If you’ve spent any time on a ship, Raffaella Tolicetti’s descriptions of working a kitchen during rocky seas should sound familiar – although she has the added challenge of cooking while antagonistic vessels attempt to ram each other in Antarctic waters.
The U.S. was not successful. Instead, Qatar — a small, wealthy emirate on the Persian Gulf — became the first Arab country to be awarded the event. And almost immediately the decision to place a summer football tournament in a country where daytime temperatures in those months often exceed 120 degrees drew fierce criticism — and deep suspicion.
Tens of millions of dollars had been discovered hidden away in offshore accounts in Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland, said Richard Weber, chief of the U.S. tax agency's criminal investigation division.
NEW YORK – Once the most important man in U.S. soccer, Charles "Chuck" Blazer turned on FIFA to become the central figure in a wide-ranging graft investigation that threatened Wednesday to bring the sport's world governing body to its knees.
Following the early-morning arrest Wednesday of several FIFA leaders, including Costa Rican Eduardo Li, in a massive corruption probe spearheaded by the United States Justice Department, Costa Rica has now opened a money laundering probe into Li's assets here, a high-ranking Costa Rican justice official told The Tico Times.
SANTIAGO, Chile – Foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean fell 16 percent in 2014, reversing a decade-long growth trend as the region's economies slowed, a U.N. panel said Wednesday.
Eduardo Li, a FIFA executive committee member from Costa Rica, was among seven people arrested at the luxury Zurich hotel where they were preparing for a congress starting Thursday. All now face deportation to the United States on charges of accepting more than $100 million in bribes.
The stunning collapse of Venezuela's bolivar in black market trading this month -- it fell to as low as 423 bolivars per dollar from 279 at the start of the month -- has left Venezuelans scratching their heads, with many wondering why it has sunk below the value of gold and hard currency the central bank has to back it.
