BUENOS AIRES, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Former Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona accused FIFA's former president, Joseph Blatter, on Thursday of robbing money while at the helm of the international soccer association, comparing him with a former government official imprisoned for corruption.
When Joao Havelange was president in 1970s, Blatter kept a million U.S. dollars, but no more, according to Maredona. However, the former soccer player added that now Blatter has more money than Jose Lopez.
Lopez was Argentina's public works secretary during Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007) and his wife Cristina Fernandez's (2007-2015) governments. He was arrested on Tuesday while trying to hide millions of U.S. dollars in a monastery.
The former World Cup champion asked Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General for the U.S. investigating corruption within FIFA, to come to Argentina so that she can see that former Argentina soccer executive Julio Humberto Grondona, already deceased, was the one that taught Blatter to steal.
Maradona, 55, said that the current FIFA president, Switzerland's Gianni Infantino, was "saddened" by the situation involving the soccer association.
"Infantino has asked me to collaborate. Both in FIFA and in the AFA (Argentine Football Association) dynamite has to be thrown in so that a fresh start can be made. He (Infantino) was saddened. He couldn't do anything at all from outside (of FIFA)," said Maradona.
The former Argentina coach at the South Africa 2010 World Cup also added that both Blatter and Grondona, the former president of the AFA, banned him from entering the stadiums during the World Cup in Brazil 2014.
"These are mafia-like things that obviously the fearful people, instead of saying wimpish, collaborate with such as Grondona's son. When I faced him he ran away with his tail between his legs," said Maradona. Enditem
KHARTOUM Bryce Love Redskins Jersey , June 18 (Xinhua) -- With the beginning of the rainy season and accompanying difficulties caused by unpaved roads, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is racing with time to deliver food aid via Sudanese humanitarian corridors to thousands of people affected by war and famine in South Sudan.
The WFP is using three humanitarian corridors opened by the Sudanese government to send food to the people of South Sudan facing the risk of famine.
"The rainy season constitutes the major challenge for us," Lemma Bayissa, WFP director in Sudan's North Kordofan State, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Sunday.
"That is why we are speeding up Terry McLaurin Redskins Jersey , day and night. The rainy season comes with other issues such as road conditions, besides that trucks sometimes take more than their capacity and technical problems might be there in the area," he noted.
"During this time the challenge is represented in fewer trucks, sometimes fewer commercials and less inaccessibility because of the rainy season to areas such as West Kordofan, South Kordofan and other target areas Montez Sweat Redskins Jersey ," the director added.
He further explained that WFP resorts to "prepositioning process" before the rainy season begins to secure food supplies at the target areas.
"Before the rainy season we are sending the food to areas like South Kordofan, i.e we pump the food before the rainy season. We are doing the same thing in areas like South Kordofan, like Kharasan and Al Meram," Bayissa said.
He reiterated that there was enough amount of food at the WFP warehouses in EL Obied, the capital city of North Kordofan State.
"Two days ago Dwayne Haskins Redskins Jersey , we added 15, 600 metric tons of food. That means we have food in Kosti; we have food in Port-Sudan. Food is coming," he said.
According to Bayissa, the WFP has so far steered 12 convoys through two Sudanese humanitarian corridors and carried more than 25,000 metric tons of food to the needy in South Sudan.
"For Bentiu corridor Da'Ron Payne Redskins Jersey , we sent ten convoys, with the total cereals sent reaching 12,000 metric tons," he said.
The UN official also expressed appreciation for the facilities provided by the Sudanese government, which contributed to WFP's success in delivering food to thousands of the needy in South Sudan.
"We really appreciate what the Sudanese government is doing. There is a proper coordination. We have a joint technical committee established at Khartoum level Landon Collins Redskins Jersey , and a joint technical committee established at El Obied level for which every week, may be sometimes two times, a meeting is going on," he noted.
He added that government security bodies would assist by escorting UN convoys to South Sudan.
Thanks to the memorandum of understanding signed between Sudan and South Sudan in 2014, the WFP has so far transported more than 57 Alex Smith Redskins Jersey ,420 tons of food through Sudan's humanitarian corridors to the new-born country.
The WFP is also providing food aid to the South Sudanese refugees who live in Sudan after fleeing the violence and food insecurity in their country.
The UN agency is currently assisting over 250,000 South Sudanese refugees across Sudan, with the majority in the White Nile State.