Thursday 25 February 2016

Prince Ali seeks postponement of FIFA presidential election

ZURICH — FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali is asking for Friday's election to be suspended after his request for the use of transparent voting booths was rejected.

     In this Dec. 4, 2015 file photo FIFA presidential candidate Jordanian Prince Ali Al Hussein speaks at the National Press Club in Washington. Prince Ali is one of the five candidates to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA President on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. Prince Ali is asking for Friday's election to be suspended in a dispute over voting procedures.

The Jordanian prince's lawyers said Tuesday they are seeking "provisional measures" from the Court of Arbitration for Sport to postpone the vote to select Sepp Blatter's successor.

CAS said it received a request from Prince Ali, asking the court to direct FIFA's election monitoring panel to use transparent voting booths and independent scrutineers "in order to safeguard the integrity of the voting process and to ensure the vote is conducted in secret."

The prince's campaign team has offered to provide the transparent booths to help prevent voters photographing their ballot paper.

In previous soccer elections, voters have reportedly been pressured to take a mobile phone into the booth and provide visual proof of who they supported.

CAS said FIFA has been asked to submit written answers to the prince's request. CAS said it would issue a ruling no later than Thursday morning, a day ahead of the scheduled election.

Prince Ali's lawyers said in a statement that the FIFA's rejection of his request for transparent voting booths would deny "any right to a fair and transparent voting process."

The lawyers, Francis Szpiner and Renaud Semerdjian, said FIFA was only requesting that voters leave their mobile phones behind when they go to the voting booths.

"This request is not sufficient," the statement said. "FIFA remains silent upon the measures to enforce it and sanctions associated with it."

FIFA turned down a demand for a fast-track hearing on Prince Ali's request, the lawyers said.

"As a consequence, we are now seeking provisional measures before CAS to suspend the coming election," the statement said.

Ali is one of five candidates in the race, along with Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale and former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne of France.

Sheikh Salman, who replaced Prince Ali as the FIFA vice president for Asia last year, dismissed the complaint.

"We had the election last May and nobody complained about the voting booths," the sheikh told The Associated Press in an interview. "Some people will always bring some excuses as well. I think he's just preparing for Friday's result."

Champagne also had a complaint rejected Tuesday against a decision by the three-member FIFA election panel.

On Monday, he objected after FIFA approved election hall passes for 20 additional UEFA staff and seven from the AFC. Champagne said that gave the confederations an unfair advantage with greater lobbying power.

In a written reply to Champagne seen by The Associated Press, election panel chairman Domenico Scala said the extra accreditations were "perfectly in line with the relevant and consistent FIFA practice" for continental bodies.

China's Zheng Saisai shocks reigning Australian Open champion in Qatar


Angelique Kerber's first WTA Tour outing since her brilliant Australian Open triumph ended in disappointment as the top seed suffered a shock 7-5 6-1 loss to Zheng Saisai at the Qatar Open.

     China's Zheng Saisai returns a shot to Germany's Angelique Kerber during the first round at the Qatar Wednesday.


 Kerber upset the odds to defeat Serena Williams in the Melbourne showpiece last month, but the German - who has played in the Fed Cup but not on Tour since her win - looked flat in Doha.

Zheng deserved credit for a tenacious showing and accurate ground strokes, while Kerber's 38 unforced errors gave the Chinese plenty of cheap points en route to the biggest win of her career.

Next up for Zheng is a tricky contest with wildcard Eugenie Bouchard.

The Canadian continued to show signs that she is back to her best by defeating Denisa Allertova 7-6 (7-0) 7-5.

There was also disappointment for Simona Halep, Belinda Bencic and Lucie Safarova on a day of upsets.

Second seed Halep was up a set and 4-1 in the second before losing 11 out of the next 12 games in a 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-1 to qualifier Elena Vesnina.

Bencic - the sixth seed - was put to the sword 6-4 6-2 by Coco Vandeweghe, a week after losing in the first round in Dubai to Jelena Jankovic – herself beaten 3-6 6-4 7-5 by Monica Niculescu.

As for defending champion and seventh seed Safarova, she lost 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 to wildcard Cagla Buyukakcay.

It was a straight-forward outing for third seed Agnieszka Radwanska as she saw off Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4 6-4, but ninth seed Roberta Vinci had to save three match points in a 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-3) win over Daria Kasatkina.

Garbine Muguruza easily saw off Nao Hibino 6-2 6-0, a win that will see her move above Halep in the rankings, while Caroline Wozniacki's resurgence continued in a 6-3 6-3 victory over Daria Gavrilova.

Petra Kvitova and Carla Suarez Navarro, the fifth and eighth seeds, were comfortable winners. The former beat Czech compatriot Barbora Strycova 7-6 (7-2) 6-4, while the latter saw off Donna Vekic 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.

Timea Babos put paid to 16th seed Sara Errani's hopes in a 6-4 6-1 victory, Andrea Petkovic was a 6-3 6-3 winner against Margarita Gasparyan, Julia Ostapenko beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (7-5) 6-0 and Timea Bacsinszky overcame Yulia Putintseva 6-2 7-6 (7-0).

27th Group Army becomes first army in PLA to relocate HQ



President Xi Jinping (L, front), also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, confers a military flag to Commander Liu Yuejun and Political Commissar Zheng Weiping of the Eastern Theater Command in Beijing, capital of China, Feb 1, 2016. Xi on Monday conferred military flags on the five newly-established theater commands of the People's Liberation Army (PLA)

 The 27th Group Army recently became the first army of the People's Liberation Army to relocate its headquarters in the country's new military reform, the military newspaper PLA Daily reported on Thursday.

The 27th Group Army, which has a long and honorable history, received a relocation order from the Central Military Commission on Dec 2 to move from North China's Hebei province to new barracks in Shanxi province before Jan 5.

The army's leading group later held a meeting to arrange the relocation work. Soldiers and officers left for Shanxi's barracks separately on Dec 14, 23 and 27.

The relocation was completed by the end of last year.

143 barracks and more than 2,600 pieces of equipment in the headquarters in Shijiazhuang has been registered and recorded. The remaining fifty-one million yuan in maintenance fees for the 27th ground army will be left to a newly established ground force unit, the PLA Daily reported.

In November, the Central Military Commission held a three-day PLA reform meeting in Beijing, during which President Xi Jinping, also the chairman of the Central Military Commission, gave guidelines on reform.

The general command for the PLA Army, the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force were established. President Xi conferred military flags at their inauguration ceremony held on Dec 31 in Beijing.

After the reshuffle, the People's Liberation Army was regrouped into five new theater commands to replace the former seven military area commands. The five commands are the Eastern Theater Command, the Southern Theater Command, the Western Theater Command, the Northern Theater Command and the Central Theater Command.

President Xi conferred the military flags of the five theater commands to their leaders on Feb 1 in Beijing.

The amazing art of flower buns



Flower bun art resembles cucumbers. [Photo by Wang Zirui/Asianewsphoto]

A flower bun art festival is ongoing in Hebi city of Henan province, which puts on display more than 300 pieces of creative flower buns from Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Henan provinces in Central China.

The age of the creators ranges from 8 to 66 years old. Flower buns, an edible art form, is a traditional folk art in China with a long history dating back to the ancient Han Dynasty. During important occasions, people always make flower buns to wish for happiness and good fortune.


         Flower bun art resembles red peppers.[Photo by Wang Zirui/Asianewsphoto]

These flower buns resemble two turtles. [Photo by Wang Zirui/Asianewsphoto)

 This flower bun art portrays several dragons on a round plate. [Photo by Wang Zirui/Asianewsphoto]