DOHA // On the day after Qatar held an ebullient football celebration, word came from Zurich that it still might get the chance to conduct another.
Scarcely had the 52,000-odd fans exited Khalifa International Stadium from the Argentina-Brazil friendly match on Wednesday night when Fifa, the sport's governing body, yesterday cleared the Spain-Portugal World Cup bid for 2018 and the Qatar World Cup bid for 2022 of collusion.
"This puts an end to the rumours and hearsay which have dominated the agenda in recent weeks," Hassan al Thawadi, the Qatar bid chief executive who had cancelled a question-and-answer appearance slated for Monday at a Doha sport conference, said of the result: "We have maintained a dignified silence to allow Fifa to deal with this issue."
In clearing both Spain-Portugal and Qatar of allegations of vote-swapping, Claudio Sulser, the Fifa ethics committee chairman, also announced the reduction of the voters from 24 to 22.
Fifa suspended from football Amos Adamu of Nigeria for three years and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti for one stemming from a Sunday Times of London report that they agreed to accept bribes staged by reporters in apparent exchange for favourable votes.
The remaining 22 will decide on December 2 in Zurich between four bidders for the 2018 World Cup and five for 2022, candidacies that will include both Spain-Portugal for the first decision and Qatar for the second.
"We didn't find sufficient grounds to reach the conclusion that there was any collusion," Sulser said in his announcement, "therefore we didn't move forward on that case."
He added, "It's hard to prove collusion."
Said al Thawadi in Doha, "We were always confident of this outcome because we have conducted ourselves throughout the campaign adhering to the highest ethical standards."
cculpepper@thenational.ae
Meydan race card
6.30pm: Maiden; Dh165,000; (Dirt) 1,200m
7.05pm: Handicap; Dh170,000; (D) 1,200m
7.40pm: Maiden; Dh165,000; (D) 1,900m
8.15pm: Handicap; Dh185,000; (D) 2,000m
8.50pm: Handicap; Dh185,000; (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap; Dh165,000; (D) 2,000m
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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