“The allegations David Levy has put about, that the £50,000 was used to set up Brain Games, that is absolutely untrue,” said Mr Keene, “There is not a shred of truth in it. I acted in good faith.”Mr Keene said the money was paid to a consultant for arranging last year’s world chess championships, a deal Mr Keene believes could have rescued the already ailing Mind Sports Olympiad.The disagreement proved the final straw for the Olympiad and Mr Keene, Mr Buzan and Lord Hardinge resigned their directorships of MSOW last spring. The Olympiad soldiered on for one last meeting at Alexandra Palace last summer The venue is still owed £40,000 for hosting the games. There is unlikely to be an event this year although Mr Levy talks of a possible rescue.All of which has left Britain’s finest minds lamenting its demise.

“I still think it’s a fantastic idea,” said Tony Buzan, and a former editor of Mensa’s international magazine, “But if you invest in something where there are major ructions going on, it’s not going to be helpful.”. The number of women who are sexually assaulted after their drinks have been spiked with memory-loss drugs has more than doubled over the past year, according to new figures from the Drug Rape Trust. The number of women who are sexually assaulted after their drinks have been spiked with memory-loss drugs has more than doubled over the past year, according to new figures from the Drug Rape Trust.
The charity, which was set up to help drug-rape victims, said its counsellors have dealt with more than 1,500 cases in the past 12 months, compared to only 780 the year before.Tests carried out by forensic experts have revealed that the illegal but widely available drug known as GHB (gamma hydroxy butyrate) is being used by sex attackers to sedate, then rape, women.GHB is popular with body-builders, who use it to stimulate their growth hormones It comes in a liquid form so it is easy to put into a drink. This contradicts the widely held view that the drug Rohypnol is the most commonly used substance in this type of crime.GHB is not on the Home Office’s list of controlled drugs but European drug authorities are urging EU controls on its use. The Home Office said there was not enough evidence of widespread misuse to merit controls but has agreed to increase monitoring and education schemes for the young..

Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs is to mount a legal challenge in an attempt to avoid serving the remainder of his 30-year prison sentence. Biggs, 71, has been held at top-security Belmarsh Prison in south-east London since being arrested last Monday after he flew back to Britain from Brazil. Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs is to mount a legal challenge in an attempt to avoid serving the remainder of his 30-year prison sentence. Biggs, 71, has been held at top-security Belmarsh Prison in south-east London since being arrested last Monday after he flew back to Britain from Brazil.
Biggs was sentenced to 30 years for his part in the infamous 1963 robbery of the Glasgow to London mail train, when the driver, Jack Mills, was repeatedly coshed in the head Mr Mills died prematurely a few years later. Biggs served only 15 months before breaking out of London’s Wandsworth Prison in 1965.Judy Totton, a public relations consultant hired by the Biggs family, said he will apply to the Court of Appeal “inviting them to consider whether it is appropriate or necessary for Mr Biggs to serve a sentence of 28 years’ imprisonment”. Alternatively, he may ask the Criminal Cases Review Committee to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.Ms Totton said Biggs’s legal team will also make a request to the Prison Service that he be detained “in a regime suited to someone of his age and poor state of health”.Biggs yesterday met lawyers at Belmarsh, where he is having medical attention after suffering three strokes towards the end of his long stay on the run He is said to have difficulty speaking..

In a bend in the Moskva River, below a church built high on a hill to celebrate the birth of Ivan the Terrible, Moscow will stage its first Formula One grand prix two years from now ­ once a track is built. Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One supremo, announced confidently in Moscow last week, that “it’s about time we had a round of this championship in Russia and, in particular, Moscow”. In a bend in the Moskva River, below a church built high on a hill to celebrate the birth of Ivan the Terrible, Moscow will stage its first Formula One grand prix two years from now ­ once a track is built. Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One supremo, announced confidently in Moscow last week, that “it’s about time we had a round of this championship in Russia and, in particular, Moscow”.
The announcement appears to bring to an end 20 years of failed efforts to bring grand prix racing to Russia which began when Leonid Brezhnev was Soviet leader in 1981. St Petersburg and other Russian cities are also interested.The site of the race will be at Nagatino in south Moscow where the Moskva turns back on itself to form a peninsula just below a high bluff at Kolomenskoe on which stands the Ascension church, a graceful white building completed in 1532. “As soon as the circuit is ready we’ll be there,” said Mr Ecclestone. He added that one of the existing grand prix races might have to be dropped.

Earlier Mr Ecclestone had met Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, who backs the plan.On the Russian side, Grigory Antyufeyev, the head of tourism in Moscow who is in charge of the project, was also full of enthusiasm. A casino and hotel complex is also to be constructed on the site at Nagatino, which pushes out a rival scheme to build the track near Sheremetevo, Moscow’s main international airport to the north of the city.But to assume that Formula One racing will start in Moscow in 2003 may be premature. Anything to do with property and construction in the Russian capital involves powerful players who defend their interests with money, political connections and, occasionally, violence.Tom Walkinshaw, the head of the Arrows Formula One team, agreed a £66m deal with the Moscow government last November to build a circuit. It was negotiated on the Russian side by Josif Ordzhonikidze, the city’s deputy mayor. A few days after signing, Mr Ordzhonikidze was badly wounded in a car ambush by three men with Kalashnikovs, said to be using armour-piercing rounds. That is not believed to be connected to the Formula One deal, but did underline the perils of property development in Moscow.But Mr Walkinshaw is confident. He said that now that the location has been approved by Mr Ecclestone the architectural design would be completed.