FIFA ex-vice president denied house arrest bid

A New York judge rejected an application by Honduran former FIFA vice president Alfredo Hawit to be placed under house arrest without bail over his involvement in the corruption case gripping world football.
Hawit, 64, who was extradited to the United States on Wednesday from Switzerland following his arrest on December 3, denies 12 charges including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.
Attorney Justin Weddle requested to judge Robert Levy on Thursday that Hawit should be allowed to be placed under house arrest and fitted with an electronic monitoring device at his daughter's home in Miami.
Levy rejected the request but left the open the possibility the court could reconsider if Hawit deposited a "significant amount" of around $20,000-$50,000.

Prosecutors have described Hawit as a significant flight risk and demanded that bail be posted at $4 million -- guaranteed by either $500,000 in cash or US property.
Hawit, the suspended head of CONCACAF, the regional body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, is one of 39 officials and marketing executives accused of soliciting and receiving tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.

US prosecutors allege that Hawit accepted and laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes as general secretary of the Honduran soccer federation between 2008 and 2014.
Swiss authorities announced on January 6 that he had agreed to be sent to the United States.

Hawit is the fifth FIFA official extradited by Switzerland to the United States in connection with the deepening multi-million-dollar corruption scandal that has rocked world soccer since May.
Ruggie also questioned FIFA's choice of Papua New Guinea
to host the women's Under-20 World Cup this year. He said it was "one of the world's worst places for sexual violence against women".
He added FIFA does not have "adequate systems" in place to show it respects human rights.
Even if FIFA was not responsible for rights abuses by different countries, said Ruggie, but he said it needed to make a stand when doing business.

In response, new FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement that his organisation was "fully committed to respecting human rights", but acknowledged that "challenges remain".
Infantino, who already came under fire for his response to an Amnesty report last month alleging abuse of workers at a World Cup 2022 stadium, said he wanted FIFA to be "a leader among international sports organisations."
Amnesty International said the report laid bare FIFA's indifference and showed it had "its head in the sand" on abuse in the past few years, especially to the plight of workers in Qatar.
"Migrant workers in Qatar cannot wait. They need human rights protections now," said Amnesty's Mustafa Qadri in a statement.

"While FIFA dawdles, they are at risk of a shocking catalogue of abuses, including forced labour.
"Gianni Infantino cannot hide behind this report. He needs to take concrete action right now to address abuses in Qatar."
Another prominent critic, International Trade Union Confederation's (ITUC) Sharan Burrow backed the report and said it was time for FIFA to act.
"Professor Ruggie has made it clear that the whole package of rights must be respected, without exception, and in every area of FIFA's operations including but not limited to huge events such as the men's World Cup."
Theo van Seggelen, secretary-general of FIFPro, the international football players' union, said: "We hope that this report will be a catalyst for change."

UNI World Athletes, the world players' association across professional sport, called Ruggie's report historic and said its recommendations "sets a standard not just for FIFA, but for the world of sport".