While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 5
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Singapour's Daren Tang speaks to the media at Wipo headquarters in Geneva on March 4, 2020..
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Singaporean Daren Tang poised to take helm of global intellectual property agency
Singapore's intellectual property chief is poised to head the global intellectual property office, after becoming the first Singaporean to be nominated to helm a United Nations agency.
Mr Daren Tang, 47, on Wednesday received the nomination to become the next director-general of the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo), which shapes global rules for intellectual property and oversees patents.
He was selected by the agency's 83-member coordination committee from a slate which originally comprised 10 candidates. In the final round of voting last night, he garnered 55 votes against China's candidate, lawyer Wang Binying, who received 28 votes.
The nomination of Mr Tang, who is chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos), will have to be confirmed by the Wipo general assembly when it convenes on May 7 and 8 this year.
Bloomberg drops out of Democratic presidential race, backs Joe Biden
Michael Bloomberg endorsed Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination as he ended his presidential campaign on Wednesday and pledged to continue working to defeat President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg said in a New York speech that after the results of the Super Tuesday voting, he no longer had a viable path to the nomination and didn't want to hurt the party's chances.
He had spent a record US$687 million (S$950 million) of his own money on the effort, but Biden dominated the Super Tuesday vote, winning 10 states of 14. Bloomberg earned at least 53 delegates, compared to at least 566 for Biden.
After Joe Biden speech disrupted, US lawmakers want Secret Service to protect candidates
US lawmakers on Wednesday sought Secret Service protection for Democratic presidential candidates, after Joe Biden's wife and a senior staffer had to protect the former vice president from protesters during a victory speech.
Biden's victory speech in Los Angeles was briefly interrupted on Super Tuesday when a pair of protesters leapt onto the stage, before Jill Biden and senior adviser Symone Sanders charged them and ushered them off the stage.
"We're OK," Biden said after the incident, which highlighted a glaring hole in security for Biden and other top contenders seeking the Democratic nomination to take on President Donald Trump on Nov 3.
Olympics: IOC not discussing cancellation or postponement of Tokyo 2020
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach insisted that the nightmare scenario of either cancelling or postponing the Tokyo Olympics was not discussed at a key meeting on Wednesday, despite the global spread of the deadly coronavirus.
"Neither the word cancellation nor postponement was mentioned today during the Executive Board meeting," Bach told reporters. "I will not add fuel to the flames of speculation. Our statement from yesterday is very clear - we are fully committed to the success of the Tokyo Games."
The Olympics take place from July 24-Aug 9.
Coronavirus: Release of new James Bond film postponed till November
The global release of the new James Bond film No Time To Die was postponed on Wednesday by seven months amid the coronavirus disruption that has closed movie theatres in China and caused widespread headaches for other Hollywood productions.
The release of Daniel Craig's last outing as agent 007, being distributed internationally by Universal Pictures, will be postponed from the start of April until November, producers said.
"After careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of NO TIME TO DIE will be postponed until November 2020," a posting on the official James Bond Twitter account said.
