FIFA to investigate possible ineligibility of Ecuador player

FIFA held an official ceremony on Sunday (November 21) to mark one year to go until the opening match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with the tournament, played for the first time in a northern hemisphere winter, rapidly taking shape. The opening match will take place on Nov. 21 in the 60,000 capacity Al Bayt Stadium. Kickoff will no doubt come as some relief to organizers as the football takes centre stage, shifting the limelight away from the numerous off-pitch issues, such as labour rights for migrant workers, that have surrounded the event.

Architects from Spain have completed a novel design for the upcoming FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Named the 974 Stadium, the 40,000-seater facility it's designed to be relatively easy to disassemble and rebuild, and was constructed using almost 1,000 shipping containers.⁣

"I need to stress one point that is extremely important, I have never said or written that anyone has sexually assaulted me," the Chinese tennis star said in a foreign press video.

Former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter talks to DW’s Brent Goff on “The Day” about former Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s refusal to testify before a Congressional committee investigating the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Painter says a special prosecutor should look into the entire Trump White House’s role in the events, including investigating the former president himself.

Ethiopia's government has accused the head of the UN's health agency of interfering in its internal affairs. Separately, another UN body warned that the Tigray region is on "the edge of a major humanitarian disaster."

Bayern Munich's Polish striker Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA Best Men's Player award for 2021 with Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas winning the FIFA Best Women's Player prize at Monday's (January 17) ceremony. The prolific Lewandowski won the award for the second straight year after a season in which he beat Gerd Mueller's 49-year old record of 40 goals in a single Bundesliga campaign.

Belarusian activist calls on EU leaders to investigate Lukashenko

London police chief Cressida Dick has said officers will investigate a spate of parties held at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's residence and office during COVID-19 lockdowns

Nearly five acres of Ecuador's Cayambe-Coca National Park have been polluted after an oil pipeline burst. The government has vowed legal consequences for the company involved in the disaster.

The oil spill in the Amazon is spreading. On Friday, a landslide in Ecuador damaged a pipeline. Large quantities of oil have leaked out and threaten to poison the water supply of the local population.

Amnesty International on Monday called on football's global governing body FIFA to put more pressure on 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar to improve conditions for workers in the Gulf country. But the rights group said Qatar was at risk of slipping backwards.

Four months after 97-year-old amateur Leonid Stanislavskyi's dreams came true when he played with 21-times Grand Slam champion Rafa Nadal, the Ukrainian is enduring his worst nightmare in Kharkiv as Russian forces bomb the city.