BBC news with Jerry Smit.
The FIFA president Sepp Blatter has responded to the corruption scandal gripping footballs international body, but saying that those who engaged in this conduct had no
place in the game. His comments came as the United States justice department said there are investigations into two decades of systematic corruption within FIFA
involving 150 million dollars bribes were continuing. Earlier the US Justice Department charged 14 people including 9 current and former FIFA officials with
racketeering, fraud and money laundering. US attorney Kelly Kerry highlighted the real losers in the corruption.
“Well, I think the ultimate victim is soccer real large. It’s the fans, it’s the organization and the reason that these people are able to make so much money
corruptly, goes to the love the people have for this sport. And so it is taking that love and skimming off the marketing rights that allowed these people to enrich
themselves in their pockets.”
The Swiss authorities had begun their own criminal inquiry into the awarding of the next two welcomed tournaments to Russia and Qatar. The Swiss attorney general
office said it would accept no excuses if they needed to question Sepp Blatter. Richard Colven is in Zurich.
“Shortly before 6 am, Swiss police acting in conjunction with their US counterparts enter the Baur au Lac hotel, luxurious retreat nestles on the banks of Lake
Zurich. The officers arrested 7 officials including one of FIFA's vice president Jeffery Webb. He along with the others take into the custody, now face extradition to
the United States on charges receiving millions of dollars in bribes. Then just hours after the early morning raids, the Swiss federal prosecutor announced it was
launching a criminal probe to held the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were allocated.”
Among the 14 people, the US Justice Department has charged the former FIFA vice president Jack Warner. He's handed himself into police in his home country of Trinidad
and Tobago. The US indictment implicates him in the alleged payment by South African football officials in more than 10 million dollars in bribes in return to South
Africa have been chosen to host the 2010 World Cup. Both Mr Warner and the South African football Association deny any wrongdoing.
The former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to step down as Middle East envoy next month. He was appointed 8 years ago to try to encourage peace between Israel and
the Palestinians. Critics say he failed to make an impact. Sebatian Usher assesses his legacy.
“He started the job almost as soon as he left his post as prime minister. He was put forward by George W Bush to take that position. There isn't perhaps that much you
could say concrete but he’s achieved, then you looked at the wider stage of the Mid-East peace and initiatives, and there’s very little to show their either,
essentially Mid-East peace as far as Israel and Palestinian issues concerned, is at its lowest steps really for a long time.”
BBC news.
The US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has warned China to stop building artificial islands in the South China Sea. Speaking in Hawaii at the start of 11-day tour
across the Asian Pacific region, Mr Carter said China is programmed an expansion in the disputed territory was out of step with the regional consensus over security.
Mr Carter also said the United States’ intention to remain the principal security power in the Asian Pacific over the coming decades.
The US state of Nebraska has become the first conservative state in more than 40 years to abolish the death penalty. Senators in the same legislator voted to override
their Republican governor who on Tuesday had vetoed the bill. 18 others states and District Columbia have already banned executions.
Scientists in the United States and France say they’ve developed a robot that can repaired itself quickly when it's damaged. They believed the research published in
the journal Nature could speed up the introduction of machines that can be used in a range of tasks, from helping in the home, to rescuing people, putting out fires
and dealing with radiation leaks. Here’s Pallab Ghosh.
“The team demonstrated the principles with the six-leg spider-like robot that finds a new way of crawling across the floor after one of its legs has been broken in
less than a minute. That something that it would’ve taken a traditional so-called self-learning system days to calculate. Taken with the other recent developments in
artificial intelligence, the researchers say that the human like robot that appeared on the big screen may come sooner than people realize.”
Researchers say they’ve uncovered new species of ancient human who lived up to 3.5 million years ago. An international team of researchers found a jaw bone and teeth
in the afar region of Ethiopia. They say the new species lived in the same area at about the same time as our best known ancestor Lucy.