FIFA Ethics committee question Blazer after complaint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 FIFA's Ethics Committee has questioned CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer, the whistle-blower in the cash-for-votes scandal, after complaints about his behaviour from Caribbean federations.

The official complaint to FIFA was made in a letter to the committee signed by 11 Caribbean federations.

The complaint is related to Blazer's behaviour at a CONCACAF meeting before the FIFA Congress last month in Zurich, Switzerland and does not refer in any way to the bribery issues currently under investigation by the world soccer body.

The letter said that Blazer made "statements of contempt and slander that served to impugn the integrity, discriminate against and infringe upon the personal rights" of CONCACAF members.

In an email to Reuters, Blazer confirmed he had heard from the Ethics Committee regarding the issue.

"I have received an inquiry from the secretary of the Ethics Committee to respond to a complaint filed by the Jamaica Football Federation," Blazer said.

"I will respond to the committee fully and I am confident of a positive resolution," he added.

The meeting came after Blazer had filed a dossier to the Ethics Committee containing allegations of bribery relating to a meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad, between Caribbean federations and Asian soccer chief Mohammed Bin Hammam.

A Caribbean soccer source told ,the meeting was heated and involved a row over who should take over as acting president after Warner was suspended, during which Blazer told some Caribbean officials they faced investigation.

Bin Hammam and then CONCACAF president Jack Warner were subsequently suspended by the Ethics Committee pending a full investigation.

That probe gets under way in earnest on Wednesday with Caribbean representatives being interviewed by FIFA investigators in the Bahamas.

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Gaddafi offered exit deal

Turkey has offered Muammar Gaddafi guarantees to leave Libya but has yet to receive a reply, as rebels say loyalist forces killed 20 people in a fierce assault on Misrata.
Fresh Nato-led strikes sent up plumes of smoke Friday in Tripoli, where the strongman has his residence and headquarters.
But in Brussels, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned the Western alliance's air war on forces loyal to Gaddafi could be in peril because of military shortcomings.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government had offered exit "guarantees" to the embattled Libyan leader, whom rebels have been trying to oust since February following a bloody crackdown on pro-reform protests.
Gaddafi "has no other option than to leave Libya - with a guarantee to be given to him," Erdogan said on NTV television.
"We have given him this guarantee. We have told him we will help him to be sent wherever he wants to go," he added, without elaborating.
"Depending on the reply we will get from him, we will take up the issue with our (Nato) allies, but unfortunately we have received no reply so far."
His comments came after a day of deadly fighting near the port city of Misrata, the rebels' most significant enclave in western Libya, some 200 kilometres from Tripoli.
Beaten back loyalists
Gaddafi's forces had bombarded the Dafnia area on Misrata's outskirts with Grad rockets, heavy artillery and tank shells, a rebel said.
"Twenty people, both civilians and rebels, were killed and more than 80 wounded," in the sector, 35km from Misrata city centre, he added.
But they had beaten back an attack by loyalist troops, leaving "dead and wounded among the Gaddafi forces," he said.
In the Libyan capital Tripoli, two loud blasts were heard at about 15:00 (13:00 GMT), coming from the eastern suburbs of Tajura and Ain Zara, residents told AFP.
Three powerful explosions shook the city centre at around midnight. Other more distant blasts followed.
Tripoli has over the past two days been subjected to the most intense Nato air raids since the international military campaign was launched on March 19 under a UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians.
In Paris, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's daughter Aisha filed a second war crimes complaint against Nato and France over air strikes that killed family members, including three infants, her lawyer said.
In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's special envoy Mikhail Margelov said he would be visiting Tripoli to try to find a solution to the conflict, having met the opposition in their Benghazi stronghold.
Half of Nato out
Thursday saw a surge of support for the rebels battling to oust Gaddafi at a meeting in Abu Dhabi of the International Contact Group on Libya.
Key powers agreed to unlock a billion dollars for their coffers, and the United States joined Australia and Spain in recognising the rebels National Transitional Council (NTC) as Libya's legitimate representative.
Gates, the Pentagon chief, expressed concern on Friday with half of the countries in the 28-member Nato alliance not participating in the Libya campaign, many simply did not have the wherewithal.
"Frankly, many of those allies sitting on the sidelines do so not because they do not want to participate, but simply because they cannot," Gates said.
"The military capabilities simply aren't there."
Norway, which has contributed six F-16 fighters, said however that it would first reduce its participation before pulling out altogether on August 1.
And Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that while his country supported a three-month extension of the Nato air campaign, its six F-16s would not fly bombing missions.
US Senator Carl Levin, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said later that Gaddafi's forces had been "severely degraded" and the Nato operation was "going well", following a briefing from Pentagon officials.
Gaddafi sent a letter to the US Congress praising its criticism of President barack obama over libya.
"What does it stand for? Does it mean that media has reported repeatedly? Does this constitute hyste

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'It's OK for Saudi women not to drive'

The issue of Saudi women and driving triggered a heated debate at the New Arab Women's Forum yesterday.

    * By Eman Mohammed, Staff Reporter
    * Published: 23:04 October 21, 2007
    * Gulf News

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    * Image Credit: Vazhisojan/Gulf News
    * Princess Haya at the forum. From left: Raouf Abou Zaki, General Manager of Al Iktissad Wal Aamal Group; Princess Haya; Raja Al Gurg, President of the Dubai Business Women's Council, and Nadine Abou Zuki, Chair of the New Arab Woman Forum.

Dubai: The issue of Saudi women and driving triggered a heated debate at the New Arab Women's Forum yesterday.

Nawal Al Shalhoub, wife of the Saudi Consul General in Dubai, said during a panel discussion about women and public affairs that she did not think it necessary for Saudi women to drive as they have full rights.

"Women don't have to drive in Saudi Arabia because they are used to having drivers or can always be driven by family members," she said.

Nawal, who has lived in Dubai for 10 years and drives her own car, says it is OK for her not to drive in Saudi Arabia.

Nadine Al Bedair, a Saudi presenter and producer of Al Hurra TV, who was in the audience at the Emirates Towers, responded: "She doesn't have the right to speak on behalf of all Saudi women who don't have any social or political rights. It's humiliating to say that."

Nawal later told Gulf News that Saudi women receive a lot of support from the government.

"They stand by us, help us to develop and encourage our efforts," she said.

She said able and intelligent women could reach the top of their profession, pointing to women in positions as doctors, nurses and pilots. Nawal does not see any social pressure on women.

"They have all their rights and choices in life," she said, adding the media made up a lot of harassing stories which were not true.

Nadine, a young presenter of a talk show called Mosawah, which means equality in Arabic, said she wondered why Nawal was speaking on behalf of Saudi women if, as she claimed, they have full rights.

"I wonder why she is taking part in the forum," Nadine said.

"I don't have one single political right, I can't be promoted to any high position in the public or private sectors, I can't study, work and marry without written approval from my guardian."

Women are treated as incomplete people, she said.

Nadine thinks Nawal has insulted Saudi women when she said they have full rights.

"Poor women are begging to live because they are banned from working and have no support. I don't know why the truth is being twisted," she said.

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