By Christian Pfeifer

The Australian lists bribery, blackmail, extortion, violence, kidnapping, tax evasion, illegal gambling and money laundering among the tactics for match-fixing in the Italian first division. Involved in these allegations are star players, referees, linesman, club managers, government ministers, judges, tax inspectors, police officers, and even a TV sports show host.

The scandal is seen as lowering Italy’s chances of winning the upcoming World Cup in Germany, as national team players and head coach, Marcello Lippi are implicated in the scandal and have been asked to resign. According to the Calcutta Telegraph, Lippi is accused of preferring players for the national team who have signed with the players’ agency, GEA World, run by Moggis’s son, Alessandro. Lippi’s son also works at GEA as an agent. The newspaper 7 Days (United Arab Emirates) notes that Italians are calling for Lippi to retire before the start of the World Cup in order to prevent further damage to the team’s reputation.

By Christian Pfeifer

According to widereurope.org, Putin referred in his address to the corrupt bureaucracy that allegedly uses Russia’s wealth to further their personal interests. In the address, Putin stated: “... Russia will be prosperous only when the success of every individual will depend not only on his material standards, but also on his decency and his culture”.

Two days after the address, the Moscow Times carried a story of ten senior law enforcement officials who were fired as a consequence of the new anti-corruption drive. “The work is not over, and not only within Customs,” the Russian president is quoted as saying, suggesting that more officials could lose their jobs.

Criticism for Putin’s drive came from Georgy Satarov, the Director of Indem, a Russian think tank dealing with corruption. He told the Moscow Times: “It’s battling corrupt individuals, not corruption”. In the same article, political analyst Vladimir Pribylovski added: “The corruption will remain, but the money will be going to a different clan”.

The Moscow Times further reports that the Federal Security Service played a central role in the termination of the officials, and that some of the fired officials’ successors are former KGB colleagues of Putin. The paper reports that the new anti-corruption drive demonstrates the influence of the president’s secret service clan.

By Kristi Benedict

Despite other examples of African leaders staying past their mandated terms, Obasanjo’s decision to seek a third term had sparked protest and shock on the continent. His desire to change the constitution miffed Nigerians, and Africans in general, because “on a continent bereft of political gains, Olusegun Obasanjo stands out as a leader in whom many Africans see what they regard as somebody who is a role model, a leader they could be proud of”, reported The Post.

The decision by the National Assembly in mid-May to reject any altering of the Constitution was seen as a “victory for democracy” and was welcomed by Obasanjo, the Vanguard reported.

Obasanjo’s gracious acceptance of defeat was praised within Nigeria and among other African leaders. Agence France Presse reported that South African President Thabo Mbeki heralded Obasanjo’s adherence to the principles of democracy as “an outstanding act of statesmanship”, and noted that he “spoke to all of us in unequivocal terms to reaffirm our sacred task to entrench democracy throughout our continent”.