Suarez's sponsorship to be reviewed

Suarez has been banned twice before for biting during club games.

Suarez's sponsorship is to be reviewed

A company that sponsors the Uruguayan football star, Luis Suarez, says it's reviewing their relationship, after he appeared to bite an Italian player during a World Cup match on Tuesday.

The governing body of world football, FIFA, has opened disciplinary proceedings against Suarez, which could result in a lengthy ban.The betting firm, 888poker, said it wouldn't tolerate unsporting behaviour.

The player says he was pushed and that situations like that happened on the pitch. He has been banned twice before for biting during club games.

Spanish princess to face charges

The sister of the newly-crowned King Felipe of Spain has been formally named as a suspect in a corruption investigation, paving the way for a criminal trial.

Princess Cristina is accused of tax fraud and money-laundering.

The judge leading the probe believes she knew about the allegedly fraudulent activities of her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, who is accused of embezzling millions of euros of public funds.

The ruling is one of the last stages before a trial although the couple will be able to appeal against today's decision.

A BBC correspondent in Madrid says it's a major embarrassment to the new king as he tries to restore the flagging credibility of the Spanish royal family.

Chris John Fights Japanese Challenger

WBA Fly-weight Super Champion Chris John is to face Japanese boxer Shoji Kimora in a title fight at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on May 5, a spokesman of his promotor said.

Chris’s opponent is 34 years old and has an orthodox boxing style, Fathan Rangkuti, media and promotion officer of Mahkota Promotions, said here Tuesday. At the same time and venue, IBO Asia Pacific fly-weight champion Daud Yordan would be fighting Philippine boxer Ramie Laput, he said.

"Daud’s opponent is 33 years old and also has an orthodox boxing style. He descended to bantam weight," Fathan said.

The contracts on Chris John’s and Daud Yordan’s matches had already been signed and what they now had to do was preparing themselves for the upcoming fights, he said. "Late February Chris John will leave for Australia to train at Herry’s Gym in Perth under supervision of his trainer Craig Christian."

When in the ring with Shoji Kimora, Chris John who is nicknamed The Dragon would be defending his title for the 16th time.

Adhyaksa: “Hambalang is Not Suitable for Sports Complex”

Former Youth and Sports Minister Adhyaksa Dault said that the area in Bukit Hambalang, Sentul, West Java, is not suitable for the construction of a sports complex because it is located near a volcanic mountain. “It’s located in the Ring of Fire, surrounded by volcanoes,” said Adhyaksa on Monday.

According to Adhyaksa, in 2003, the Sports Directorate-General indeed planned on building a sports complex in Hambalang. Therefore, a 32-hectare land was acquired. However, the process had been stalled because businessman Probosutedjo claimed ownership of the land.

At that time, Adhyaksa consulted a geology expert, the late J.A. Katili. Katili suggested Adhyaksa to build the sports complex somewhere else. “He [Katili] said, ‘Why there? The place is surrounded by Mount Gede, Mount Galunggung, Pelabuhan Ratu—all volcanoes’,” Adhyaksa explained.

How Well Indonesia Prepares Its Team to Face Palestine, Jordan

Fans of the Indonesian national football team celebrate their teams victory against Turkmenistan during their 2014 World Cup Asian qualifying football match at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta on July 28, 2011. Indonesia beat Turkmenistan 4-3.

After holding week-long exercises at the Cilegon Krakatau Steel sports stadium, the Indonesia`s senior soccer team continued its workouts in the Manahan stadium, Solo, Central Java, to prepare itself for trial matches with Palestine and Jordan.
The senior soccer team was scheduled to do he trial matches against the national Jordanian team of players under the age of 23 years (U-23) on August 18, and against the Palestinian national team on Aug. 22. Both matches will be held in the Solo’s Manahan stadium.
In the next trial match, the senior soccer team will face Jordan on August 27 in Jordan before playing against Iran on September 2, 2011. In the first leg of the next Pre-World Cup 2014 round Group E, the national team would face Iran which is believed to be the strongest opponent in the group.
In a tossup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil recently, the Indonesian soccer team was put in Group E along with Iran, Qatar and Bahrain. The senior soccer team started conducting its week-long exercise program at the Cilegon Krakatau Steel sports stadium, Banten province, on Aug 5 after defeating Turkmenistan 4-3 in the second round of the Asian zone in Jakarta on Thursday July 28.
"During the week-long exercises at the Cilegon Krakatau Steel sports stadium, the senior team made very significant progress," assistant coach Liestiadi said in Cilegon last Thursday.
According to him, the national team will continue doing exercises in the training camp in Solo until its departure to Jordan for a trial match on August 27. The All Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) chose the Solo Manahan stadium as an exercise venue for the Pre World Cup 2014 national team due to its adequate infrastructure and accommodation.
Liestiadi also said the exercise pattern in Solo Manahan stadium depend on the decision made by the chief coach Wim Rijsbergen and physical coach Raymond Verheijen. Meanwhile, Raymond Verheijen left Indonesia on last Sunday because he is also needed by the Wales team.
Regarding the team members stamina, Liestiadi said the fitness level of about 20 percent of the national team members is still below the medium level, so that the team needs an effective training programs.
"If compared with the other Asian Pre-World Cup 2014 teams fitness, the national team members fitness is still under the medium level," the national coach assistant Liestiadi said here on Sunday afternoon following the national team exercise in the Manahan sports stadium.
Thus, the national soccer players need to increase their stamina up to at least 30 percent from now. Although the team’s stamina after undergoing exercises for three days in Solo Manahan stadium has shown an increase, but they have not reached a high level, so that their physical condition should be improved.
"During the fasting month of Ramadhan, we should be able to adjust the condition of players, so that they also play games, apart from the physical exercise only," he said.
Aside from that, the coordination and communication among the team members should be conducted more effectively and smoothly, Liestiadi cited. In addition, the national team members also conducted the game play correction which is aimed at making some elementary analysis, Liestiadi said, explaining that communication is much needed in the soccer play.
Prior to the match against Iran, there are still three weeks of the team preparation. Regarding the PSSI request on the postponement of the national team against Iran, FIFA rejected the request.
In the meantime, the organizing committee of trial match between the senior soccer team against the national team under the age of 23 years (U-23) scheduled on August 18, had provided 23,000 entry tickets, Paulus Haryoto, coordinator of the trial match organizing committee said in Solo on Sunday, adding that the Solo Manahan stadium has 24,000 seats capacity.
According to Paulus, the organizing committee in cooperation with the trial match central committee has anticipated the abundance of spectators on the trial match which will take place on August 18, 2011.
The organizing committee of the trial match between the senior soccer team against the national team under the age of 23 years (U-23) scheduled on August 18, had provided 23,000 entry tickets, Paulus Haryoto, coordinator of the trial match organizing committee said in Solo on Sunday, adding that the Solo Manahan stadium has 24,000 seats capacity.
According to Paulus, the organizing committee in cooperation with the trial match central organizing committee has anticipated the abundance of spectators on the trial match which will take place on August 18, 2011. The anticipation is made due to the Solo extraordinary public interest to look on the national team appearances in the trial match.
In addition to providing 23,000 entry tickets, the organzing committee will also install the monitoring screens at four points in the stadium in anticipation of the great number of audience who fail to get the tickets, Paulus said.
The prices of entry tickets for the trial match at the north and south stands sold Rp15.000 per ticket with 10 thousand pieces provided. The east stand ticket price is Rp20 thousand per piece with 10 thousand pieces provided.
The ticket price at the VIP west stand is Rp30 thousand per ticket with 2,450 sheets are provided. Meanwhile, the number of VIP tickets at the midwest stand reached 1,150 sheets at the price of Rp50 thousand per ticket. In a bid to secure the international match level, Paulus said, the organizing committee will deploy some 600 security personnel.

Indonesia to Build Four ASEAN Connectivity Projects

 

Hatta Rajasa

Indonesia will build four of 12 ASEAN connectivity infrastructure projects, Economic Coordinator Minister Hatta Rajasa said here Tuesday.
"There are 12 infrastructure projects to be build related to the ASEAN Connectivity, four of them are in Indonesia," said Hatta after a water sources management coordinating meeting.
The four infrastructure projects comprise a hydro power plant to meet electricity needs in Dumai (Sumatera-Malaka), and 150 kV power transmission projects in Sanggau (West Kalimantan) and Serawak, a 150 km road rehabilitation in the Indonesian border and a new highway from Bitung to Manado in North Sulawesi.
The minister said that two of the four projects are also under the Indonesian economic development acceleration program and the expansion master plan (MP3I), including the Sumatra-Malaka power plant and the 150 kV Sanggau-Serawak power transmission projects. According to Hatta, the 12 projects are funded by the ASEAN member countries with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
"The 12 ASEAN connectivity infrastructure development projects will cost approximately 1.2 billion US dollars, and will be funded by the ADB and ASEAN member countries," Hatta said.
ASEAN Connectivity projects in Indonesia would cost up to 400-500 million US dollars, said Hatta. The agreement was made after the ASEAN summit had been concluded and in the ASEAN Economic Ministerial Meeting on May 4-8, and followed by a report sent in the ASEAN Summit at the Jakarta Convention Center.

FIFA Warns Chaotic Indonesian FA of 'Severe Sanctions'

Controversial head of PSSI, Nurdin Halid 

The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) faces “severe sanctions” unless it cleans up its act and prevents four banned candidates from standings in its May 20 elections, world governing body FIFA has said.

The election crisis has pushed the PSSI to the brink of expulsion with controversial head Nurdin Halid among the four FIFA have decreed ineligible to stand.
FIFA also banned local oil tycoon Arifin Panigoro, who launched the breakaway Indonesian Premier League (LPI), along with Army Chief of Staff George Toisutta and Nirwan Bakrie. Soccer’s world governing body appointed a ’normalisation committee’ in March to remove the PSSI from power and organise a presidential election after weeks of protests against Halid and his failure to halt the rebel LPI.
But FIFA said nine PSSI members are still appealing to have their candidacies approved for the May 20 vote, including the four they banned in February, prompting a sharp response from the world governing body.
“We would like to underline that the PSSI electoral appeal committee is not allowed to process the appeal on the eligibility to the PSSI presidency ... as the case has already been decided,” FIFA wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.
“We would like to draw your attention once again to the fact that should PSSI fail to abide by this decision it might incur severe sanctions, including the possibility of a suspension.”
To add to the chaos, the PSSI’s acting secretary general Joko Driyono said the normalisation committee was considering stripping North Sumatra, Lampung, East Java and North Sulawesi of voting privileges because of leadership issues.
Nurdin, who was jailed in 2007 for misusing funds but continued to run the PSSI from his cell, had been seeking a third term as president of the PSSI.

Wayne Rooney Will Sue News of The World

Wayne Rooney took to Twitter to talk about his visit from Scotland Yard

Wayne Rooney is planning to sue over the News of the World phone-hacking scandal after police warned he had been a target. The footballer revealed that he had been contacted by detectives investigating the affair.
The Manchester United and England forward wrote on his Twitter site that detectives had visited him in Manchester, saying: ‘Scotland Yard detectives came to see me earlier and showed me some documents, looks like a newspaper has hacked into my phone. Big surprise.’
He added: ‘Gonna get my lawyers to deal with phone hacking until end of season. So I can focus on helping MUFC win trophies. Thx for all ur support.’
Rooney’s wife Coleen later tweeted: ‘Newspapers hacking into phones!! Desperate and Disgusting!!!!’ A Scotland Yard spokesman was unable to confirm that a meeting had taken place but said it was "up to him" what he wrote on the website.
The premiership footballer is now believed to be considering taking legal action for breach of privacy against News of the World. Rooney was told that he could have been targeted by private investigator Glenn Muclaire after his phone number was found on a list of contacts seized in a 2006 police raid.
Earlier this month a High Court judge gave the go-ahead for four test cases to set damages for victims. Mr Justice Vos said claims should not be delayed by the continuing police investigation and civil actions by actress Sienna Miller, interior designer Kelly Hoppen, ex-Sky commentator Andy Gray and sports agent Sky Andrew should be heard first.
He added: 'At the bottom of all this is a claim for damages and the most important thing for the claimants is to have a guide as to what damages they may be entitled to.'
David Cameron has also told police and prosecutors to 'follow the evidence wherever it goes' saying phone hacking by journalists appeared 'widespread'.
News International, Britain's biggest newspaper group, could face a second investigation by Scotland Yard in addition to the deepening inquiry into the tapping into voice messages of public figures.
The Metropolitan Police is actively considering launching an inquiry into whether News International journalists made illegal payments to officers. Calls for a public inquiry into the affair were brushed off, but Mr Cameron said further prosecutions were clearly 'an option'.
The Sunday tabloid tried to draw a line under the scandal earlier this month when it published a prominent apology and agreed to pay damages to phone-hacking victims.
The move followed the arrests of three serving and former journalists: James Weatherup, a senior reporter who has also worked as a news editor at the title, chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, 50, and former assistant news editor Ian Edmondson, 42.
Scotland Yard has endured repeated criticism over its handling of the original phone-hacking inquiry, which led to the convictions of News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2007.