Tag: last minute stuff

  • Brazil’s Lula still has power to influence politics

    Brazilian ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is lifted by supporters after attending a Catholic Mass in memory of his late wife Marisa Leticia, at the metalworkers' union building in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in metropolitan Sao Paulo, Brazil, 7 April 2018 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Lula is lifted by supporters at the steelworkers’ union building in Sao Paulo

    Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s surrender on Saturday capped a dramatic few days in Brazil. But the political spectacle is likely to continue as the country heads towards presidential elections in October.

    “We are going to return to the time where just a few people have a lot of money, and a lot of people have nothing,” Lula supporter Gisele Veloso says.

    She was on the verge of tears as she stood outside the steelworkers’ union in the early hours of Thursday morning. It was just after the Supreme Court ruled that Lula had to start serving his 12-year prison sentence for corruption and tensions were running high.

    Spectacular fall from grace

    For many, Lula still holds a special place. He was Brazil’s first working-class president and helped lift millions out of poverty. He promised change in a country known for its gaping inequalities.

    But it has been a stunning fall from grace for a man who was once the most popular leader in Brazilian history. Convicted and jailed for corruption and money laundering, he now has a less flattering claim to fame as the country’s most famous criminal.

    Media playback is unsupported on your device

    Media captionLula forced his way through crowds of his supporters to turn himself in

    For millions, including those who had voted for him in the past, he turned out to be just as corrupt as the politicians who came before him. There are now plenty of people who are eager to see him locked up.

    Messy months ahead

    Even so, it’s unlikely that this is the last we will hear of Lula. Leaders in the Workers’ Party (PT) have already said he remains their candidate for October’s elections.

    It is possible for Lula to campaign behind bars – for now. So the next few months will be messy and emotional.

    Parties have to put forward names of their preferred candidates by 15 August. The Electoral court then has until mid-September to analyse them.

    Lula: Only death will take me off streets A quick guide to Brazil’s scandals

    Because of what is known as the “Clean Sheet” law, which was introduced in 2010, anybody with a criminal conviction is banned from public office for eight years. At that point, Lula’s nomination is expected to be thrown out.

    But that means for several months, we could have a convicted criminal attempting to be the country’s next leader. This is Brazil and politics is nothing if not complicated – and at times unbelievable.

    An act of rejection

    For Thiago de Aragão, a partner at political consultancy Arko Advice, this is the end of an era – one that Lula’s Workers’ Party was warned about.

    “They knew that this would happen,” he says, adding that they have lined up possible candidates to replace him, including the former mayor of São Paulo, Fernando Haddad.

    “From within the Workers’ Party, breaking with Lula is not an option,” he says, adding that Lula has in the past few years become bigger than the party he founded.

    “Because of that, a candidate from the party that is not fully endorsed or linked to Lula does not stand a chance,” he adds.

    They have a strategy and that, according to Mr de Aragão, is to keep pushing Lula as a candidate until the last moment. When the electoral court throws his candidacy out, that’s when they’ll put forward another candidate.

    “They will make this an act of rejection,” he says. “The energy from that moment will then be transmitted to the candidate that will be chosen to run on Lula’s behalf.”

    From far-left to far-right

    Brazilian politics is increasingly polarised. Trailing behind leftist Lula in the presidential polls is far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro. So could he become number one?

    Many experts doubt it.

    “The existence of a candidate like Bolsonaro is a product of the existence of Lula,” says Mr de Aragão.

    If that’s the case, then it throws the elections wide open. There is a great deal of uncertainty as to the political future of this country. Ask a Brazilian who to vote for and many just shrug their shoulders – they have no idea.

    One thing is certain though, Lula’s influence is here to stay.

    “He will still be able to do politics even through his silence,” says João Paulo Orsini Martinelli, a criminal lawyer in São Paulo. “His existence will still be there and he’s still a gravitational force within Brazilian politics. He’s a player.”

    Additional reporting by Anna Jean Kaiser

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  • The battle to strip Franco circle of relatives of dictator’s summer palace

    General view of the Pazo de Meiras palace Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption Native politicians had been livid after they discovered that the palace were put up for sale

    The provincial authority of A Coruña, in north-western Spain, has introduced a legal fight to expropriate a mansion utilized by twentieth Century dictator Francisco Franco as a summer time place of abode, arguing that the former Generalissimo’s heirs don’t have any right to benefit from the possession of “plunder”.

    The Invention closing month that Franco’s grandchildren had positioned the sturdy Pazo de Meirás palace up on the market was the ultimate straw for politicians who want to see the fortified building and grounds open to the public.

    “it’s a scandal that this assets continues to be managed via the dictator’s family,” says Néstor Rego, certainly one of round 25 activists from the Galicia region who invaded the property for a couple of hours in protest remaining 12 months.

    Now the leaders of the provincial authority of A Coruña, to which the village of Meirás belongs, have introduced a legal and political offensive geared toward stripping the Franco family of the dictator’s mock-medieval pile.

    “There are prison ways to get well the Pazo de Meirás for the public realm,” mentioned Goretti Sanmartín, deputy president of the A Coruña authority, as she presented a document drawn up through ancient and criminal experts at the mansion’s status.

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Symbol caption The use of the palace has lengthy been a source of controversy

    “there was not anything voluntary in regards to the donations,” says Carlos Babío, co-creator of a ancient take a look at of the building entitled Meirás, Un Pazo, Un Caudillo, Un Espolio (Meirás, a palace, a warlord, a plunder).

    “Cash was once taken from workers’ wages, and we’re speaking approximately virtually all of the population of A Coruña in 1938.”

    in line with Xabier Ferreira, a law lecturer from the College of Santiago de Compostela who helped to draw up the document for A Coruña’s provincial authority, Franco realised that the donation have been made to the “head of state” and not him for my part.

    Francisco Franco (1892-1975)

    Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Born in Galicia to a military circle of relatives, was the youngest normal in Spain within the 1920s Following the election of the leftist In Style Front in 1936, Franco and other generals staged a coup which sparked the 3-12 months Spanish Civil Struggle With make stronger from Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy, Franco won the war in 1939 and dependent a dictatorship, proclaiming himself head of state – “El Caudillo” Franco retained power until his dying in 1975, and then Spain made a transition to democracy

    In 1941 the property was once signed over to Spain’s dictator and his wife, Carmen Polo, for 85,000 pesetas, even supposing no money was once exchanged earlier than the notary public who oversaw the transaction.

    “The Pazo de Meirás must have turn into a nationwide historical past building at the time, and that may be what leads us to the realization that the deal in 1941 used to be geared toward heading off this,” said Mr Ferreira.

    ‘Spoils of conflict’

    Mr Babío, in conjunction with his fellow historian, Manuel Pérez, found out that some 60 small landholders round Meirás, together with his personal grandmother, saw their lands expropriated because the dictator’s estate grew in measurement, even as stone used to be brought in from different “looted” homes to embellish the palace.

    The Pazo’s grounds were increased from 5.7 acres to the “bizarre” 16-acre belongings recently being marketed by way of actual property company Mikeli below a price tag of €8m (£7m).

    Symbol copyright Courtesy of Carlos Babío Symbol caption The document that donated the palace to Franco

    “The Pazo of 1975 the year Franco died has nothing to do with the Pazo of 1938,” says Mr Babío.

    “It has hosted 30 cabinet conferences, other public events and the extensions and improvements were all paid for by the state – but it is impossible to put a determine on how a lot was spent.

    “It starts out as being part of the spoils of war, then turns into a summer time place of abode for 36 years.”

    Summers at the palace included visits via Spain’s future king, Juan Carlos, and his young family, including present monarch Felipe VI, within the overdue 1960s and early nineteen seventies.

    Erasing Franco’s memory one side road at a time Extra on Spain

    Franco’s daughter Carmen Franco Polo continued to make use of the Pazo as a summer retreat, however her death in December seems to have prompted the verdict to sell the residence by way of her seven children.

    The BBC requested the Franco family to comment for this newsletter, but the request was declined.

    Franco Foundation

    Controversy has dogged the Franco family’s use of the Pazo considering Galicia’s local executive determined in 2008 to declare the property “history of cultural passion”, a transfer that supposed its doors must be opened to the public at least four days a month.

    The family’s compliance with this rule used to be fitful and a few local politicians corresponding to Mr Rego, a member of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), have been outraged when it emerged that the Francisco Franco Foundation had taken over the supplier of those public visits, the usage of them as a possibility to defend Franco’s political legacy as a country builder.

    Image copyright Courtesy of Néstor Rego Image caption Protesters together with Mr Rego invaded the property for a couple of hours closing 12 months

    “It Is unthinkable that there could exist in Germany a Hitler foundation or an Italian Benito Mussolini basis glorifying the lives of those dictators,” says Mr Rego, adding that the heirs’ decision to promote up is solely “yet one more affront”.

    “I BELIEVE it’ll be very tricky for them to sell the Pazo. Any potential proprietor has to know that it is in dispute, and the reality that they’re trying shows to me that they realise how awkward an inheritance it’s.”

  • Odd North Koreans dare to talk out in spite of worry

    Image caption North Korea blew up the tunnels at its nuclear check web site final week

    Data going into the rustic is precisely managed by means of the North Korean regime, whose propaganda is heavily crucial of the u.s. and its southern neighbour, South Korea.

    “But things are changing a little bit not too long ago,” says Sun Hui.

    “They Are Saying we should always get in conjunction with the South.

    “Just Lately they say we should always be living in peace with America, for everyone to have a better existence.”

    it’s an important development.

    While no longer exceptional, this interior softening in opposition to the West coupled with the meant destruction of tunnels at a nuclear check website online – which used to be noticed as a goodwill gesture through the regime – points to Kim Jong-un being much more open to reconciling with the us.

    Despite it being known as off, there are movements which recommend a summit between the North Korean chief and US President Donald Trump might but occur.

    Chol Ho, who works in North Korea’s army, says his desire from existence is just “to live neatly with out envy – till we die – without being in poor health”.

    He hopes the same way of life shall be afforded to his parents, and his children.

    Chol Ho – now not his real name – has additionally been speaking to the Victoria Derbyshire programme in secret, and says there is dissent inside of the country, from individuals who “complain about their everyday lives”.

    “Infrequently other folks get stuck through the state safety division, the Bowibu, for announcing the wrong issues,” he explains.

    “Other Folks do all at once disappear, but it surely hasn’t took place right here lately.”

    Symbol caption Chol Ho says he has best ever met fellow North Koreans

    The Ones Chol Ho is referring to are sometimes sent to the rustic’s prison camps – where it has been pronounced that detainees are subjected to torture, compelled to dig their own graves, and rape is used as punishment.

    A single camp can dangle as many as 20,000 inmates, in line with Amnesty International.

    it is the “terror” of such camps that “helps to keep society going”, according to Solar Hui.

    She says “there is a lot of presidency captures” where she lives.

    Chol Ho believes some people are despatched there through the Bowibu as a result of officials “make up tales for their very own efficiency”.

    “They make folks say that they were making plans to head to China, after which report them,” he says.

    Watching movies and tv presentations smuggled in from in another country can result in 10 years imprisonment in the country’s laborious labour camps.

    The regime fights hard to forestall the consumption of overseas media, because it undermines its anti-Western propaganda, however many are successfully brought in thru China on USB sticks or counterfeit DVDs.

    “Korean issues are essentially the most well-liked of course,” says Solar Hui, who admits to sometimes watching Korean dramas and overseas movies at night.

    “but the crackdown on them is robust.

    “I’ve heard the fee of bribes in case you are caught is very large, however other folks still wish to watch them.

    “it is easy to know, and individuals are occupied with how South Koreans live.”

    However even as an expanding choice of North Koreans are capable of get a glimpse of lifestyles out of doors their u . s ., many nonetheless don’t know the way they themselves are perceived.

    Chol Ho admits he knows not anything of ways citizens like him are considered by way of the outside global. He has simplest met North Koreans.

    However he insists at the same time as life “is difficult… our persons are nice”.

    “We’ve a pronouncing that neighbours are higher than cousins. If something occurs to our neighbours we consult with one another,” he says.

    In a few portions of the rustic, residents illness to South Korea via China, risking their life.

    In recent years the number of other people defecting has fallen, largely on account of increased border security and a widely-criticised agreement with the Chinese Language to repatriate North Koreans present in the rustic.

    Where Sun Hui lives, clear of the country’s borders, defections “do not occur right here so much”, she says.

    However after they do, those left behind do not refer to South Korea by its identify.

    “Whilst a neighbour disappears we simply say, ‘He went to Decrease Town’,” she explains.

    None of the people appearing in our movies have been participants or all in favour of any way.

    Watch the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays among 09:00 and ELEVEN:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel in the UK.

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  • #MeToo Japan: What took place while girls broke their silence

    In this picture taken on January 30, 2018 Japanese journalist Shiori Ito, who accused a television newsman of raping her in 2015, poses for a picture in Tokyo Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Image caption Shiori Ito accused a prime-profile journalist of raping her in 2015

    Within The area of a fortnight in Japan, a fashion accused a popular photographer of exploitation and most sensible officials resigned over intercourse scandals. This has re-ignited the #MeToo debate in a country which has been reluctant to acknowledge it as a hard truth for ladies, because the BBC’s Sakiko Shiraishi stories.

    In Japan, where the spectre of public censure looms large, it is unsurprising that women are sometimes discouraged from speaking out. A US state division human rights document notes that sexual harassment in the place of business is still “popular”.

    But in the space of just a few weeks a spate of allegations has ended in public figures being shamed, top officers resigning and likewise a backlash towards the women behind the claims.

    Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption Junichi Fukuda has resigned but denies all allegations in opposition to him

    Via a long way the most important scalp claimed was once that of Junichi Fukuda, the top bureaucrat in Japan’s finance ministry who is accused of sexually harassing a female journalist by means of making suggestive feedback to her. Mr Fukuda resigned last week however denies the allegations and has stated he’s going to sue the magazine that made the revelations for defamation.

    Following his resignation, TV Asahi said one in all its newshounds have been the sufferer of harassment by Mr Fukuda and said it might hotel a protest with the finance ministry.

    Image copyright Getty Photographs Image caption Seiko Noda, the minister for women’s empowerment, has criticised the ministry’s request

    So Much telling is how the female reporter’s own agency responded to her allegations. Hiroshi Shinozuka, the pinnacle of TELEVISION Asahi’s network news division, explained she had taken her story to the magazine after being instructed towards reporting it.

    “we are performing some deep soul-looking out as regards our incapacity to respond correctly despite receiving knowledge that certainly one of our workers were sexually careworn,” stated Mr Shinozuka, who stated the main worry was her emotional state.

    Earlier Than Mr Fukuda’s resignation, Japan’s Newspaper Workers’ Union issued a blistering observation.

    “Feminine reporters have needed to suffer silently, in spite of being subjected to humiliating and mortifying treatment… While a reporter accuses an interviewee of sexual harassment, the media corporate will have to respond immediately and adamantly to give protection to the human rights of the reporter to boot as offer protection to the security in their running atmosphere.”

    #MeToo hits Japan as Junichi Fukuda quits #MeToo movement takes hold in South Korea South Korean actor discovered dead after #MeToo allegations

    but the reporter has also observed a vital backlash on social media, from politicians and even celebrities. Many chose to critique the reporter for handing within the recorded interview to the magazine. Hirofumi Shimomura, a former tradition minister, stated he regarded as that “against the law in a sense” but later apologised for that remark.

    Then an influential comedian, Hitoshi Matsumoto, queried why TELEVISION Asahi had allowed a female reporter to proceed protecting Mr Fukuda if they knew he was sexually harassing her.

    “in the event that they made her move towards her will, is not that energy harassment? And if she kept going for a yr as a result of she was once excited about it, then wasn’t it a honey entice?”

    The photographer and a muse

    The reporter’s allegations got here shortly after every other model, referred to as KaoRi, dropped a bombshell on Japan’s global of pictures.

    She published a weblog approximately her time with Nobuyoshi Araki, certainly one of Japan’s such a lot celebrated erotic photographers, in which she accused him of both financial and creative exploitation, having her pose nude in entrance of other other people, and puzzled how pictures of her had been used. She doesn’t accuse him of any sexual misconduct.

    Mr Araki, very best recognized for exploring the boundary between pornography and artwork, is not new to controversy, having been accused of making images that demeaned ladies and essentially of creating sexist artwork, a charge that he dismisses as a simplistic interpretation of his work.

    His photography definitely embraces nudity but additionally depicts explicit scenes of bondage, usually showing women bound and suspended in the air. KaoRi turned into referred to as his “muse” and features in lots of of his pictures tied up or nude.

    She stopped working with him in 2016 but stated that the MeToo motion had encouraged her to proportion her revel in.

    KaoRi mentioned she worked without a contract, was compelled to take part in specific shoots in entrance of strangers, used to be no longer incessantly paid and that her nude images had been steadily used with out her consent.

    Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption Mr Araki, pictured here at a reception in Tokyo in 2008, is no stranger to controversy

    She claims that once she objected to the use of her image for commercial gain, she used to be shut down and that all of the revel in led to considerable trauma and sick health.

    Although she didn’t accuse him of sexual misconduct, the allegations have raised questions once again about the dating among an artist and so-called “muse” and the idea that art may have an have an effect on on questions of consent.

    KaoRi has advised the BBC that in a telephone dialog with her, Mr Araki has denied all of her allegations.

    The overwhelming majority of Mr Araki’s models seem to were more than satisfied to take part in the shoots, however one fashion did percentage a Facebook publish which accused Mr Araki of behaving inappropriately throughout a photo shoot, an experience which she told the BBC made her panic.

    She said that during one uncomfortable incident, witnesses, including editors from a publisher, were there however nobody idea to intervene.

    Despite her sturdy mistrust of Japan’s artwork and publishing industry, she found a few reinforce after posting about her stories on Fb.

    The photographer has no longer commented publicly on any of the allegations nor has he answered to further requests for comment from the BBC.

    ‘Taught to not say no’

    However neither of the ladies have gained much coverage or public give a boost to with their claims.

    Kazuko Ito, a legal professional vocal in regards to the MeToo movement in Japan, stated Japan’s regulation towards sexual exploitation is much at the back of different evolved international locations. Intercourse crime regulations were amended last June after A HUNDRED AND TEN years but for her the problem runs much deeper.

    “lack of legal coverage, blended with cultural pressure to accept and bear one’s hardship, make young women inclined.

    “Eastern individuals are taught to not say NO,” she added, pronouncing that it’s virtually as though persons are hardwired to not refuse unfair calls for.

    “What they want is unity across industries and societies. that allows you to inspire extra folks to speak up.”

    Symbol copyright Getty Pictures Symbol caption The MeToo movement has been gradual to select up in Japan, not like in Korea where it has abruptly gained motion

    She also represents one girl who did come ahead with her story of sexual assault, one who elicited a particularly ambiguous reaction.

    In a case striking for its rarity, Shiori Ito accused a top profile journalist of drugging and raping her. After a police research used to be dropped, she took the bizarre step of going public together with her allegations – and has opened a civil lawsuit against the man.

    However for her too, to start with, there was a deafening silence in reaction to her allegations, from both girls and males, whilst she first voiced them.

    One top-profile actress used to be extraordinary for speaking out on behalf of KaoRi, lauding her courage. Kiko Mizuhara wrote on Instagram: “My center ached with pondering how so much pain KaoRi has continued for one of these long time. I enjoy her braveness to proportion this story.

    “Fashions are not issues. Women aren’t sex equipment. we are all human. we should always never forget sympathising each other.”

    Further reporting by the BBC’s Yuko Kato in Tokyo.

  • Texas space visitor ‘bit off and swallowed woman’s nose’

    Jessica Collins Symbol copyright Police handout Symbol caption Jessica Collins is dealing with an assault fee

    A Texas space guest has been arrested after allegedly biting off a piece of her host’s nose and swallowing it when she requested her to go away her space.

    Jessica Collins, 41, is charged with attack and bodily injury.

    The victim – who didn’t need to be named – told KTRK News in Houston that the assault happened at her home after an evening of ingesting at a bar.

    She mentioned the girl was a friend of her neighbour, and attacked her after she requested the 2 of them to go.

    According to the girl, Ms Collins demanded extra alcohol and cigarettes once they lower back to her house following a night of ingesting closing Wednesday.

    When she asked the 2 of them to go away her property, she stated the assailant jumped on her.

    The victim stated she didn’t realize she have been badly injured till she was once on her method to clinic.

    “i began calling my husband while i was within the ambulance,” she instructed KTRK News.

    “i used to be screaming, like, ‘I should not have a nostril. I Am 28 years-old and that i shouldn’t have a nose anymore.’”

    the lady, who doesn’t have health insurance, is now facing dear scientific bills.

    An on-line fundraiser goals to boost $12,000 (£NINE,100) for her to have reconstructive plastic surgery.

    Ms Collins was once reportedly launched on bail on Monday.