WILL BLATTER SURVIVE AS FIFA PRESIDENT?

The world of sports continued to reel today after the arrests of seven top FIFA officials on corruption charges, with the fate of the international soccer body’s longtime chief Sepp Blatter hanging in the balance. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and others are calling for the postponement of Friday’s FIFA election, where Blatter is standing for a fifth term as president. But Greg Dyke, chairman of the English Football Association, told the BBC that it’s still likely to go ahead, but that Blatter’s challenger, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, could win.

• UEFA President Michel Platini said that as long as Blatter was FIFA president, the organization would lack credibility.
• Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona said he was relieved by the U.S. and Swiss probes into the organization that runs the World Cup. “Today the FBI revealed the truth. FIFA has reserves of $1.5 billion, and there are players who earn no more than $150. Those liars were caught by surprise,” French sports daily L’Equipe quoted him as saying.
• Blatter, who has called an emergency meeting for today, is apparently not implicated in the investigation, though probes have been opened into the bidding contest for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
• Blatter said in a statement yesterday that the arrests of top FIFA officials demonstrate his efforts to eradicate corruption. “As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the U.S. and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football,” he said. “Let me be clear: Such misconduct has no place in football, and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game. We will continue to work with the relevant authorities, and we will work vigorously within FIFA to regain your trust.”

SNAPSHOT

Photo: Suzanne Plunkett/PA Wire/ZUMA

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip proceed through the Royal Gallery after the Queen gave her annual speech Wednesday in Westminster’s House of Lords in London.

MALAYSIA POLICE INVOLVED IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Two Malaysian police officers have been arrested in connection with human-trafficking camps and 139 graves found last week in the remote north of the country, near the Thai border, reporters were told during a press conference today, The Malaysian Insider reports.

VERBATIM

“I am sending a manuscript into time. Will any humans be waiting there to receive it?” author Margaret Atwood said as she handed over the manuscript she penned for the Future Library project in Norway. What she wrote will be kept secret until 2114, when it will be printed on paper provided by recently planted pine trees. Each year for the next 99 years, one author will be asked to write a manuscript. Read more from The Guardian.

U.S. ARMY’S ANTHRAX FOUL-UP

Up to 22 U.S. military personnel at the Osan Air Base in South Korea “may have been exposed” to live anthrax after an Army laboratory in Utah “inadvertently” sent samples of the lethal toxin there, a statement from the military base said Wednesday. “All personnel were provided appropriate medical precautionary measures to include examinations, antibiotics and, in some instances, vaccinations,” it said, adding that “none of the personnel have shown any signs of possible exposure.” The anthrax was also distributed to at least nine labs in the U.S., but no victims have been reported.

WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO

Since November 2013, Nidaa Badwan has refused to leave the first floor of her family home in Deir al-Balah, a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip. As L’Obs reports, she’s been living cloistered inside nine square meters that serve as both a bedroom and workshop, where her reflections come to life. “The 28-year-old Palestinian artist has isolated herself voluntarily,” the newspaper writes. “She’s walled up in a territory that has itself been transformed into a prison. ‘This is the only place where I really feel free,’ she says. Badwan's self-portraits represent weeks of preparation. She poses in front of her typewriter, or on her multicolored bed, facing her computer, sometimes in a lotus position, her head turned to the ceiling, maybe with her eyes closed, as if in ecstasy. She calls the project “100 Days of Solitude,” in reference to Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, which she reread during the first weeks of her confinement.”

Read the full article, Self-Imprisonment As Protest: A Gaza Woman's Harrowing Performance Art.

ISIS “WILL NOT DESTROY” PALMYRA RUINS

ISIS video released yesterday shows the ruins of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra intact as the terrorist organization said it would “only” destroy statues it deems polytheistic, The Guardian reports. But an airstrike campaign launched by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the area has raised fears for Palmyra’s unique ruins. It came after regime forces abandoned the city and its inhabitants as the jihadist group approached. ISIS is believed to have executed 20 pro-regime foreign fighters in the city’s majestic Roman theater, in addition to 400 other people.

ON THIS DAY

Fahrvergnügen! Happy Birthday to the German car company Volkswagen, which was established 78 years ago today. Time now for your 57-second shot of history.

NEBRASKA ABOLISHES DEATH PENALTY

Nebraska became the first U.S. state in more than 40 years, and the 19th out of 50, to abolish the death penalty yesterday. Lawmakers voted 30-19 to override Gov. Pete Rickett's veto. “We are a nation that is turning away from the death penalty,” USA Today quoted Danielle Conrad, executive director of the Nebraska American Civil Liberties Union, as saying. “This victory stands as a testament to what can happen in our sister states.”

MY GRAND-PÈRE’S WORLD

NUSRA FRONT SAYS “NO PLANS” TO TARGET WEST

In an interview with Al Jazeera, al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani said his al-Qaeda-affiliated group operating in Syria had no intention of attacking Western countries unless provoked, and that its main objective was to defeat Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “We received clear orders not to use Syria as a launching pad to attack the U.S. or Europe in order to not sabotage the true mission against the regime,” he said. “Maybe al-Qaeda does that but not here in Syria.”

MANKINIS, THE PERFECT TOURIST REPELLENT

Newquay, a town in the British county of Cornwall, has noticed that anti-social behavior and crime have dropped and that tourism has grown around its coast since 2009. That was the year the town banned “mankinis” from public areas. Case rested.