Burrell, a long time ally of former FIFA vice president Jack Warner and a member of FIFA’s disciplinary committee, must now withdraw his candidacy in the Caribbean Football Union presidential election scheduled next month.

Since the bribery scandal broke in May, the CONCACAF continental body has seen its top three elected Caribbean officials _ Warner, Burrell and Lisle Austin _ either resign while under investigation or be banned by FIFA.

FIFA’s ethics committee ruled that three months of Jamaican Football Federation president Burrell’s ban will be deferred for a probationary period of two years.

Burrell accepted the ban, saying in a statement that Friday’s actions “are harsh and painful for me personally, but I will not appeal the decision, considering the relative levity of the sanction and the cause for which it was handed down.”

He said it will be up to the JFF to decide his future with the national body _ whether to replace him temporarily for the length of the ban or permanently _ but he still saw a future for himself within FIFA.

“I have no reason to doubt that I shall be readmitted to my present FIFA functions after the three-months suspension has been served,” Burrell said.

Three other Caribbean officials also received bans.

Franka Pickering, president of the British Virgin Islands federation and one of the most senior women in world football, was suspended for 18 months.

FIFA issued 30-day bans to Osiris Guzman, president of the Dominican Republic football federation, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines general secretary Ian Hypolite. Fifteen days of their sanctions were deferred for six months.

The ethics panel met for three days this week to weigh evidence of CFU members allegedly accepting $40,000 cash payments from bin Hammam in May.

The Qatari official made a campaign visit to Trinidad, the home island of then-CFU leader Warner, to woo voters during his challenge to FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Bin Hammam was banned for life by FIFA in July.

Friday’s verdicts extend a trail of damage across Caribbean football, with Burrell having been favored to win a 4-candidate poll in Jamaica on Nov. 20 to succeed Warner as CFU leader. Burrell’s bid was ultimately ended by his own voters.

Former Jamaica Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who is president of his country’s Premier League Clubs Association, said he regretted the sanctions against Burrell.

“(He) has given great service to Jamaican football,” Seaga said. “But we must also be happy that FIFA is taking steps to clean the nest of corruption in Caribbean football.”

Seaga, who had called on Warner to resign in June, did not say if Burrell would step down as Jamaica Football Federation president.

Whistleblowers from four Caribbean countries sparked the probe by telling CONCACAF’s American general secretary Chuck Blazer that brown envelopes stuffed with $100 bills were being offered in a Port of Spain hotel.

Blazer’s alert to FIFA led the football body to hire former FBI director Louis Freeh’s investigation agency to interview Caribbean officials and gather evidence for the ethics panel.

Burrell and Pickering both featured in a video leaked this week of Warner addressing officials on May 11, the day after they listened to bin Hammam’s pitch and were offered money.

When Warner is filmed telling his members they can refuse the cash gift and give it to a fellow member in need, Pickering smiles, raises her hand and is acknowledged by Warner.

Burrell’s suspension arises from his initial refusal to co-operate with the investigation. He said he was unwilling to travel outside the Caribbean region for questioning and “lack of clarity” on how the investigation was being conducted.

“Despite the fact that I have now suffered the consequences for my original assessment, I maintain that it was the right thing to do to protest against the fact that CFU members were ordered (to) territory outside of the Caribbean to be questioned and testify,” Burrell said.

“I accept that I possibly decided to co-operate with the investigation too late but that was my decision at the time and I stand by it while accepting the sanction which resulted from my lack of cooperation in the initial phase of the investigation.”

FIFA’s ethics panel reprimanded three other officials on Friday: St. Kitts and Nevis football president Anthony Johnson, U.S. Virgin Islands president Hillaren Frederick and Aubrey Liburd, vice president of the British Virgin Islands football body.

Five others received warnings, including FIFA committee members Yves Jean-Bart, the Haiti football president, and Richard Groden, Trinidad and Tobago’s general secretary.

Former international referee Mark Bob Forde was also warned, along with his fellow Barbados official David Hinds and Burrell’s federation general secretary Horace Reid.

FIFA said it dropped cases against David Fredericks of the Cayman Islands and Joseph Delves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines because they had left the sport.

“Should they return to football official positions, their cases would be examined again by the ethics committee,” FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA did not give the officials the same “presumption of innocence” it accorded Warner in June when the 28-year executive committee veteran resigned rather than face sanctions.

However, the reputation of Warner’s Caribbean football empire lies shattered after the sanctions announced Friday.

Another of Warner’s long-standing allies, Colin Klass of Guyana, received a 26-month ban from FIFA’s ethics panel last month.

FIFA banned Barbados official Austin for one year after he used a civil court in the Bahamas to pursue his bid, as interim president of CONCACAF, to fire Blazer in what was seen as act of revenge on Warner’s behalf

Also Friday, FIFA said a hearing into the case of Guyana official Noel Adonis was postponed and a case left open into the conduct of St. Lucia official Patrick Mathurin.

FIFA cleared Felix Ledesma of the Dominican Republic of committing any violation.

After the scandal emerged, bin Hammam withdrew his election bid three days before the FIFA vote in June. He denies bribery and is appealing his life ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Blatter ran unopposed and won a fourth four-year presidential term. He was endorsed by 186 FIFA members, including most Caribbean islands.

FIFA’s executive committee meets next week for the time since the election, and will probably do so without a Caribbean delegate because the process of replacing Warner was stalled by Austin’s legal action.

Blatter is scheduled next Friday to provide the first details of his promised anti-corruption project to clean up world football and its damaged image.

Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said Beijing is committed to assisting Jamaica, a heavily indebted middle-income country that gets most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittances from Jamaicans working abroad and exports of bauxite.

“China is determined to give you the necessary help in the future,” Hui said through a translator during a brief ceremony at the Jamaican prime minister’s office.

He made the comments after Chinese and Jamaican officials signed two grants worth $3.1 million. The money will go to projects mutually agreed upon after consultation by both governments.

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding said China has recently signed off on nearly $8 million in grants, including a pact made last week at a two-day trade forum in Trinidad.

The Chinese delegation touring the region underlined the growing economic links between the Asian industrial powerhouse and the tourism-dependent Caribbean. Finance officials across the region, where the U.S. is still the largest investment source, have welcomed China’s growing involvement.

Last week, Hui visited Trinidad for a China-Caribbean economic and trade forum attended by hundreds of Chinese and Caribbean government officials and business executives. At that meeting, China announced it will provide up to $1 billion in soft loans to Caribbean countries to help bolster its economic relationship with the region.

Another Chinese vice premier, Wang Qishan, announced he wanted to see the implementation of more projects that focus on finance, infrastructure and tourism. China’s ministry of commerce announced that Beijing intends to collaborate on solar energy projects and the construction of schools.

Guyana’s government said China has pledged to give that country $4.7 million. A Chinese delegation that visited the Bahamas before the forum in Trinidad pledged up to $5 million in funding for the island chain off Florida’s eastern coast.

In Jamaica, Li Ruogu, chairman of the state-owned China Exim Bank, which handles most of China’s overseas aid loans, said he was committed to developing strong economic ties between China and Jamaica.

“That is our very determined and firm commitment. So ladies and gentlemen and friends, please trust us. We will be your development partner,” he said.

China is making similar pledges elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. It is lending and investing tens of billions of dollars in Latin American countries in return for a guaranteed flow of commodities, particularly oil.

Recent deals have made China a key financier to the governments of Venezuela and Argentina. At the same time, Chinese companies have secured a decade’s worth of oil from Venezuela and Brazil, and steady supplies of wheat, soybeans and natural gas from Argentina.

The annual Labor Day parade celebrating the culture of the Caribbean islands is one of the city’s largest and most colorful, featuring dancers wearing enormous feathered costumes. Spectators waved the bright flags of their native islands and enjoyed a lineup of Caribbean delicacies sold by vendors whose barbecues released delicious-smelling smoke into the late summer air.

“This parade is fabulous!” said Arnold Caballero, 52, who was manning a huge barbecue. “There are people of all countries, and you meet friends you haven’t seen for years.”

The Trinidad native estimated that by day’s end he would sell about 500 pounds of jerk and curry chicken, beef and pork from the stand he’s run for a decade with two friends.

Caballero’s friend Agnes Cherryl Phillips, 55, a native of Grenada, added, “This is the most excellent parade you can ever have, with music and loved ones who come from all over America, from Miami to Canada.”

Violence has marred the parade in some years, with fatal shootings along the route in 2003 and 2005. Police helicopters hovered over the parade Monday and motorcycle officers patrolled the surrounding blocks.

The upcoming 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks plus a spate of holiday weekend violence have put New York City on high alert, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said before the parade stepped off down Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway.

“We’re doing a lot of things both seen and unseen,” Kelly said.

Bloodshed over the weekend included a Sunday shooting in the Bronx in which eight people were wounded, including children. Four other people were shot, one fatally, in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn early Monday. Kelly said some of the shootings appear to have been related to the parade.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the problem is “too many guns on the streets of this city.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo stopped by a pre-parade breakfast before heading to upstate New York communities where residents are still cleaning up from Tropical Storm Irene.

“Thank you for sharing your culture, your language, your music, your food, your diversity,” he said.

Cuomo said he would bring buckets of jerk chicken to Irene victims.

KINGSTON, Jamaica _ Jamaica’s government signed over its three remaining sugar estates to a Chinese company in a privatization deal Monday that has been a long-standing goal of Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s administration.

Under the agreement, China’s Complant International Sugar Industry Co. Ltd. will be leased roughly 18,000 hectares (44,478 acres) of cane fields for the next 49 years and will own the three sugar estates and their surrounding properties.

Complant paid $9 million for the Monymusk, Frome and Bernard Lodge factories and control of surrounding sugar cane lands under the lease. The deal also calls for the Chinese company to rehabilitate the sugar mills.

Golding said Complant’s total investment should come to roughly $166 million.

“We have been very careful to ensure that the critical assets of Jamaica are protected and therefore the … acres of land which have been earmarked for sugar will be leased to the company,” Golding said.

Agriculture Minister Robert Montague said Jamaica expects the Chinese company “will play its role in other areas and aspects of the Jamaican economy.”

The chief of the Complant group of companies, Tang Jianguo, said Jamaicans will still participate in management of the three sugar estates and promised to “set up collaborations with Jamaican counterparts to promote the development of the whole industry.”

The divestment comes some three years after the global financial crisis forced the Brazilian corporation Infinity Bio-Energy to drop a multimillion-dollar deal to take over Jamaica’s debt-ridden sugar company.

The Caribbean island’s government in 2007 began efforts to sell the five companies that made up the Sugar Company of Jamaica because of mounting financial losses and years of rising debt.

In 2005, officials announced a plan to restructure the sugar industry to focus production more on ethanol and molasses. But the majority of the Caribbean nation’s cane fields remain focused on sugar.

Like other Caribbean nations, Jamaica was squeezed by deep cuts in sugar subsidies by the European Union for producers in the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific.

In recent years, Trinidad and St. Kitts both abandoned their centuries-old sugar industries, blaming high production costs and cuts in subsidies for sugar imports.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad  _ Officials in Trinidad say roughly 25 percent of the Caribbean country’s police officers have joined in a one-day strike.

A police union called for a day of “rest and reflection” Monday as a way to protest the government’s offer of a 5 percent pay raise. The union says that isn’t enough.

Soldiers have been seen accompanying police in the capital.

Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs says most officers are working but “there has been some measure of absenteeism.” Gibbs says the biggest number of officers who participated in the strike are assigned to courts.

There is no information yet on whether the walkout has affected crime rates.

To rekindle her waning passion, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist tried sky diving and snow skiing along with retracing her family’s roots with a trip to Trinidad.

The rush of those experiences snapped Williams out of her rut and got her head back into the sprint game.

Stepping away from the sport is no longer a consideration for the 27-year-old Williams, who’s entered in the 100 and 200 at the U.S. championships this weekend.

She’s all in as she sets her sights on making the team for the 2012 London Olympics.

First, though, she had to make sure the drive still remained, which is why she dabbled in thrill-seeking activities during breaks last season in a year that featured no major meets.

“I took a step back from track, to give myself a chance to miss it, to miss competing,” Williams said in a recent phone interview.

She enjoyed sky diving, but for someone so used to speed, the experience wasn’t all she was expecting.

“The guy pushes you out of that plane, you can’t breathe for a second and you’re going down. That’s it,” she said. “(The rush) lasts like 10 seconds.”

That’s about the same amount of time it takes Williams to motor down the track in the 100. Her best time in the 100 is 10.88, a mark she sent in 2005.

She knows that’s far from good enough to keep up with the field these days. Fellow American Carmelita Jeter has turned in the fastest time of this era, clocking 10.64 seconds in 2009. Only the late Florence Griffith-Joyner has run faster (10.49).

Not only that but the balance of power on the women’s side has considerably shifted over the last three seasons, with the Jamaicans becoming the ones to beat.

“The 100 is very stacked, really a deep event right now,” Williams said. “So when you think you’ve worked hard enough, you’ve got to work even harder.”

And incorporate some wrinkles into the workout regimen. That’s what led Williams to take up the hurdles, a way to increase her acceleration and power as she hops, skips and walks over the obstacles.

“If I see one more hurdle, I’m going to rename myself Lolo Jones,” the diminutive Williams said, chuckling at the reference to the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials champion.

But don’t expect an event switch.

“There are no hurdles in my future!” she said.

In her break from track, Williams took a trip to Trinidad to visit where her father was from. It’s been a tough stretch for Williams since losing her dad, David Williams, to leukemia nearly three years ago.

Gone with her father went all those pep talks. He had a way to take her mind off her worries.

The Trinidad trip was quite therapeutic as Williams cooked meals and chatted with a side of her family she’s getting to know better.

“It gave me my insight into my dad, tied it all together for me,” she said.

Williams also tried snow skiing in New Hampshire, played friendly games of flag football and went on an extended expedition to Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama.

Through all her experiences, Williams revived her passion.

“It’s no secret I’ve got talent inside of me,” the former University of Miami standout said. “But if you’re not going to put the hard work and training behind the talent, you might be a mediocre athlete at best, not a good athlete at all.”

___

GATLIN’S RETURN: A case of strep throat along with nagging hamstring and quadriceps ailments weren’t about to derail Justin Gatlin’s return to nationals after a long absence due to a doping ban.

The injuries and illness have cut into his training, but Gatlin’s still looking forward to his first nationals in five years. He’s planning to run the 100 and possibly the 200 as well, depending on how his body holds up.

“The last couple of weeks I’ve been beat up, but now I feel good,” Gatlin said in a phone interview after arriving in town for a meet that will decide the team bound for worlds in South Korea later this summer. “I’m ready.”

Once one of the fastest men on the planet, Gatlin sat out for four years after testing positive for excessive testosterone in April 2006.

He returned to the sport last summer, but a dark cloud still hovers over him. He’s recently been competing in minor meets in Europe, but is still excluded from major European events.

This was a step forward for him: Gatlin was added to the field at the Prefontaine Classic on June 4 when other sprinters dropped out. His time of 9.97 seconds at Pre _ on the same track used for nationals _ makes him the fourth-fastest American this season.

“Everyone should get a second chance,” said Gatlin, who captured gold in the 100 at the 2004 Olympic Games. “I just want to come back to the sport.”

Gatlin realizes he can’t change the public’s perception of him, so he just concentrates on the one thing he can control _ running fast.

In his heyday, Gatlin was the best in the game. He tied the then 100-meter world record of 9.77 seconds, a run that came weeks after a positive test and has since been erased.

The 29-year-old is trying to make the world team against a field of Americans that includes Tyson Gay, Walter Dix and a fleet of fast, up-and-coming youngsters.

And before being labeled as the “old man in the blocks,” Gatlin points out he’s nearly the same age as Gay (29 in August) and Jamaica’s Asafa Powell (29 in November).

“I don’t think I’ve lost a beat or a step,” Gatlin said. “I’m back where I need to be.”

___

DOUBLE VISION: Given the favorable schedule, Sanya Richards-Ross definitely plans on running in both the 200 and 400 at worlds, provided, of course, she qualifies.

Richards-Ross has an automatic bye into worlds in the 400, courtesy of her win in Berlin two years ago. But she has to earn her spot in the 200 this week at nationals.

Allyson Felix isn’t quite as confident she will attempt to run both the 200 and 400 at worlds, saying she’s “50-50” on the idea should she qualify. Felix has a bye into the 200 by winning in Berlin, but needs to earn a spot in the 400.

It’s not an easy double because of all the rounds and how closely the two races are typically crammed together.

The schedule at worlds sets up more favorably for Richards-Ross, since her best event, the 400, will be held first. After two days of rest, the 200 begins.

“I would love for it to be reversed,” said Felix, a three-time world champion in the 200. “Of course, you want to do your favorite event first. I would have to sacrifice a little bit to do (the 400) first.”

This could be a gauge to see if either tries to double at the 2012 London Olympics, if the schedule permits.

Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert said authorities have “unearthed credible information which suggests that a certain group has expressed its intention to disrupt election proceedings.”

“We know who these people are, we know what they intend to do. We intend to use all our resources to ensure that elections are free and fair,” he told a news conference late Friday at which he displayed one of the T-shirts from the New National Vision party led by Fuad Abu Bakr, son of the man accused of masterminding a 1990 Islamic coup attempt.

He said police found a Kalashnikov assault rifle and dozens of rounds of ammunition in the raid on a house in northwestern Trinidad.

But Philbert declined to directly link the plot to New National Vision or to Jamaat al Muslimeen, which is led by Abu Bakr’s father.

Fuad Abu Bakr denied involvement.

“For someone to accuse us of trying to disturb the political process at this time is absurd,” Bakr told reporters Saturday. “It is very convenient at this time to find some guns and whatever and NNV jerseys and link that to us.”

The NVV is contesting 12 of 41 constituencies in the May 24 elections but the party has not garnered much support.

Police said they arrested a boy, 15, a woman, 22, a former Coast Guard member and two other suspects in their 20s.

Jamaat al Muslimeen was accused of storming Parliament in April 1990, taking the prime minister and his Cabinet hostage in a clash that killed 24 people. The rebels were later pardoned.

The recent announcement of early elections in Trinidad, which were not constitutionally due until 2013, has sparked a flurry of political activity.

Leaders of the country’s opposition party joined forces with a breakaway faction of the ruling party.

Patrick Manning’s People’s National Movement currently holds 26 of the 41 seats in Parliament, while the United National Congress holds the remaining 15 seats.

In previous elections, Jamaat al Muslimeen has openly campaigned for the island’s two major parties, but its leader, Yasin Abu Bakr, announced that the dormant NNV would be revived for the new election.

Left: Rio de Janeiro. Right: Hong Kong.

Here’s some good news for those dreaming of adventures: February is a great time for traveling. Whether you prefer to go off to the north, south, east or west, there are many choices of activities, exciting destinations and festivals worldwide to keep us all entertained for awhile. For those of you who are in search of the sun and sea, there is always a nice warm beach somewhere in the world that is waiting to welcome you with open arms.

That’s why winter is high season for tourism in the Caribbean and Central America, and hotel rooms are not as plentiful. If you decide to head south and not already have a reservation, you might still be able to get a last-minute deal, though. If you have no success by searching online, then a travel agency will be more than happy to help. The same principle applies for cruises, which are quite popular this time of the year.

February is also the time of the Lunar New Year in much of Asia, so if you choose to head east you’re sure to see some spectacular sights. Other places in the world host their carnival season in February, with the spectacle running up to the 16^th of the month in New Orleans, culminating with the Mardi Gras. Similar party atmospheres can be found in Trinidad, Martinique, Rio de Janeiro and even Venice, Italy, among other places.

Go far enough south and the seasons are reversed, so you’ll find summer in full bloom.  That makes February an ideal time for a safari in southern Africa, a stop for tango lessons in Buenos Aires, or even a trip to explore Antarctica.

Keep in mind that since it is summer there, children are out of school, families are traveling—and local venues such as museums and other tourist attractions tend to be packed. The airplanes that will take you on your journey going south, and eventually back home, will most likely be full as well, so don’t forget to pre-reserve your airline seats.

While traveling in February, also pay attention to whether it is the dry or wet season in your destination of choice. In tropical countries, you will experience a lot of rain and higher humidity during the wet seasons, but prices will be lower. This information can be obtained by checking the tourism web site of the country you plan to visit.

If your choice of destination of choice is to the north, you are likely you are in search of snow and winter sports. Look around and you’ll find that there is someplace out there that will be a good a match for all the snow lovers of this world and the sports they practice.

The key to enjoying winter sports with less crowded slopes is to go during the middle of the week. Hotel rates will also be lower during the week. The smaller the resort, the lower the lift ticket prices, but if you prefer a big name, popular resort then try and choose one where children can ski for free. This can be a big savings if you choose to bring the whole family along for the journey.

Photos from Wikimedia Commons.