Pope Francis blasts 'haggard' Europe

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 25 Nov 2014

Pope Francis delivers a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg,

eastern France, on November 25, 2014 (Photo by Patrick Hertzog / Pool/AFP)

Pope Francis launched a withering attack Tuesday on a "haggard" Europe, urging it to reclaim global leadership after years of crisis and to take in migrants before the Mediterranean becomes a "vast cemetery".

The Argentine pontiff addressed the European Parliament and Council of Europe during a lightning visit to Strasbourg, during which he called for urgent economic and social change.

Francis, the first non-European pope for more than a millennium, took a harsher tone than the last pontiff to visit the French city, John Paul II, in 1988 at the end of the Cold War.

Pope Francis is greeted by Martin Schulz --

 the president of the European Parliament --

before delivering a speech to lawmakers in 

Strasbourg, on November 25, 2014 (Photo

by Patrick Hertzog / Pool/AFP)

"Europe seems to give the impression of being somewhat elderly and haggard, feeling less and less a protagonist," the 77-year-old pope told the European parliament.

"We encounter a general impression of weariness and ageing, of a Europe which is now a 'grandmother', no longer fertile and vibrant."

Francis -- whose four-hour trip was the shortest abroad by any pope -- was critical of the growing nationalist and anti-immigration sentiment that has surged in Europe amid economic stagnation and unemployment.

Yet he also seemed to echo some of the complaints by eurosceptic parties that won big in the European Parliament elections in May, when he criticised the EU for failing its citizens and being non-democratic.

"The great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions," he said.

'Vast cemetery'

However the pope reserved his strongest language to call for a "united response" to the plight of migrants fleeing the Middle East and Africa, more than 3,200 of whom have died trying to reach Europe this year alone.

"We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery," said the pope, who made a similar appeal during a visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013 after a major shipwreck.

"The boats landing daily on the shores of Europe are filled with men and women who need acceptance and assistance."

Pope Francis delivers his speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern

France, on November 25, 2014. (Photo by Remy De La Mauvinierer / Pool/AFP)

Bells rang out from churches across Strasbourg to mark his visit, including the historic cathedral, where hundreds watched his speech on giant screens.

"The pope comes with a message of peace. He's come to speak to parliamentarians to build a united Europe where there will be respect for everyone," said Melanie Makougang, who was visiting from Cameroon.

But the crowd-loving Francis unusually left his popemobile behind for his trip and dedicated his time to addressing the two European institutions.

xThe European Parliament divides its time between Brussels and Strasbourg, while the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe was set up after World War II to promote human rights and democracy.

The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics received long standing ovations after his speeches, which followed a flag-raising ceremony and meetings with new European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and outgoing European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who welcomed Francis to the huge glass and steel building, said his visit was important at a time of "tremendous loss of confidence in the European institutions".

Tight security

Security was tight with snipers posted atop buildings and army sniffer dogs sent out to check the area before the pope's arrival by plane from the Vatican, AFP journalists said.

Pope Francis arrives at Strasbourg-

Entzheim airport for a visit to the European

Parliament and the Council of Europe in

eastern France, on November 25, 2014

Francis's visit was relatively uneventful compared to 26 years ago when John Paul II was heckled as the "anti-Christ" by the late Northern Ireland Protestant unionist leader Ian Paisley.

But the current pope was not afraid to take on big issues. In his address to the Council of Europe, Francis appeared to allude to the crisis in Ukraine, calling for a "political solution" to end "tensions" in Europe.

"How great a toll of suffering and death is still being exacted on this continent," he said.

Francis also condemned "religious and international terrorism" in Europe and elsewhere.

The pope also spoke out on hot-button topics such as abortion and euthanasia -- particularly after a slew of recent legislative changes in European countries.

His visit had sparked protests in some quarters -- including from a bare-breasted Femen rights group demonstrator who mounted the cathedral altar on Monday -- with critics angry over the decision to invite a religious leader to address a secular body.

Spanish police arrest several priests in pedophilia inquiry

Spanish authorities have arrested four Catholic priests accused of child abuse in the southern city of Granada. The country's Interior Ministry says investigations into the case began "some time ago."

Deutsche Welle, 24 Nov 2014

The arrests came a week after a 24-year-old man wrote to the Vatican alleging a number of priests sexually abused him when he was an altar boy in a Granada church. Media reports claim that Pope Francis ordered an inquiry into the allegations and had personally called the man in August to apologize on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church.

"Police this morning arrested four priests implicated in this affair," Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters on Monday, adding that he could not divulge more details because of the nature of the case.

Francisco Javier Martinez, the Archbishop of Granada, removed several priests from their duties last week and initiated the church's own probe.

News agency AFP reported last week that Spanish officials had launched an investigation involving 12 people.

Pope Francis has pledged a zero-tolerance towards child abuse scandals related to the church since he took over from Pope Benedict XVI last year.

On Sunday, Granada's archbishop and six other priests prostrated themselves in front of the altar as a gesture to seek pardon for alleged sexual abuse.

shs/jr (AFP, Reuters)

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Belgian miner destroyed Congo homes and lied about it, claims Amnesty International

Amnesty International has accused a Belgian mining group of bulldozing hundreds of Congolese homes and benefiting from a government "cover-up." The miner denies the claims.

Deutsche Welle, 24 Nov 2014

Amnesty International says Belgian miner Groupe Forrest International took part in destroying homes near one of its mines, in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2009.

In a report released on Monday, Amnesty said a subsidiary of the company provided bulldozers used to demolish homes and forcibly evict hundreds of people near the cobalt and copper mine, in Katanga province.

Police conducted the operation in an apparent attempt to clear the mine of small-scale miners stealing from it, but Amnesty has drawn from satellite imagery and other evidence to refute that claim.

"There is now overwhelming and irrefutable evidence showing that the forced evictions that Groupe Forrest International has denied for years in fact took place," said Audrey Gaughran, the organization's global issues director.

Amnesty claims hundreds of structures were destroyed before and after the police operation to clear the small-scale miners - destroying homes and businesses in three neighborhoods.

"Some people lost their livelihoods as well as their homes. The impacts are still felt today. One woman, whose restaurant was demolished, told us that she doesn't have the money to buy enough food to eat and had to pull her children out of school. Proper compensation for villagers would have alleviated a lot of the suffering," Gaughran said.

The report also claims that government officials in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, ordered no charges be filed - despite recommendations by a government prosecutor.

"This is a cover-up by the Congolese authorities. The state has failed its own people by not bringing anyone to justice for these forced evictions and by not ensuring that compensation was paid," Gaughran said.

Groupe Forrest International has refuted Amnesty International's claims, laying blame on police for the evictions, which it labeled "regrettable and unacceptable."

"These grave allegations are baseless and are not supported by the facts. [The company's] subsidiaries and employees always act in an ethical and responsible manner."

MH17 wreckage collected, Ukraine crash site now cleared

DutchNews.nl, November 23, 2014

Rescue workers have completed their mission to salvage the major parts of Malaysian Airways flight MH17, brought down in eastern Ukraine in July by a missile.

The Dutch-led team has collected 650 cubic metres of wreckage, plus human remains and personal possessions during their work at the site of the crash. This will now be brought to the Netherlands for investigation, although how this will happen is not yet clear, the NRC said.

‘The mission passed off extremely well,’ a team leader told reporters. ‘Every day we had to content with shooting or other incidents,’ he said. ‘If something had happened in the city, then the local staff could not help us and we could not go to the crash site.’

Related Article:

Workers finish recovery of MH17 wreckage: Netherlands

Former Portuguese PM Socrates arrested in tax case

Former Portuguese prime minister Jose Socrates has been arrested on suspicion of tax evasion. It's the second potential scandal to hit Portuguese politics in a week, after the interior minister's resignation last Sunday.

Deutsche Welle, 22 Nov 2014

Former Socialist prime minister Jose Socrates was arrested at Lisbon airport late on Friday as part of an inquiry into tax fraud, corruption and money laundering, the public prosecutor's office said.

Socrates was expected to appear in court on Saturday, local media reported. He is one of four people detained in connection with the case, following a string of police raids involving more than 60 officers.

The prosecutor's office added that the investigation centered on bank operations and money transfers from an unknown source. It stressed, however, that the case was not linked to the money laundering investigation which led to the July arrest of Ricardo Salgado, the former head of crippled Portuguese lender Banco Espitiru Santo (BES).

Socrates led the Socialists to their first majority in parliament in 2005, one year after he was elected leader of the party.

The 57-year-old served as prime minister for six years, during which time he was involved in several controversies, including his decision to approve the construction of a shopping mall on protected land near Lisbon. Questions were also raised over the authenticity of his university degree.

Socrates resigned in 2011 after the Social Democrat opposition rejected his minority government's fourth austerity package in less than a year. Just two weeks later Portugal was forced to request a bailout package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund - a move Socrates had resisted.

Second scandal in a week

Last Sunday, Portuguese Interior Minister Miguel Macedo announced that he was stepping down in the wake of a corruption scandal involving several senior government officials.

The officials were arrested as part of a probe into money laundering and influence-peddling around "golden visas" - a scheme allowing foreign investors who buy property worth 500,000 euros ($620,000) to receive residency rights in Portugal, as well as visa-free travel throughout the European Union's Schengen zone.

The program was launched in 2012 during the country's debt crisis. "Golden visas" have so far have been issued to around 1,500 people, most of them Chinese.

nm/ipj (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

EU Chief Van Rompuy Urges Transparency During Indonesian Visit

Jakarta Globe, Nov 21, 2014

This handout photo taken and released on Nov. 19, 2014 by the Presidential
Palace shows President Joko Widodo, right, walking with European Council
 President Herman Van Rompuy, left, following their bilateral meeting at the
palace in Jakarta. (AFP Photo/Presidential Palace/Cahyo Sasmito)

Jakarta. Visiting European Union chief Herman Van Rompuy has praised the progress of Indonesia’s democracy and its economic development, and says the EU can offer much more to Indonesia than the current level of cooperation.

In his speech at the opening of the 5th Europe-Indonesia Business Dialogue in Jakarta on Wednesday, Van Rompuy, the EU Council president, told the gathering that Indonesia had indeed undergone an impressive transformation since democratic and political reforms were initiated more than 15 years ago, and that the country’s robust economic growth and social development bore testimony to this.

He said that the energy of President Joko Widodo and his administration reflected the aspirations of a young and growing Indonesian population that looked to the future with great hope.

“I see great potential for expanding cooperation over the next five years between the new Indonesian government and the European Union,” Van Rompuy said.

“I was particularly interested this morning to hear President Joko talk of his vision for Indonesia as a maritime axis, and I feel that Europe, much of whose trade goes by the open seas, not least passing through the Indonesian archipelago, has much in common with you on this agenda.”

He said the EU was also interested in Joko’s plans for upgrading Indonesia’s infrastructure, for improving the business climate, and for cutting the red tape that can stop projects from getting under way.

“More streamlined and transparent procedures will certainly bring more European investment in this sector,” Van Rompuy said.

European companies are increasingly interested in Indonesia, and in 2013 foreign direct investment from the EU reached a record high of $2.4 billion, according to Van Rompuy. “The EU is the second-biggest investor in Indonesia this year,” he added.

But in spite of all these successes, Van Rumpuy said Indonesia was not yet realizing the full potential of the scale that European business had to offer.

“The EU’s trade with Indonesia is healthy, yet it is well below our trade with other smaller countries in the region, such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. This is despite the fact that Indonesia is by far the largest economy in Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], representing around 40 percent of total Asean GDP and population. We can do better.”

From 2004 to 2011, Indonesia received 12 percent of all EU investment flowing into Asean, and 0.4 percent of total FDI outflows from the EU to the world in 2011.

Deepening trade and investment links with the world’s largest trading bloc — the EU — will bring substantial gains to Indonesia, he said.

He said a recent study showed that a comprehensive economic agreement between the EU and Indonesia would boost our overall trade and facilitate more FDI from the EU, which in turn would help develop Indonesia into the manufacturing hub of Asean.

“My message here is that European companies stand ready to increase their already considerable investments in Indonesia, provided that the business climate is welcoming, open and transparent.”

FIFA ethics chiefs agree to review World Cup corruption report, internally

FIFA will continue its review of the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, at least internally. FIFA's chief investigator and its ethics judge, at odds since the first results were published, met on Thursday.

Deutsche Welle, 20 Nov 2014

Michael Garcia and Hans-Joachim Eckert (pictured) met on Thursday in Zurich to try to iron out their differences over FIFA's internal investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process.

When Eckert released a 42-page summary of Garcia's original 420-page investigation last week, Garcia immediately complained that the summary was based on "materially incomplete and erroneous" interpretations of his original findings.

FIFA announced in a statement afterwards, signed by both Garcia and Eckert, that the German judge and the former US federal prosecutor had agreed to bring in another pair of eyes - and possibly more besides.

"The chairman of the adjudicatory chamber [Eckert] and the chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee [Garcia] met today to discuss the recent developments," said the FIFA statement. "Both chairmen agreed that it is of major importance that the FIFA Executive Committee has the information necessary to evaluate which steps are required based on the work done by the FIFA Ethics Committee."

Scala to read the full report

To this end, FIFA said, the pair agreed that Domenico Scala, the Swiss-Italian chairman of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee, "will reveive full copies of all reports of the investigatory chamber...to determine how much of that information should be made available to the FIFA Executive Committee."

According to FIFA, both Eckert and Garcia also agreed "to answer any questions [Scala] might have."

Prior to Scala, only a handful of people had laid eyes on Garcia's original investigation into the December 2010 votes awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

When Eckert first presented his summary of Garcia's investigation he said that it cleared Russia and Qatar of charges of corruption, noting only "minor" cases, and declared the review process for the tournaments "closed." Garcia, who had also repeatedly complained about the levels of access he received when carrying out his investigations, swiftly announced his intention to appeal against this within FIFA.

Thursday's statement made no explicit mention of whether FIFA still considered the review process to be completed.

FIFA on Tuesday filed criminal complaints against unnamed individuals on the basis of the investigation, following days of criticism about a lack of transparency in the investigative process.

Several European football officials, perhaps most notably Reinhard Rauball, the president of the German Football League (DFL), had said that European soccer body UEFA might have to consider a split from FIFA unless Garcia's complete findings were made public.

msh/se (AP, Reuters)

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English FA chief wants Garcia report published

Germany warns Uefa may quit Fifa if World Cup report not published

Pope turns Santa with Christmas giveaway for homeless

Yahoo – AFP, 19 Nov 2014

Ribauda, a homeless woman, is pictured where she lives near the Vatican

on November 18, 2014 in Rome. (Photo by Andreas Solaro)

Pope Francis is raffling off unwanted gifts including a Fiat Panda, tandem bike and coffee machine to raise money for the homeless.

For just 10 euros ($12.50) those hoping to get their clutches on perfume, pens and even a panama hat given to the pope can enter a draw, the proceeds of which will go to a papal charity set up to help those who bed down nightly around the Vatican.

Tickets are to be sold throughout the upcoming festive season and signs have already gone up around the tiny city state advertising the draw, which will take place on January 8.

Pope Francis blesses the crowd during his

 general audience at St Peter's square on 

November 19, 2014 at the Vatican (Photo by

Vincenzo Pinto/AFP)

While the first prize is a gleaming Fiat Panda 4X4 in papal white, runners up could go home with racing bicycles, an HD digital video camera, a gentleman's wrist watch, an umbrella or bottle of perfume -- all of which will have much higher-than-usual value because of where they come from.

The Argentine pope -- who chose his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi and his devotion to the poor -- has cast off luxuries such as the ermine-trimmed cape and red shoes worn by his predecessor Benedict XVI and focused his efforts on helping the down-and-out.

He is also unlikely to have room to keep the hundreds of presents bestowed on him in his modest apartment, having opted out of moving into the spacious papal palace after his election last year.

In February the 77-year-old pope sold off his Harley Davidson -- worth around 15,000 euros and inscribed with his name -- for 241,500 euros at a Paris auction, giving the proceeds to a hostel and soup kitchen in Rome.

He also appointed a papal almoner, Polish archbishop Konrad Krajewski, who helps those who regularly sleep rough among the porticos near Saint Peter's Square, or poor families struggling to pay their bills.

Krajewski announced last week that the Vatican would be installing showers for the homeless at public toilets just off St Peter's square. The initiative followed an encounter with a homeless man who declined an invitation to dinner because he said he was too smelly to dine with a bishop.

Icelandic bank ex-head sentenced over market manipulation

The former boss of Icelandic bank Landsbanki has been sentenced to 12-month imprisonment by a court in Reykjavik for manipulating the market.

Deutsche Welle, 19 Nov 2014

Sigurjon Arnason, 48, was convicted of manipulating the bank's share price and deceiving investors, creditors and the authorities in the dying days of the bank between Sept. 29 and Oct. 3, 2008.

Two other former executives of the bank were sentenced to nine months with three months served over the same allegations. All pleaded innocent to the charges.

"This sentence is a big surprise to me as I did not nothing wrong," Sigurjon Arnason told news agency Reuters after the sentencing. He and his attorney had not yet decided whether to appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court, Arnason added.

Iceland's banks had gone on an international buying spree in the early 2000s fuelled by cheap foreign loans.

But the global financial crisis in 2008 froze credit markets and Iceland's banks quickly foundered. Landsbanki was one of three banks that racked up $75 billion (59.8 billion euros) in debt before collapsing and crashing the country's economy in 2008.

The fallout from the 2008 crisis continues to this day. Earlier this week, Landsbanki and its successor Landsbankinn agreed to extend a deadline to restructure bonds to the end of the year. If a deal is struck, it will help the government lift capital controls which were imposed due to the crisis.

sri/cjc (AFP, Reuters)

Top Dutch speed skaters want EU to act on Ice Derby ban

DutchNews.nl, November 19, 2014

Some of the Netherlands top speed skaters, including world and Olympic champions Ireen Wust and Sven Kramer, are campaigning to be allowed to take part in a lucrative event in Dubai.

The international skating union ISU has banned skaters from taking part in the Ice Derby, in which long and short-track specialists will race against each other on a 220 metre track. 

‘This event takes place outside the traditional season, is a lucrative event for skaters and officials and uses a completely different format to the the ISU’s ‘patented’ races,’ the skater say in an open letter to the European Commission.

‘In short, there is no reason to threaten anyone who takes part with a life-long ban,’ the skaters say. The letter is published in Wednesday’s Volkskrant.

The letter focuses on European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The skaters say the ISU’s action conflicts with European competition rules which ‘guarantee and protect’ the rights of European citizens, workers and athletes.

Spanish lawmakers vote in favor of recognizing Palestine

Spanish members of parliament have voted nearly unanimously to exert pressure on Madrid to recognize Palestine as a state. The non-binding vote took place hours after a brutal attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem.

Deutsche Welle, 19 Nov 2014

The Spanish Parliament voted late Tuesday in favor of recognizing Palestine.

MPs voted 319:2 in favor of draft legislation demanding that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government recognizes Palestine as a state.

The bill said the "only solution to the conflict is the coexistence of two states, Israel and Palestine."

Rajoy's conservative People's Party was widely in favor of the bill, but set a requirement that a negotiation process between the two guarantee peace and security first.

European countries recognize Palestine

The parliament also called on the government to pressure the European Union to recognize Palestine as well. At the end of October, Sweden became the firstwestern EU member to recognize it. Israel, in turn, recalled its ambassador from Stockholm.

Britain and Ireland held similar non-binding votes last month and French lawmakers will vote on November 28.

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia had recognized Palestine before they became EU members. The UK parliament is also considering a vote on recognition of Palestine, which is currently recognized by around 130 countries worldwide.

Increasing violence

Tuesday's vote came after an attack at a Jerusalem synagogue, where two Palestinians armed with a gun and meat cleavers killed four people before being shot dead. A police officer also died. The vote had been planned to take place before the attack.

"It is not binding, it does not set a timeline for the recognition, it gives the government the margin to proceed with the recognition when it feels it will be opportune," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters in Brussels on Monday ahead of the vote.

"If we want to be effective this recognition must be done in coordination with the European Union," he said.

sb/se (dpa, AFP)

Italy captures mafia initiation rites on film, 40 arrests

Yahoo – AFP, Ella Ide, 18 Nov 2014

Rome's National Anti-Mafia headquarters on February 11, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Filippo Monteforte)

Rome (AFP) - Secret mafia initiation rites have been caught on camera for the first time by Italian police, who on Tuesday arrested 40 suspected gangsters in raids across the north of the country.

The arrests, on charges of criminal association, illegal arms sales and extortion, followed a two-year investigation using wire-taps and hidden cameras in locations known to be frequented by mobsters, police said.

"For the first time the swearing-in ceremonies have been recorded live," Milan prosecutor Ilda Boccassini told journalists at a press conference following raids which saw 37 people landed behind bars and another three placed under house arrest.

Italian prosecutor Ilda Boccassini 

gestures during a press conference

 in Milan on December 1, 2011 (AFP

Photo/Giuseppe Aresu)

"For the first time we heard it from the voice of the mafia," instead of relying on details from police informants, she said.

Those arrested are believed to belong to three clans based near Milan but affiliated with the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, an organised crime group made up of networks of hundreds of family gangs even more feared and secretive than the Sicilian Mafia.

Police said the arrests were fresh proof of the deadly southern group's expansion into the rich industrial north of the country. Those in handcuffs include a 17-year old boy and boss Giuseppe Larosa, known by the nickname "Peppe the Cow," according to Italian media reports.

The video and audio recordings revealed the swearing in of 'Ndrangheta mobsters to an elite membership known as "Santa".

New members swore allegiance "in the silence of the night and under the light of the stars and splendour of the moon" to "safeguard my wise brothers".

Bullet with your name on it

An unnamed boss leading the rite in police videos published on Italian newspaper websites can be heard telling the new Santa that they are now expected to be their own executioners should they stray from the 'Ndrangheta's code.

"From now on it will not be other men who judge you, you will judge yourselves," the man says.

In what he describes as the "oath of poison", he says there are two alternatives open to the disloyal: "Either you poison yourselves or you take this (gun) which shoots. There must always be a bullet reserved; one for you."

Boccassini said the Santa's affiliation "is in their DNA and under their skin and they can leave the 'Ndrangheta either by collaborating with the state or through death".

The name 'Ndrangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty. Its tight clan structure has made it famously difficult to penetrate.

She referred to a conversation wiretapped in July last year, where boss Michelangelo Chindamo was heard saying that "the music may change but the rest remains... we can never change".

He warned mobsters with him that "having a mobile phone in your pocket... is like having a policeman in your pocket," and cited anti-mafia magistrate Boccassini and police wiretaps as exactly the sort of threat the clans faced.

Notebooks were discovered during the police raid which detailed the rites, investigators said.

Boccassini said the proof gathered by the police was so solid that those arrested would be dealt with under a fast-track trial procedure which would do away with preliminary hearings.

Fifa lodges criminal complaint with Swiss courts over World Cup bids

• Complaint regards ‘possible misconduct of individuals’
• Blatter insists Garcia report will not be published
• Germany warns Uefa may quit Fifa
• Garcia attacks ‘erroneous’ ethics report

The Guardian, Owen Gibson, Tuesday 18 November 2014

The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, says there are ‘grounds for suspicion that
 international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place’.
Photograph: Harold Cunningham/Getty Images

In a further twist to its farcical attempt to deal with corruption allegations surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding race, Fifa has lodged a criminal complaint against certain individuals involved with the Swiss authorities.

Fifa’s president, Sepp Blatter, lodged the complaint at the behest of the German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, whose summary of Michael Garcia’s 430-page investigation was disowned by the American attorney. The full report will be made available to the Swiss attorney general in Berne, who will decide whether criminal charges should follow.

“In particular there seem to be grounds for suspicion that, in isolated cases, international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place, which merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities,” said Fifa ina statement.

Eckert’s summary included a series of concerns over Qatar’s bid but said payments made by Mohammed Bin Hammam, the disgraced former Asian Football Confederation president, to former Fifa vice president Jack Warner and African football officials could not be linked to the World Cup bid. The move will inevitably be viewed with cynicism given Blatter’s track record of using the Swiss courts and Fifa’s regulatory processes to kick problematic issues into the long grass and deflect attention onto individuals who have already left football.

Eckert’s summary of Garcia’s probe – which cost £6m and took 18 months – effectively cleared Russia and Qatar of serious wrongdoing, despite the former being unable to provide any email evidence because they claimed it had been wiped and a list of concerns over the latter.

The judge also hit back at claims that his summary represented a whitewash. “I would like to point out that not once did my statement involve a so-called ‘whitewashing’ of the award process with regard to the various allegations and assumptions made, contrary to what has been claimed in some quarters,” he said.

“My statement was based on the Garcia report – I can only work with the material contained in it, and in my view, there was insufficient clear evidence of illegal or irregular conduct that would call into question the integrity of the award process as a whole.”

He said that he would continue to consider charges against certain individuals under Fifa’s ethics codes and said “further clarification” was still needed of some of the circumstances covered by the report.

Hours after Eckert’s summary was published, in which Blatter was praised and the bidding process bizarrely described as “well thought out, robust and professional”, Garcia said he had misrepresented the facts and conclusions of his report.

Blatter said there was “no change” to Eckert’s decision to close the book on the 2018 and 2022 bidding processes and insisted the ethics committee had done its job.

“I have no doubt that the Ethics Committee has done all it possibly could under the Fifa Statutes to shed light on the issues surrounding the awarding of the World Cups,” he said.

Blatter claims not to have seen Garcia’s full report but said he complied with Eckert’s request to report the individuals concerned to the Swiss Attorney General’s office. He claimed that if Garcia’s report was published in full it would violate Swiss law.

“If we had anything to hide, we would hardly be taking this matter to the Office of the Attorney General. Fifa’s internal bodies have done all they can within the scope of their capabilities, and they are continuing with their work,” he said.

“The matter will now also be looked at by an independent, state body, which shows that Fifa is not opposed to transparency.”

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke, Uefa president Michel Platini, US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati and Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb are among those who have called for the report to be published in full, with appropriate redactions to protect whistleblowers if necessary.

Eckert, the head of the adjudicatory chamber of the supposedly independent Fifa ethics committee, and Garcia, the head of the investigatory arm, are due to meet on Thursday in a bid to settle their differences.

However, Eckert has already said he will not consider publishing the report in full and Blatter’s comments appear to close the door on that possibility.

Muslim addresses Church of England synod for first time

Yahoo – AFP, 18 Nov 2014

Fuad Nahdi (front row centre) addresses members of the Church of England's

Synod in central London, on November 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)

London (AFP) - A British Muslim addressed a Church of England synod for the first time on Tuesday in a discussion with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on the suffering of religious minorities in Iraq and Syria.

Fuad Nahdi, head of Radical Middle Way, a think tank involved in inter-faith dialogue, recited an Islamic prayer and greeted the Anglican gathering with the words "salaam aleikum" (Peace be with you).

Nahdi branded violent Islamist jihadists as "idiots" and condemned discrimination against Christians, but said that Muslims who did not adhere to extremist ideologies had suffered in greater numbers.

"The persecution of Christians in Iraq and Syria is heinous and totally unacceptable to any sane human being. But we should not forget that the Muslims have borne the brunt of these extremists," he said.

"Thousands if not tens of thousands have died in the past couple of years and they will continue to die if we pretend to ignore it," the Kenya-born campaigner, who was dressed in a blue robe and cap, told hundreds of assembled delegates.

He also spoke about growing anger among young Muslims in Britain in reaction to criticism that they face because of the actions of extremists they have nothing to do with "thousands of miles away".

"All the pressure on us is to try and justify things that are unjustifiable," he said, calling for peaceful existence and joint "fight against ignorance" by Christians and Muslims.

In an article in The Guardian newspaper out on Tuesday, Nahdi wrote: "I hope my presence as the first Muslim to address the General Synod shows that followers of these great religions can be allies".

The Church of England is the mother church of the global Anglican Communion, which has some 80 million followers in over 165 countries.

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."