Blatter wins fourth term as FIFA president

Sepp Blatter was re-elected unopposed for a fourth term as FIFA president on Wednesday, shrugging off the scandals that have hit world soccer's governing body to secure another four years in charge.
Blatter, the 75-year-old Swiss who has run FIFA since 1998, was voted in by an overwhelming majority, winning 186 votes of the 203 cast, and immediately pushed through changes intended the make the choice of World Cup hosts more democratic and beef up the fight against corruption.
"I'm a happy man after these very, very hard weeks," Blatter, who at the start of the day also defeated a proposal from the English FA to postpone the election, told reporters.
Minutes after his re-election, delegates approved his suggestion that World Cup hosts should in future be chosen by the Congress from a short-list prepared by the 24-man executive committee.
Under the current system, voting is restricted to the executive committee, which critics say leads to excessive lobbying and exchanges of favors.
Congress also accepted a proposal to strengthen the ethics committee by separating the investigation and decision-making powers and another to create a new watchdog called the "solution committee".
Blatter, the eighth president in FIFA's 107-year history, had been due to face Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam but the Qatari withdrew on Sunday amid cash-for-votes allegations.
Bin Hammam was barred entry to the Congress hall, having been provisionally suspended by the ethics committee along with fellow executive committee Jack Warner.
"I will never accept how my name and my reputation have been damaged. I will fight for my rights," Bin Hammam said in a statement.
"I thank all the people who have supported me during the last weeks and will support me further."
Blatter himself was cleared of any wrongdoing during the electoral campaign by the ethics committee on Sunday.
"I wanted this Congress to know and understand that we are in a situation which needs not only words but action," said Blatter.
"I have been hit, I have been slapped but we are standing and we have created the necessary means to react."
"I'm not the best swimmer but I can take a ship safely to harbor," he added.
The European Club Association (ECA) joined the calls for Blatter to implement reforms. "The recent happenings have once more proven that FIFA needs a change in its whole structure," chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.
"I request FIFA to immediately introduce democratic and transparent structures and procedures. European clubs will no longer accept that they do not participate in the decision-making when it comes to club related matters."
"We will closely follow FIFA's development in this respect in the future and take appropriate measures, if there is no improvement."
Final hurdle
Blatter named former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and ex-Dutch international Johan Cruyff as two personalities he would like to be involved with the committees in some capacity.
Looking relieved, Blatter said he would ask the solution committee to change the way in which the powerful executive committee, currently elected by the regional confederations, was chosen.
Blatter said he was surprised at the English proposal but said there would be no recriminations.
"There is no bad feeling against any of the associations that did not vote for me," said Blatter.
"I'm proud with 186 votes, those against me are also the members of FIFA and we take them all together."
The motion to postpone the election was rejected by 172 votes to 17, although the English proposal gained several more votes than originally expected.
Other delegates were less conciliatory and vice-president Julio Grondona of Argentina produced an astonishing attack on the English FA.
"It cannot be that the problems always come from the same side," said Grondona, claiming that England had been sulking since 1974 when Stanley Rous lost the FIFA presidency to Brazil's Joao Havelange.
"Since 1974, things have changed and it seemed that this country didn't like it....Now, we are in 2011 and they still seem to always have something to say."
Spanish FA president Angel Villar rounded on the media. "They attack our freedom because, most unfortunately for the world of football and FIFA, it is cheap and costs them nothing," he said.

UK-owned consulting firm honored

Grant Thornton Vietnam Co has been honored with the Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister of Vietnam and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for its contribution to the development and progress of the auditing profession in Vietnam in 2006-2010.
The UK-owned company is among 3 auditing firms and 12 other individuals awarded with the prestigious award, according to Decision No 656 /QD- TTg signed by Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Vietnam.
Its senior audit partner, Nguyen Thi Vinh Ha, is one of the 12 individuals to be recognized.
These awards have also been presented at the 20th Anniversary Ceremony of the independent auditing profession in Vietnam jointly organized by Vietnam Association of Certified Public Accountants (VACPA) and the MOF in Hanoi.
Grant Thornton Vietnam is a member firm within Grant Thornton International Ltd which was established in 1993 with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and has enjoyed growth and success since its establishment.
It have comprising six partners and around 140 professional staff providing quality services in assurance, consulting and development services, corporate finance and tax services, designed to help clients in various industries achieve their business objectives.

Vietnamese-American female student missing in US

A missing nursing student's family is offering $20,000 for information about her whereabouts after she disappeared Friday at a northern California hospital.

Michelle Hoang Thi Le was last spotted about 7 p.m. Friday going to her car in the parking garage at the Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center. She is enrolled at the Hayward campus of Samuel Merritt University.

The 26-year-old beauty told friends she was going to drive to Reno with a friend after class that night, authorities said. Her friend never heard from her, and Le's vehicle was later found a few blocks from the hospital.

Le had a cell phone with her when she left class, but it was not found in the car.

"We haven't found anything at all that leads us [in] one direction or another, that tells us this is a foul play incident or anything," Lt. Roger Keener of the Hayward Police Department told KGO 7 News in San Francisco.

Le is halfway through Merritt's 12-month accelerated program.

Her family said Monday they collected $20,000 as a reward for her return.

"It's really hard not to assume the worst, but we're trying," the woman's brother, Michael, told reporters. "That's the hardest thing, staying positive."

"The entire Samuel Merritt University community is deeply concerned about the disappearance of our nursing student Michelle Le," school spokeswoman Elizabeth Valente told ABC News.

"She's an intelligent, beautiful, polite person who is very excited about her career of becoming a nurse," Valente said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "She wants to help people."

Anyone with information about Le's whereabouts is asked to contact the Hayward Police Department at (510) 293-7000.

Bin Laden unarmed when shot dead: US

The United States revealed Tuesday that Osama bin Laden was unarmed when US commandos shot him dead and said the Pakistani authorities had been kept in the dark because they might have tipped off the Al-Qaeda leader.

Pakistani media personnel and local residents gather outside the hideout of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Unusually frank remarks from the CIA chief betrayed the extent of the distrust between the United States and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed ally and key partner in the war against the resurgent Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
"It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission," Leon Panetta told Time magazine in an interview. "They might alert the targets."
US officials, meanwhile, debated whether to scotch conspiracy theories by releasing a "gruesome" photo of the dead bin Laden, conscious that such an image would likely inflame strong passions in parts of the Muslim world.
The White House gave the fullest account yet of the dramatic and momentous raid on Sunday night that killed the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks and sparked scenes of relief and joy around the Western world.
But officials did not clearly explain why bin Laden was shot dead and not captured, given that he was unarmed, fueling speculation that the elite Navy SEAL team had been ordered not to take him alive.
"In the room with bin Laden, a women -- bin Laden's wife -- rushed the US assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed."
Pressed about the so-called "kill mission," Carney said there had been significant resistance, a "volatile firefight," and insisted: "We were prepared to capture him if that was possible."
The fact that, after a years-long manhunt, bin Laden turned up in an fortified compound in Abbottabad, home to the Pakistani equivalent of the West Point and Sandhurst military academies just two hours' drive north of Islamabad, has been greeted with incredulity.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari rejected as "baseless" charges that his country extends safe haven to extremists, but outraged US lawmakers are calling for billions of dollars in aid to be cut back or dropped entirely.
The Obama administration last year said it would seek another USD2 billion for Pakistan's military, on top of a five-year, USD7.5 billion civilian package approved in 2009 aimed at weakening the allure of Islamic extremists.
US analysts were scouring documents and computer files seized from bin Laden's hideout for evidence after top counter-terrorism official John Brennan said it was "inconceivable" he had not had some kind of support network.

For a decade, Islamabad has been America's wary Afghan war ally, despite widespread public opposition and militant bomb attacks across the nuclear-armed country that have killed several thousand people.

But Pakistan has never been fully trusted by either Kabul or Washington, which accuse its powerful military of fostering the Afghan Taliban it spawned during the 1980s resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Pakistani intelligence officials said the nation's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency had no idea bin Laden was holed up in Abbottabad, despite searching the compound in 2003 while it was still under construction.

In a Washington Post opinion piece, Zardari acknowledged the US commandos carried out the raid without Pakistani collaboration -- but stressed Islamabad had initially helped to identify the Al-Qaeda courier who led them to bin Laden.

US officials say DNA tests have proven conclusively that the man shot dead above the eye in Sunday's raid was indeed the Al-Qaeda leader who boasted about the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the September 11 attacks.

But they are also mulling whether to release a photo as proof.

"It is fair to say it is a gruesome photograph... it could be inflammatory," Carney said. "We are reviewing the situation."

In Sunday's operation, which lasted less than 40 minutes, Navy SEALs, arriving in two helicopters, stormed bin Laden's compound, which stood out from other properties because of its towering perimeter walls and heavy security.

In addition to the bin Laden family, two other families resided there: one on the first floor of the main residence and another in a second building.

"On the first floor of bin Laden's building, two Al-Qaeda couriers were killed along with a woman who was killed in cross-fire," Carney said.

"Bin Laden and his family were found on the second and third floor of the building. There was concern that bin Laden would oppose the capture operation and indeed he resisted."

After the firefight, the "non-combatants were moved to a safe location as the damaged helicopter was detonated," Carney said. "The team departed the scene via helicopter to the USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea."

US officials have revealed how the trail for bin Laden had gone cold for years until August 2010, when the CIA tracked a courier and his brother to the large compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.

After months of top-secret planning, the operation came down to a simple command delivered by Obama on Friday -- "it's a go."

On Sunday, the president and his top lieutenants gathered in the White House Situation Room to watch the dramatic operation unfold. Then came confirmation that bin Laden -- codenamed "Geronimo" -- was now "EKIA": Enemy Killed in Action.

The fifth person killed in the raid was believed to be one of bin Laden's sons.

The United States says bin Laden received Muslim rites before his body was "eased" into the Arabian Sea on Monday so no one could turn his grave into a shrine. Muslim leaders have condemned the sea burial.

With Pakistan's main Taliban faction vowing vengeance, the United States said Tuesday it was closing its consulates in the cities of Lahore and Peshawar to the public until further notice.

Hundreds of curious Pakistanis descended on the bullet-riddled villa Tuesday that had hidden bin Laden from the world, some taking pictures and home videos of the battered compound.

Gathering outside to get a look at the now notorious high-walled villa, dozens of youths staged a demo mocking the United States, shouting "Osama is alive!"

Bin Laden targeted by TV's late-night humorists

Osama bin Laden's death not only dominated the news Monday, but also fueled a wealth of comic relief, punch lines and unapologetic crowing from TV's late-night hosts.

In this publicity image released by NBC, Jimmy Fallon, host of 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,' portrays Donald Trump during a public address about the demise of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden, during a taping of 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,' airing Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 12:35 a.m. on NBC.

"You seem like you're in a good mood," said CBS' David Letterman, greeting his "Late Show" audience with a grin. "You folks enjoy the Osama bin Laden season finale?"
Over on NBC, "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno was all smiles, too, as he declared, "It looks like President Obama has a new campaign slogan: 'Yes I Did.'"
"Great news," said Conan O'Brien on his TBS talk show. "The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, is dead. Which means now the official No. 1 threat to America is the KFC Double Down."
"It was the first Twitter death rumor ever that turned out to be true," cracked Jimmy Kimmel on ABC.
"Bin Laden is dead!" said "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon on NBC — "just like the Republicans' chances in 2012."
And on CBS' "Late Late Show," host Craig Ferguson gave extra oomph to his trademark pronouncement, "It's a great day for America, everybody!"
"I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl who just shot bin Laden in the eye," glowed Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report," adding, "I hope I am never again this happy over someone's death."
Colbert's fellow Comedy Central host, Jon Stewart, was no less effusive on "The Daily Show."
"I suppose," he allowed, "I should be expressing some ambivalence about the targeted killing of another human being. And yet — uhhhh, no!"
Instead, Stewart said, he wanted details. Like, what was the look on bin Laden's face when he realized "the helicopters overhead were not giving traffic and weather updates?"
Letterman's Top Ten, "fresh from the State Department," purported to list bin Laden's final words, which might have been "I'm not sure I want to live in a world where 'Fast Five' is the No. 1 movie," or maybe, "I need a house full of Navy SEALs like I need a hole in the head."
The jokes — and there were many — were focused on a handful of basic themes. Like the courageous Navy SEALs who took bin Laden out.
According to O'Brien, "When he heard about it, former President Bush was furious and said, 'Wait a minute — I could have used seals?!'"
"How about those Navy SEALs?" marveled Letterman. "They jump out of a helicopter and they break into the compound, and they fire a warning shot into his head."
"Well, the good news is," he added, invoking another prevalent theme, "bin Laden lived to see the royal wedding."
"Between the death of bin Laden and the marriage of Kate Middleton and Prince William," Kimmel said, "it's an exciting time to be in the commemorative plate business."
But what will happen to bin Laden in the next life?
Fallon disclosed that the 72 virgins supposedly awaiting the al-Qaida leader in paradise had turned out to be "just some dudes watching 'Game of Thrones' on HBO."
Letterman had another theory: Owing to a screwup in the paperwork, they were 72 vegans.
The comics took glee in lampooning Donald Trump, who, as an undeclared GOP candidate for the presidency, has noisily questioned both Obama's citizenship and college scholarship.
On NBC, first word of bin Laden's death pre-empted the final few minutes of Sunday's East Coast airing of the Trump-hosted reality show, "Celebrity Apprentice."
"This," said O'Brien, "begs the question: How do we kill bin Laden again NEXT Sunday?"
Kimmel observed that, "On the same night Obama was ordering the Navy to kill bin laden, his potential opponent in 2012, Donald Trump, was busy firing Playmate of the Month Hope Dworaczyk."
And on "Late Night," Fallon impersonated Trump in a sketch, stating that Obama "is so scared of me and so desperate for attention that he felt the need to hunt down and kill bin Laden right in the middle of my show."
Online, much of the comedy reaction revolved around positioning Obama as an action hero. Making the rounds was a picture of a determined Obama and the label: "Everyone chill ... out, I GOT THIS!"
Another photo showed a smiling Obama in sunglasses and suit with the caption: "Sorry it took so long to get you a copy of my birth certificate. I was too busy killing Osama bin Laden."
One of the most popular topics on Twitter through much of Monday was Jack Bauer, the fictional government agent of "24." The Jack Bauer messages typically reflected a pride in the Navy SEALs who carried out the mission.
But Steve Martin took his own, pointedly ironic approach to the startling events: "Slow news day," he tweeted.

Mozilla unleashes sleek new Firefox Web browser

A fast, sleek new version of Firefox was released on Wednesday to vie Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) and Google Chrome in the fiercely competitive market for Web browsing software.

A screen displays the logo of the open-source web browser Firefox

Nonprofit group Mozilla made Firefox 4 available as a free download to computers powered by Windows, Mac OS X or Linux operating systems in more than 80 languages.
Firefox 4 was billed as six times faster than its predecessor and boasted features including a "Do Not Track" signal to opt-out of having online activities recorded by websites for targeted online ads or services.
The open-source Web browsing software was also designed as a stage for rich video or game graphics based on the HTML5 standard being touted as a boon for online visual experiences.
"Firefox puts users in control of their Web experience, providing a streamlined user interface, fun new features, a boost in speed and support for modern Web technologies," Mozilla said in an online message.
Powerful new versions of Chrome and IE9 Web browsers were released earlier this month by Google and Microsoft, respectively, putting pressure on California based Mozilla to release a finished version of Firefox 4.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser in the United States followed by Firefox, Chrome and Apple's Safari.