Germany tops asylum claims for first time in 15 years

The number of people seeking asylum in industrialized nations has risen by almost 25 percent in just one year, driven largely by wars in Syria and Iraq. Germany has received the most claims.

Deutsche Welle, 25 Sep 2014

The UN refugee agency said on Friday more people than ever are seeking asylum in wealthy countries, largely because of war and instability in Syria, Iraq and other global hotspots.

In the first half of this year, around 330,700 people requested refugee status in industrialized nations - a 24 percent increase on the same period in 2013.

Germany topped the list of new asylum claims for the first time since 1999, with 65,700 applications - mainly due to a rise in applications from Syrians. That figure was a 50 percent rise on January to June 2013 numbers.

Five nations received almost two-thirds of new asylum claims - Germany, the United States, France, Sweden and Turkey.

20-year high

The overall number for 2014 could top 700,000, "the highest total for industrialized countries in 20 years and not seen since the 1990s conflict in former Yugoslavia," the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

"We are clearly into an era of growing conflict," said UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres.

"The international community needs to prepare their populations for the reality that in the absence of solutions to conflict, more and more people are going to need refuge and care in the coming months and years," said Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal.

The EU's 28 member states registered 216,300 claims in the first half of 2014 - a 23 percent increase compared to last year. Italy, a frequent destination of people escaping conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, had almost as many claims in January to June 2014 as all of 2013.

But many fail to reach Italy safely, with nearly 3,000 people dying in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean this year.

Syria main country of origin, Australia criticized

Claims emerging from Syrians more than doubled in the first half of 2014, to 48,400. That was followed by Iraq, with 21,300 applications, and Afghanistan's 19,300 claims.

The number of asylum seekers in Australia fell by one-fifth, to 4,600. Australia has been the target of UNHCR criticism over the past decade for sending refugees arriving by boat to Pacific islands while their claims are assessed.

In a separate statement on Friday, the UNHCR slammed Australia for a controversial new deal, under which Canberra will start sending refugees to Cambodia.

jr/kms (Reuters, AFP)

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FIFA President Blatter confirms bid for fifth term

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has confirmed he will stand for a fifth term in charge of world football in an election in May 2015. Under fire for alleged corruption, the organization is facing calls for widespread reform.

Deutsche Welle, 26 Sep 2014

"I have announced to the Executive Committee ... that I will accept the demands of different associations and federations [to stand for election] to serve FIFA for a fifth mandate," Blatter said at a press conference in Zurich on Friday.

The 78-year-old has been FIFA's president since 1998, but has faced growing criticism from European football associations in recent months.

His path to what appears to be clear re-election was opened up after UEFA boss Michel Platini announced in August that he would not challenge Blatter. Blatter said after winning his fourth term in 2011 that it would be his last, but made it clear in recent months that he had changed his mind.

The election will be held at the next FIFA congress in Zurich on May 29, 2015. So far the only other candidate is Jerome Champagne, a former FIFA deputy secretary general from France.

Champagne has said FIFA needs reform after widespread accusations of corruption, but has acknowledged he has little chance of beating Blatter.

World Cup secrets

FIFA remains embroiled in controversy over the way the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournament hosts were determined. Blatter said on Friday that ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia's report into alleged corruption in the 2018-2022 World Cup bidding will stay secret.

Blatter said no member of the Executive Committee asked for the report to be published at its meeting on Friday. Garcia issued a statement on Wednesday this week, calling for FIFA's ruling board to allow publication of his work. He has submitted first-draft reports of over 400 pages from his investigative team.

Several FIFA board members have publicly backed the American prosecutor, with some seeking full disclosure. Blatter says those members "were not there" on December 2, 2010 when the board gave Russia and Qatar respectively the hosting rights.

al/jr (AFP, dpa)

Poroshenko moves forward with peace, saying worst is over

The most dangerous time for the conflict in eastern Ukraine appears to be over, according to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The country, he says, now stands ready to move forward and apply to join the EU.

Deutsche Welle, 25 Sep 2014

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday, the Ukrainian president outlined his plans for the country's future, emphasizing that the current ceasefire was holding.

The Ukrainian government had signed the agreement with separatists in eastern Ukrainian roughly three weeks ago. However, despite support from Russia for the step toward peace and granting autonomy to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk last week, sporadic fighting had still persisted.

"The ceasefire has finally started working," President Petro Poroshenko said.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that my peace plan will work and that the main and most dangerous part of the war is behind,” he added.

Fighting broke out in mid-April, not long after Russia annexed Crimea. At least 3,500 people have died in the clashes in eastern Ukraine since then.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's veiled support of the armed rebels raised concerns in the West, where leaders worried Russia intended to restore land lost after the fall of the Soviet Union. His refusal to halt financial and logistical support to the separatists –which he denied had occurred at all – prompted the EU and the US to impose sanctions.

EU membership?

The Ukrainian leader also announced plans on Thursday that would pave the way for the eastern European country to apply for EU membership in six years.

"[The strategy] provides for 60 separate reforms and special programs, which will prepare Ukraine for applying for membership in the European Union [by 2020]," he said.

He has dubbed the series of economic and political reforms "Strategy 2020."

The Russian Foreign Ministry later said that the Ukrainian government should resolve the current problems with Moscow before attempting to become an EU member state, according to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

Earlier this month, Kyiv and Brussels ratified an Association Agreement, which had been shelved the previous year by ex-President President Viktor Yanukovych. His decision to seek closer ties with Russia over the EU sparked the mass protests that eventually led to the crisis in the country's eastern regions.

kms/mg (AP, Reuters, dpa)

Russian lawyers linked to Pussy Riot win Norwegian rights prize

AsiaOne – AFP,  Sep 25, 2014

Tolokonnikova, Samutsevich and Alyokhina, members of female punk band "Pussy
Riot", attend their trial inside the defendents' cell in a court in Moscow in 2012.

OSLO - Russian rights group Agora, which played a key role in freeing one of the jailed members of punk protest band Pussy Riot, won Norway's prestigious Rafto Prize for rights defenders Thursday.

An Agora lawyer, Irina Khrunova, helped secure the release of Yekaterina Samutsevich, who was sentenced to two years in jail in 2012 for the feminist group's "punk prayer" protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's Orthodox cathedral.

"The award is a recognition of their relentless and professional work to defend the right to fair trial and other human rights in a Russia where organisations and individuals are subjected to increasing pressure from the country's authorities," Bergen-based Rafto Foundation said.

"More than 20 years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, but hopes for a more democratic Russia are now beginning to fade." The Agora Association - a network of 35 lawyers across Russia - was founded by human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov in 2005.

It provides legal help to victims - mainly activists, bloggers and journalists - of suspected abuses by the Russian authorities including the police, prisons and military.

The group was forced to turn down $20,000 (S$25,380 euros) in prize money, according to the Rafto foundation due to a 2012 law - which Agora has challenged in the courts - that requires organisations with international funding to register as "foreign agents".

"Russian authorities are actively using legislation to silence critics. In July 2014, Agora was labelled a 'foreign agent' by the Russian Department of Justice because they receive financial support from other countries and are allegedly engaged in political activity," the Rafto Foundation said in a statement.

"The situation for Russia's civil society is now precarious. The country's authorities are facing a cross road, where the question at stake is whether to continue in a anti-democratic direction or not," added Paulsen.

The annual Rafto award was founded in 1986 in memory of Norwegian economic history professor Thorolf Rafto, a longtime human rights activist.

The prize, which is often awarded to relatively unknown human rights defenders, will be presented on November 2 in the western Norwegian town of Bergen.

Four past Rafto Prize laureates - Aung San Suu Kyi, Jose Ramos-Horta, Kim Dae-Jung and Shirin Ebadi - went on to win to Nobel Peace Prize, whose laureate for 2014 will be announced in Oslo on November 10.

Right Livelihood Award to Snowden

Moscow-exiled US whistleblower Edward Snowden and British Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger are to receive the Right Livelihood Award. They're among five persons awarded Sweden's "alternative Nobel prize."

Deutsche Welle, 24 Sep 2014

The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation on Wednesday praised Snowden, a former US intelligence agent, for "revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance."

Rusbridger was forced to destroy data

It said Rusbridger, the editor in chief of Britain's The Guardian newspaper, also won the award for "responsible journalism in the public interest.

"None of them could have done what they did without the other, " said foundation director Ole von Uexkull.

The announcement, originally set for Thursday, was brought forward, after a leak by Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Foundation denied access

Von Uexkull, the nephew of Jacob von Uexkull who founded the prize in 1980, said all winners had been invited to a December 1 award ceremony in Stockholm.

Discussions on "potential" travel arrangements for Snowden, who remains exiled in Russia, would be held with the Swedish government, von Uexkull said.

He added that the foundation had been denied access to the Swedish foreign ministry's media room, where award ceremonies have been held since 1995.

Three other winners

Snowden, who is wanted by the US for exposing mass data collection by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Rusbridger are honorary winners, meaning they will not receive the award's customary 500,000 kronor (54,500 euros).

The other three prize winners, named to receive the monetary award, are Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahanger, Sri Lankan rights activist Basil Fernando and US environmentalist Bill McKibbben.

Jahanger is a human rights lawyer who has defended women, children, religious minorities and the poor in Pakistan, the award citation said.

Fernando, originally from Sri Lanka, led the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission for nearly two decades and now serves as its director of policy and programs.

McKibben is founder of 350.org, a grass-roots environmental movement aimed at spurring action to fight climate change.

lpj/kms (dpa, AFP, AP)

Irish navy intercepts massive cocaine shipment off coast of Cork

Armed sailors raid yacht containing up to €80m worth of drug, thought to have been smuggled to Ireland from South America

theguardian.com, Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent, Wednesday 24 September 2014

Irish vessel LÉ Niamh with the yacht Makayabella, which was stormed by a naval
 team who found up to 40 bales of cocaine on board. Photograph: Irish Defence Forces/PA

Ireland’s navy confirmed on Wednesday evening that it has intercepted a yacht with a consignment of cocaine worth up to €80m (£63m) on board.

It also said three men believed to be from the UK were arrested on board the vessel in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The yacht, the Makayabella, was stormed by armed Irish sailors 200 miles off Mizen Head, County Cork.

The operation was carried out by a joint task force comprising members of the customs service, the Garda Síochána and navy. The task force works in conjunction with an international headquarters in Lisbon which monitors suspicious shipping coming into European territorial waters.

Two Irish naval vessels – LÉ Niamh and LÉ Roisin – identified the yacht in a surveillance operation in the Atlantic Ocean.

The drugs found are understood to have been smuggled from South America with the yacht sailing from a port in the Caribbean.

Up to 40 bales of cocaine are believed to have been concealed on board the yacht.

It was boarded under cover of darkness by specially trained armed sailors in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The crew are not believed to have put up resistance.

Details of the operation were kept secret until Wednesday evening to protect follow-up investigations in Ireland and abroad.

A spokesperson for the Irish Defence Forces said the operation was based on intelligence from the National Crime Agency in the UK and the French customs service, the DNRED.

The yacht has been taken by tow into the Haulbowline port near Cork City. Armed Irish military police have sealed off the naval base.

Some of the biggest drug seizures in recent times have been off the Irish coast, which is often used as a dropoff point for South American narcotics being smuggled into Europe.

The biggest seizure to date was the discovery of €440m worth of Colombian cocaine which was found in Dunlough Bay, west Cork, seven years ago.

That smuggling operation was compromised after the UK gang behind the plot overloaded a smaller boat to get the drugs to shore and filled a spare fuel tank with diesel instead of petrol. The boat capsized in heavy seas and the majority of the gang were arrested before they could escape.

Over 1,000 arrested in unprecedented swoop: Europol

Yahoo – AFP, Jan Hennop, 24 Sep 2014

A Bulgarian police unit participates in an anti-terror drill in the capital
Sofia on June 15, 2010 (AFP Photo/Dimitar Dilkoff)

The Hague (AFP) - Police have arrested more than 1,000 suspects and rescued at least 30 trafficked children in an unprecedented swoop on organised crime groups across Europe, Europol's chief said on Wednesday.

The continent-wide raids targeted gangs involved in people trafficking, cybercrime, narcotics and illegal gun trafficking, among others.

Carried out by some 20,000 officers between September 15-23, Operation Archimedes "was the single largest coordinated assault an organised crime in Europe," Rob Wainwright told reporters in The Hague.

"The scale of the operation is unprecedented," he added.

Police officers from all 28 European Union members, as well as Australia, Colombia, Norway, the United States, Serbia and Switzerland, carried out 250 operations in some 300 cities, ports and border crossings across Europe.

"We designed an operation specifically to hit criminal infrastructure," Wainwright said at Europol's fortress-like headquarters in The Hague.

"Multiple criminal enterprises, some of them the most serious, have been disrupted right across Europe," he said, adding that the operation targeted "the infrastructure as a whole and not just isolated cases".

Italian police chief Allesandro Pansa said that the Mediterranean and Balkans had been "particular hotspots".

In total, 1,027 arrest were made, including 250 in Spain and 200 in Bulgaria.

Police focused on the growing threat of cybercrime, with criminal networks using the Internet for cross-border crimes, including money laundering.

In one of the raids, 30 Romanian children were saved from child traffickers aiming to use the victims as sex slaves or slave labour, Wainwright said.

In total, 94 trafficking suspects were arrested, with police checking the identity of over 10,000 illegal immigrants.

Law officers seized around 600 kilos (1,320 pounds) of cocaine, 1.3 tonnes of cannabis and 200 kilos of heroin.

They also dismantled a laboratory used for making counterfeit medicine, confiscated 13 luxury cars and seized 1.5 million contraband cigarettes as well as one million euros ($1.3 million) in cash.

Police intercepted over 40 packages of cocaine sent from Colombia to Europe and several couriers carrying the drug.

Searches and arrests were made at four airports and two harbours in Colombia.

"More arrests are expected to follow," said Wainwright, adding that the operation had uncovered leads to be followed up in the "months and years" to come.

It also uncovered new routes used by criminal networks such as human traffickers and identified new criminal trends, he said.

The swoop was coordinated by Europol, whose command centre in The Hague was operating "24/7" Wainwright said.

"The operation sends a very clear message," he said.

"It clearly tells the criminal community... there will be no safe place for them to carry out their activities."

Vatican puts ex-envoy under house arrest in sex abuse case

Yahoo – AFP,  23 Sep 2014

General view of worshippers on St Peter's Square at the Vatican, on April 27,

2014 (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)

Vatican City (AFP) - A former Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been placed under house arrest in the first case of criminal proceedings by the Holy See over the sexual abuse of children, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Pope Francis had personally ordered swift action in the case of Polish former archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who was convicted of sex abuse by a Church tribunal in June and defrocked pending further criminal proceedings.

Lombardi said the legal move was "the result of the pope's express wish for a case this serious and sensitive to be dealt with without delay, with the necessary scrupulousness and full undertaking of responsibility on the part of the institutions which head up the Holy See."

A picture taken in Santo Domingo, on 

August 12, 2011 shows Jozef Wesolowski
-- the Vatican's envoy to the Dominican 

Republic (AFP Photo/Erika Santelices)

Italian news agency ANSA said Wesolowski was being held under house arrest in an apartment within the same building as the criminal court.

If the case goes to trial, it will be the first for sex abuse within the tiny city state.

Wesolowski's defrocking came six months after the UN children's rights watchdog highlighted his case as an example of the Vatican's failure to take concrete actions to prove its commitment to stamp out the abuse of minors by priests.

The Vatican had been accused by some critics of attempting to protect Wesolowski from Dominican jurisdiction by recalling him to Rome.

Wesolowski, 65, had been ambassador to the Dominican Republic since 2008, but was recalled by Pope Francis last August following accusations of sexually abusing minors.

He was ordained in 1972 by then archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who later became pope John Paul II and was elevated to sainthood this year.

The late pontiff named Wesolowski the Vatican's envoy to Bolivia. He was later posted to several Asian countries before being dispatched to the Dominican Republic in 2008 by then pope Benedict XVI.

Press reports last year linked him with another Polish priest, Wojciech Gil, accused of raping boys while serving on the Caribbean island.

'No privileges'

The Church has faced a decade-long series of scandals over abuse by priests and lay officials, from Ireland to the United States and Australia.

It was fiercely condemned by the United Nations in January for failing to stamp out child abuse and allowing systematic cover-ups by simply moving around clergy suspected of raping or molesting children.

Francis has vowed to crack down on abuse in the Catholic Church, reiterating the zero-tolerance approach of his predecessor.

Last year he overhauled Vatican law, issuing a special decree declaring that sexual violence and sexual acts with children, child prostitution and child pornography were punishable by up to 12 years in prison.

In May he warned there were "no privileges" for bishops when it came to child sex crimes and likened sexual abuse to a "Satanic mass".

At a UN hearing earlier this year, Vatican officials revealed that 3,420 abuse cases had been handled over the past decade by the Catholic Church's Canon Law prosecutors.

As a result of these cases, 848 priests were defrocked while a further 2,572 were ordered to "live a life of prayer or penance", for example in a monastery.

The Vatican says it receives around 600 claims against abusive priests every year, many dating back to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Related Articles:

Former papal diplomat could face trial outside Vatican
Vatican recalls Dominican Republic envoy amid abuse claims

Pope slams Church complicity in child sex abuse

Spanish minister resigns over scrapped abortion bill

Spain's conservative government has abandoned plans for more restrictive laws on abortion. The proposal's champion, Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, has resigned in protest.

Deutsche Welle, 23 Sep 2014

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that his government would scrap plans to restrict abortions, following months of protests from women's groups and the opposition. He said that the government was not able to reach a consensus on the issue.

"A withdrawal is the most sensible solution," Rajoy said. "We do not want to pass a law that will only be changed again after a government transition."

Ruiz-Gallardon (right) quit the
government of Rajoy (left) in protest

Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, who had spearheaded the proposal, resigned from Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) as a result, saying he was quitting politics after 30 years.

Spain, like the majority of countries in Europe, currently allows abortions without restrictions within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. The bill proposed making abortion permissible only in the case of rape or if a serious health risk to the mother was apparent. The contentious plan had prompted rallies both opposing and supporting the idea in the predominantly Catholic country. Opposition parties welcomed Tuesday's decision to drop the bill.

"We are celebrating this withdrawal," Carmen Monton of the opposition Socialists said. "It was about time Rajoy realized he cannot meddle with women's freedom."

Friction even within ruling PP

The prime minister said his government would instead seek to modify Spain's existing laws, passed by the previous Socialist government in 2010, so that young women aged 16 and 17 could not terminate a pregnancy without their parents' consent.

Women's rights group 'Femen' protested
in Spain's parliament over the issue

Abortion reform was a part of Rajoy's general election campaign in 2011, although economic policy dominated the campaign trail as Spain battled high public debt and rising unemployment. The PP has an absolute majority in Madrid, but the abortion proposals had also caused frictions within the ruling party's ranks.

Abortion was first decriminalized in Spain in 1985 for cases of malformed fetuses, rape or potential physical or psychological damage for the mother. The 2010 reforms allowed abortions in all cases within 14 weeks of conception, and after up to 22 weeks in cases of severe abnormalities, putting Spain broadly into line with European norms.

msh/mkg (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

Retailer Tesco suspends executives after profit error

Yahoo – AFP, Ben Perry, 22 Sep 2014

Following preliminary investigations into its UK food business, Tesco said it believes

 that guidance regarding group profits for the six months to August 23 "was overstated

by an estimated £250 million" (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)

London (AFP) - The new head of Britain's biggest retailer Tesco has suspended four senior executives and launched an independent investigation after the troubled supermarket revealed Monday it had massively overestimated profits.

Following initial investigations into its UK food business, Tesco said its profit for the six months to August 23 "was overstated by an estimated £250 million ($408 million, 318 million euros)". The company did not specify which profit indicator this referred to.

It has previously forecast its half-year trading profit at £1.1 billion.

Monday's shock announcements sent 

Tesco's share price sliding almost 12 percent

 in early deals (AFP Photo/Paul Ellis)

Monday's shock announcements sent Tesco's share price sliding almost 12 percent in early deals.

And the stock finished down 11.59 percent at 203 pence on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which sank 0.94 percent to close at 6,773.63 points.

"We have uncovered a serious issue and have responded accordingly," Tesco's new chief executive Dave Lewis said in a statement issued by the company, which is the world's third-biggest supermarket group after France's Carrefour and global leader, US retailer Wal-Mart.

"The chairman and I have acted quickly to establish a comprehensive independent investigation," said Lewis, who took the helm at the start of September in a bid to turnaround Tesco, which has now issued a third profit warning in just nine weeks.

"The board, my colleagues, our customers and I expect Tesco to operate with integrity and transparency and we will take decisive action as the results of the investigation become clear."

Lewis later told reporters that Tesco had "asked four people to step aside so we can be sure we do the fullest and frankest investigation".

A spokesman confirmed that the four were "senior executives" at the group but refused to say if UK managing director Chris Bush was among the quartet despite Lewis announcing also that Robin Terrell had been appointed to lead the UK business.

Earnings delayed

Tesco said it would now publish its interim earnings on October 23, three weeks later than had been planned in the wake of the probe being carried out by accountancy firm Deloitte, which will work closely alongside Freshfields, the supermarket's outside legal advisers.

The announcement is a fresh blow for Tesco, which in August issued profit warnings and slashed its shareholder dividend by 75 percent, blaming challenging trade and high investment costs.

“The new chief executive's baptism of fire continues as Tesco adds a profit warning to a profit warning," said Richard J Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

"A combination of an overstatement of income and an understatement of costs has led to a material shortfall to the previously announced profit figure. Whilst this does not come close to jeopardising overall profitability, it follows last month's announcement when the market had assumed that, at least, the bad news was out in the open and being dealt with."

Intense competition

Tesco, which is facing intense competition in Britain from German-owned discount retailers, had announced in July that outsider and Unilever executive Lewis would replace Philip Clarke.

Lewis' predecessor had shocked financial markets at the start of 2012 when he oversaw the supermarket's first profits warning in 20 years.

That sparked a £1.0-billion turnaround plan to refresh its supermarket stores, but the group revealed in April that annual profits fell for the second year in a row.

Tesco has struggled in recent years in Britain, as recession-weary shoppers have turned to German-owned discount retail groups Aldi and Lidl.

Discount chains boomed during the downturn as consumers tightened their belts to save cash, and remain popular despite the economy's steady recovery this year.

Tesco's profits have been weighed down also by fierce competition from its traditional supermarket rivals comprising Wal-Mart division Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

Tesco's latest revelations dragged down the supermarket sector, with shares in Sainsbury's falling 1.93 percent to close at 278.80 pence and Morrisons losing 1.65 percent to 179 pence.

Britain's biggest retailer has also suffered abroad in recent times, causing it close its failed US division Fresh & Easy and to exit from Japan over the past couple of years.

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People shop at Walmart supercenter in Fuzhou, July 8.
(File photo/CNS)

Qatar 'won't host 2022 World Cup' says FIFA's Zwanziger

Yahoo – AFP, 22 Sep 2014

A computer generated image shows the stadium to be built in Al-Wakrah for the

Qatar 2022 World Cup (AFP Photo)

Berlin (AFP) - Qatar will not host the World Cup in 2022, according to Theo Zwanziger, the German member on the executive committee of world football's governing body FIFA.

"I think that at the end of the day the 2022 World Cup will not take place in Qatar," Zwanziger said in an interview with Sport Bild Plus.

The former head of the German football federation (DFB) cited high summer temperatures as the reason Qatar would lose the right to host football's global showpiece.

Migrant labourers work on a construction site

 on October 3, 2013 in Doha in Qatar (AFP

Photo/Karim Jaafar)

"As Mr Zwanziger himself says, it's his personal opinion," a FIFA spokesman responded to AFP subsidiary SID when asked about the German's statement.

Zwanziger said: "Doctors say, and I had insisted on this point in the protocol, that they cannot guarantee that a World Cup can be held in summer in these conditions."

While Qatar has reportedly developed stadium cooling systems, Zwanziger said "the World Cup involves not only stadiums. There are fans coming from the four corners of the world who will be concerned by the heat".

"The first incident putting a life in danger will be subject to an investigation. And that, nobody in the FIFA Executive Committee would want to reply to."

But in an interview with Die Welt newspaper, Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary-general of the Qatar 2022 organising committee, declared himself "sure that the 2022 World Cup would take place in Qatar".

"No, I'm not worried," he said. "Firstly because there's no basis to lose the World Cup.

"And secondly because it's the first World Cup in the Middle East.

"When people think of this region, it's rather in terms of conflict. The World Cup will be an occasion to unite peoples. It will leave a positive heritage."

Controversy has plagued FIFA's awarding of the World Cup to Qatar in 2010, with summer temperatures in the Gulf emirate reaching the upper-40s Celsius.

A Qatari youth holds a mock World Cup trophy during celebrations in Doha on

 December 3, 2010 a day after the world football's governing body FIFA announced

that the tiny Gulf state will host the 2022 World Cup (AFP Photo/Marwan Naamani)

The idea of switching the World Cup to cooler winter months does not sit comfortably with all officials of Europe's big leagues.

Gas-rich Qatar has also come under the spotlight over foreign workers' rights as well as accusations that corruption played a part in winning the right to host the World Cup.

Britain's Sunday Times newspaper has alleged that former Qatari football boss Mohamed Bin Hammam paid more than $5 million (3.7m euros) to gain support for the emirate ahead of the vote.

Qatar has strongly denied the allegations.

FIFA's ethic committee is to announce in early 2015 the results of its investigation into the attribution of not only the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, but also the 2018 edition to Russia.

German families to sue Ukraine over MH17 deaths

Three German families who lost relatives in the MH17 crash over Ukraine are planning to sue Kyiv for not closing its airspace. A lawyer representing the families says each is asking for 1 million euros in compensation.

Deutsche Welle, 21 Sep 2014

Over two months since Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people, three German families are set to file suit against Kyiv for negligence.

German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported that the lawyer representing the families would bring the claims before the European Court of Human Rights, demanding 1 million euros ($1.29 million) compensation for each victim.

Elmar Giemulla, who specializes in aviation law, argues that Ukraine should have closed its airspace if it couldn't guarantee the security of planes above the conflict zone.

"By keeping its airspace open for transit by aircraft from other countries, the state must ensure the safety of the flights. If this is temporarily impossible, it means that it should close its airspace."

"Since that didn't happen, Ukraine is liable for damages," he told the Associated Press news agency in an email.

Evidence against Russia 'lacking'

The MH17 Boeing 777 exploded over separatist-held eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 on board. The airline said 193 of the victims were Dutch and four German.

A report by a Dutch-led team of air crash investigators appears to back up claims that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile. Kyiv and the West have accused separatists of shooting it down with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Russia - a charge Moscow denies.

Giemulla, who has invited all MH17 victims' families to join the suit, said the litigation would not target Russia as "the evidence was not yet sufficient." However, he said he would file a lawsuit against Moscow if such evidence were obtained. "For this I'm dependent on the support of Western governments," he said.

gb/bw (AP, AFP)