Brazil Protests: President Promises Reforms

Brazil's President has promised to improve public services but says any further violence will not be tolerated in a speech to the nation rocked by mass protests.

During a TV broadcast Dilma Rousseff appealed for unity and said the government knew there were many things "we can do quicker and better".

"I am the president of all Brazil. Of those who support the demonstration and those who do not."

Dilma Rousseff has condemned the violence by 'a minority'

Reaching out to those who feel the government should direct more money to public services rather than on hosting major sporting events, she insisted that "football and sport are symbols of peace and peaceful coexistence".

But she added she would not stand by if demonstrations turned violent, as has been the case in several cities hit by cases of looting and attacks on public buildings including the foreign ministry and several government offices.

"The government cannot stand by as people attack public property ... and bring chaos to our streets," she stressed.

President Rousseff supports peaceful protest

"We need to inject oxygen into our political system, and make it more transparent and resistant to the tough challenges facing a countries marked by extreme disparity between rich and poor."

But she insisted that "we cannot put up with violence".

"People have a right to criticise," added Ms Rousseff saying she would staunchly defend that right.

She added: "We need to oxygenate our political system ... and make it more transparent."

Ms Rousseff, a former Marxist rebel who fought against Brazil's 1964-85 military regime and was imprisoned for three years, pointedly referred to sacrifices her generation made to free the nation from dictatorship.

Her comments came after nearly one million demonstrators took to the streets on Friday across the country to denounce alleged corruption, poor public services and billions of dollars spent preparing for next year's World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

Ms Rousseff had cancelled a trip overseas because of the unrest, but stayed away from the public eye for most of the week.

Nearly a million protesters took to the streets on Friday

But critics of Ms Rousseff and her government have accused them of paying "lip service".

Carlos Cardozo, a 62-year-old financial consultant who joined Friday's protest in Rio, said he thought the unrest could cost Ms Rousseff next year's elections.

"Her paying lip service by saying she's in favour of the protests is not helping her cause," Mr Cardozo said. "People want to see real action, real decisions, and it's not this government that's capable of delivering."

At least one protester was killed in Sao Paulo on Thursday night when a motorist - apparently enraged about being unable to drive along a street - rammed his car into a crowd of demonstrators.

Unconfirmed news reports also said a 54-year-old cleaning woman had died on Friday after inhaling tear gas.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Edward Snowden Charged With Espionage

Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed secret government spying programmes, has been charged with espionage by US authorities.

A provisional arrest warrant has been issued and Hong Kong authorities have been asked to detain him.

US prosecutors have filed a criminal complaint, charging Mr Snowden with three offences including unauthorised communication of national defence information, which comes under the Espionage Act, and theft of government property.

He is also charged with willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorised person.

All three crimes listed carry a maximum 10-year prison penalty.

The former CIA technician, who has worked for America's National Security Agency (NSA), leaked details of American telephone and internet surveillance programmes.

Court papers list three offences including theft of government property

He revealed the existence of a surveillance system called Prism that was set up by the NSA to track the use of the internet directly from ISP servers.

The NSA and FBI have said that the secret programme provided "critical leads" in preventing "dozens of terrorist events" - although some terror experts dispute the claims.

President Obama has also said the programmes were carried out with "systems of checks and balances" and overseen by the courts and the US Congress.

The Prism revelations sparked outcry in the UK when The Guardian reported that the GCHQ eavesdropping agency had been accessing information about British citizens through Prism.

Mr Snowden fled to Hong Kong on May 20 after copying the last set of documents he intended to disclose at the NSA's office in Hawaii.

Protests in support of Mr Snowden have taken place in Hong Kong

Sky News Asia correspondent Mark Stone said the move marks the official start of government attempts to bring him back to the US.

"We are yet to hear from the Hong Kong police and authorities on whether or not they will act on the request by the Americans to arrest Edward Snowden.

"It's my understanding that they know exactly where he is. The Americans haven't yet asked for his extradition, they have simply asked the authorities to arrest him."

There are reports a private plane is on standby to take Mr Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, where he hopes to get asylum.

The latest documents from Mr Snowden claim to show that British spies have secretly accessed fibre-optic cables carrying emails, Facebook messages and other communications.

The Guardian reports that GCHQ can analyse data from the network of cables that carry global phone calls and internet traffic under an operation codenamed Tempora.

It claims that communications between innocent people are being processed, as well as those from people marked out as security threats.

The NSA programme helped to prevent terror attacks, say US spy chiefs

"It's not just a US problem," Mr Snowden told The Guardian.

"The UK has a huge dog in this fight. They (GCHQ) are worse than the US."

Mr Snowden worked for the NSA as an employee of various outside contractors, including Dell and Booz Allen Hamilton.

"I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building," Mr Snowden previously told The Guardian.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Baby Deaths Cover-Up: Ex-CQC Boss Named

The former boss of the Care Quality Commission is among those allegedly involved in a cover-up of the health regulator's failure to investigate a spate of baby deaths.

Ex-CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower was present during a discussion about deleting an internal review which criticised the CQC's inspections of University Hospitals of Morcambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, where a number of mothers and babies had died.

Ms Bower has insisted she "gave no instruction to delete" the report and "would have countermanded" such an instruction.

But she admitted that as the watchdog's boss at the time: "The buck stops with me."

Ms Bower's then deputy Jill Finney and media manager Anna Jefferson were also present when the issue of deleting the report was discussed, a CQC spokesman said after the regulator backtracked on a decision to hide the names of those involved.

Louise Dineley, the author of the review, told independent investigators that Ms Finney had ordered the deletion, and Ms Bower and Ms Jefferson had "verbally agreed".

Ms Finney said allegations that she was involved in a cover-up were untrue. She said she had provided a copy of the internal review to the independent Grant Thornton review team "at the outset".

Her current employer, internet firm Nominet, has sacked her as chief commercial officer because of "increasing public scrutiny" over her former role.

Ms Jefferson, who is still employed by the CQC, said she was "devastated" to be implicated in the scandal. "I would never have conspired to cover up anything," she said.

Concerns were raised after Josh Titcombe died at Furness General Hospital

Their names had initially been redacted from the report, published on Wednesday, following legal advice to the CQC.

However, the regulator's current head, David Behan, said a decision was then made to identify them "in the public interest".

There had been mounting pressure for those involved to be identified and he said it was wrong to have withheld the names.

He told Sky News: "A decision which reviewed the involvement of the organisation ... should have been made in an open and transparent way.

"We failed some people who had trust in our judgement. I think it's absolutely essential that we begin to restore public and political confidence in the CQC."

The independent report suggested that CQC bosses were so concerned about protecting the watchdog's reputation that they ordered the internal review to be deleted because it showed their original inspection was flawed.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he was "very pleased" the individuals had now been named.

He said: "It's a sign that the NHS is changing.

"There has been a history of cover-ups for many years but there has to be accountability within the NHS for people's actions when something goes wrong.

"It's to the credit of the new management of the CQC that they got an independent report and did not run away from this problem."

Concerns were first raised about the trust in 2008, but in 2010 the CQC gave the trust, which serves 365,000 people in south Cumbria and north Lancashire, a clean bill of health.

Joshua Titcombe died in 2008 aged just nine days old in Furness General Hospital after staff failed to spot and treat an infection.

His father has previously described news of the cover-up as "shocking".

Ms Bower has resigned from her current post as non-executive trustee of the Skills For Health body after being implicated in the scandal.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Clashes In Brazil As One Million March

By Jason Farrell, Sky Correspondent In Rio de Janeiro

Almost a million protesters have taken to the streets in cities across Brazil to denounce poor public services, government corruption and overspending on the World Cup.

Some protests turned to mayhem. In the capital Brasilia, riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators while they stormed a government building.

Clashes have also taken place in the Amazon jungle city of Belem, in Porto Alegre in the south, in the university town Campinas north of Sao Paulo and in the northeastern Brazilian city of Salvador.

A man confronts riot police in Rio

The biggest of the demonstrations was in Rio de Janeiro. More than 300,000 protesters marched towards the Maracana football stadium where many clashed with the police.

It began with a carnival atmosphere. Demonstrators were draped in flags or with stripes of Brazil's national green, yellow and blue painted onto their faces.

They gathered in front of the domed Candelaria church in downtown Rio and chanted slogans: "We welcome the World Cup but we want health and we want safety."

Riot police have struggled to maintain order

Law student Wallace Tarenta told Sky News: "I have come here because we need more money for hospitals and teachers and security - not more stadiums for the cup."

Protester Jorge Vieira added: "Brazil is a strong country, we have good natural resources and a strong government - but nothing goes to the people."

Several city leaders have already accepted the protesters' demands to revoke an increase in bus and subway fares.

But anger has now turned to the lack of investment in public services and the comparative high expenditure on next year's football World Cup.

Protesters in Sao Paolo

On the face of it, Brazil has it all: a growing economy, a World Cup and the 2016 Olympics to look forward to.

But protesters say a corrupt government is damaging the lives of working people while squandering money on showcase stadiums.

With riots breaking out in cities across the country the world is now watching Brazil and wondering how it will cope with the pressures of hosting two of the world's biggest sporting events.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Poor Children Are Being 'Failed By Schools'

Disadvantaged children are being failed by the education system, according to the chief inspector of schools.

In a speech later today, Sir Michael Wilshaw will warn that there is an "invisible minority" of disadvantaged children living in "leafy suburbs, market towns or seaside resorts" who are being let down by their schools.

He believes an army of top teachers employed by the government is necessary, used to target schools that are failing.

"The quality of education is the most important issue facing Britain today," he will say.

Sir Michael Wilshaw says some schools are "coasting"

"In the long term, our success as a nation - our prosperity, our security, our society - depends on how well we raise and educate our young people across the social spectrum."

In the last 20 to 30 years, standards in schools in major cities such as London, Birmingham, Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Leicester have been transformed, and problems of under-achievement have shifted to deprived coastal towns and rural areas of the country, especially in the East and South East of England, Sir Michael will argue.

There are also a significant number of poorer children in reasonably rich areas such as Kettering, Wokingham, Norwich and Newbury, who are being failed by their schools.

"Today, many of the disadvantaged children performing least well in school can be found in leafy suburbs, market towns or seaside resorts," he is expected to say.

"Often they are spread thinly, as an 'invisible minority' across areas that are relatively affluent.

"These poor, unseen children can be found in mediocre schools the length and breadth of our country. They are labelled, buried in lower sets, consigned as often as not to indifferent teaching. They coast through education until - at the earliest opportunity - they sever their ties with it."

He will urge the consideration of a "National Teaching Service", with teachers employed directly by the government who can be sent to struggling schools.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sopranos Star James Gandolfini Dies Aged 51

Actor James Gandolfini has died of a suspected heart attack while on holiday in Italy at the age of 51.

The star was best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of a New Jersey mob boss called Tony in television series The Sopranos.

The show's creator David Chase said he was one of the greatest actors of all time.

"He was a genius. Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that.

"He is one of the greatest actors of this or any time. A great deal of genius resided in those sad eyes."

The Sopranos cast accept an Emmy at the 2007 awards

TV network HBO, which was behind the hit series, described him as a "special man" and a "great talent".

"We're all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family," a statement said.

"He was a special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated everyone - no matter their title or position - with equal respect."

Since The Sopranos ended in 2007, Gandolfini has appeared in a number of big-screen roles, including thriller Zero Dark Thirty and the comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.

Gandolfini also shared a Broadway stage in 2009 with Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden in a celebrated production of God Of Carnage, where he earned a Tony Award nomination for best actor. He also was in On The Waterfront with David Morse.

At the time of his death, he had been working on a new HBO series titled Criminal Justice.

"It is with immense sorrow that we report our client James Gandolfini passed away today while on holiday in Rome, Italy," said his managers in a statement.

"Our hearts are shattered and we will miss him deeply. He and his family were part of our family for many years and we are all grieving."

In a December 2012 interview, Gandolfini said he gravitated to acting as a release to get rid of anger.

"I don't know what exactly I was angry about," he said. "I try to avoid certain things and certain kinds of violence at this point.

"I'm getting older, too. I don't want to be beating people up as much. I don't want to be beating women up and those kinds of things that much any more."

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bankers Should Face Jail Terms, Report Says

A new criminal offence punishing bankers for "reckless misconduct" while running their institutions is the centrepiece of proposals unveiled by a group of MPs and peers aimed at reforming the industry.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS), which was set up after last summer's Libor-manipulation scandal led to Barclays being fined £290m, said in its final report that all areas of British banking required urgent change.

Citing "a profound loss of trust born of profound lapses in banking standards", the commission said a string of measures were needed to repair the industry's reputation.

In its 553-page report called Changing Banking For Good, the PCBS argued that individual accountability among senior bankers was lamentable, that industry pay schemes required a radical overhaul, and that executives should face a new sanctions regime that would dish out appropriate penalties, replacing a system that "looked good but achieved little".

It also said, as expected, that the Treasury's strategy for managing its 82% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was not working adequately and that options, including analysis of a break-up of the bank, should be conducted in the coming months.

The commission's hard-hitting recommendations underline the scale of public anger that so few British bank executives have faced punishment over the crisis that led to hundreds of billions of pounds of public money being put at risk to rescue them.

Only a small handful of senior bankers have been sanctioned by regulators for their roles prior to the bailouts of 2007 and 2008, while relatively few have been hit in the pocket despite mis-selling scandals such as the one involving payment protection insurance.

Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP who chaired the commission, said that senior bankers had hidden "behind an accountability firewall" but warned that governments and regulators had also been culpable for the decline in standards.

Among the concrete measures recommended by the PCBS are:

:: The introduction of a new criminal offence for reckless misconduct that would carry a custodial sentence.

:: Bankers' pay should be deferred for up to 10 years and should be more closely aligned to the safety and soundness of a firm.

:: Regulators should gain powers to cancel the pay and pensions of executives at banks which require taxpayer support.

:: UK Financial Investments, the body responsible for managing taxpayers' stakes in Lloyds and RBS, should be scrapped.

:: New senior persons and licencing regimes to ensure that regulators can take tougher action against bankers whose actions damage their employer's reputation or finances.

:: Reforms aimed at bolstering competition in retail banking, including, as Sky News revealed this month, a review of the costs and benefits of full current account portability.

Parts of the banking industry, whose main lobbying group the British Bankers' Association refused to respond on camera to the report, are expected to argue that some of the proposed reforms would undermine the City's international competitiveness.

Measures to defer pay for up to a decade would go further than any other major banking centre, but the PCBS argued that it was essential to do so if the industry's culture was to be genuinely reformed.

"The scale of remuneration in banking, the way it has been set and the form in which it has been paid have all incentivised misconduct and excessive risk taking. The rewards for fleeting, often illusory, success have been huge, while the penalties for failure have been much smaller, or non-existent," it said.

"Many bankers were on to a one-way bet. Unlike unlimited liability partnerships, they had little or no skin in the game."

The Government is expected to consult on the PCBS recommendations that would require legislative change.

In a statement, the Treasury welcomed the commission's report, saying there were "many recommendations in it which will help the government's plan to create a stronger and safer banking system".

"The Government publicly welcomes the commission's recommendations on increased personal responsibility especially at a senior level, increased professional judgement by regulators and better functioning markets.

"We will now get on with a swift response and will report before the summer recess."

In his annual Mansion House speech on Wednesday night, George Osborne is likely to back the commission's call for a review of the options for the Government's stake in RBS, according to Treasury aides.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, also welcomed the report, backing calls for banks to relinquish ownership of the payments system and for a new approvals regime for bank staff.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

NHS Watchdog In 'Hospital Scandal Cover-Up'

Senior officials at an NHS watchdog have been accused of a cover-up after destroying their own report into a hospital maternity unit at the centre of a care scandal.

An independent investigation has found the Care Quality Commission failed to properly inspect University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, where the deaths of up to 16 babies are being investigated by the police.

Concerns were first raised in 2008, but in 2010 the CQC gave the trust, which serves 365,000 people in South Cumbria and North Lancashire, a clean bill of health.

Wednesday's report suggests that CQC bosses were so concerned about protecting the watchdog's reputation that they ordered an internal review to be deleted because it showed that their original inspection was flawed.

The new report details one official saying that he was told by a senior manager in March last year to destroy his review because it would expose the regulator to public criticism.

Furness General Hospital in Cumbria

It says: "He informed us that he was instructed by a member of senior management at CQC to 'delete' the report of his findings.

"We think that the information contained in the report was sufficiently important that the deliberate failure to provide it could properly be characterised as a 'cover-up'."

James Titcombe, whose baby son Joshua (pictured) died at just nine-days-old in Furness General Hospital in 2008 after staff failed to spot and treat an infection, described the report as "shocking".

"It embodies everything that is wrong with the culture in the NHS. It's something that's been rotten really about the system.

Westmorland General Hospital, where Morecambe Bay NHS Trust is based

"We need it to change. We need that culture to change. Patient safety should be the number one priority, and organisations that work within regulation need to be aligned with that principle."

Responding to the report's findings, the regulator said: "We let people down, and we apologise for that.

"This report reveals just how poor the Care Quality Commission's (CQC) oversight of University Hospitals Morecambe Bay (UHMB) was in 2010.

"This is not the way things should have happened. It is not the way things will happen in the future. We will use the report to inform the changes we are making to improve the way we work and the way we are run."

It insisted there was "no evidence of a systematic cover-up" and promised "more thorough inspections".

CQC chairman David Prior said: "The publication draws a line in the sand for us. What happened in the past was wholly unacceptable. The report confirms our view that at a senior level the organisation was dysfunctional. The board and the senior executive team have been radically changed."

Shadow health minister Jamie Reed said: "First, we need to know who took the decision to delete this report, who else was party to the decision and what the justification was for so doing.

"Second, urgent clarity is needed on whether the CQC had any contact with the Department of Health about this matter and if so, what was the nature of that contact."

The CQC, which faces at least 30 civil negligence claims, is to be subject to a public inquiry.

:: Sky News wants to build a comprehensive picture of the nation's maternity services. Over the next few months, Sky News will work with new mothers from across the UK in a digital project called Postcode Delivery, engaging with families, charities, health workers and policymakers. For more information click here.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Saatchi Cautioned For Assault Of Nigella Lawson

Advertising guru Charles Saatchi has been cautioned by police for assaulting his wife Nigella Lawson at a restaurant.

The 70-year-old voluntarily attended a central London police station and accepted the caution after photographs emerged showing his hand around Lawson's neck.

The pair were pictured having an argument on the terrace of a restaurant on June 9.

Lawson, 53, the daughter of former chancellor Lord Lawson, was reportedly seen weeping following the episode outside Scott's in Mayfair, central London.

Speaking to the London Evening Standard on Monday, Saatchi said: "About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasise my point.

"There was no grip, it was a playful tiff.

"The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt.

"We had made up by the time we were home. The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."

Lawson's spokesperson has said that there won't be any comment on Saatchi's explanation but did confirm that she "isn't at the family home."

Police confirmed that they had not received a complaint of assault from Lawson or anyone else.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

World Cup Protests: Violent Clashes In Brazil

More than 100,000 people have marched through cities across Brazil to protest over rising public transport prices and the cost of staging the 2014 football World Cup.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Sao Paolo, while youths clashed with police in central Rio.

Police used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse small groups of masked youths who started a fire near Rio's state legislative assembly attempting to break into the building.

In Porto Alegre, some protesters set a bus on fire and threw rocks at empty commuter trains.

Students protest outside the National Congress building in Brasilia

Elsewhere, there were peaceful protests through the capital Brasilia, on Monday, where more than 200 youths briefly occupied the roof of the National Congress and some 5,000 later formed a human chain around the building.

Protests also were reported in Curitiba, Belem, Salvador and Belo Horizonte.

"This is a communal cry saying, 'We're not satisfied,'" said Maria Claudia Cardoso, in Sao Paolo.

A fire near Rio's state legislative assembly

"We're massacred by the government's taxes, yet when we leave home in the morning to go to work, we don't know if we'll make it home alive because of the violence.

"We don't have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact that we're not taking it anymore."

Sandra Amalfe added: "We need better education, hospitals and security - not billions spent on the World Cup."

A protester against Brazil's hosting of the World Cup

The protests follow the opening games of the Confederations Cup over the weekend, just one month before a papal visit, a year before the World Cup and three years ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

In a brief statement, President Dilma Rousseff, who faces re-election next year and whose popularity rating recently dipped for the first time in her presidency, acknowledged the protests, saying: "Peaceful demonstrations are legitimate and part of democracy. It is natural for young people to demonstrate."

The unrest, which began last week after the announcement of increased bus fares, has rapidly spread to other cities with demonstrators focusing their anger not just on the transport fares but also on the £9.5bn the government is allocating for the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.

12.27 | 0 komentar | Read More