The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday night that the Obama administration was considering a Pentagon plan to send hundreds of military “advisers” to Iraq to help local forces retake the city of Ramadi. The US is also planning to establish a new military base in Anbar province. According to the NYT:

Although a final decision by the White House has yet to be announced, the plan follows months of behind-the-scenes debate about what strategy the American-led coalition should pursue in Iraq. It represents a detour from longstanding plans to recapture Mosul this year. Mosul is the capital of Nineveh Province in northern Iraq, which was taken by Islamic State militants last year.

But the fall of Ramadi to the Islamic State last month effectively settled the administration debate, at least for the time being. American officials said Anbar is now expected to become the focus of a long campaign that will seek to regain Mosul at a later stage, probably not until 2016.

Tuesday marked one year that Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, has been under ISIS control.

http://twitter.com/WSJLive/status/608388125270908928

Foreign Policy magazine looks at one of the basic problems opponents of ISIS face, even when an air campaign appears to be successful:

***

* POLITICS * Jeb Bush continues his trip to Europe on Wednesday with a visit to Warsaw. In Germany on Tuesday he tried to emphasize, as The Guardian reports, his father’s role in the Cold War rather than his brother’s role in the Iraq War. The first speech of the candidate-in-waiting’s tour (he is expected to join the race on Monday) came as George W Bush’s former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was pushing back over comments in a recent interview he gave to The Times.

After reporting on Marco Rubio’s traffic tickets, the New York Times picks at the Florida Senator’s finances, but it doesn’t seem clear whether there’s any there there. At least as far as the story about his boat goes.

William Leitch at Bloomberg wonders “Did the New York Times just make Marco Rubio a lot more relatable?” While Chris Hayes just tweets:

Elsewhere, bachelor Lindsey Graham is apparently promising a “rotating First Lady” if he wins, while Rick Santorum seemed to be taking retail politics to its logical conclusion in Iowa the other day, as just one person showed up for a campaign appearance. The candidate and his guest/audience, the chair of the local county Republican party, chatted for about 10 minutes, but he couldn’t close the sale. Peggy Toft told Politico

…she is “leaning” toward supporting Santorum but has not yet made a decision about whom she would support in the caucus.

“I feel like I have to get all of the facts,” she said.

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert pleaded not guilty in Chicago on Tuesday to federal charges of attempting to conceal large cash transactions and lying to the FBI.

***

* WORLD * South Korea reported two more MERS deaths, and an increase in the number of new cases. President Park Geun-Hye postponed a visit to the US this coming weekend, in order to deal with the outbreak. Reuters said public alarm is growing, with more than 2,000 schools now closed and other countries in the region issuing travel advisories against visits to South Korea.

While this wedding photo quickly went viral – excuse the pun – supposedly as a visual representation of the general public mood, AFP reports that “the couple’s wedding planner said the picture was not meant to be taken seriously and added that the couple — currently on honeymoon — had been taken aback by the publicity.”

Britain’s parliament overwhelmingly backed plans for a referendum on the county’s future relationship with the European Union. The BBC reports that “Prime Minister David Cameron, who first promised a referendum in 2013, has pledged to negotiate a “better deal” for the UK in Europe in advance of the vote – to be held by the end of 2017 at the latest.”

The hunt continues for two escaped prisoners in upstate New York, with a possible sighting in a small town in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Meanwhile, maybe that whole “Shawshank” angle has run its course…

***

* BUSINESS * Entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Space X “has asked the federal government for permission to begin testing on an ambitious project to beam Internet service from space,” the Washington Post reports.

The plan calls for launching a constellation of 4,000 small and cheap satellites that will beam high-speed Internet signals to all parts of the globe, including its most remote regions. Musk has said the effort “would be like rebuilding the Internet in space.”

If successful, the attempt could transform the L.A.-based SpaceX from a pure rocket company into a massive high-speed Internet provider that would take on major companies in the developed world but also make first-time customers out of the billions of people who are currently not online.

***

* SPORTS * San Francisco Giants’ rookie pitcher Chris Heston threw a no-hitter against the New York Mets in a 5-0 win at Citi Field. He is the first Giants pitcher to throw a no-hitter in New York since Carl Hubbell at the Polo Grounds in 1929.

Giants’ catcher Buster Posey has now caught three no-hitters and three World Series clinching games. Not bad.

***

* MEDIA * James Warren at Poynter looks at some questions raised by Apple’s new news-reading app, News, and what it means for news organizations – Apple partners or not. He writes:

Ken Doctor, a media analyst in Santa Cruz, California, points to the changes in consumption represented by the Apple deal as an ongoing journey, not a cliff we’re suddenly vaulting over. It’s a “dual world where readers will continue to read on big news brands — new and old — and will read on other distribution platforms like Facebook and Apple.”

Andrew Rice at Wired tells the story of the reborn World Trade Center and the building that is set to become the new headquarters for Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and NewsCorp, the first renderings of which were released to Wired on Tuesday.

And finally, Vincent “Vinnie” Musetto, responsible for what is probably American journalism’s best-known newspaper headline, passed away aged 74. The AP writes that “Musetto said in a 1987 interview with People magazine the killing and decapitation were known early in the reporting process but staffers had to confirm the topless dancing occurred at the bar.”

This story is about “everything that is wrong with our criminal justice system,” New Yorker writer Jennifer Gonnerman told MSNBC‘s Chris Hayes on Monday night, amid spreading anger and sorrow as more people read about the suicide at the weekend of 22-year-old Kalief Browder.

Hayes had earlier tweeted that the story is “so outrageous it makes my vision blurry.”

Michael Schwirtz and Michael Winerip of the New York Times provide a lede to what is in the process of becoming a widely known – and simply heartbreaking – narrative.

Kalief Browder was sent to Rikers Island when he was 16 years old, accused of stealing a backpack. Though he never stood trial or was found guilty of any crime, he spent three years at the New York City jail complex, nearly two of them in solitary confinement.

In October 2014, after he was written about in The New Yorker, his case became a symbol of what many saw as a broken criminal justice system. Mayor Bill de Blasio cited the article this spring when he announced an effort to clear the backlogs in state courts and reduce the inmate population at Rikers.

For a while, it appeared Mr. Browder was putting his life back together: He earned a high school equivalency diploma and started community college. But he continued to struggle with life after Rikers.

On Saturday, he committed suicide at his parents’ home in the Bronx.

Ta-Nehesi Coates writes at The Atlantic that “There should be an accounting beyond numbers for these years.”

Kalief Browder was an individual, which is to say he was a being with his own passions, his own particular joys, his own strange demons, his own flaws, his own eyes, his own mouth, his own original hands. His family had their own particular stories of him. His friends must remember him in their own original way. The senseless destruction of this individual must necessarily be laid at the feet of the citizens of New York, because it was done by our servants, and it was done in our name.

Christopher Mathias writes at The Huffington Post that Kalief Browder’s death is “An American Tragedy Almost Beyond Words.”

Something needs to change.

***

* WORLD * The G7 summit broke up with pledges on climate change, terrorism and Ukraine, while there was also renewed pressure on Greece to resolve its ongoing dispute with its creditors. “Every day counts,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose channeling of Maria Von Trapp was all over the Interwebs…

The US Supreme Court upheld the power of the President exclusively to recognize foreign governments by rejecting a law that would allow people born in Jerusalem to have “Israel” listed as their country of birth on their passports. Reuters reports that:

Writing for the court in an important ruling on separation of powers within the U.S. government, [Justice Anthony] Kennedy said the U.S. Congress, which enacted the law in 2002, has a role to play in foreign policy but cannot make decisions on recognizing foreign governments. The U.S. Constitution makes that the president’s “exclusive power,” Kennedy wrote.

Congress passed the law when President George W. Bush was president. Neither his administration nor Obama’s ever enforced it. While Israel calls Jerusalem its capital, few other countries accept that. Most, including the United States, maintain embassies in Tel Aviv.

***

* BUSINESS * Apple unveiled Apple Music, its streaming music service expected to take on Spotify at the tech giant’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference in San Francisco. Here’s how the two services differ, via Gizmodo.

***

* POLITICS * Former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert will be arraigned in a Chicago courtroom on Tuesday to answer federal charges that he attempted to cover up hush money payments. Josh Gerstein writes at Politico that “It’s unclear whether Hastert intends to fight the charges or will seek to cut a plea deal.”

Stephanie Mencimer writes at Mother Jones that Hastert “may have chosen the absolute worst way to buy someone’s silence” and she runs down some simpler options, from buying a Picasso to simply writing a check.

As Jeffrey Toobin noted in the New Yorker this week, if Hastert had simply written Individual A a check for $3.5 million, he wouldn’t be immersed in a scandal right now. It’s not a crime to give another person money, though there are some tax implications. A $3.5 million check wouldn’t have been reported to the feds. But Hastert’s behavior suggests he desperately wanted to avoid leaving any kind of paper trail.

A week ahead of his expected entry into the GOP race, Jeb Bush reshuffled the top of his campaign team.

The leadership change so close to his announcement illustrates the challenges Mr. Bush is facing as he simultaneously tries to build a political organization and remake himself into a candidate more than 12 years after his last campaign, his 2002 re-election as governor.

Harry Enten at FiveThirtyEight takes another look at the possible setup for the initial Republican TV debates, which take on greater importance as the field grows.

On the Democratic side, John Wagner at the Washington Post writes on how staffers from Gary Hart’s 1984 campaign, including a certain Martin O’Malley, are getting the band back together for the former Maryland Governor’s tilt at the nomination this year.

Hart, now 78, says he will back O’Malley’s candidacy, both because he believes the country would benefit from fresh leadership and, “if nothing else, because he supported me.”

Asked O’Malley’s odds of winning, Hart replied: “At this stage, very unlikely. But it was for me, too.”

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders continues to make front-runner Hillary Clinton run to the left as his populist campaign seems to be hitting home, if the Wisconsin straw poll is any indicator; well among 500-odd voters that is. 

UPDATE 11AM ET, June 8

Leaders of the G7 agreed in principle to “phase out fossil fuel use by the end of the century.” But Reuters reports they “stopped short of agreeing their own immediate binding targets.”

In a communique issued after their two-day summit in Bavaria, the G7 leaders said they backed reducing global greenhouse gas emissions at the upper end of a range of 40 to 70 percent by 2050, using 2010 as a basis. The range was recommended by the IPCC, the United Nations‘ climate-change panel.

They also backed a global target for limiting the rise in average global temperatures to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial levels.

The AFP reports that “Environmental groups broadly welcomed the fact that the G7 meeting at Germany’s Elmau Castle resort had acknowledged that “the days of fossil fuels and carbon pollution are numbered”, but criticised members for being vague on the details.

“Elmau delivered,” said Greenpeace climate expert Martin Kaiser, adding that at the summit “the vision of a 100 percent renewable energy future is starting to take shape while spelling out the end of coal”.

Earlier, leaders renewed calls for a tough line over Ukraine, warning Moscow of more sanctions, but Russia said it saw “nothing new” in the G7 approach, suggesting there were “nuances” between the members.

MIDNIGHT, June 7

G7 leaders are meeting in a remote castle in the Bavarian Alps for a summit with a broad agenda dominated by the situation in Ukraine, the Greek economy, a possible nuclear deal with Iran as well as global terrorism, migration and climate change.

Around 20,000 police have been deployed to protect the summit from several thousand protesters who had camped on the outskirts of the nearest town to the lavish schloss that is hosting the summit.

http://twitter.com/karlpenhaul/status/606946460870053888

What’s likely to get accomplished?

Larry Elliott at The Guardian thinks the organization and its meetings are “hopeless, divided and outdated.” He writes:

There are specific instances where the G7 could – and should – be using its collective muscle but is failing to do so. The summit in Bavaria will be followed by three global summits in the second half of 2015: the first in Addis Ababa will look at financing for development; the second in New York in September will set the United Nation’s sustainable development goals for the next 15 years; the third in Paris in December will seek a legally binding deal on climate change agreed to by every nation.

The G7 should be working backwards from Paris. It should begin by asking itself what sort of cuts in carbon emissions would be needed to prevent a damaging rise in global temperatures. Countries big and small, rich and poor, will all need to play their part in meeting this target and failure in Paris will make it a lot harder to meet the UN’s sustainable development goals.

* Live summit updates via Deutsche Welle are here.

***

* WORLD * Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan suffered a setback in national elections on Sunday which left his ruling AK party without a parliamentary majority. Reuters reports that AKP “has been left unable to govern alone for the first time since it came to power almost 13 years ago. It faces potentially weeks of difficult coalition negotiations with reluctant opposition parties as it tries to form a stable government, and the possibility of another early election.”

There were also national midterm elections on Sunday in Mexico, accompanied by boycotts, protests and vandalism. The Washington Post reports that the elections “pose a difficult test for President Enrique Peña Nieto,” whose “popularity has flagged and his government has suffered from persistent drug gang violence and corruption scandals.”

In several states, protesters Sunday burned ballot boxes and voting materials in an attempt to disrupt the vote. In Tixtla, a town in the volatile state of Guerrero, there were reports that authorities canceled the city election after more than half of the ballot boxes were stolen. In Oaxaca, protesters also set fires in some places, and the Organization of American States suspended its observer mission because of security risks. But election officials said the vast majority of polls in the country opened without incident.

A police officer in the Dallas suburb of McKinney, TX was placed on “administrative leave” after video surfaced of a chaotic incident at a pool party on Friday evening, where the officer appeared to draw his gun among a crowd of young people.

The Dallas Morning News reported that “The video shows officers, many using profanities, seemingly only targeting black teenagers who were at the pool. The officer who was placed on leave can be seen forcing one of the teenagers, a 15-year-old girl, to the ground and pulling her hair.”

The local police department is investigating the circumstances, while McKinney’s Mayor said on Sunday he was “disturbed and concerned by the incident and actions depicted in the video.”

Here’s the original cellphone video shot by teenage witness Brandon Brooks:

(Brandon Brooks)

A leading Fifa official said that Russia and Qatar could lose their World Cup tournaments in 2018 and 2022 if evidence arose that bribes played a role in the process. Fifa compliance chief Domenico Scala said in an interview that “should evidence be present that the awarding to Qatar and Russia only came about with bought votes, then the awarding could be void.”

Meanwhile, the BBC reported that it had seen documents showing “what happened to the $10m sent from Fifa to accounts controlled by former vice-president Jack Warner.”

Fifa’s self-financed movie, United Passions, was released in the US this weekend, apparently taking just $607 at the box office. According to CNN, critics called it “unwatchable” and “cinematic excrement.”

***

* SPORTS * LeBron James drove the Cleveland Cavaliers to an overtime 95-93 victory in Game Two of the NBA finals, leveling the series.

Monday is Game Three of the NHL’s Stanley Cup final, with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks tied at one game apiece.

Monday sees baseball’s annual First-Year Player Draft. The overall first pick will be made by the Arizona Diamondbacks. The AP reports that it’s the 50th anniversary of the first draft in 1965, when the Kansas City Athletics selected Arizona State outfielder (and future big league All-Star) Rick Monday.

Mike Oz at Yahoo Sports looks at 14 of the most intriguing players available – including a certain Mariano Rivera Jr.

***

* CULTURE * Sunday night saw Broadway’s annual Tony Awards. Here’s a complete list of winners via the New York Times.

UPDATE: 8PM JUNE 6

“A man,” wrote an Irish poet, “is original when he speaks the truth that has always been known to all good men.” Beau Biden was an original. He was a good man. A man of character. A man who loved deeply, and was loved in return.

President Obama delivered a moving, heartfelt eulogy for Beau Biden at the funeral of the son of his Vice-President, a man the President called a brother.

(White House)

The younger Biden, former Delaware Attorney General and Iraq war veteran, was remembered for a lifetime of service, kindness and family. The President said:

We do not know how long we’ve got here. We don’t know when fate will intervene. We cannot discern God’s plan. What we do know is that with every minute that we’ve got, we can live our lives in a way that takes nothing for granted. We can love deeply. We can help people who need help. We can teach our children what matters, and pass on empathy and compassion and selflessness. We can teach them to have broad shoulders.

Coldplay’s Chris Martin sang ‘Til Kingdom Come’. He had asked to be part of the services after learning his band was Biden’s favorite.

(CBS News)

MIDNIGHT, JUNE 5

President Obama will deliver the eulogy on Saturday at the funeral of Beau Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Margaret Talev at Bloomberg writes that the Vice-President personally asked his friend to carry out the sad assignment. The President has apparently spent the week writing it himself.

..an aide close to both men, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Biden wanted Obama to deliver the eulogy because he felt that Obama would know instinctively what the family would want others to know about Beau. The aide said the men “understand each other on a deep level based on their shared experience with loss and the deep void that creates.”

Gen Ray Ordierno, who was commanding officer during the younger’s Biden’s deployment in Iraq, will also speak and present the Legion of Merit to the former member of the Army National Guard, who passed away last week at 46 from brain cancer.

In a 2012 interview with Politico, Beau Biden said that while he had tried to set his own path, he’d been “through enough to see things a little differently.”  Edward-Isaac Dovere writes:

“I can point you to examples at every point when life intervened,” Biden said at the Riverfront Market in Wilmington, a collection of open tables and food stands that he’d chosen for the conversation. “So at 43, I’ve come to the conclusion: Focus on what’s immediately in front of you. Anytime I’ve looked past that, life has a different plan for me.”

Thousands of people gathered on Friday to pay their respects as a memorial service was held for the former Delaware Attorney General, who had been considering a run for Governor next year and was widely popular across his state.

There is an online condolence book for Beau Biden here.

***

* POLITICS * GOP Presidential hopefuls are in Iowa on Saturday for a gathering organized by recently-elected Senator and noted hog-castrator Joni Ernst. The event takes place amid ongoing uncertainty among local Republicans about the continued relevance of the Iowa Straw Poll, and the state’s reputation as a Presidential “kingmaker”.

This year’s Straw Poll – now primarily a fundraising rather than an electoral indicator – is set for August, but with a stream of high-profile candidates and potential candidates indicating they will skip it, what difference will that make?

Dave Price at Politico ponders “Is Iowa Over?” He writes:

There’s a palpable anxiety in political circles—and even rumblings that Iowa’s king-making days might be over, or at least that the national media, and the rest of the country, will pay less heed this cycle.

Iowa’s political obituary has been written before, but usually by outsiders looking in.

Now, Iowans are fretting: Will campaigns still want to invest as much time campaigning, traveling and running ads on television and radio, when their time might be better served elsewhere with the hope they can raise their national standing in the polls?

But Jonathan Bernstein at Bloomberg doesn’t want to kill it off just yet, saying

The Iowa straw poll is neither a test of public opinion (as a primary election can be) nor a real indication of what party actors think. But doing well in the straw poll has traditionally required well-developed campaign organizations to succeed. So long as no one over-interprets the results, it’s a harmless part of the winnowing process.

Twitter has come in for criticism for taking down Politwoops, the site that had archived deleted tweets by public servants. As Lena Masri at Reuters reports, Twitter says “preserving killed tweets violates Twitter users’ “expectation of privacy.”

http://twitter.com/dangillmor/status/606867100515336194

***

* WORLD * Reuters reports that US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is preparing a measure for Congress that would move to close the terror prison camp at Guantanamo in Cuba.

In a defiant speech to the Greek parliament, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the country’s creditors’ debt bailout plan he had rejected was “absurd” yet he also said he remained convinced an agreement was “closer than ever.”

As a group of Fifa executives continue to fight extradition to the US to face corruption charges, Friday was another dark day for world’s football’s governing body, as claims surfaced concerning alleged arms deals and bribery in World Cup tournament awards. The Guardian writes that

The claims mean that the votes for the 1998, 2006, 2010, 2018 and 2022 tournaments are now under scrutiny in some way. Brazilian authorities and the FBI are also looking into the contracts signed in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup.

Saturday is the start of the Womens’ World Cup tournament in Canada.

***

* SPORTS * Saturday sees the Uefa Champions League final in Berlin between Barcelona and Juventus. Mike Goodman at Grantland analyzes the match-up and writes:

“Hoping for a mistake” isn’t the most inspiring game plan [for Juventus], but that’s part of Barcelona’s brilliance: They simply don’t leave opponents with very many options. A comfortable Barcelona win is by far the most likely outcome — though it’s a result that says more about the unbelievable strength of the favorite than the weaknesses of the challenger.

UPDATE: Barca prevailed, 3-1.

In the French Open tennis, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will resume their weather-shortened semi-final on Saturday at noon.

UPDATE: Djokovic proved too strong for Murray’s challenge.

Saturday is also the running of the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown. American Pharoah has the chance to be the first horse in almost 40 years to sweep the three races. But the Wall Street Journal thinks he’s a longshot.

UPDATE: History was, indeed, made as American Pharoah took the Triple Crown.

***

Finally, Robert Kennedy died on June 6, 1968, after being shot the previous day at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where he had just given his victory speech in the wake of winning the California Democratic primary. Here’s the ABC News report.

(ABC News)

The UN Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the again-worsening situation in Ukraine, with President Petro Poroshenko warning of the possibility of a full-scale Russian invasion.

Michael Weiss writes at The Daily Beast that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s “new blitz” has led to a “major, multi-front escalation” that has shattered an already shaky Minsk peace accord. Newsweek reports that “pro-Russian separatist tanks and artillery bombarded Ukrainian troops in the eastern town of Marinka, spurring Ukrainian military officials and media to speculate whether a major separatist offensive, anticipated for months, had begun.”

***

* WORLD * 

As many as four million current and former federal employees could have had their personal data compromised after a security breach affecting US government systems. Reuters reports that “the Office of Personnel Management suffered what appeared to be one of the largest breaches of information ever on government workers.” The breach is thought to have occurred in December.

A U.S. law enforcement source told Reuters a “foreign entity or government” was believed to be behind the cyber attack. Authorities were looking into a possible Chinese connection, a source close to the matter said.

Al Jazeera reported that Chinese officials had denied involvement. “A Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington said hypothetical accusations were irresponsible and counterproductive. “Jumping to conclusions and making (a) hypothetical accusation is not responsible,” and is “counterproductive,” Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said in emailed comments.”

Meanwhile in Germany,

http://twitter.com/RidT/status/606599671700680704

***

Greece may have taken another step towards exit from the Eurozone after delaying a €300m debt repayment to the IMF payment which was due on Friday. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to address the Parliament in Athens.

South Korea confirmed that a fourth person had died from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) while 41 remain infected in the latest outbreak, which has led to school closings and quarantines.

OPEC leaders meet in Vienna on Friday and are expected to maintain current production levels. World oil prices have fallen for three straight days.

US Non-Farm Payroll numbers for May are released Friday morning, six years since the end of the recession, the Wall Street consensus seeming to be that the economy will add around 225,000 new jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the numbers at 8.30am ET. Here’s what to look for, via the FT.

Controversial Australian tycoon and America’s Cup-winning yachtsman Alan Bond died, aged 77.

Thursday was the 26th anniversary of the violent conclusion to the Tiananmen Square protests. Here’s the NBC News Special Report with Tom Brokaw – back when a correspondent, in this case Keith Morrison, could hold an audience with a dramatic retelling over a static graphic

(NBC/JustininAtlanta)

***

* POLITICS * Former Texas Gov Rick Perry launched his second bid for the Presidency, seeking what Politico calls “an improbable comeback,” but this time with an awesome  country-rap song about himself.

Jeb Bush, meanwhile, will apparently end the “suspense” by announcing his campaign on June 15. Chris Cillizza explains why there are millions of reasons why he’s waited until now. 

http://twitter.com/TheFix/status/606625682676924416

Hillary Clinton – who has apparently held a fundraiser every 36 hours since launching her campaign – was also in Texas on Thursday, delivering a powerful message on voting rights and calling out opponents for “fear-mongering” on election fraud.

***

* SPORTS * Even as the long-awaited clean-up-shake-out-turn-it-upside-down, comprehensive reform process gets under way at Fifa headquarters,

it turns out that Fifa had paid off the Football Association of Ireland to head off a legal challenge after Ireland were robbed of a place in the 2010 World Cup finals.

Meanwhile, with impeccable timing…

In other sports news, the Golden State Warriors won the opening game in the NBA Finals, beating a 44-point LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-100 in overtime.

Testimony by former Fifa executive Chuck Blazer reveals an admission that he “and others” on the organization’s executive committee “agreed to accept bribes” connected to the award of the 2010 World Cup to South Africa.

And, as you’d imagine in a crisis like this, there’s plenty more where that came from, including a redaction that has prompted plenty of speculation.

Other former Fifa figures at the center of the corruption allegations also appear ready to talk.

The FBI is now – apparently alongside Swiss authorities – investigating the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 finals. While as for Blazer himself, there might be trouble brewing at his second Trump Tower apartment:

https://twitter.com/ChuckieBsCats/status/606193437558206464

It might also be worth taking a look at his blog “Travels With Chuck Blazer and his Friends” while it’s still online.

Finally, though, with much more – surely – to come in this story, if you read only one thing about the importance of slow, determined investigative journalism in the Fifa case, read this from the Washington Post:

***

* POLITICS * Former Texas Gov Rick Perry is set to announce his campaign for the Presidency on Thursday, which would make him the first candidate to seek the Presidency while under federal indictment. The Texas Tribune writes on why that distinction “cuts both ways” –

The indictment, handed up by a Travis County grand jury last summer, stems from Perry’s threat to veto state funding for the public integrity unit unless Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned following a drunken driving arrest. The unit, which handles ethics complaints against statewide officials and state lawmakers, is housed in Lehmberg’s office.

Backed by a high-powered legal team, Perry quickly sought to portray the two charges — abuse of power and coercion of a public servant — as a political witch hunt in the heart of Texas’ most liberal county. Fellow Republicans, including some potential 2016 opponents, rallied to his side, as did less likely supporters such as David Axelrod, a former top adviser to President Obama, and Alan Dershowitz, the famed liberal law professor.

Nowadays, however, the indictment has become more of a headache for Perry than cause célèbre.

Hillary Clinton will also be in Texas on Thursday, when she is expected to give a speech on the subject of voting rights (and raise some money). Her speech will be her interview, apparently…

And Hillary got a third primary challenger on Tuesday, when former Republican Lincoln Chafee said he was seeking the Democratic nomination for President, becoming the first-ever citizen from Rhode Island to run for the highest office.

His platform so far seems to be: no wars, Edward Snowden can come home, and – seriously – adopting the metric system.

GOP candidate Sen Ted Cruz apologized after an unneccesary “joke” at the expense of Vice-President Joe Biden on the eve of the funeral of Biden’s son, Beau, who died at the weekend.

***

* WORLD * Texas executed Lester Bower on Wednesday night – the oldest person ever to be put to death in the state. Bower had been on death row for 30 years after being convicted of four murders more than three decades ago.

***

* MEDIA * The Queen is just fine, thanks, despite a small misspelling. Mind you, there was something or other… The Womens’ Institute are probably pretty happy they won’t have to find someone else to cut their centenary cake.

***

* SPORTS * After the first installment of the NHL final, with the Blackhawks coming from behind to take the series lead, 

Thursday sees the start of the NBA finals (and haven’t you ever wondered why the NHL uses the singular “final” and other sports the – technically correct – plural?) The Trib reports:

Frustrated and seeking some resolution on this weighty matter, we turned to academia. And not just any academia, the University of Chicago.

“The fact that we might choose to say ‘finals’ rather than ‘final’ (as the NBA does) makes sense given that the final round is a complex event with multiple parts: it is made up of at least four and at most seven distinct games,” U. of C. linguistics professor Chris Kennedy explained via email. “If we focus on the multiplicity, we should go with plural; if we focus on the unity, we should go with singular.

After Fifa President Sepp Blatter announced he would step down in a hastily arranged press conference in Zurich, amid ongoing criminal probes in the US and Switzerland into allegations of corruption – ABC News reported that Blatter himself was under investigation –  discussion has turned to who might replace him and what direction world football’s governing body might now take.

Dave Zirin at The Nation writes that the 79-year-old Blatter was “pompous, bizarre, and off-key to the last breath,” and because he “took no questions and gave no concrete reasons for his departure [he made] speculation the order of the day.”

World Cup sponsors welcomed the move. Coca Cola said it was a “positive step” and would help Fifa “transform itself rapidly into a much-needed 21st Century structure and institution.” Visa, meanwhile, issued this forceful statement:

Amid the general euphoria among football fans worldwide, there is a general realization that, regardless of why Blatter chose to go now, there is significant work to do to to restore Fifa’s reputation.

Simon Kuper at the FT writes on why Blatter’s departure will not, in itself, cure Fifa’s ills, while David Goldblatt at The Guardian says it’s “time to clean out the stables.”

Perhaps he [Blatter] knows that the Swiss and US attorney general’s office investigations will eventually reach him. Perhaps he really is as weary and forlorn as he appeared at the lectern and the thought of battles to come no longer appeals. Perhaps we should take him at his word, that he knows that Fifa just cannot continue as it has been and that the prerequisite of any change is his departure. Either way we should salute the work and words of investigative journalists (take a bow, Andrew Jennings), Fifa whistleblowers, political activists and critics and judicial agencies that have forced him and the organisation to this point.

There is also renewed speculation about the fate of the next two World Cup tournaments – Russia in 2018 and – particularly – Qatar in 2022.

Dave Wetzel at Yahoo Sports writes:

The entire thing is reprehensible. It’s almost unfathomable. Thousands of the most disadvantaged people on Earth will die to build a pointless playground for the most advantaged people on Earth.

It’s something out of the Middle Ages.

It’s Sepp Blatter’s FIFA taken to its ultimately awful conclusion.

So end it. No more Qatar. If it can be proven the bid was fixed, even better, but regardless this shouldn’t be anything that FIFA, soccer fans or, most pointedly, corporate sponsors should condone.

Qatar isn’t ready to be the world’s host. Not when this is how it builds the house.

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* POLITICS * The Senate passed the USA Freedom Act, a measure scaling back the US government’s sweeping surveillance of citizens’ phone records. 

Earlier, former NSA employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden told an Amnesty International event that becoming an “international fugitive” had been worth it because of the advantages in terms of public knowledge.

“I think the most liberating thing about burning your life to the ground, and becoming an international fugitive, or so I’m told, is that you no longer have to worry about tomorrow, you think about today,” he said. For me that’s been a great experience, I’m actually quite grateful for it.

Unable to answer where he saw himself in five years he added: “I’ve applied for asylum in 21 different countries, including western Europe, I’m still waiting for them to get back to me.”

Legislative focus is now shifting to the fight over President Obama’s trade agenda, which is set to come to the House next week.

The Washington Post has a substantial long read on the growth of the Clinton Foundation and the former President’s role in convening the wealthy and influential.

For Clinton, the foundation had re-created many of the things he loved about the presidency — cheering crowds, an army of aides and a resonant sense that he was doing good on a global scale.

Even better, in this job, there were no foreign crises to derail his plans. And no meddling Republicans. In fact, the foundation drew contributions from some who were once Clinton’s most bitter GOP enemies, including Newsmax chief executive Christopher Ruddy and conservative mega-
donor Richard Mellon Scaife.

There was also no date when the ride had to end.

The grassroots campaign to draft Elizabeth Warren to run for President officially acknowledged defeat.

***

* WORLD * A resolution to the Greek debt crisis could move closer on Wednesday, when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meets with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels to discuss a potential agreement drawn up on Tuesday by the country’s creditors. Reuters reports:

The chairman of euro zone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem… said there were growing indications that Greece wanted a deal, but that required the Greek government to tell its voters the truth, that it will not be able to deliver on all its election promises.

“There are signs that Greece and Tsipras are motivated to achieve a breakthrough,” Dijsselbloem told RTL Nieuws. “We aren’t far enough along and time is pressing.”

“The bottom line is that we are not going to meet them halfway,” he said. “The package as a whole must make sense in budgetary terms.”

***

* SPORTS * In non-Blatter news, the NHL’s Stanley Cup Final series starts on Wednesday between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks, who are looking to win the trophy for the sixth time – and their third trophy in the past six years.

***

Finally, the British political world was stunned by the sudden death at the appallingly young age of 55 of Charles Kennedy, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats. Parliament will pay tribute to Kennedy at a dedicated session on Wednesday, following PMQs.

If you read only one thing about him, make it this wonderful appreciation by his friend, Tony Blair’s former press secretary Alastair Campbell, who calls Kennedy “a lovely man and a highly talented politician.” He writes:

He was great company, sober or drinking. He had a fine political mind and a real commitment to public service. He was not bitter about his ousting as leader and nor, though he disagreed often with what his party did in coalition with the Tories, did he ever wander down the rentaquote oppositionitis route. He was a man of real talent and real principle.

(BBC)