Emirates Airline, a key sponsor of the World Cup, has voiced its concern over the ongoing bribery allegations against several officials at the football organisation Fifa.
Fifa Farce: World Cup mired in bribery and corruption claims
Last Updated: May 31, 2011
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The airline, which paid out $195 million to become a Fifa 'partner' from 2007 to 2014, says it is "disappointed" by the corruption allegations that have plagued Fifa in recent weeks.
"Emirates, like all football fans around the world, is disappointed with the issues that are currently surrounding the administration of this sport," said Boutros Boutros, senior vice president of corporate communications at Emirates.
Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, president of the Asian Football Confederation, was suspended by FIFA's ethics committee on Sunday, along with three other officials. They are accused of offering bribes to other officials to secure the Fifa presidency for Mr bin Hammam. Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The Dubai airline is the latest of several sponsors to voice concern about the corruption probe at Fifa.
Coca-Cola, which also has 'partner' status with the football association, said that the bribery allegations are "distressing and bad for the sport", the Financial Times reported. Another headline sponsor, Adidas, said that the surrounding publicity was "neither good for football nor for Fifa and its partners".
Mr Boutros said that he hoped the issue would be resolved.
"Emirates' sponsorship of all Fifa Tournaments, including the Fifa World Cup, aims to help promote football and ensure that it is accessible to the billions of football fans; something Fifa has managed to do extremely well in recent years," he said.
"We hope that these issues will be resolved as soon as possible and the outcome will be in the interest of the game and sport in general."
bflanagan@thenational.ae
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
TRAINING FOR TOKYO
A typical week's training for Sebastian, who is competing at the ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon on March 8-9:
- Four swim sessions (14km)
- Three bike sessions (200km)
- Four run sessions (45km)
- Two strength and conditioning session (two hours)
- One session therapy session at DISC Dubai
- Two-three hours of stretching and self-maintenance of the body
ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon
For more information go to www.abudhabi.triathlon.org.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
