Chateau de Bethusy, Lausanne, where the CAS sports arbitration court, holds its hearings
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The CAS, the international arbitration court for sports in Lausanne, says it has accepted for review the appeals by two former officials of the international football federation, Fifa.
Former Fifa executive committee member Amos Adamu of Nigeria has asked that he be found not guilty and his three-year suspension overturned.
Ahongalu Fusimalohi of Tonga is asking that his ban be lifted.
The two were part of a group of six officials found guilty on various corruption charges linked to the 2018 and 2022 football World Cup bidding contests. Fifa in November 2010 handed out fines ranging from CHF5,000 to CHF10,000 and the officials were banned from participating in any football-related activities for a period of one to four years.
The CAS has not yet set a date for the hearings.
A court in Belgium will rule on a case brought by a Congolese man to ban sales in the country of the 1920s book by cartoonist Hergé, Tintin in the Congo. The book has long been criticized for its racist images and dialogue, and even the cartoonist referred to it years later as “a youthful sin which reflected the prejudices of the time”, according to the BBC. The UK’s Commission for Racial Equality at one point asked for the book to be banned, but it is now often sold in Britain with a wrapper saying the contents may be offensive.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss federal government is warning consumers not to buy sweet jellies that come in small plastic containers, which pose a “high’ risk of suffocation, if the container is sucked into the windpipe when the sweet is swallowed. The products have been banned in Switzerland since 2002 but they have recently been reappearing in the country, mainly in Asian shops, says the government.
Chateau de Bethusy, Court of Arbitration for Sport, Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - French tennis player Richard Gasquet took part in a seven-hour review of his suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport Tuesday 10 November. The review follows demands by Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) and the International Tennis Federation for his penalty to be increased to a one-year ban.
The review came on the day when Wada celebrated its tenth birthday, with director general David Howman saying “All over the world, awareness is much higher today than it was ten years ago . . . Global anti-doping efforts in general have become smarter and much more sophisticated with experience.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss police and cantonal and federal authorities will be coordinating their investigations more closely with their counterparts abroad as the Swiss government steps up efforts to combat animal rights activists who have been attacking pharmaceutical companies. The government announced that a dozen persons have been banned from entering the country, based on investigations to date, but no details of the attacks were provided. The activists are fighting the use of animals for pharmaceutical research.
