(Guardian)-Sepp Blatter rode a crashing wave of anti-English sentiment within the “football family” to extend his presidency of Fifa for another four years.

Corruption scandals have caused alarm among sponsors, national governments and fans alike, but amid an atmosphere of bridling indignation, world football’s governing body threw up the barricades in Zurich. Blatter loyalists mounted attacks on English press, parliamentarians and football politicians before celebrating his new mandate with a standing ovation.

In his acceptance speech, after Blatter had won 186 out of 203 votes in the ballot of Fifa’s member associations, he thanked delegates for “your vote and your confidence” and pledged curtly to “put Fifa’s ship back on the right course in clear, transparent waters”.

An hour later, Blatter revealed that former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger would head the “politicians, celebrities and former footballers” making up the “solution committee” that would address the corruption problems that have shredded Fifa’s reputation. Kissinger is a long-term associate of Blatter.

The vote in the uncontested election had taken place only after an attempt by the English Football Association to force a postponement suffered a heavy defeat, by 172 votes to 17. The FA chairman, David Bernstein, said he was exercising his democratic right to propose a measure without which Blatter could not have a “proper, credible mandate”.

The FA initiative drew ferocious criticism from Fifa’s second-most senior politician, Julio Grondona of Argentina. “We always have attacks from England, mostly with lies and with the support of a journalism which is more busy lying than telling the truth,” he said.

Grondona confirmed his message that he would only support England’s 2018 World Cup bid if the Falkland Islands were “given back” to Argentina because they “belong to us”. He insinuated that Bernstein’s measure had been motivated by bitterness at England 2018’s failure. “It looks like this country doesn’t like it and doesn’t show goodwill. Would you please leave the Fifa family alone?”

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(Guardian)-Fifa’s president, Sepp Blatter, has faced down a barrage of criticism over corruption within football’s governing body and vowed that only “the Fifa family” could prevent him being re-elected unopposedon Wednesday .

After a day of high drama in which Qatar threatened legal action against Fifa’s secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, for implying it had bought the right to host the 2022 World Cup, Blatter defiantly insisted there was nothing for Fifa to investigate.

“Crisis? What is a crisis?” asked Blatter, the day after a presidential election candidate and a Fifa vice-president became the third and fourth of Fifa’s 24 most senior politicians to have been suspended from football over corruption allegations in the past six months.

Blatter’s stubbornness has been reinforced by the knowledge that he will be elected unopposed for another term on Wednesday. The same congress of national federations will now be his judge, he claimed. “They will decide if I am a valid or a non-valid candidate, or if I am a valid or non-valid president.”

There were some references to reforms Blatter intends to take up. One is for Fifa’s ethics committee to be strengthened. Blatter, alone on the press conference podium at Fifa headquarters, spoke of “all the devils who are in this game”. It is not a criticism that is likely to shake the support of his member organisations. But the lack of support among football fans for his 13-year stewardship of the world game was clear as “Blatter out” became the second most popular international trend on Twitter .

Fans were responding to a day of extraordinary revelations at Fifa’s $100m (£61m) Zurich headquarters. An email leaked by the suspended Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner, had earlier apparently raised the most damaging allegations of corruption surrounding Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid.

In it, Valcke, Blatter’s closest aide as secretary general of Fifa, stated that Qatar had “bought the World Cup”. Qatar quickly denied the allegations. Hours later, Valcke issued his own clarification. “When I refer to the 2022 World Cup in that email, what I wanted to say is that the winning bid used their financial strength to lobby for support,” he said. “I have at no time made, or was intending to make, any reference to any purchase of votes or similar unethical behaviour.”

Blatter, who as president has a statutory responsibility for the line management of Fifa’s secretary general, refused to express any view about Valcke’s explanation. “I don’t answer that question and I ask for your understanding,” he said. “You have received the Fifa general secretary statement. I am the president; I am only here to talk about the president.”

Fifa’s reputation suffered a further blow with the emergence of photographic evidence of neat bundles of cash allegedly paid to the Bahamas Football Association by the Qatari former Fifa presidential candidate and president of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohamed Bin Hammam, in an effort to garner support for his election campaign. In an almost satirical touch, the money had been delivered in a brown envelope.

Fred Lunn, the vice-president of the Bahamas FA said in an affidavit presented to Fifa’s ethics committee that his association’s president instructed him to return the $40,000 (£24,000).

Chuck Blazer, the American Fifa official who is the chief accuser of the two senior figures to have been suspended this week, stated when asked if he thought Fifa was corrupt: “I think individuals are.”

Like Warner, however, Bin Hammam continues to attack the process that has led to his “temporary exclusion” from all football activity. Bin Hammam has stated his intention to appeal against the decision by the Fifa-appointed ethics committee to force him out of football as investigators carry out inquiries into the alleged activities of Warner and Bin Hammam.

Blatter’s refusal to brook criticism of his oversight of Fifa was put in relief by comments from Coca-Cola, a major sponsor. “The current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport,” it said, adding weight to concerns raised by Adidas last week. “We have every expectation that Fifa will resolve this situation in an expedient and thorough manner.”

Though those words may seem lightweight, they are a significant departure from the usual steadfast support Fifa sponsors demonstrate for it. Usually, they separate their partnership with the World Cup from any controversy at Fifa House.

Now, in a potentially strong coalition of interest forming against Fifa, worldgovernments are joining the sponsors. In addition to the UK parliamentary inquiry into football governance, Australia – whose 2022 World Cup bid failed against Qatar’s – has also begun to express concern. Middle East newspapers even likened Fifa’s situation to the Arab spring that has unseated a number of governments there.

“If governments try to intervene in our organisation then something is wrong,” Blatter conceded. Then he added: “I think Fifa is strong enough to deal with the problems inside Fifa. I am sure that the day after tomorrow at the congress we will prove we can solve the problems – if there are any – inside the congress.”

Blatter made one apparently extraordinary admission. Under his presidency Fifa’s annual revenues have grown to $1.3bn as it feasts on sponsors’ and broadcasters’ appetite for the World Cup. That presidency began in 1998, making his remark revelatory. “I have to say we had no problems until 1998; this was a modest Fifa – now we are a comfortable Fifa,” he said.

Although ultimately he angrily left the press conference amid journalists’ heckles, nothing appears set to discomfit Blatter.

(Guardian)-A group which is opposed to abortion in all circumstances and favours an abstinence-based approach to sex education has been appointed to advise the government on sexual health.

The Life organisation has been invited to join a new sexual health forum set up to replace the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV.

Stuart Cowie, Life’s head of education, said: “We are delighted to be invited into the group, representing views that have not always been around on similar tables in the past.”

In contrast, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has been omitted from the forum despite its long-term position on the previous advisory group and 40-year track record in providing pregnancy counselling nationwide.

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(Guardian)-As the Obamas make their first official state visit to the UK, we have a warm welcome for the star of the show – the first lady

Welcome back to this side of the Atlantic! I’m so glad you’re here, and not just because it means the Queen might get another hug. No, I’m excited because I admire you. You do a difficult job – a difficult non-job, let’s face it – with style, aplomb and humour. I’m guessing you realised back on the campaign trail how difficult the role of first lady would be, what with all that rubbish about you and Barack exchanging “terrorist fist jabs”, the suggestions you were unpatriotic, and the digging up of your college essays. (Imagine! What would they have made of my thesis on penis metaphors in Hemingway?) To exist under that kind of scrutiny must be punishing.

It’s a scrutiny that precludes you from having a day job – there would be constant suggestions that you were exploiting your position, the circling threat of trumped-up scandal – and it doesn’t allow you to get too involved with government either. You’ve been described as Barack’s closest adviser, but you’ve distanced yourself from that tag, with good reason. Hillary Clinton was heavily criticised for her work in her husband’s administration, and while she has turned out to be a brilliant elected politician, some of that was probably warranted. I would love there to be more women in government – the numbers here and in the US are disgraceful – but if it turned out Sam Cam was directing foreign policy I’d be . . . how should I put this? I’d be concerned.

So you’re walking a tightrope, but you make it look easy. I’m sure having to cheerlead for your husband sometimes rankles, but you manage it without looking subservient or surrendered. I would love us to have reached a point in history where a first lady could say or do whatever she wanted, could be tattooed, or sweary, or slovenly, or – get this – highly ambitious; could admit to hating the role at times, could say she’d rather pursue her own career, could basically rebel, but we’re not there yet (certainly not with Fox News around), and you know your husband is a good man, doing his best as president, and that if you kicked up your heels and said something even mildly controversial it would open a window for the prospective 2012 Republican candidates, whom nobody with an ounce of sense would trust with a tombola, let alone a fading superpower.

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(Guardian)-A network of Libyan defectors, including the former regime stalwart Moussa Koussa, are helping Nato to destroy Muammar Gaddafi’s military sites, including bunker complexes from which much of the war has been run, according to senior officials in Libya.

Nato planners have stepped up their operations over the capital, Tripoli, and the western mountains in recent days, despite a strike on the eastern city of Brega early on Friday that killed up to 11 people, many of them Islamic clerics.

But British defence chiefs are applying pressure on other Nato countries to escalate the bombing campaign against Gaddafi amid deepening concerns that military action will end in stalemate.

Nearly two months since the start of air strikes, they fear divisions within Nato and at the UN will lead to fewer sorties just at a time when, they claim, the regime is starting to feel the pinch and even its core support showing signs of cracking.

Despite almost nightly air strikes, and increasing numbers of daylight attacks on the outskirts of Tripoli, the capital remains under regime control. The city is free of checkpoints and any opposition elements are maintaining a low profile. Discontent – for now – seems directed at France, Britain and Italy, whom residents blame for a critical fuel shortage.

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(Guardian)-European nations moved to reverse decades of unfettered travel across the continent when a majority of EU governments agreed the need to reinstate national passport controls amid fears of a flood of immigrants fleeing the upheaval in north Africa.

In a serious blow to one of the cornerstones of a united, integrated Europe, EU interior ministers embarked on a radical revision of the passport-free travel regime known as the Schengen system to allow the 26 participating governments to restore border controls.

They also agreed to combat immigration by pressing for “readmission accords” with countries in the Middle East and north Africa to send refugees back to where they came from.

The policy shift was pushed by France and Italy, who have been feuding and panicking in recent weeks over a small influx of refugees from Tunisia. But 15 of the 22 EU states which had signed up to Schengen supported the move, with only four resisting, according to officials and diplomats present.

The issue will be discussed at a summit of EU prime ministers and presidents next month. But the “reforms” of the Schengen system also need to go through the European parliament, where there is likely to be strong resistance to empowering national governments to reinstate controls.

The border-free region embraces more than 400m people in 22 EU countries, as well as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland. It extends from Portugal to Russia’s borders on the Baltic, and from Reykjavik to Turkey’s border with Greece.

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(Guardian)-Celtic’s manager, Neil Lennon, was attacked by a supporter during his team’s Scottish Premier League victory at Hearts last night in the latest incident involving the Northern Irishman this season.

Lennon, around whom security levels are tight after threats to his life in recent months, was targeted after Celtic’s second goal in their 3-0 win. A man, who sprinted from Tynecastle’s main stand, grabbed hold of Lennon on the touchline before being wrestled to the ground by a combination of the Celtic coaching team, stewards and police. Lennon kicked out at his attacker while the man, who was led away by police, lay on the turf.

Celtic’s manager was unhurt but visibly affected by an incident that continues a turbulent 2011 for him and Scottish football. In January a package containing bullets and addressed to him was intercepted in Northern Ireland. Two months later he was involved in a furious touchline row with the Rangers assistant manager, Ally McCoist, at the end of an Old Firm derby; a political summit was held partly as a consequence of that fracas.

Since last month Lennon has been under 24-hour security after a viable explosive device intended for him was halted in the post but last night marked the first time he has come into direct danger when carrying out his work.

Condemnation instantly arrived from across Scottish football. “It was an utter disgrace,” said the Celtic coach Johan Mjallby, who took care of post-match media duties on Lennon’s behalf. “It was shocking and I have never seen anything like it at this level. This is a dark day for Scottish football. You never know what the guy could have had in his hand.”

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(Guardian)-The west must state clearly that it will not abandon Afghanistan after the handover of security to local forces in 2014 or risk further fighting in the region from an emboldened Taliban, the commander of British forces in the country has warned.

In his first interview since becoming second in command of the International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf), General James Bucknall told the Guardian “now is not the time to blink”, and pleaded for more patience in the decade-long campaign because progress was being made.

Bucknall spoke amid growing unease in Kabul about what will happen once Nato troops start to be drawn down later this year – an anxiety that has become acute since the death of Osama bin Laden – and the potential effect this may have on US policy. The US has been bankrolling the effort with up to $100bn (£61bn) a year and is negotiating a new strategic partnership with President Hamid Karzai.

One diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, said: “Afghanistan has been the centre of the world for the past 10 years. It isn’t anymore and the purse strings from donors will soon tighten. The international military drawdown will begin. There will then be a limited period where there is some money available for non-military efforts.

“After this, many Afghans fear they will then be abandoned again. The international community will say ‘job done’ and it will be case of presenting it as “Afghan-good enough.”

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(Guardian)-The first body to be recovered from the sunken wreckage of Air France Airbus that crashed in June 2009 en route from Rio to Paris has been retrieved from the bottom of the Atlantic, still strapped to a seat.

French gendarmes said the partially decomposed remains had lain at a depth of almost 2.5 miles since flight 447 went down on 1 June, 2009. The body, brought to the surface by mini-submarines, will now be DNA tested before being taken to France.

Rescuers said the search, using sea robots to recover bodies from the ocean off Brazil, is complex and “unprecedented”. Experts said that the cold and lack of oxygen at that depth could mean bodies were comparatively well preserved. But they could rapidly decompose on being moved through warmer surface waters and into the air.

In the days after the crash about 50 bodies and parts of the plane were pulled from the sea by the Brazilian navy, but after that nothing was found for almost two years.

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