There is a tradition in English football of applying asterisks to setbacks. They are losses that are sometimes not deemed defeats, exits where excuses are immediately available. The Under 21 team conformed to a familiar trend on Tuesday by departing the European Championship unbeaten, except on penalties. England no longer regard death by shoot-out as a moral victory but, on and off the pitch, there can be the sense that they have gone with pride intact.
It was the impression the English Football Association sought to give when their bid to host the 2018 World Cup failed in 2010. Given the institutionalised corruption at Fifa — suspected then, proved since — it was easy to argue that England suffered for retaining their principles. They were less likely to countenance murky dealings with the nefarious types who abounded in Fifa’s upper reaches. They were Victorians who found themselves ill-equipped to negotiate with the mafia. Or so it seemed.
So the full 422-page report by Fifa’s then ethics investigator Michael Garcia must make for embarrassing reading in English football’s corridors of power. The FA were deemed guilty of acting improperly in trying to accommodate the wishes of the Fifa vice-president Jack Warner who, despite stiff competition, may have been the shadiest character at even world football’s governing body. They made a beeline for a man now banned from football-related activity for life and facing extradition to the United States to face fraud and money-laundering charges. They ensured a Warner ally was parachuted into jobs at Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, a revelation that prompted jokes about Tim Sherwood. The integrity of the bidding process, Garcia concluded, was damaged by England’s inadequate responses to the disreputable Warner’s demands. They courted the corrupt.
The FA’s plan to play an international friendly in Thailand in exchange for votes was branded "a form of bribery". There was talk of "collusion" between England and South Korea, prospective 2022 World Cup hosts, at a meeting attended by the Duke of Cambridge and the then prime minister. They broke rules.
In short, England tried to indulge in the same grubby politicking as everyone else. They just weren’t very good at it. They procured two votes, one from their own representative, Geoff Thompson, in a campaign that cost £18 million (Dh85m). They were aware of the cultures of kickbacks and favours at Fifa. They certainly were not cleaner than clean, beaten only because the game was rigged and they refused to play by its rules. To their credit, the FA offered more transparency to Garcia than their Russian counterparts, who alleged computers containing information about their bid had been destroyed. Equally, as the least successful 2018 bidders, they had most interest in the process being discredited.
It does mean Russia’s methods remain obscured; suspicion of quite how they were so persuasive is understandable. But it prompts renewed examination of an English failure that cannot be explained by a refusal to countenance illicit techniques. There was always something preposterous in presenting Prince William, David Cameron and David Beckham as "the Three Lions", supposedly superstar diplomats who would sweep everyone else aside in a blaze of charm, something they proved conspicuously incapable of doing.
Much like Cameron in his blundering attempts to cajole the European Union into doing his bidding, the FA found themselves with too few allies abroad. The Garcia report illustrates they need to be better to conjure more support from (hopefully) more upstanding delegates. Because the other embarrassing element, besides the assessment of their conduct, is how few votes the FA secured when, with England’s stadia, geography, history and footballing culture, it ought to be one of the country’s most able to stage a successful World Cup.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The biog
Favourite film: The Notebook
Favourite book: What I know for sure by Oprah Winfrey
Favourite quote: “Social equality is the only basis of human happiness” Nelson Madela. Hometown: Emmen, The Netherlands
Favourite activities: Walking on the beach, eating at restaurants and spending time with friends
Job: Founder and Managing Director of Mawaheb from Beautiful Peopl
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Ways to control drones
Countries have been coming up with ways to restrict and monitor the use of non-commercial drones to keep them from trespassing on controlled areas such as airports.
"Drones vary in size and some can be as big as a small city car - so imagine the impact of one hitting an airplane. It's a huge risk, especially when commercial airliners are not designed to make or take sudden evasive manoeuvres like drones can" says Saj Ahmed, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research.
New measures have now been taken to monitor drone activity, Geo-fencing technology is one.
It's a method designed to prevent drones from drifting into banned areas. The technology uses GPS location signals to stop its machines flying close to airports and other restricted zones.
The European commission has recently announced a blueprint to make drone use in low-level airspace safe, secure and environmentally friendly. This process is called “U-Space” – it covers altitudes of up to 150 metres. It is also noteworthy that that UK Civil Aviation Authority recommends drones to be flown at no higher than 400ft. “U-Space” technology will be governed by a system similar to air traffic control management, which will be automated using tools like geo-fencing.
The UAE has drawn serious measures to ensure users register their devices under strict new laws. Authorities have urged that users must obtain approval in advance before flying the drones, non registered drone use in Dubai will result in a fine of up to twenty thousand dirhams under a new resolution approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Mr Ahmad suggest that "Hefty fines running into hundreds of thousands of dollars need to compensate for the cost of airport disruption and flight diversions to lengthy jail spells, confiscation of travel rights and use of drones for a lengthy period" must be enforced in order to reduce airport intrusion.
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Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
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At a glance - Zayed Sustainability Prize 2020
Launched: 2008
Categories: Health, energy, water, food, global high schools
Prize: Dh2.2 million (Dh360,000 for global high schools category)
Winners’ announcement: Monday, January 13
Impact in numbers
335 million people positively impacted by projects
430,000 jobs created
10 million people given access to clean and affordable drinking water
50 million homes powered by renewable energy
6.5 billion litres of water saved
26 million school children given solar lighting
