NEWS ROUND-UP: FIFA was last night lurching towards open civil war after its president Sepp Blatter suspended an internal investigation of alleged financial mismanagement within football's world governing body.

The move was immediately condemned as "unacceptable" by Lennart Johansson, the president of the European body UEFA who is also a FIFA vice-president, and an emergency meeting of the executive committee has been called.

Blatter's opponents suspect the move is to prevent the investigating audit committee - headed by Scotland's David Will, a FIFA vice-president - disclosing any material that might damage the Swiss's hopes of re-election.

Blatter insists he was forced into the action to investigate a breach of confidentiality; all six members of the committee were obliged to sign confidentiality agreements when appointed last month. The enquiry team were conducting investigations into FIFA's finances and the handling of the collapse of its former marketing partner ISL last year. They had already held a series of hearings and interviewed senior FIFA management staff.