By Raffique Shah
June 07, 2015
Corpus Christi morning, I come awake, latish, closer to seven o’clock. I tune in to BBC television to see what’s happening in the world, since, Thursday being a Christian holiday, the local electronic media stations will have no real news.
I do a double-take, re-check the channel number when, big and bold at the bottom of the screen I see “…Trinidad and Tobago…breaking news…”
Continue reading Shame and scandal, indeed
Friday, June 5 2015 – newsday.co.tt
OPPOSITION Leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday said former FIFA vice-president and former government minister Jack Warner has confirmed the United National Congress (UNC) — the lead party in the People’s Partnership coalition — received funding from the world football body for its successful 2010 general election campaign.
Rowley, the People’s National Movement (PNM) political leader and Diego Martin West MP, made this statement in response to comments made by Warner in a paid televised political broadcast on Wednesday night.
Continue reading Rowley: FIFA $$ for UNC ‘the real story’
Sepp Blatter to resign as Fifa president after 17 years in role
By Owen Gibson
June 02, 2015 – theguardian.com
Sepp Blatter has dramatically quit as Fifa president just days after he was defiant in re-election for a fifth term, sparking a flurry of speculation over the future of world football and the fate of the next two World Cups in Russia and Qatar.
Under intense pressure from ongoing investigations by the FBI and Swiss prosecutors that have already led to 18 senior football executives being charged in the US on charges of money laundering, tax evasion and racketeering, Blatter said he had decided to step down.
Continue reading Sepp Blatter to resign as Fifa president
By Raffique Shah
May 31, 2015
If, in what may be described as normal countries, a week in politics is a long time, in abnormal Trinidad and Tobago, a week can be likened to a lifetime. Last week, most scribes and commentators in the media engaged in heated exchanges over the latest bacchanal in the Integrity Commission.
Today, few remember what that furore was about or who the protagonists were.
Continue reading Karma, boy, karma
Re-elected Fifa president claims timing of arrests of officials had been motivated by revenge
By Owen Gibson in Zurich
Saturday 30 May 2015 – theguardian.com
Newly re-elected Fifa president Sepp Blatter has launched an astonishing attack on the US justice system and the British media in the wake of the string of bribery charges against senior officials that plunged world football into chaos last week.
As he denied being the unnamed high-ranking official who authorised the payment of a $10m bribe to disgraced former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, as alleged in last week’s US indictment, Blatter targeted his enemies and warned: “I forgive but I don’t forget.”
Continue reading Blatter accuses US authorities and British press of campaign to topple him
By Carolyn Kissoon
May 29, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com
POLITICAL Leader of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) and Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner turned up for the 1.30p.m sitting of Parliament today and apologised for being absent on Wednesday. “I was in prison” he said.
He made the statement before the Prime Minister question and answer segment in the Parliament. Warner was the lone politician on the Opposition beach. Members of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) are boycotting the Parliament as a result of the suspension of Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.
Continue reading Jack sorry for missing Parliament: I was in prison
Sepp Blatter re-elected as FIFA president after Prince Ali concedes
May 29, 2015 – rt.com
FIFA’s long-time head Joseph “Sepp” Blatter has won his fifth presidential term after his opponent, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, withdrew before the voting went into the second round.
Blatter got 133 votes in the first round. He needed at least 139 out of the 209 votes cast on Friday to win outright. The vote was about to progress into the second round where a simple majority would have been enough, when Blatter’s opponent Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein said that he had withdrawn from the race.
Continue reading Sepp Blatter re-elected as Fifa president
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FIFA is convening to elect a president, choosing between Sepp Blatter and Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein. If Blatter, currently under pressure over a massive corruption scandal, wins the vote, it will be his fifth term.
Blatter said there would be no problem if ‘two other countries’ – meaning England and the USA – were awarded World Cups in 2018 and 2022
Sepp Blatter implied in his president’s address at the FIFA Congress that the £100million corruption scandal was a Western conspiracy. Blatter claimed things would be different if two other countries had emerged from the envelopes.
He meant England for 2018 and USA for 2022 – a dig at the British media who have led the anti-Blatter agenda and the FBI, whose investigations led to seven arrests and 14 officials indicted on bribery and kickback charges by the US Attorney.
Continue reading FIFA convenes for election session amidst corruption scandal
Notoriously-corrupt FIFA heads arrested in early morning raid during annual meeting
By Lauren McCauley
May 27, 2015 – commondreams.org
While the early morning raid and arrest of several high-ranking officials with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) captivated the international news circuit Wednesday morning, many observers were left wondering: With so many corrupt bankers, politicians, and other one-percenters still free to walk the streets here in the United States, why has the U.S. Department of Justice set its sights on FIFA?
Continue reading Given Rampant White-Collar Crime, FIFA Raid Raises Questions About DOJ Priorities
Putin: FIFA-linked arrests are US attempt to thwart Blatter re-election
May 28, 2015 – rt.com
The FIFA-linked arrests on the eve of the re-election of the organization’s chief are an obvious attempt to thwart Sepp Blatter’s re-appointment, Vladimir Putin said, answering journalists’ questions. He added it’s another example of US meddling abroad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the US could be selfishly motivated for its own gain, as was the case with Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.
Continue reading Putin Lashes U.S. on FIFA Probe