News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Sepp Blatter ´under investigation`in the US

Media in the United States are reporting that the Fifa president Sepp Blatter is being investigated by the FBI, as part of a corruption inquiry into world football´s governing body. The reports emerged hours after Blatter made the surprise announcement that he would be stepping down, days after being re-elected. Fifa sponsors, including Visa, Coca-Cola and McDonald's, have welcomed Blatter's decision. Laurence Gosling, the editor of the magazine Football Monthly, says there´d been growing pressure for him to go: "The World Cup generated 5.7 billion dollars of revenue for Fifa. A lot of that came from those major sponsors plus the TV companies. Fifa cannot afford to lose that. Those companies cannot afford to have their reputation tarnished. They don´t want to see Mr Blatter replaced by somebody that they see really as being a sort of crony or an ally." Meanwhile, Interpol today put six men with ties to FIFA on its most wanted list, issuing an international alert for two former FIFA officials and four executives on charges including racketeering and corruption.

President Obama signs Freedom Act into law

The US President Barack Obama has signed legislation reviving and reshaping surveillance laws that expired on Sunday night, hours after the Senate gave its final approval. The Freedom Act will phase out the once secret National Security Agency bulk phone record collection programme made public by the former agency contractor Edward Snowden. Instead the records will be kept by telephone companies and intelligence agencies will need a warrant to search them.

Greek PM in crunch Brussels talks

The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is to meet with European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker in Brussels later today. Tsipras will be presented with a new plan from international creditors detailing economic reforms needed if Greece is to receive further funding. Greece is due to pay 300 million euros to the International Monetary Fund on Friday, the first of four payments this month totalling 1.6 billion euros.

Hopes fade in Yangtze boat rescue

Hopes are fading of any more survivors from a cruise ship which capsized on the Yangtze River in what could be China's worst boat disaster in decades. The Eastern Star, with 456 mostly elderly people on board, overturned in bad weather on Monday night. Twenty six bodies have been recovered. Fourteen people have been rescued and officials say they will keep looking for survivors.

Large Hadron Collider resumes operations

The world´s most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, is resuming full operations after a two-year upgrade. Scientists at the CERN complex on the French-Swiss border say it will pave the way for the biggest revolution in physics since Einstein´s theories of relativity.

The weather

Plenty of sunshine, but isolated showers or thunder storms in the mountains. Highs today from 24 to 32.

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