Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain...
PSG chairman and beIN Media chief Nasser al-Khelaifi faced new accusations Friday as Italian police seized a villa in Sardinia used as “a means of corruption” in a World Cup media rights scandal.
Italian police, who have searched the luxury villa in Porto Cervo, said Khelaifi had put the property at the disposal of disgraced ex-FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.
Khelaifi and Valcke, who was Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man at FIFA until both were drummed out of world football’s governing body, were placed under investigation by Swiss prosecutors on Thursday over the sale of World Cup media rights.
Khelaifi has close links to Qatar’s ruling family and heads the Gulf state’s beIN media group, which has a portfolio of channels in countries including France, Turkey and Australia.
FIFA said Friday it was also investigating Khelaifi over the media rights issue.
A FIFA spokesman said its Ethics Commission “opened a preliminary investigation into Nasser al-Khelaifi on Thursday evening”.
Italian police said they had searched and seized the “Villa Bianca” property set in a lush garden on the Mediterranean island in a raid conducted in the presence of a “representative of the Swiss government”.
Several people “linked to various titles to the company that owns the villa” have been questioned, police added, without giving further details.
The villa, with an estimated value of seven million euros ($8.3 million), is owned by an international real estate agency.
Valcke’s lawyer denied any wrongdoing, telling AFP his client, FIFA’s secretary general from 2007 to January 2016, had paid rent for the property.
“There was a contract and Mr Valcke paid the rent,” Stephane Ceccaldi said.
Italian police, who have searched the luxury villa in Porto Cervo, said Khelaifi had put the property at the disposal of disgraced ex-FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.
Khelaifi and Valcke, who was Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man at FIFA until both were drummed out of world football’s governing body, were placed under investigation by Swiss prosecutors on Thursday over the sale of World Cup media rights.
FIFA said Friday it was also investigating Khelaifi over the media rights issue.
A FIFA spokesman said its Ethics Commission “opened a preliminary investigation into Nasser al-Khelaifi on Thursday evening”.
Italian police said they had searched and seized the “Villa Bianca” property set in a lush garden on the Mediterranean island in a raid conducted in the presence of a “representative of the Swiss government”.
Several people “linked to various titles to the company that owns the villa” have been questioned, police added, without giving further details.
The villa, with an estimated value of seven million euros ($8.3 million), is owned by an international real estate agency.
Valcke’s lawyer denied any wrongdoing, telling AFP his client, FIFA’s secretary general from 2007 to January 2016, had paid rent for the property.
“There was a contract and Mr Valcke paid the rent,” Stephane Ceccaldi said.
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