptian diplomat.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of preparatory meetings for the two-day Islamic summit, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he was optimistic that ties could grow closer.

"We are gradually improving. We have to be a little bit patient. I'm very hopeful about the expansion of the bilateral relationship," he said. Asked where he saw room for closer ties, he said: "Trade and economics."

Ahmadinejad's visit to Egypt follows Mursi's visit to Iran in August for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old al-Azhar mosque and university, will meet Ahmadinejad at his offices in mediaeval Islamic Cairo, al-Azhar's media office said.

Salehi, the Iranian foreign Minister, stressed the importance of Muslim unity when he met Sheikh al-Tayeb at al-Azhar last month.

Egypt and Iran have taken opposite courses since the late 1970s. Egypt, under Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and became a close ally of the United States and Europe. Iran from 1979 turned into a center of opposition to Western influence in the Middle East.

Symbolically, Iran named a street in Tehran after the Islamist who led the 1981 assassination of Sadat.

Egypt gave asylum and a state funeral to Iran's exiled Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown by the 1979 Iranian revolution. He is buried in a medieval Cairo mosque alongside his ex-brother-in-law, Egypt's last king, Farouk.

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir and Alexander Diadosz; Editing by Andrew Roche and Paul Taylor)

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FJ Benjamin Holdings posts lower net profit for Q2

SINGAPORE: Singapore-based fashion and lifestyle group, FJ Benjamin Holdings, posted lower net profit for its second quarter ended 31 December 2012.

Its net profit for the quarter fell 72.5 per cent to S$1.3 million from S$4.8 million a year ago mainly due to a decline in sales of luxury timepieces in North Asia, weaker festive spending in Southeast Asia, and higher rentals.

Mr Nash Benjamin, chief executive officer of FJ Benjamin Holdings, said: "It has been a tough quarter with weaker sales in our timepiece business in North Asia as visitors from the PRC continued to cut back in spending on luxury timepieces in Hong Kong and China. This also had, to a lesser extent, an effect on our business in South East Asia. We have also witnessed a fall in foot traffic at major shopping malls in Singapore and Malaysia during the festive season."

Group turnover fell 12 per cent to S$96.9 million, compared to S$109.9 million in the same period last year.

Sales of timepieces dropped 30 per cent to S$28.7 million.

Earnings per share stood at 0.23 cents, down from 0.84 cents last year.

The group plans to scale up its retail network of 191 stores to 211 stores by end June 2013.

Mr Benjamin said: "Looking ahead, we expect business conditions to continue to be challenging although renewed optimism in the Chinese economy at the start of the year may see demand picking up. Management will continue its efforts to drive revenue, keep costs lean and be prudent in managing business risks."

The company said it will launch the first Goyard store in Singapore in the fourth quarter of 2013 at Ngee Ann City, selling luxury brands of luggage and handbags.

- CNA/fa

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The top 6 wireless charging handsets (roundup)

Whether or not you think it's just a trendy party trick or the next feature we should all come to expect from high-end handsets, wireless charging is catching on and has been featured in a number of top-tier devices.

And while the future of its popularity still hangs in the air, we rounded up the best phones (in no particular order) that are available now and feature the technology. All these handsets, save for one Lumia, feature the capability natively and don't require a special phone case.

In addition, if you're looking at this list with envy while holding your own wire-charging phone, don't feel glum. Our own Sharon Vaknin found a way to get wireless charging on a Samsung Galaxy S3 with a simple hack and some spare Palm Pixi pieces. There's no guarantee that this method will work on other Samsung handsets (or any other phones for that matter), but if you're feeling adventurous and crafty, who knows what you might stumble onto. (Just don't blame us if it doesn't work out!)

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Nokia Lumia 920 (AT&T) -- November 11, 2012

Nokia Lumia 920 (AT&T)

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Though some may find its curvy shape too bulky, the Lumia 920 is one of the current top-tier Windows Phone handsets on the market. It not only has built-in wireless charging, but it has an ultra-sensitive PureMotion HD+ screen you can use with gloves, turn-by-turn directions, and a $100 price tag too. Read the full review.

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HTC Droid DNA (Verizon Wireless) -- November 21, 2012

HTC Droid DNA (Verizon Wireless)

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

As our favorite Droid du jour, the DNA from HTC already impressed us with its blazing quad-core processor,
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS, and great 8-megapixel camera. But we really dug its long-lasting battery that can wireless charge. Read the full review.

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LG Nexus 4 (T-Mobile) -- November 13, 2013

LG Nexus 4 (T-Mobile)

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Google's flagship phone of the season, the Nexus 4, was a huge success. And while it lacks 4G LTE, this unlocked phone (which is also available on T-Mobile) has mass global appeal, is highly affordable, and includes a ton of other features like wireless charging, Android Jelly Bean, and an attractive build. Read the full review.

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Nokia Lumia 822 (Verizon Wireless) -- November 19, 2012

Nokia Lumia 822 (Verizon Wireless)

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Unlike the Lumia 920 mentioned above, the 822 -- along with the 810 and the 820 -- doesn't have built-in wireless charging. Instead, these handsets require after-market covers that aren't included, and cost about $40. As for the 820 itself, it has 4G LTE, a good 8-megapixel camera, and 64GB of expandable memory going for it. Read the full review.

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HTC Windows Phone 8X (AT&T) -- November 9, 2012

HTC Windows Phone 8X (AT&T)

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Despite its unimpressive camera and flush buttons, the HTC 8X is a thin, colorful, and sleek Windows Phone device that we're really fond of. Similar to the Nokia Lumias, the 8X follows the Qi wireless standard, and can be used with chargers like the Energizer Inductive Charger. The phone also has 4G LTE and excellent call quality. Read the full review.

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LG Spectrum 2 (Verizon Wireless) -- October 30, 2012

LG Spectrum 2 (Verizon Wireless)

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

Flying under the radar is the Spectrum 2, which is currently the best LG phone on Verizon in our opinion. While we weren't huge fan of its audio speakers and the fact that it runs on Android 4.0, the phone made up for it with its 4G LTE speeds, reasonable price, and wireless charging capabilities. Read the full review.

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Compare these phones head-to-head.

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Boy held captive may celebrate birthday as hostage

(CBS News) The Alabama hostage drama is now in its seventh day. The 5-year-old boy held captive underground by Jimmy Lee Dykes remains underground and could spend his birthday as a hostage. The boy, identified only as Ethan, turns six on Wednesday.

Police tell CBS News they still have an open line of communication with the Dykes, but almost a full week into this standoff, very little has changed.

Details about communications with the suspect Dykes, remain scarce. Dykes did allow police to lower crackers and a red hot wheels car into the underground bunker for his hostage.

Cindy Steiner, a friend of Ethan's family, told CBS News he has autism. She said, "He's crying, he wants his momma, he's never really been away from her."

Police said Dykes appears to be caring for Ethan. Sheriff Wally Olson said in a recent press conference, "Thank you for taking care of our child."

Neighbors remember Dykes for his anti-government rants. A source told CBS News senior producer Pat Milton that Dykes is a decorated Vietnam-era veteran. He served in the Navy in the late 1960s, based in Japan and California and received awards for good conduct.

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former FBI assistant director, who has been involved in other hostage and standoff situations, said there are some good signs in this situation. He said Dykes' caring for the boy is a sign of bonding. "You can see that when Dykes asks for coloring books, crayons. He allows medication to come in," he said. "He's trying to provide for this boy, so as time goes on, that bond should increase.

For John Miller's full analysis, watch the video in the player below.

"It also happens with the negotiators. There's going to be a primary negotiator who started this conversation and a backup negotiator and then over this many days they're going to be others. He's going develop relationships and trust as he asks for things and they give him things and they ask for things in return. ... That can only get better, probably not worse."

Miller said the situation with Dykes may be controlled to some extent by negotiators, but depends largely on Dykes' own rollercoaster or emotions. Miller explained, "One would argue this might not be a stable person, so they have to manage that in that conversation and sometimes they may want to do a controlled probe to stir things up if there's no conversation, but otherwise they may want to talk him down if he's getting excited. But they want to keep that even if they can."

Explaining what a controlled probe is, Miller said it's a possible tactic "when somebody breaks off conversation, you can stir things up. Make some noise, do something provocative. That will usually generate a phone call. And then at least you've got a conversation going on. On the other hand, when somebody is getting very excited for perspective, they say, let's see where things are. 'The kid's fine, you're fine, let's bring this down a notch.'"

Children in the area will return to school Monday for the first time since the shooting.

On Sunday, just miles from the standoff, hundreds gathered to remember slain bus driver Charles Poland, Jr. Police say Dykes shot Poland Tuesday, when he stormed this school bus demanding child hostages.

Robbie Batchelor, a fellow school bus driver, said of Poland, "He laid down his life for the kids on the bus."

Twenty children on that bus escaped.

Watch Manuel Bojorquez's full report in the video above.

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Mali Tuaregs seize two Islamist leaders fleeing French strikes

KIDAL, Mali (Reuters) - Tuareg rebels in northern Mali said on Monday they had captured two senior Islamist insurgents fleeing French air strikes toward the Algerian border, and France pressed ahead with its bombing campaign against al Qaeda's Saharan desert camps.

Pro-autonomy Tuareg MNLA rebels said they had seized Mohamed Moussa Ag Mohamed, an Islamist leader who imposed harsh sharia law in the desert town of Timbuktu, and Oumeini Ould Baba Akhmed, believed to be responsible for the kidnapping of a French hostage by the al Qaeda splinter group MUJWA.

"We chased an Islamist convoy close to the frontier and arrested the two men the day before yesterday," Ibrahim Ag Assaleh, spokesman for the MNLA, told Reuters from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. "They have been questioned and sent to Kidal."

France has deployed 3,500 ground troops, and warplanes and armored vehicles in its three-week-old Operation Serval (Wildcat) in Mali which has broken the Islamists' 10-month grip on northern towns, where they imposed sharia law.

Paris and its international partners want to prevent the Islamists from using Mali's vast desert north as a base to launch attacks on neighboring African countries and the West.

The MNLA, which seized control of northern Mali last year only to be pushed aside by better-armed Islamist groups, regained control of its northern stronghold of Kidal last week when Islamist fighters fled French airstrikes into the nearby desert and rugged Adrar des Ifoghas mountains.

The Tuareg group says it is willing to help the French-led mission by hunting down Islamists. It has offered to hold peace talks with the government in a bid to heal wounds between Mali's restive Saharan north and the black African-dominated south.

"Until there is a peace deal, we cannot hold national elections," Ag Assaleh said, referring to interim Malian President Dioncounda Traore's plan to hold polls on July 31.

Many in the southern capital Bamako - including army leaders who blame the MNLA for executing some of their troops at the Saharan town of Aguelhoc last year - strongly reject any talks.

French special forces took the airport in Kidal on Tuesday, reaching the most northern city previously held by the Islamist alliance. Though the MNLA says it controls Kidal, a Reuters reporter in the town saw a contingent of Chadian troops - part of a U.N.-backed African mission being deployed to help retake northern Mali - backing up French special forces there.

TARGETING REBEL BASES, DEPOTS

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said warplanes were continuing bombing raids on Islamists in Mali's far north to destroy their supply lines and flush them out of remote areas.

"The objective is to destroy their support bases, their depots because they have taken refuge in the north and north-east of the country and can only stay there in the long-term if they have the means to sustain themselves," Fabius said.

"The army is working to stop that," he told French radio.

Jets attacked rebel camps on Sunday targeting logistics bases and training camps used by the al Qaeda-linked rebels near Tessalit, close to the Algerian border.

French President Francois Hollande made a one-day trip to Mali on Saturday, promising to keep troops in the country until the job of restoring government control in the Sahel state was finished. He was welcomed as a savior by cheering Malians.

The rebels' retreat to hideouts in the remote Adrar des Ifoghas mountains - where Paris believes they are holding seven French hostages - heralds a potentially more complicated new phase of France's intervention in its former colony.

"We are still in the same war, but we're entering a new battle," said Vincent Desportes, a French former general and now associate professor at Science-Po university in Paris.

"We will look to gradually wear out and destroy the terrorists that are sheltering in the Ifoghas. It's now a war of intelligence (services), strikes and probably action by special forces in the background."

Hollande said on Saturday that Paris would withdraw its troops from Mali once the landlocked West African nation had restored sovereignty over its territory and a U.N.-backed African military force could take over from the French soldiers.

Drawn mostly from Mali's West African neighbours, this force is expected to number more than 8,000. But its deployment has been badly hampered by shortages of kit and airlift capacity and questions about who will fund the estimated $1 billion cost.

Fabius said French soldiers may soon pull back from Timbuktu. Its residents had celebrated their liberation from the Islamists, who had handed down punishments including whipping and amputation for breaking sharia law.

The rebels also smashed sacred Sufi mausoleums and destroyed or stole some 2,000 ancient manuscripts at the South African-sponsored Baba Ahmed Institute, causing international outcry.

"A withdrawal could happen very quickly," Fabius said. "We're working towards it because we have no desire to stay there for the long-term.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Daniel Flynn in Dakar and David Lewis in Timbuktu; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Jon Boyle)

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Europe match-fixing probe reveals link to S'pore-based criminal network

SINGAPORE: European police have found evidence that a Singapore-based criminal network is involved in fixing about 380 football matches across Europe.

Robert Wainwright, director of Europol said: "Among the 380 or so suspicious matches identified in this case are qualification matches for the World Cup and European football championships, two UEFA Champions League matches, including one played in England, and several top-flight matches in European national leagues."

The five-country probe uncovered about US$10.9 million in betting profits and at least US$2.7 million were given to players and officials as bribes.

The Europol chief said a Singapore-based crime group spent up to US$137,000 per match in bribes.

At least 425 referees, players, criminals and other officials are suspected of being involved.

A further 300 suspicious matches were identified in Africa, Asia, South and Central America.

Previously, Singapore businessman Wilson Raj Perumal was suspected of rigging games in several countries and was jailed in Finland in 2011.

- CNA/xq

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