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Wellington. Football officials from Australia and New Zealand welcomed the shock resignation of FIFA President Sepp Blatter after both publicly backed his main challenger for the office last week.

The 79-year-old Swiss national, who beat Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan in last week’s vote, resigned on Tuesday in the wake of a corruption investigation. Blatter, who has led soccer’s world governing body since 1998, is being investigated by US prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a person who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which like Oceania has been a staunch ally of Blatter, said on Wednesday it was monitoring the situation and would discuss internally the “best way forward for both FIFA and world football.”

The Japan Football Association (JFA) said it was surprised by Blatter’s decision to stand down so soon — just four days after his re-election for a fifth term.

Kozo Tashima, Japan’s new FIFA Executive Committee member, told reporters on Monday that stories about corruption had dogged FIFA for a long time and “all of the pus must be squeezed out” for it to regain trust. On Wednesday, the JFA said it would play its role in helping FIFA reform.

Football Federation Australia (FFA), which joined the AFC in 2006, and New Zealand Football (NZF), which remains in Oceania, had gone against the stated positions of their respective confederations by deciding to back Prince Ali.

NZF chief executive Andy Martin told Reuters on Wednesday that Blatter’s resignation would help football rebuild its tattered reputation.

“I think this has lifted a cloud and taken away a lot of the concerns of stakeholders and their association with the sport,” he said.

“We now want a strong collaborative leader who can bring the football world together and can bring out the change that the game has been crying out for.”

Blatter’s resignation came after the latest controversy involving soccer’s world governing body, which saw seven high-ranking officials arrested in Switzerland at last week’s FIFA Congress on behalf of United States authorities.

A total of 14 FIFA officials and corporate executives have been charged by the US Department of Justice with running a criminal enterprise involving more than $150 million in bribes.

Change at all levels

NZF had publicly switched allegiance to Prince Ali after the arrests, while FFA had been increasingly critical of Blatter’s leadership after losing out to Qatar in a vote to host the 2022 World Cup.

The Australian governing body welcomed Blatter’s decision to step down, but said there now had to be root-and-branch change.

“FIFA needs fresh leadership and the resignation of the president is a first step,” FFA said in a statement. “The challenge is not just to change the top elected position, but the governance structure at all levels and the culture that underpins it.”

New Zealand’s Martin added that it was too early to say if NZF would again back 39-year-old Prince Ali, with other powerful figures such as UEFA president Michel Platini expected to put themselves forward.

“What we need to look at is who throws their hat in the ring,” Martin said. “Whoever is stronger than Prince Ali would have to be a very strong candidate to say the least, but we need to see who puts their hand up and what they’re offering.”

Reuters

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London. Global fans of Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen are having fun on Facebook trying to come up with a collective name for themselves.

The burst of fandom for the 80-year old performer of “Suzanne”, “Sisters of Mercy” and “Bird on the Wire” followed a posting noting that Joni Mitchell, another celebrated Canadian musician, once called herself a “stone [committed] Cohenite”.

Now Cohen’s official page is asking what a collective noun for such people should be — as in a pride of lions, a gaggle of geese and so on.

Early suggestions have included a leonard, a contemplation, a melancholy, a Cohenista and a fedora.

Others later suggested a sigh, referencing Cohen’s wry view on life, a Coherence and a suit. The fedora and suit proposals recall the performer’s dapper onstage presence.

“A halleluiah” is also on the list, in homage to his most famous song, estimated to have been sung by almost 200 artists and the subject of at least one documentary and a book.

Cohen released a new album “Can’t Forget” in May, the 25th listed on his website, which also mentions 12 books, much of them poetry.

Although best known for his songs, Cohen has also won a number of literary prizes, including a Princess of Asturias Award along with the likes of novelists Guenter Grass, Doris Lessing and Philip Roth.

Reuters

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Chef Jenn Louis. (Reuters Photo/Lincoln Restaurant)

New York. American chef Jenn Louis puts her own spin on 65 types of pasta and Italian dumplings such as gnocchi made from potatoes, cheeses and other ingredients in her first book “Pasta by Hand.”

Louis made her mark with Lincoln, the restaurant she started seven years ago in Portland, Oregon, where hand-made pastas are made in a variety of shapes, sizes and textures.

The 43-year-old chef, who was born in Pomona, California, spoke to Reuters about her first bite of gnocchi in Italy, the food scene in Portland and what will be the next big culinary city in America.

Q: What can readers learn about pasta in your book?

A: Pasta is broken into five categories in Italy. Then there is a category called gnocchi, but in Italy people will tell you gnocchi is a specific thing. It’s potato or ricotta-based typically. The way I put it would be all gnocchi are dumplings but not all dumplings are gnocchi.

What was your first memory of eating dumplings in Italy?

I had a great memory after college when I was backpacking in Europe by myself. I was in Siena. I didn’t have a lot of money. I found this little restaurant and no one was in it in the evening. I ordered potato gnocchi with basil pesto and I thought they were awesome.

What are your tips for making them?

They should be fun and they don’t have to be perfect. A digital scale would give the best product and, of course, using good quality ingredients.

Do you have to use 00 (highly refined) flour?

We really have a misunderstanding about 00 flour in this country. It’s about how finely ground the flour is. It doesn’t have to do anything with the amount of gluten in the flour.

How do you think the Portland dining scene will evolve?

Portland is a real simple city. People who come from outside are usually surprised. We are focused on the quality of life in Portland. It’s very approachable, so I think we’ll continue to grow. We’ll see more creativity in the city.

Which city will be the next Portland?

I love going to Miami. The food scene is more and more vibrant. There is a tremendous amount of young spirit and it’s just booming. There is a young community of passionate cooks and coffee roasters.

Reuters

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New York. The US Central Intelligence Agency used a wider array of sexual abuse and other forms of torture than was disclosed in a Senate report last year, according to a Guantanamo Bay detainee turned government cooperating witness.

Majid Khan said interrogators poured ice water on his genitals, twice videotaped him naked and repeatedly touched his “private parts” — none of which was described in the Senate report. Interrogators, some of whom smelled of alcohol, also threatened to beat him with a hammer, baseball bats, sticks and leather belts, Khan said.

Khan’s is the first publicly released account from a high-value al Qaeda detainee who experienced the “enhanced interrogation techniques” of President George W. Bush’s administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Khan’s account is contained in 27 pages of interview notes his lawyers compiled over the past seven years. The US government cleared the notes for release last month through a formal review process.

Before the Senate report detailed the agency’s interrogation methods last December, CIA officials prohibited detainees and their lawyers from publicly describing interrogation sessions, deeming detainee’s memories of the experience classified.

Khan’s detailed allegations of torture could not be independently confirmed. CIA officials have said they believed Khan repeatedly lied to them during interrogations.

The 35-year-old Khan, a Pakistani citizen who attended high school in Maryland, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in 2012 to conspiracy, material support, murder and spying charges. In exchange for serving as a government witness, Khan will be sentenced to up to 19 years in prison, with the term beginning on the date of his guilty plea.

Khan confessed to delivering $50,000 to al Qaeda operatives in Indonesia. That money was later used to carry out the 2003 truck bombing of a Marriott hotel in South Jakarta that killed 11 people and wounded at least 80 others. Khan also confessed to plotting with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to poison water supplies, blow up gas stations and serve as a “sleeper agent” for al Qaeda in the United States.

Khan was captured in Pakistan and held at an unidentified CIA “black site” from 2003 to 2006, according to the Senate report. Khan’s lawyers declined to comment on where he was captured or held, which they said remained classified.

Reuters

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The Pies in the Face Event raised over Rp 32 million for two organizations to help with their work in assisting needy children across Jakarta and through the east of Indonesia with health care, financial support and education.  Photos courtesy of Meidana Lie & Jovita Angelina

One of the messiest events ever to take place in Jakarta returned for its second year last Saturday at the VIP Parking lot of fX Sudirman, South Jakarta, where over 300 whipped cream pies were tossed and smashed on the faces of nominated candidates for a price in the name of charity.

Count Me In is proud to announce that the Pies In The Face Charity event raised over Rp 32 million ($2,400) in the span of three hours and has donated the funds equally to both Taman Bacaan Pelangi (the Rainbow Reading Garden) — a non-profit organization which has established 29 children’s libraries in 14 remote islands across Eastern Indonesia and — Komunitas Taufan (Taufan’s Community), established for the moral, educational and financial support for underprivileged families and sick children in Jakarta’s local hospitals and foundations.

This year, participants were given the opportunity to choose from more than 30 nominated targets to toss pies made of 100 percent whipped cream either from 3 meters away for Rp 50,000 or get up close and personal for Rp 100, 000.

The opportunity was made even better as nominated targets included prominent figures, such as activist and musician Melanie Subono, stand up comedian Ernest Prakasa, singer and actress Nina Tamam, celebrity chef Erikar Lebang, television anchor Marissa Anita, gounder and chief executive of DiveMag Riyanni Djangkaru, Miss Indonesia 2014 Maria Rahajeng and co-founder of Indorelawan Widharmika Agung. Meanwhile, one candidate, Dimas Subagio took more than 15 hit of pies directly to his face during the event wearing just his suit and was honored with the first smack initiated by the honorable American Ambassador.

However, the success of the event wouldn’t have been possible without the help of several organizations including Indorelawan — an online volunteering platform and bridge for both volunteers and causes to connect — which delivered more than 35 enthusiastic volunteers to assist with the event.

“I chose to volunteer for Pies In The Face Charity because it’s our call to help others — in this case the unfortunate children. I was also fascinated by the unique and crazy concept!” said Dion Maulana Mohamad, one of the volunteers from Indorelawan at Pies In The Face Charity. “I have never been to a charity event like this before where you’re able to do maximum goodness while having maximum fun and meet new awesome friends. I hope this event will happen again in the following year.”

Volunteers were categorized into crews; the Whipped Crew responsible for whipping and plating pies, Protector Crew who helped the nominated targets to wear their protective gears, the Wet Crew responsible for helping the nominated targets clean up after the pie-smacking session, the Attention Seekers which gathered the crowd and the Officers which helped with the entire flow of the event and documentation.
“The reason why we supported Pies In The Face Charity event other than being in theme with our May campaign called Food United is because we think that this event is very unique, and most importantly it is for charity!” said Indra Hedy Lesmana, the fX Sudirman marketing and communications officer.
Other organizations which supported the event included Fortuna U, which offered to print the promotional ads in a nick of time, Nanny’s Pavillon restaurant and Vivo for providing the event with 50 boxes of whipped cream, Foundation of Mother and Child (FMCH) and Crown for producing the protective gears and towels, as well as Habibie Center and Crossfit Bengkel.
“Two great things were celebrated on Saturday: the spirit of volunteerism and a love of reading” said producer and director Daniel Ziv, who was one of the first targets of the day.
“I’m grateful to have had the chance to help out with such a refreshing initiative, even if it meant being publicly humiliated on stage and giving up what little remaining dignity I had”
On that note, the Count Me In team would like to thank each and everyone who participated, volunteered and supported the event in every way possible for a good cause.
As Hellen Keller so aptly puts it: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harper Lee being presented the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President George W. Bush. (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

New York. An archive of six typewritten letters by “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee could sell for up to $250,000 when it goes under the hammer this month, Christie’s auction house said on Tuesday.

The letters were undated or written between 1956 and 1961 to Lee’s friend, New York architect Harold Caufield. They will be auctioned on June 12 in New York.

Christie’s said manuscript material by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer is rare, and none has come to auction for 40 years.

“They are written by somebody who is so popular in American culture right now and was since the day of publication of her major work, and who has remained enigmatic,” said Tom Lecky, head of Christie’s Book and Manuscripts, New York.

“To have an archive that is intimate and personal is highly unusual.”

In one letter, Lee wrote about her reaction to the success of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” which became an American classic, sold an estimated 30 million copies, and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film starring Gregory Peck.

“We were surprised, stunned & dazed by the Princeton review,” Lee wrote. “The procurator of Judea is breathing heavily down my neck — all that lovely, lovely money is going straight to the Bureau of International Revenue tomorrow.”

Christie’s said the first four letters date before “Mockingbird” was published, when Lee was caring for her ailing father, the model for her character Atticus Finch, in Monroeville, Alabama.

“Daddy is sitting beside me at the kitchen table … I found myself staring at his handsome old face, and a sudden wave of panic flashed through me, which I think was an echo of the fear and desolation that filled me when he was nearly dead,” she wrote.

A highly anticipated second book by Lee, who is now 89 years old, will be published on July 14.

“Go Set a Watchman” was written before “To Kill a Mockingbird” and is set in the 1950s. It features the same characters, lawyer Finch and his daughter Scout, but they appear 20 years later when she returns as an adult to the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.

There were concerns about whether Lee had been pressured into agreeing to have the new book published. The Alabama Securities Commission investigated an unspecified complaint of elder abuse and found that Lee had made it clear that she wanted the book to be published.

Reuters

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Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan. It is late afternoon and slivers of sunlight stream in through an exhaust fan, cutting through multicolored strobe lights and shisha smoke in a basement karaoke club, one of more than a dozen in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

About a dozen young men lounge around on sofas, belting out ballads in Dari and clapping along to the music.

“Usually in the evening after my job I come here to drink tea, coffee, smoke shisha and have fun,” said Najibullah, 27, a businessman.

Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, is the one of the last oases of calm in the war-torn country.

But that is increasingly coming under threat. As a resurgent Taliban make their most intense push in recent years in the northern provinces of Afghanistan, residents here are worrying about war spilling into their city.

“Everything depends on security,” said Farangis Sowgand, a member of the provincial council and a women’s activist. “When there is no security there is no life.”

On April 9, weeks before the start of the annual fighting season, militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons stormed a court in the city, killing eight people, including the district police chief.

The province’s economy has slowed with the rest of Afghanistan, where the growth rate is estimated to have fallen to 2 percent in 2014 from 3.7 percent in 2013, and an average of 9 percent during 2003-12, according to the World Bank.

In Mazar-i-Sharif, residents complain of rising unemployment. Unfinished buildings dot the landscape, with little sign of construction work.

Sami Jan, 28, a blacksmith who has lived in the city for the past eight years, said his business had fallen by half since a new government took over in Kabul last year.

For now, though, Mazar-i-Sharif residents don’t let worries about an uncertain future stop them from enjoying life.

At 9.30 p.m., squeals of laughter rise above an amusement park as the swing ride starts spinning and children navigate bumper cars.

Families lay blankets and relax on the grass, feeling secure within the high walls of the park watched over by guards with AK-47s.

“We have this facility at night. Why not enjoy it,” said Naqibullah, who was there with his wife and five children.

Reuters

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Kutupalong, Bangladesh. More than 20 years after the first wave of Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar, fear is spreading through the sweltering camps of mud houses where they found shelter in southern Bangladesh that they will soon be on the move again.

The refugees worry the Bangladesh government wants them out of sight, perhaps to one of its islands in the Bay of Bengal, as the two countries row over what to do with a stateless minority whose search for security is driving a regional migrant crisis.

“This is home for us now, it is peaceful here.” said Nur Alam, who crossed the Naf river that separates the two countries in a tiny boat in 1991. “We are not sure we will be safe elsewhere.”

About 33,000 men, women and children live crammed into two dilapidated camps in the villages of Kutupalong and Nayapara, near the Myanmar border, that are supported by the United Nations and the Bangladesh government. They are the lucky ones.

There are anywhere from 200,000 to 400,000 more Rohingyas in nearby camps and hills whom the government will not even recognize as temporary refugees lest it weaken its case to send them back to Myanmar, where they say they face persecution.

H.T. Imam, political adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said the presence of so many foreigners without proper identity documents or work was causing problems for local people and hindering development.

“The Rohingya are the citizens of Myanmar and they must go back,” he said. “We feel for them, but we are unable to host them any longer.”

International focus on the festering plight of the Rohingya has sharpened in recent weeks as more than 4,000 migrants have washed up in rickety boats on the shores of Southeast Asia.

The migrants, mostly Rohingyas but also Bangladeshis escaping poverty, were abandoned at sea by people smugglers after Thailand launched a crackdown on gangs trafficking their human cargo across its southern border with Malaysia.

Not welcome

Bangladesh, one of the world’s most densely populated countries of 160 million people, is concerned that if it kept accepting fellow Muslims from Myanmar it would only encourage the flow across its border.

Myanmar does not recognize its estimated 1.1 million Rohingya population as citizens, even though many have lived for generations in its western Rakhine state. The government refers to them as “Bengalis” and considers them illegal immigrants.

Mohammad Shah Kamal, secretary to Bangladesh’s ministry of disaster management and relief, said he had proposed finding alternative space for the camps, but the land ministry could not find any.

Local media have reported that the government was considering moving the two camps to Hatiya island, several hours journey away by bus and boat.

A government official said Hasina had told a recent meeting that the camps were hindering tourism in nearby Cox’s Bazar, which boasts the world’s longest unbroken beach.

Hasina suggested officials look for an uninhabited stretch of land near a river bed to accommodate the camps, the official who was present at the meeting said, requesting anonymity.

The UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, said it had not been consulted about any proposal to relocate the camps.

“We hope that if any move takes place, it will be carried out in a dignified manner. The success of any relocation will depend on the refugees’ perception of living conditions at the new location,” said UNHCR spokeswoman Onchita Shadman.

Inside the camp

Nur Alam, looking much older than his 43 years, is worried about more than just the plans to move the refugees.

One of his seven children is not registered because he was born to a second wife, and he fears he would have to leave the 11-year-old boy behind when the rest of the family move.

The children played around the small and sparse hut at the edge of the unmarked camp which is closed to outsiders. The refugees are not supposed to go out and mix with locals.

His wife Rupban, 35, sat in the doorway, so small it was necessary to almost crawl to enter the dwelling.

“We don’t want to move again,” she said firmly.

Nur Alam’s family live off the rations provided by the aid agencies. There is little else to do.

Even so, Ruhul Amin, 43, who crossed over from Myanmar seven years ago, is desperate to be listed as one of the documented refugees and live inside the camp, where soap and other basics are handed out and children attend classes.

Instead, he and his family of eight live in a hillside shack, scraping by on whatever he can earn as a day laborer.

He might make 250 Bangladesh taka ($3.22) a day, he said, half what a local would be paid. Sometimes they get alms during religious holidays.

“We have no choice,” he said. “If the authorities tell us to move, we will move. But we can’t go back to Myanmar.”

In recent months the local mood has hardened against the Rohingya, in part because they are blamed for encouraging poor Bangladeshis to join the thousands making the perilous journey abroad.

“They are the pioneers in these boat crossings to Malaysia,” said Kutupalong village official Ahmad. “They started going first, then they have been telling our youth to move because of commissions they receive.”

Reuters

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Los Angeles. Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne will enter the world of magic in Warner Bros’ anticipated “Harry Potter” spin-off movie “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the studio said.

Redmayne, 33, who won a best actor Oscar this year for his role as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” will play magizoologist Newt Scamander, “who in his travels has encountered and documented a myriad of magical creatures,” Warner Bros said this week.

The tale is set in New York, 70 years before the saga of boy wizard “Harry Potter,” and is described as neither a prequel or sequel, but rather an extension of author J.K. Rowling’s popular Wizarding World of magic.

Time Warner-owned Warner Bros has announced three “Fantastic Beasts” films that will follow the adventures of Newt Scamander.

Rowling, who will make her screenwriting debut with “Fantastic Beasts,” is one of the world’s best-selling authors. Her seven “Harry Potter” novels have sold more than 450 million copies around the world, and spawned an eight-part film franchise that grossed more than $7 billion at the worldwide box office.

Reuters

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