The International Olympic Committee has decided to scrap torch relays outside the host country ahead of Olympic Games in the wake of last year's chaos in the build-up to Beijing.
The decision, which will first apply to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, was taken by the IOC executive committee meeting in Denver, Colorado.
The Olympics torch relay ahead of Beijing was sent on an ambitious world tour that rapidly disintegrated into chaos amid angry protests in cities such as Paris, London and San Francisco over China's human rights record notably in Tibet.
Organisers of the 2012 London Olympics have already said they had no plans to take the torch outside Britain.
