Luxury yachts and boats are moored in the port of Cannes. The 62nd Cannes Film Festival runs from May 13-24. Reuters

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich lost one of the yachts in a game of poker, Russian newspapers reported on Monday, prompting a strong denial from the oligarch.

“The story is absolutely, completely, entirely false,” Abramovich spokesman John Mann told AFP after three Russian daily newspapers published versions of the story that originated in the Italian press.

The popular daily Moskovsky Komsomelets said the oligarch lost the $500,000 yacht while playing poker in Barcelona, which he was visiting to watch Chelsea in action.

In a report published in November 2008, the World Bank picked Singapore as the example of successful urban development.

The bank highlighted some of the key factors that enabled this tiny island-country to move from its industrial beginnings to a modern, livable city.

Two of these factors were: master-planning with the right dose of flexibility, and political continuity, which is a good thing only if the government knows what it is doing. In this case, that worked just fine.

The Lord Foster designed 41m Ocean Emerald has been launched at Porto Lotti Marina near La Spezia in Italy on 25th April.

The $24 million yacht is the first in a series of four identical super yachts being built for the YachtPlus fractional ownership programme.

Ocean Emerald is a startling departure in design from the more traditional motor yacht at least on the outside.

This new concept boat by industrial designer Andrew Bedov, promises to be an eye catcher and designed with traffic stopping looks.

The speed boat by its looks seems to be on the move even when it is standing on the shore. The length of a boat exceeds 30 meters with 30 knots as its maximum speed.  Source: Tuvie

Singapore was crowned Asia’s Maritime Capital at the fifth edition of the Asia Boating Awards, held at the prestigious Le Royal Meridien Hotel in Shanghai.

This is the second time the Lion City has been awarded the sought-after accolade – last year’s prize went to Qingdao, China.

The award recognises the tremendous effort that has been put into turning that city into a sailing and boating hub.