₦airaland Forum

HE'S DONE IT AGAIN!

Cristiano Ronaldo claims a point for Manchester United in dramatic fashion ⚽

#UCL

Classickj:
Wetin happen E never reach 350M

Kunlelee:
Impact. That's why companies keep making him their ambassador

Delighted to announce we are expecting twins ��. Our hearts are full of love - we can’t wait to meet you ❤️�

#blessed

Cristiano Ronaldo Scores, Assist And Is Crowned Budweiser Man Of The Match In The Game Against Tottenham.

https://www.signalng.com/wp-content/uploads/prophet-tb-joshuas-successor.png

When on Saturday June 5, 2021, Pastor Temitope Balogun Joshua, the founder of Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) and one of Africas most popular televangelists breathed his last, the news came as a rude shock to millions of his followers across the globe.

The notable spiritual leader fondly called TB Joshua was said to have walked out of a Saturday night service while preaching, to take a little rest but did not return to continue. Five months after the demise of the Man in the Synagogue, things have not remained the same as a leadership tussle erupted between his erstwhile top aides and immediate family.

Saturday Sun learnt that some top prophets of the church had expected that the mantle of leadership would be handed over to Prophet Racine Bousso, a Senegalese and deputy to the late TB Joshua.

Bousso, alongside Prophets Joseph David from Nigeria and Christopher Dennis Tonge from the United Kingdom, mostly stood in for TB Joshua on days he was not available. These powerful and influential aides had allegedly staged a spiritual coup d’etat and temporarily seized power, making themselves heirs to the estates of the renowned Prophet against the legitimate interests of his widow, Evelyn and her three children – Sarah, Promise and Heart.

While in the saddle, a series of allegations were made against the top aides. Chiefly, the Prayer Mountain of the church at Agodo Egbe designed only for prayers was said to have been gradually turned into a haven for worldly lifestyle – a thing that was not in practice when TB Joshua was alive.

The aides were also alleged to have taken over the church’s strong room and looted the vault with reckless abandon. Also, none of TB Joshua’s family members was privy to all monies collected from partners all over the world during and after his burial. The aides were equally alleged to have opened another global network account without the church or Joshuas family’s knowledge.

However, in a sudden twist of fate, the succession tussle was laid to rest as the headship of the vast ministry has been legally thrust on the widow. Following the ruling of Justice Tijjani Ringim of the Federal High Court, Lagos that ordered her reappointment as a trustee of the church in line with its constitution, which prescribes a minimum of three trustees for the church, Evelyn has now taken over the reins of affairs at SCOAN. But then, it appears the court judgment did not go down well with some people, as it ignited a crisis of confidence currently rocking the church.

Mrs Joshua, however, made it known to Saturday Sun that there was neither crisis nor leadership vacuum in the church. Speaking through Barrister James Akhighe, the church’s Head of Legal Department, she said: There is no leadership crisis in the church. SCOAN is a registered association with a Board of Trustees. And every association is administered through its Board of Trustees. The church’s BoT, in its own wisdom, chose me as the new leader of the church. There is no dispute regarding the leadership of the ministry, and that has been settled.

According to her, the church is obviously going through a new phase of experience in its life, which warranted its prolonged shut down that has not been pleasant to some members. Joshua also reacted to an allegation that about 17 foreign prophets and evangelists of the church were initially detained and later deported to their countries of origin, on her instruction. Those affected include Annette Easting (United Kingdom), Catherine Ann (United Kingdom), Ruth Christina Tonge (United Kingdom), Christopher Dennis Tonge (United Kingdom), Seunghwa Lee (South Africa), Cindy Elizabeth Widjaja (Indonesia), Elizabeth Botouna (Greece), Angelique Nyinawintwari (Holland), and Angela Patricia Quintero (Colombia).

There was no basis for that. To say that the church instigated the deportation of foreigners is very unfortunate. In fact, we are highly disappointed in a certain media platform that reported that falsehood. Its a blatant lie against the church and even against the Federal Ministry of Interior under whose purveyor the issue of immigration falls.

The purveyor of this falsehood didnt even consider the diplomatic implications of such falsehood. It defies logic that some British citizens would be detained and later deported from Nigeria without the knowledge of the British High Commision. There are standard procedures of deporting any foreign citizen and the church as a body doesnt have any power of sort, she stated.

Nevertheless, the widow noted that since her husband’s death, the behaviour of some disciples allegedly led by two Britons and two Nigerians, has become a matter of serious concern to the leadership of the church. This, she said, led to the elders and the new BoT to call for a comprehensive audit of the church finances, save for some critical assets not yet manipulated. While this was going on, some of the disciples have been asked to proceed on vacation, at least in the interim, for proper management and maintenance of discipline.

Saturday Sun learnt, however, that some of the disciples are afraid they might lose their jobs whenever the church completes its reorganization and ready to recommence service. This fear has reportedly led to a campaign of calumny targeted at the person of Evelyn Joshua and other church elders.

A veteran journalist and top member of the church, who pleaded anonymity, told the reporter:

“She was completely put in the dark of all activities. These once powerful aides constituted themselves into an ‘Apex Council’ and established a ‘Governing Council’ for the church in which all positions are shared within themselves, with no member of TB Joshua’s family or any church member on board. But the unholy alliances have pushed the woman to rise up to the challenges of preserving and strengthening the good legacy left behind by her husband.”

According to him, there are fears that Mrs. Joshua might have a tough time running the affairs of the ministry, and expectedly, she is already dealing with a number of issues, including conspiracy and intimidation from a group of people who were supposed to provide support and assistance at a time she needed them most.

“But taking charge of the ministry left behind by her husband wouldn’t be a difficult one for the woman, as she was part and parcel of her husband’s ministerial engagements since he started in the late 1990s. They often travelled together on soul-winning campaigns and evangelism assignments. So, with time and against all odds, she would step into the role with ease to keep alive her late husband’s dreams and legacy.”

Lollittaa:
rags to riches. From being covered to half nude

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000677577499.jpg?w=1240
Georgina Rodriguez was left 'speechless' by Cristiano Ronaldo's latest gift.

Georgina Rodriguez has admitted she was ‘left speechless’ by Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest gift - a £105,000 (₦70m) designer jewellery trunk.

The 27-year-old model showed off her amazing present from the Manchester United legend, who recently added another record to his collection over the international break with Portugal, to her Instagram fans.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000686659457.jpg?w=1240
The beautiful model received a £105k Louis Vuitton Malle Vendome designer jewellery trunk.

The astonishing Louis Vuitton Malle Vendome boasts eight drawers for the stunning brunette’s most expensive bracelets, necklaces and rings.

Georgina wrote alongside a photo of two of their four children getting their first glimpse of the gift: ‘I’m speechless, Cristiano.’

The Malle Vendome was designed to celebrate the opening of the new Louis Vuitton boutique on Vendome Square in Paris.

The 4ft 6ins high trunk has eight drawers as well as a mirror and a bust where Georgina can hang some of her most-treasured necklaces.

The pretty brunette draped herself in diamonds worth £78k at the beginning of last month when she arrived at the Venice Film Festival wearing four glitzy rings, floral necklace and earrings by Giardini Segreti.

Her jewellery collection is estimated to be worth a staggering £2.6million (₦1.7 billion).

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000676647684.jpg?w=1240
Her jewellery collection is estimated to be worth a staggering £2.6million. Credit: Splash

Georgina, who posed for photos with fashion editor Anna Dello Russo at the glitzy event, was earning £10-an-hour when she met and started dating Cristiano in the summer of 2016.

She will also star in a new soon-to-be-released Netflix documentary focusing on her rags-to-riches life.

The mum-of-one, who helps raise Cristiano’s other three children as if they were her own, will admit in the documentary she is waiting for Ronaldo to pop the big question and put a ring on her finger.

And that would no doubt take pride of place in her new jewellery trunk.

She included the admission in a clip for the show which she posted on Instagram last month.

Asked in Spanish over dinner on a boat with friends when she was going to marry the 36-year-old, Georgina initially said ‘no’ as she grinned before appearing to nod her head towards the Portuguese goal-scoring machine and add: “It doesn’t depend on me…..I wish.”

The pretty brunette used the word ‘Ojala’ in Spanish which is of Arabic origin, deriving from the expression ‘Mashallah or ‘Masha’Allah’ which literally means ‘Should God will it’ and translates into English as ‘Hopefully’ or ‘Let’s Hope So.’

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000684735210-1.jpg?w=1240
Georgina Rodriguez is set to star in a new Netflix documentary.

The look on their faces says it all. �

36 years young, Cristiano Ronaldo. ��

https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/10/12/17/newFile-4.jpg?width=990&auto=webp&quality=75
Teacher Heiry Calvi, who has been arrested in Florida
(Miami Dade Corrections)

A pregnant school teacher has been arrested in Florida amid allegations that she raped a minor aged 15, also a student of the school.

Heiry Calvi, who worked at John I Smith K-8 Centre in Miami-Dade County, was accused of having a relationship with the boy outside of school hours, and was arrested on Thursday.

Ms Calvi, who has been released after posting bail, was charged with a number of crimes including lewd and lascivious battery, child neglect, and contributing to the delinquency of a child, according to NBC Miami.

An investigation reportedly began in March after students at John I Smith informed staff about the relationship between Ms Calvi and the boy.

Among the evidence seen by officials were a video of the teacher and student together, as well as messages sent between the pair. They were also seen having sex in footage, it was alleged.

Doral police said the boy at first denied being raped but was told that under Florida law a minor cannot consent to having sex with an adult.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/11/21/49044779-10081631-image-m-38_1633985685172.jpg
Teacher Heiry Calvi has refused to make any comment. It's unclear if she is married.

Rey Valdes, a spokesperson for the force, also confirmed to NBC Miami that Ms Calvi was eight months pregnant at the time of her arrest, although police would not "speculate as to whose child it is”.

Her employer, the Miami-Dade County school board, told the Miami Herald that it was investigating the incident and had removed Ms Calvi from John I Smith in March, when concerns were first aired.

The school board was reported as saying that it was “disturbed by today’s arrest involving inappropriate employee behaviour”, and that it would begin termination proceedings against Ms Calvi.

“M-DCPS will continue to review its employee trainings to ensure that our workforce is fully aware of the District’s professional expectations of them and their ethical obligation to safeguard children,” the board added.

An arraignment is scheduled for 8 November. It remains unclear if Ms Calvi has a lawyer.

The Independent has approached Miami-Dade County’s school board for comment.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/118EC/production/_118061917_gettyimages-530850460.jpg
Pictured: The Titanic {Credit: BBC News}

A message in a bottle seemingly thrown from the deck of the Titanic hours before it sank to the bottom of the ocean has left experts baffled.

The intriguing note is dated April 13, 1912 (109 years ago), and bears the name of 12-year-old Mathilde Lefebvre, who was a third-class passenger on the doomed vessel.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/PNTITANICNOTE01.jpg?w=1240
The mysterious letter has left scientists completely baffled. {Credit: L'Université du Québec à Rimouski}

It reads: "I am throwing this bottle into the sea in the middle of the Atlantic. We are due to arrive in New York in a few days.

"If anyone finds her, tell the Lefebvre family in Liévin."

Shortly before midnight the next day the "unsinkable" ship would strike an iceberg, causing it to go down killing more than 1,500 of those on board.

Mathilde, three of her siblings and their mother, Marie, were never seen again but 105 years later a note apparently signed by Mathilde was found washed up on a Canadian beach.

"The bottle could be the first Titanic artifact found on the American coast," said historian Maxime Gohier.

Now scientists are probing the mysterious document in a bid to prove whether it's the real thing or an elaborate hoax.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/NINTCHDBPICT000652838871.jpg?w=1240
It is thought to have been thrown from the deck of the doomed Titanic {Credit: Pen News}

Nicolas Beaudry of the Université du Québec à Rimouski said it could just be genuine.

He said: "Consider a number possibilities, all equally interesting and all 'genuine' in their own way.

"The message could have been written by Mathilde on board the Titanic or it could have been written by someone else on her behalf.

"It could be a hoax written shortly after the tragedy or it could be a recent hoax."

Dr Beaudry and his colleagues began by probing the artifact using non-intrusive methods.

He said: "The mould and tool marks on the bottle and the chemical composition of the glass are consistent with the technologies used in making this kind of bottle in the early 20th century.

"The cork stopper and a piece of paper stuffed in the bottle's bore yielded radiocarbon dates consistent with the date on the letter - we didn't date the letter itself, since the method is destructive.

"So we haven't caught a prankster red-handed yet, but this still doesn't exclude a recent hoax.

"Old paper is easy to find - by ripping a blank page from an old book, for instance - while old bottles and even corks are not rare."

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/NINTCHDBPICT000652838883.jpg?w=1240
The vintage bottle the startling message was found in. {Credit: Nicolas Beaudry-UQAR/Pen News}
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/PNTITANICNOTE05.jpg?w=1240
This photo shows Marie Lefebvre, the mother of 'letter writer' Mathilde. {Credit: PEN news}

The scientists then analysed whether the bottle would have drifted to its eventual resting place - a beach in Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, New Brunswick.

Dr Beaudry said: "A computer simulation showed that the overwhelming majority of drifters launched in the North Atlantic on April 13, 1912, would have followed the Gulf Stream to European shores.

"But a few individuals could have followed a different path to North American shores.

"Thus while it is not completely impossible, it remains very unlikely and further research will seek to quantify the probability."

The handwriting in the letter only deepens the mystery.

It's inconsistent with what French schoolchildren learned at the time, but then the note could have been written for Mathilde by someone else.

"Our team will expand in the near future to include an expert in the forensic examination of documents," said the professor.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/NINTCHDBPICT000652838697.jpg?w=1240
The bottle was found washed up on a Canadian beach. {Credit: Maxime Gohier-UQAR/Pen News}
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/NINTCHDBPICT000652838866.jpg?w=1240
Dr Nicolas Beaudry is one of those examining the document. {Credit: Nicolas Beaudry-UQAR/Pen News}

The team are also set to undertake further chemical analyses as well as a geomorphological study of the Bay of Fundy, where the letter was found.

When the Titanic sank, Mathilde her siblings and their mother were en-route to New York to reunite with dad Franck and four other siblings.

Franck, a collier from Liévin in Pas-de-Calais, had left France in 1910 and settled in Mystic, Iowa.

"Whether the letter was written by Mathilde or not, whether it is an old or a recent hoax, it is a fascinating piece of history," said Dr Beaudry.

"It is a moving reminder of the fate of Mathilde, of her family, and of the millions of migrants who crossed the Atlantic in the age of steamships.

"And it is obviously an interesting piece of evidence of the fascination that one of the most mythical tragedies of the 20th century still exerts on us."

After the sinking, Franck Lefebvre turned to the Red Cross Relief Committee for aid, according to the Encyclopedia Titanica website.

It was then that the authorities discovered that he had illegally entered the US by providing "false and misleading statements" to immigration officials.

He and his surviving children were therefore deported back to France in August of 1912.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/NINTCHDBPICT000652838881.jpg?w=1240
Experts have been studying the letter with specialist equipment. {Credit: Maxime Gohier-Nicolas Beaudry-UQAR/Pen News}

Franck died in 1948 in Haillicourt, Pas-de-Calais, only a few miles from Liévin. He was 77.

His oldest son, also named Franck, predeceased him on the battlefield during the First World War.

Mathilde's note was found in June 2017 by Nacera Bellila and El Hadi Cherfouh, from Dieppe, New Brunswick, and their children, Koceila and Dihia.

pakirisuitesphc:
You are just a shameless liar, the moment I didn't see you with the animals or holding the rifle, I knew you were just peddling falsehood. Prove me wrong with you holding that same rifle.

pakirisuitesphc:
This picture was posted in April oooo

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=130446872422272&id=100063708783506&set=a.124070589726567&source=48

pakirisuitesphc:
You are deceiving yourself thinking you are deceiving us.
This is the original image from the source.

So i went hunting on a client's property some days back in the barossa region and shot this beautiful fallow deer. I work at animal and pest control, fully licensed professional contract shooter so don't judge me please....

https://images.ctfassets.net/2h1qowfuxkq7/1HjNIKMijWGAmwu1SdS2UX/e9989a7789a7cdaea9d04091947f4a32/Al_Janoub_Stadium_-_highlight.jpg?w=1017&h=1137&q=85&fm=webp&fit=fill
Pictured: Al Janoub Stadium in Qatar, ready to host the 2022 World Cup.

- Qatar shocked the world in winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup in 2010.

- A new documentary lifts the lid on the criminal lengths behind their bid.

- An MI6 spy discovered that collusion between Qatar and Russia took place.

- Evidence of vote-rigging and bribe-giving from Qatar has since come to light.

- The saga saw Sepp Blatter taken down as well as key ExCo members.

- Blatter, Phaedra Almajid and Hassan Al Thawadi take part in the documentary

Phaedra Almajid recalls the day in early 2010 when three members of FIFA’s executive committee entered a hotel room in Luanda, Angola, to meet the team behind the Qatar World Cup bid.

As the media specialist for the campaign, Almajid had no inkling as to the motivation for the clandestine conversations. But when her colleagues offered each official a $1.5 million bribe in return for their vote, she could do nothing but guffaw at the brazenness of it all.

‘I just started laughing hysterically,’ says Almajid, flicking through her diaries from the time. ‘It was at that point I understood what was happening, that this was bribes. There was nothing extraordinary about the moment for those men. As a watcher, bystander, it was an extraordinary moment that I’ll never forget.’

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964303-0-image-a-26_1633800318820.jpg
Eleven years ago Qatar shocked world football after winning the right to host the World Cup.

Almajid, a whistleblower with whom The Mail on Sunday has worked extensively in the past, is speaking on the upcoming documentary "The Men Who Sold The World Cup".

The two-part discovery+ feature, to which this newspaper has been granted extensive access, details the criminal lengths to which the Qataris went to ensure they hosted next year’s tournament.

As well as speaking to Almajid, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and the chair of the Qatar bid team Hassan Al Thawadi who denies any wrong doing, the film-makers secured interviews with an FBI agent who helped to bring football’s ruling body to their knees and a British intelligence officer employed as a spy by England’s 2018 World Cup bid team.

Chris Steele, 57, was once an MI6 operative in Moscow and ran their Russia desk in London from 2006 to 2009. He then worked for England’s 2018 bid via his intelligence firm, Orbis, and learned of such high-level collusion between Qatar and Russia that he told the FA their hopes were doomed.

‘Vladimir Putin eventually realised that Russia’s 2018 World Cup bid was a prestige project, and required winning at all costs for political reasons,’ says Steele.

‘Modern Russia’s default mode is to engage in corruption and underhand dealings.’

Steele says collusion between Qatar and Russia began in earnest when Russia’s deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin, and Russia’s World Cup bid team all flew to Doha, Qatar in April 2010.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964279-0-image-a-27_1633800330899.jpg
The gulf state saw off stern competition to win the hosting rights for the 2022 tournament.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964651-10075815-image-a-28_1633800803163.jpg
Now, a new documentary casts a light on the criminal lengths undertaken to win the bid.

Steele’s sources told him Qatar would invest billions in a deal to develop oil fields on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula, and the two nations would do whatever necessary to gain support for each other’s bids to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Qatar’s Mohammed bin Hammam, a member of FIFA’s executive committee (ExCo) at the time, helped to broker this Doha pact.

‘The Yamal Peninsula deal, I think, says it all,’ says Steele. ‘This is how the operation was conducted and the sort of assets that Russia and Qatar brought to bear. The World Cup is bound up with the unseen way in which the world really works. Unseemly, I would say, and unseen.’

Steele went on to assist the FBI in bringing down FIFA, first, via intelligence he gathered during the 2018-2022 bid process; and second, with proof of corruption by another ExCo member, America’s Chuck Blazer.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964369-10075815-image-a-29_1633800817262.jpg
Vote-rigging and bribe-giving saw the likes of Mohamed bin Hammam disgraced.

That in turn, the MoS can reveal, had been provided to him via investigative reporter Andrew Jennings, who wrote about it in these pages in 2015 while not naming Steele.

‘Blatter was really the Godfather of a corrupt system that he had created and overseen,’ says Steele.


The extraordinary and suspicious events that unfolded in the votes for 2018 and 2022 were forecast in these pages before they happened and have been documented extensively here since.

On the last Sunday of November, 11 years ago, The Mail on Sunday published a special report, informed by Almajid - we protected her identity at the time - who predicted a little-known Middle Eastern state called Qatar was about to shock the world and win the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

‘The footballing heritage of Qatar, a lowly 113th in the game’s world rankings, is virtually non-existent,’ we wrote. ‘But the Qataris have used their petrodollar millions to gain power and influence in the game’s international circles.’

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964381-10075815-image-a-30_1633800827709.jpg
The former ExCo member was found to have bribed fellow voters for their support of Qatar.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/19/48965293-10075815-image-a-49_1633802435341.jpg
Qatar entered into a pact with Russia to help them secure the 2018 World Cup. (Pctured: President Vladimir Putin)

Almajid was quoted anonymously: ‘I don’t think Qatar will win 2022. I KNOW they will.’

And so it came to pass. On a fateful Friday in Zurich at the start of December 2010, one of the most corrupt sporting electorates in history; the 22 men who then comprised FIFA’s ExCo voted to send the 2018 World Cup to Russia, and the 2022 event to Qatar.

In the intervening years, the MoS has repeatedly exposed the corruption and bribery that had festered behind the scenes in the 2018-2022 process, and barely anyone came out clean: not England’s 2018 bid nor the Spain-Portugal bid for the same year, nor South Korea’s for 2022, nor Australia’s.

England and Australia, for example, both effectively tried to bribe ExCo member Jack Warner, a notorious criminal from Trinidad, when unsuccessfully soliciting his vote. Spain meanwhile were in cahoots with Qatar over their own forbidden voting pact, and their bid leader was later censured for refusing to take part in an official inquiry into the matter.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964387-10075815-image-a-31_1633800834448.jpg
Jack Warner (L), a notorious criminal from Trinidad, was subject of bribe attempts from a number of hosting hopefuls including England and Australia.

But the most audacious episodes of vote-rigging and bribe-giving were delivered by shadowy forces working to make sure Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 became realities even as their official bid teams to this day insist they never engaged in any activities that were against FIFA rules.

Former FBI agent Michael Gaeta helped to gather evidence that millions of dollars of bribes were paid. ‘What has been revealed so far is a Mafia-style crime syndicate,’ says Gaeta, whose job, the viewer is told, was more typically to dismantle New York’s mob families. ‘My only hesitation in using that term is that it’s almost insulting to the Mafia.’

The hard evidence for the illicit payments include details of wire transfers of millions of dollars that were revealed in US indictment papers last year. Warner was said to have received a $5m bribe (£3.7m) to vote for Russia, funnelled via offshore accounts uncovered by the FBI and IRS, the United States tax authority, from shell companies connected to Russia 2018. Warner, who denied wrongdoing, is still fighting extradition to the US.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964287-10075815-image-a-32_1633800845688.jpg
Michel Platini (R) voted for Qatar due to pressure from French President Nikolas Sarkozy (L).

Warner’s ExCo colleague Rafael Salguero was offered a $1m bribe to vote for the same bid. The 2020 indictment papers also detailed how Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay (who died in 2019), Argentina’s Julio Grondona (who died in 2014) and the serially corrupt Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, all ExCo members, received millions of dollars to vote for Qatar 2022.

An Argentinian sports marketing CEO, Alejandro Burzaco, who pled guilty to bribing many football officials, gave testimony that Grondona himself had admitted to him the Qatar 2022 bribery episode.

Other ExCo voters accused of improper conduct in relation to Qatar include Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast, who has always denied receiving a cash bribe; Hany Abo Rida of Egypt, a close associate of Bin Hammam who once accompanied him on a trip to the Caribbean when $40,000 cash bribes were given to local football officials to support a FIFA presidential bid by the Qatari; and Worawi Makudi of Thailand, also on that trip and later banned from football for forgery and falsification of accounts. All three are believed to have voted for Qatar 2022.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964339-10075815-image-a-34_1633800891238.jpg
An FBI investigation resulted in Sepp Blatter's (bottom) removal from FIFA and ban from all football while Chuck Blazer's (top) corruption came to light.

At least four ExCo members from Europe are believed to have voted for Qatar 2022. Michel Platini of France, then head of UEFA, did so after French president Nicolas Sarkozy said it would be good for trade. Angel Maria Villar Llona of Spain did so after his country and Qatar made a vote collusion pact.

Marios Lefkaritis of Cyprus is alleged to have voted for them as part of a deal that saw his family sell property to Qatar for £27m, much higher than its value. He denies impropriety.

Vitaly Mutko of Russia, infamous for his key role in Russia’s state-sponsored doping, is believed to have voted for Qatar 2022 as part of the 2010 ‘Doha pact’.

Blatter himself recalls being shocked when he found out, ahead of the vote, that Qatar would win the rights to 2022. Asked if he believed that Qatar had paid bribes, Blatter says: ‘I don’t know if they paid, because I have not seen [details], but in football, to get the World Cup, everything is possible.’

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/09/18/48964317-10075815-image-a-33_1633800862837.jpg
Blatter has agreed to take part in the documentary and maintains his innocence in the saga.

Blatter says Platini called him a week before the December 2010 vote to tell him that at least four UEFA ExCo members including himself would be voting for Qatar despite knowing Blatter wanted the USA to host that tournament.

‘[Platini] told me: “Something has happened, now you will be in difficulties [as a USA bid supporter],’ says Blatter. ‘He told me four [UEFA votes] would go to Qatar, and that it was impossible for the USA to win. Platini lost courage, he should have said: “No, we’ll do something for the world and not something only for one country”.’

Blatter, though forced out of FIFA in 2015 and eventually banned from football following an investigation into a £1.3m payment to Platini, was never found guilty of wrongdoing around the World Cup scandal.

Towards the end of the documentary, however, the accusation is put to the Swiss administrator that he turned a blind eye to corruption to maintain a power base within the federation. After several moments’ thought, he says: ‘They are wrong to say I let them do it to maintain my power. We tried to stop that. It was not possible.’

https://images.ctfassets.net/2h1qowfuxkq7/6Z47mEgXF6v5LQDnbozVNq/8b9626e3b27c8af68c3008f029c0bf95/Al_Rayyan_Stadium_-_highlight.jpg?w=1017&h=1137&q=85&fm=webp&fit=fill
Pictured: Al Rayyan Stadium in Qatar, ready to host the 2022 World Cup.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/tp-composite-area-52-1.jpg?w=1320
MYSTERY TECH: Inside Area 52’s secret military base where ‘bombs, nukes, and POISON’ are tested in the Nevada desert.

AREA 51, the highly classified US Air Force base which has for years been at the center of a conspiracy among alien fanatics and ufologists, has a lesser-known sister facility that harbors its own dark secrets.

Area 52, otherwise known as the Tonopah Test Range (TTR), is located in Tonopah, Nevada, around 70 miles northwest of the famed Area 51 facility.

https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000548898046.jpg?w=1240
The military facility spans 525 square miles and was opened in 1957. {Credit: Planet Labs Inc}

The military facility spans 525 square miles and was opened in 1957 as a testing site for United States Department of Energy weapons programs.

Missles have been tested, bombs have been dropped and state-of-the-art aircraft have all been piloted at the base over the last six decades.

TOP-SECRET TESTS:

Between 1977 and 1988, the range hosted a combat training program code-named Constant Peg which tested Russian Mikoyan MiG aircraft against US aircrews, radars, and UAVs.

Despite flying thousands of missions over the course of 11 years, the operation was kept completely secret until November 2006.

The famed twin-engine stealth attack aircraft Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was also secretly tested at the site from 1982 through 1989 while the F-117 program was classified.

But around 1992, very little is known about the aircraft that were tested at the site thereafter.

Still, the base remains incredibly active today and just four years ago received a number of state-of-the-art upgrades to help advance the US' nuclear arsenal modernization initiative, as well as other programs.

https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/10/9dbd9756-a3da-440c-a219-3870b517be76.jpg?w=1240
Missles have been tested, bombs have been dropped and state-of-the-art aircraft have all been piloted at the base. {Credit: YouTube.}

One of the primary facilities at the base is a large airfield, consisting of a 12,000-foot runway and numerous hangars.

A glimpse at the facility also shows 50 twin-level dormitories capable of housing thousands of workers.

Workers who are flown in to work at the base land in a private terminal and are escorted via government vehicles, local reports say.

According to its website, TTR "offers a wide array of signal-tracking equipment, including video, high-speed cameras, and radar-tracking devices.

"This equipment is used to characterize ballistics, aerodynamics, and parachute performance for artillery shells, bomb drops, missiles, and rockets."

While the facility is known publicly as TTR, in government documents it is referred to as Area 52.

https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000444345999.jpg?w=1240
The famed twin-engine stealth attack aircraft Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was also secretly tested at the site {Credit: Handout - Getty}

RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION:

Recent listed test activities at the base are listed to have included trajectory studies of simulated weapons, air-launched rockets, explosives testing, and ground penetrator tests.

Much of the site is currently said to be off-limits because of contaminants in the environment and soil as a result of decades-worth of weapons tests.

The Department of Energy said it has been trying to decontaminate the site for a number of years via something called the "Soils-Sub Project" to determine soil contamination levels resulting from nuclear weapons tests conducted in 1963.

That 1963 test, held between the US and UK, was known as "Operation Roller Coaster" and evaluated the distribution of radioactive particles in a "dirty bomb."

On several occasions, so-called classified "black projects" have moved from Area 51 to Area 52 to be completed, such as the F-117 program.

https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/10/332ee86f-ef06-44db-a936-8960f7f5b1f8.jpg?w=1240
Some of the site is off-limits due to radiations from prior nuclear tests. {Credit: YouTube}
https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000548896483.jpg?w=1240
Unlike Area 51, Area 52 is visible via satellite. {Credit: Wikimedia}

Unlike its sister facility, Area 52 is visible on maps and via satellite, though the road leading up to its front gates is not.

However, much like Area 51 which for years UFO truthers have claimed is actually an alien research lab the mysterious Area 52 has found itself at the center of a number of conspiracies.

WILD CONSPIRACIES:

Retired CIA pilot-turned conspiracy theorist John Lear claimed in a 2007 interview that a nuclear device was used to create a giant secret chamber beneath the site that's capable of housing 25,000 people.

Lear claimed to have heard about the bunker's existence from a cement truck driver who had worked at the site.

"He said it would take four hours to get to the bottom, dump the cement, then wind his way back up. For some reason, he disappeared off the face of the earth after he told us that story," Lear said.

He further alleges there's a high-speed underground train that runs from Area 52 to Las Vegas, a concept that was discredited by local officials at the time.

https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000609825798.jpg?w=1240
Conspiracy theorists claim a nuclear bomb was triggered beneath the base to create a huge secret bunker. {Credit: Google Earth}
https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000685146880.jpg?w=1240
Workers who are flown in to work at the base land in a private terminal and are escorted to it via government vehicles, local reports say. {Credit: YouTube}

Additionally, Lear claimed that pilots at the site had told him the base has secret runways that have the ability to open and close "like zippers."

"They'll look down and it will be forest or desert or natural landscape, and all of a sudden it will unzip like this and they will see a runway and then the landscape zips back up and it looks like normal," he explained to CBS8 at the time.

Military watchdogs have previously stated that they don't believe there's a big underground operation in place at Area 52.

Local resident Jose Ramirez told CBS8 in 2007 that when he first arrived in Tonopah, he heard they were working on an aircraft at the base that "would go up into space and come back down and land for NASA.”

He also said he had two family members that were employed at the base, but he knew better than to ask them what work they were doing.

"Oh, I don't ask the kids. I don't want to know," the cafe owner said. "I don't want to put them in that position."

https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/10/NINTCHDBPICT000444338853.jpg?w=1240
TTR is operated by Sandia National Laboratories and the US Department of Energy. {Credit: Getty - Contributor}