Cuba, others cause trouble in U.N. re-election: envoys (Reuters)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council Thursday delayed by a day its vote to recommend Ban Ki-moon for a second term as U.N. chief after Cuba and other Latin American countries declined to endorse him, envoys said.

"Cuba's causing difficulties with GRULAC (Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries), but it's just procedural," a Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"Ban's going to win, though it's unclear whether GRULAC will endorse him as a bloc," the diplomat added.

Cuba's U.N. mission issued a statement denying Havana was the reason the process had been held up, adding, "Nor has it been opposed to this re-election."

A spokesman for Cuba's mission declined to comment when asked whether the statement meant his mission would now vote in favor of a GRULAC endorsement of the U.N. chief.

A senior U.N. official confirmed that Cuba was not alone and that other Latin American countries including Mexico, Guatemala and Paraguay had raised concerns. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said Mexico suggested there should be more than one candidate for the top U.N. job.

Diplomats said the Security Council vote on whether to recommend the former South Korean foreign minister for a second five-year term as U.N. secretary-general starting in January 2012 had been postponed until Friday at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT)

It was not immediately clear what specific reason Cuba might have for not supporting a GRULAC endorsement of Ban, but Western diplomats say Havana sees the secretary-general as under U.S. influence.

BRAZIL SUPPORTS BAN'S RE-ELECTION

Diplomats said there was an inconclusive GRULAC meeting on Thursday afternoon and another one scheduled before Friday's council meeting to see if the bloc could agree to endorse Ban.

If GRULAC was unable to back Ban, who is so far the only candidate for the post, it would have no impact on the voting process. But it might be embarrassing for the U.N. chief, who diplomats say would like to have the official support of all 192 member states and all regional groups.

Ban, who was visiting Brazil Thursday, did not comment directly on the delay, telling reporters in Brasilia, "I expect that member states will take positive consideration for my humble desire to serve this great organization."

Brazilian diplomats said late Thursday the country would support Ban's re-election bid.

Officially, U.N. secretaries-general are elected by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. In reality, it is the five permanent veto-wielding council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- that decide who gets the job.

All five permanent council members have said they support Ban's re-election.

The General Assembly is expected to formally approve Ban's second term Tuesday.

Ban has been touring Latin America this week to meet with regional leaders. He has not visited Cuba.

(Additional reporting by Raymond Colitt in Brasilia, Editing by Peter Cooney)

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'Crisis, what crisis?' Blatter denies trouble at FIFA

A defiant Sepp Blatter said he would press ahead with his bid for a fourth term in charge of FIFA.FIFA president Sepp Blatter shrugs off allegations of corruption in his organization"We are not in a crisis" the 75-year-old Swiss tells press conferenceBlatter will be pressing ahead with his bid for a fourth term as presidentFIFA Congress will vote Wednesday with Blatter sole candidate

(CNN) -- A defiant Sepp Blatter shrugged off allegations of corruption within FIFA Monday and said he would press ahead with his bid to be re-elected as president of football's world governing body for the fourth time.

Blatter will be the sole candidate in Wednesday's election in Zurich after Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam, the only person standing against him, was suspended by the FIFA ethics committee Sunday, along with fellow leading official Jack Warner.

"We are not in a crisis, we are only in some difficulties and these can be solved inside our family," Blatter told a press conference Monday where he was continually pressed on both his own position and wider allegations of wrongdoing within FIFA.

"FIFA is strong enough to deal with our own problems," he asserted when asked if he had considered postponing Wednesday's vote by the 207-member FIFA Congress.

Was Blatter right to be defiant?

Blatter also ruled out a new vote on the venue for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

"There is no issue for the World Cup in 2022," the 75-year-old Swiss said.

"I believe that the decision taken for the World Cup in 2022 was done exactly in the same pattern and in the same way as the 2018 tournament."

Bin Hamman, who led the Qatar bid, said earlier Monday that he would appeal his suspension.

"I am punished before I am found guilty," Bin Hammam said in a statement, saying he would "not accept" the decision.

Blatter, who was cleared by the ethics committee, did admit that the whole affair had affected FIFA's reputation.

"What has happened in the last few days and weeks. It has done great damage to the image of FIFA," he said.

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Skype scrambles after service trouble (AFP)

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Skype on Thursday was scrambling to fix a problem that caused the globally popular Internet telephone service to be inaccessible for a "small number" of users.

"A small number of you may have had problems signing in to Skype," Skype engineer Peter Parkes said in an update at the Luxembourg-based firm's blog.

"This predominantly affects people using Skype for Windows," he continued. We have identified the problem and will issue a fix in the next few hours."

His message included step-by-step instructions for Skype users to correct the problem on computers powered by Windows, Linux, or Macintosh operating systems.

Skype spokesman Chaim Haas said that while some users had trouble signing in, the service never went out and its computers didn't crash.

Skype was up and running, with 25 million people logged in early Thursday afternoon, according to Haas.

"Engineers have been hard at work all day and a formal fix will be pushed out shortly," Haas said of the situation.

The problem came just weeks after Microsoft sealed a deal to buy the Internet voice and video leader for $8.5 billion dollars in a move aimed at boosting its presence in an online arena dominated by Google and Facebook.

The purchase of Skype, which reportedly also attracted interest from Cisco, Facebook and Google, is the largest ever by Microsoft and gives it control of one of the few companies whose name has become a verb, as in to "skype."

Skype users can make low-cost or free phone calls over the Internet using their computers or smartphones. Skype bypasses the standard telephone network by channeling voice and video calls over the Web.

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Kevorkian hospitalized for pneumonia, kidney trouble

Kevorkian has a history of kidney ailments, his lawyer saysThe assisted suicide advocate served an eight-year prison term

(CNN) -- Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian has been hospitalized in Michigan for pneumonia and a kidney-related ailment, his attorney said Thursday.

The 82-year-old former pathologist has struggled with kidney problems for years and had checked into a hospital earlier this month for similar problems, his lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, told CNN. He checked back into Beaumont Hospital in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak on Wednesday after suffering a relapse Wednesday night, Morganroth said.

"He has some testing to have done," Morganroth said Thursday on his way to the hospital. "He's a little tired, but he's doing all right," he added.

Officials at Beaumont Hospital could not comment, citing confidentiality policies and privacy clauses.

Kevorkian, dubbed "Dr. Death," made national headlines as a supporter of physician-assisted suicide and "right-to-die" legislation. He was charged with murder numerous times through the 1990s for helping terminally ill patients take their own lives.

He was convicted on second-degree murder charges in 1999 stemming from the death of a patient who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease. He was paroled in 2007.

-- From CNN's Chris Boyette

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