Bonjour Planet Earth

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Leading Vietnam blogger draws five-year sentence...

The Hanoi People’s Court on March 23 sentenced prominent independent blogger Nguyễn Hữu Vinh, known also by his pen name Anh Ba Sam or “Brother Gossip,” to five years in prison for charges related to his work.

Under the Vietnamese Criminal Code he was charged with “misusing democratic freedom to encroach on State interests [and] the legitimate rights of groups and individuals.”

Vinh’s administrative assistant, Nguyễn Minh Thúy, who refused to turn state’s evidence against him, drew a three year term.

The verdicts provide the first substantial indication of how Vietnam’s new leaders may manage civil rights cases. The short answer seems to to be: much the same as their predecessors. Full story...

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I reviewed Pornhub’s new virtual reality porn...

For years, sex and tech journalists have been going on about the rise of VR porn and the very real possibility of sex robots becoming a reality. In our documentary The Digital Love Industry, we found that their predictions were right: not only has the technology around virtual reality porn reached an impressive level, but a surprisingly large number of people are already using VR machines for sexual purposes.

Thing is, it all seemed a bit far off; the equipment was expensive and cumbersome, and hardly accessible to the majority of masturbators.

However, this week, that all changed: PornHub announced that they've teamed up with BaDoinkVR to launch virtual reality porn that works with phones and headsets. They've done a bit of a soft launch already, but apparently once it's all properly up and running you'll not only be immersed in a film, but also able to interact with your favourite stars.

To mark the launch, PornHub is giving away 10,000 pairs of free VR goggles. We didn't apply for a pair within the time limit, but luckily we already had a cardboard headset hanging around in the office, made by a company called "Happy Finish" (which, confusingly, is actually just a normal VR company and doesn't have anything to do with porn). The headset looks a bit like one of those cut-out DIY cardboard toys you get on the back of cereal packets. Once it's assembled you load up a video on your phone, put your phone inside the headset and you're off. You are a consumer of virtual reality porn. Full story...

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Sugar content is unacceptably high in children's fruit juices and smoothies...

Parents embracing fruit juices, juice drinks and smoothies for their children because they perceive them as a healthier alternative to sugary sodas is misguided, based on new research that found nearly half of these products marketed to children meet or exceed the daily recommended maximum sugar intake.

The sugar content in fruit juices, juice drinks and smoothies marketed to children "Is unacceptably high," with more than 40% containing at least the maximum daily intake of 19 g of sugar and 64% containing half the maximum intake level, researchers argue in a study published March 23 online in BMJ Open.

The finding is based on the amount of "Free" sugars, including glucose, fructose, sucrose and table sugar added by the manufacturer and naturally occurring sugars in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates, found per 100 ml in 203 standard portion sizes of branded and private label products marketed to children.

The results are particularly troubling given that most people underestimate the sugar in fruit juices and smoothies by 48% on average, and that many parents may replace sugar-sweetened carbonated drinks that are perceived as unhealthy with fruit juices, juice drinks and smoothies, which they believe to be healthier, the authors write. Full story...

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Korean zombie dance...

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Google to alert Gmail users of 'government backed attacks' in new warnings as tech industry backs Apple in privacy fight...

Apple isn't alone in blocking government-backed security breaches.

Google today announced that it will let users know if they are been targeted by a state sponsored hacker using a new warning.

The company said it will also be increasing the visibility of other types of Gmail security warnings to try and help people better protect themselves.

'Since 2012, we've warned Gmail users when we suspect they've been targeted by state-sponsored attackers,' Google said in a blog post.

'These warnings are rare - fewer than 0.1 per cent of users ever receive them - but they are critically important. Full story...

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Uganda to jail parents over missed vaccinations...

Parents who fail to vaccinate their children in Uganda will face six month in jail, according to a new law signed by President Yoweri Museveni.

It also requires children to have an immunisation card to allow them to go to school.

The law will help the government reach its vaccination target, Health Minister Sarah Achieng Opendi told the BBC.

Some parents and members of a religious cult have refused to allow their children vaccinated, she says.

The government's vaccination campaign targets several life-threatening diseases including polio and meningitis.

In 2015, the World Health Organization estimated that 70 children out of every 1,000 will die before they reached the age of five in Uganda. Full story...

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Friday, March 25, 2016

How police terrorise people without even arresting them...

Around 5 PM on an icebox cold Tuesday evening this month, Shagwaina Clark* began hyperventilating in the lobby of the Detroit Police Department (DPD) headquarters.

"Why did y'all have to drag me into this?" she repeated on a loop, kicking her worn moccasins against the carpeted grey floor.

On February 27, friends say 24-year-old Darnell Kelly—also known as Banga Pepos—was killed in a white sedan parked three houses down from Clark's camera-lined bungalow. Four days later, and just a few hours before her public breakdown in the police station foyer, multiple armed officers arrived to retrieve "any and all computers, hard drives, and any data storage devices used to store video and/or audio data" from her west side home, according to their search warrant.

The invasion of privacy left the 37-year-old reeling. Full story...

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'Unlawful civilian deaths in Yemen': HRW urges US, UK, France to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia...

The US, France, and the UK risk complicity in unlawful civilian deaths in Yemen, according to HRW. The organization called on the countries to suspend all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia until it curtails its airstrikes and investigates alleged violations.

“For the past year, governments that arm Saudi Arabia have rejected or downplayed compelling evidence that the coalition’s airstrikes have killed hundreds of civilians in Yemen,” Philippe Bolopion, the deputy global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a public release.

“By continuing to sell weapons to a known violator that has done little to curtail its abuses, the US, UK, and France risk being complicit in unlawful civilian deaths,” he continued.

HRW says it has documented 36 unlawful airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, some of which may amount to war crimes. The strikes include attacks on schools, hospitals, and homes, with “no evidence they were being used for military purposes.” According to the organization, those strikes have led to the deaths of at least 550 civilians. Full story...

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The airport which launched a thousand conspiracy theories...

Soon after it opened, Denver International Airport found itself at the centre of conspiracy theories — and they persist 20 years later.

To this day pilots and passengers ask why does the airport resemble a Swastika? Some claim it must surely be a sign of a secret right-wing plot, The Sun reports.

Conspiracy theorists soon turned their attention to the airport’s bizarre art-packed interior and exterior.

Most prominent is the bright blue Mustang, by El Paso artist Luis Jiménez. The giant sculpture actually killed Jiménez in 2006, when a section of it fell on him severing an artery in his leg. Full story...

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Aung San Suu Kyi in anti-Muslim spat with BBC presenter...

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi made an anti-Muslim comment about a BBC presenter after being challenged on violence suffered by Burma’s Muslim minority.

The Burmese politician, who was once under house arrest for 15 years in her native Burma, made an off-air comment about BBC Today presenter Mishal Husain after losing her temper during an interview where Husain asked her to condemn anti-Islamic sentiment.

Following the interview, Suu Kyi was heard to mutter: "No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim."

The comments were revealed in a new book, The Lady And The Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi And Burma’s Struggle For Freedom, by Peter Popham. Full story...

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What’s really behind India’s rape crisis?

On Feb 23, 2016, an Indian women, within hours of giving birth by C-section, was raped in a hospital near New Delhi. Some in India took consolation in the fact that at least she was not, like Nirbhaya—the 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern—beaten up after being raped.

A few days later, on March 8, 2016, on Women’s day, a 15-year-old girl was raped and set on fire.

For those who don’t remember, in December 2012, Nirbhaya was beaten with iron rods, gang raped, and tortured in a private bus while she was travelling with her boyfriend. As a result of an international outrage over her assault and subsequent death, new laws and new fast-track courts were promised. More women are now willing to report rape cases. But even two years after Nirbhaya, her father claims that the promises of reform were unmet, and that justice in India has failed his daughter and other women like her.

Indeed, Amnesty International reports that authorities have not effectively implemented new laws on crimes against women. The majority of the rape cases still go unreported. In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India, the problem, instead of abating, has become worse: Full story...

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Why are people so incredibly gullible?

If you ever need proof of human gullibility, cast your mind back to the attack of the flesh-eating bananas. In January 2000, a series of chain emails began reporting that imported bananas were infecting people with “necrotizing fasciitis” – a rare disease in which the skin erupts into livid purple boils before disintegrating and peeling away from muscle and bone.

According to the email chain, the FDA was trying to cover up the epidemic to avoid panic. Faced with the threat, readers were encouraged to spread the word to their friends and family.

The threat was pure nonsense, of course. But by 28 January, the concern was great enough for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a statement decrying the rumour.

Did it help? Did it heck. Rather than quelling the rumour, they had only poured fuel on its flames. Within weeks, the CDC was hearing from so many distressed callers it had to set up a banana hotline. The facts became so distorted that people eventually started to quote the CDC as the source of the rumour. Even today, new variants of the myth have occasionally reignited those old fears. Full story...

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HIV positive gay Casanova in Malaysia cons 200 young men via Facebook !!!

American woman falls for online scam and ends up in Australia!!!

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Turkish people are sharing this cartoon asking where our sympathy was for Istanbul and Ankara...

Isis-affiliated attackers detonated three bombs in Brussels on Tuesday, killing 31 people at Zaventem Airport and Maalbeek metro station.

Soon afterwards tributes flooded social media, and that evening the world’s landmarks were lit up with the red, gold and black of the Belgian flag.

Le Monde’s cartoonist Jean Plantureux, who goes by Plantu, drew a tribute to Brussels showing the French flag comforting the Belgian one.

Underneath reads ’13 Novembre… 22 Mars…’, referring to the dates of last year’s Paris attacks and Tuesday’s Brussels bombings.

However, many have questioned where such tributes were when Istanbul was bombed just three days earlier, on March 19, or when Ankara was attacked earlier in the month.

And they’re doing so with this powerful cartoon. More + cartoon...

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UN gives Qatar a year to end forced labour of migrant workers...

Qatar has been given 12 months to end migrant worker slavery or face a possible United Nations investigation.

The warning sets the 2022 World Cup host nation on a path to becoming only the fifth ever country to face a formal inquiry by the UN’s International Labour Organisation into allegations of forced labour after Burma, Haiti, Liberia and Portugal. It could ultimately pave the way for international sanctions.

The move follows an ILO delegation to the Gulf state this month that found migrant workers stranded for months without pay and stripped of their passports. The delegation, led by the Japanese ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Misako Kaji, met undocumented workers who had no access to free healthcare and were deep in debt. They also saw workers’ accommodation that did “not satisfy by far the minimum standards, with most accommodation housing 10 to 12 workers per small room [and with] unhygienic and poor kitchen and sanitary facilities”.

The ILO has told Qatar to act on its warnings about the treatment of the most vulnerable workers and prove its proposed law changes are working or it could decide in March 2017 to launch a “commission of inquiry”. Full story...

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Thursday, March 24, 2016

One Nigerian couple's journey to end female genital mutilation...

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Pilots ‘worked to death’: Flydubai whistleblower says fatigue-related crash predicted...

An accident involving a Flydubai plane was inevitable, a former Flydubai captain told RT on condition of anonymity. He revealed that pilots are forced to work while exhausted, while saying he had been “worked to death” despite complaints.

Speaking to RT in Doha, the former pilot said Flydubai’s top management was aware of the issue, but had done nothing to resolve it. “When I was still at the company, one of the last things I told management is that there would be an accident because of pilot fatigue,” he said.

The reason for fatigue is simple – pilots are being repeatedly overworked and not given enough time to sleep between flights.

The whistleblower provided documents showing that pilots, junior pilots in particular, are being assigned multiple flight shifts in a row. He argued that the crew often does not have enough time for sleep readjustment. Full story...

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‘Affluenza’ in Thailand...

Early in the morning of Sept. 3, 2012, a 27-year-old driver named Voravut Yuwitthaya drove his speeding US$1 million Ferrari FF into the motorcycle of a Thai traffic policeman named Wichien Klinprasert, killing him instantly. Voravut dragged the dead policeman for more than 100 feet before he fled for his family’s mansion to hide out.

Voravut is the grandson of the late Chaleo Yuwitthaya, the billionaire founder of the Red Bull fortune. The family also owns the Ferrari dealership in Bangkok. Forbes ranks the family fortune at US$5.4 billion.

Nearly four years later, Voravut has yet to be tried on reckless driving charges although the family has paid compensation of US$97,000. A speeding charge has been dropped, not because it was invalid, but because the statute of limitations has expired. So far, despite public calls for prosecution, the case has yet to come to court.

“The guy was super drunk when he killed the policeman,” said a Thai businessman. “Bad enough, his Ferrari dragged the body almost to the door of his expensive home. There was blood all over. He went in and got a senior gardener to accept the responsibility, lying that he was the one who was driving. Still he walks around Thailand and Singapore like nothing has happened.” Full story...

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How many more Abdul Sattars? Gulf countries are not dream destinations for Indian workers...

Contrary to the glitzy and glamourous photographs on tourist websites, West Asian countries – referred to as Gulf countries in India – aren’t dream destinations for work.

Thousands of middle-class Indians live and work in very poor conditions, a fact underscored most recently by the video appeal of a man from Karnataka.

Abdul Sattar Makandar published a video through an activist in India, appealing to be rescued from his current situation.

But he is not the only one, to be driven to desperation in such a manner.

Over 7 million Indians live and work in the oil-rich Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. These account for more than 60% of all global non-resident Indians (NRIs).

An analysis done by IndiaSpend revealed that “an Indian living in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait is at ten times the risk of death, compared to an Indian living in the US, due to poor working conditions.” Full story...

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The Middle East is now Europe's backyard...

We are accustomed to thinking about policy in binary terms - domestic politics on the one hand, foreign affairs on the other.

But as the tragic events in Brussels demonstrate once again, home and away are not so easily separated.

Indeed, in a fundamental sense, the problems of a fragmenting Middle East are fast-becoming Europe's problems too.

Whether it be terrorism, the tide of migration, Libya's future, Iran's nuclear policies, or the problematic relationship with Turkey, the wider Middle East is now intruding into the European consciousness on a day-to-day basis.

In some ways, this is a reversion to a long-standing historical norm. Full story...

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Beyond Brussels: 8 other cities were attacked by terrorists in March...

It’s important to remember that other places in Africa, Asia, and Europe have also been touched by violent extremism this month.

Brussels saw a big win four days ago when the key suspect behind the 2015 Paris terror attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was caught after a four-month-long manhunt.

But that victory has been eclipsed by the devastating explosions that hit the city’s airport and metro transit Tuesday. The Islamic State has claimed credit for these fresh attacks, which have killed at least 32 people and injured around 200.

Here’s Rita Katz, of the terrorist monitoring agency SITE Intelligence Group:

Brussels was by no means a surprising target, as my colleague Feargus O’Sullivan explains; and it’s also not the only one. Sites in Syria and Iraq, where ISIS is active, experience routine violence. But apart from these places, there are eight other cities that have been touched by terrorism in the past month.

Here is a Google map of those locations, followed by a timeline of the attacks: Full story...

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Cuba for sale: ‘Havana is now the big cake – and everyone is trying to get a slice’

In central Havana’s Parque Fe del Valle, at the end of a street bustling with the usual scenes of queues for the bakery and clapped-out 1950s cars weaving between piles of rubble, is a glimpse of a very different Cuba. Every bench, wall, dustbin and plant pot in this tree-lined square is occupied by bodies hunched over laptops and gathered around smartphones, as people swipe at tablets and gesticulate at their screens.

Three generations of one family are huddled around a phone, the children fighting over who gets to wear the headphones while the granny holds a baby up to the camera – so that relatives in Miami, who they haven’t seen for years, can inspect the family’s new arrival. Nearby, two brothers scroll through Facebook to check the latest enquiries for their bed-and-breakfast business, their laptop balanced on a makeshift desk of crates, while a gaggle of teenage girls stream music and practise dance moves under a tree.

This lively scene, which looks like an impromptu secondhand technology fair, is the result of a new phenomenon in Cuba: Wi-Fi hotspots. In a country where the internet is still forbidden in private homes and an hour checking emails at an internet cafe can cost nearly a week’s wages, the arrival of five designated Wi-Fi zones in Havana has been nothing short of revolutionary. Full story...

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Poland refuses to accept refugees after Brussels attack...

Poland's prime minister says his country is no longer prepared to take the 7,000 refugees it agreed to accept in negotiations with the European Union because of the deadly Brussels attacks.

Beata Szydlo said on Wednesday that she does "not see any possibility for the refugees to come to Poland" after explosions rocked the Belgian capital a day earlier, according to Polish broadcaster Superstacja.

Poland had planned to admit an initial 400 refugees this year, and the rest would be allowed in over the next three years.

Last year, thousands of Poles took to the streets and social media to promote participation in anti-refugee marches across the country, organised by far-right nationalist movements such as the National Radical Camp. Full story...

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Wednesday, March 23, 2016

When will the UN be held to account for failing to protect civilians?

This month, the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights revealed the massive scale of abuse against civilians in South Sudan last year. Its report is unflinching in describing rape, killing and torture – all part of what it calls a “scorched earth policy” against civilians by government forces. Quite rightly, it suggests mechanisms that should be instigated to hold perpetrators of these crimes to account. However, the report fails to raise questions about the UN’s own accountability in situations such as these.

The UN mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) is made up of 12,500 peacekeepers under a Chapter VII mandate to protect civilians. As part of this mandate, Unmiss peacekeepers are supposed to “address violence against women and girls as a tool of warfare”, among other requirements to protect civilians under threat of physical violence.

While the UN provides shelter to about 200,000 people in their protection of civilians (POC) sites, the recent report is surely testament to the failure, at least in part, of this mandate, cataloguing horrific abuses against thousands of civilians.

This report comes as Unmiss is already investigating fighting and deaths that took place in their Malakal POC base in February, and follows claims by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) of a “complete and utter protection failure” in Unity state. Full story...

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How we all failed to find the truth behind viral video that ruined cop’s life...

“Seeing is believing”, right? Even if it’s happening on video and not in front of your eyes, it’s still right there to see and believe, isn't it? But then we have the JNU row, where it has been claimed that the audio in some of the videos may have been manipulated to say things that weren’t really said.

And you have the case of BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, where rival versions of the video involving the politician and the horse, Shaktiman, have emerged. Sometimes, though, a video doesn’t need doctoring or creative editing. All it needs is a caption that seems to give you the facts of who, what, where, how and why, or at least some bits of some of these questions.

In August 2015, for instance, a video titled, “Drunk Delhi Police man on Delhi metro – Funny” went viral, with lakhs of views and tens of thousands of shares. The video attracted so much attention that various news outlets, including The News Minute, reported on it. When the policeman was identified, and suspended by the police department, that made news too.

The story was promptly forgotten by everyone except Salim PK, the policeman in it, and his family. Salim appealed the suspension, and after his medical documents were examined, he was reinstated to the police force within two months.

The reason: he wasn’t actually drunk, but was suffering the after-effects of a stroke that he had suffered a couple of years before the night the video was shot. Full story...

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Tintin weeps as world puts an arm around Belgium...

Tintin wept.

Within hours of Brussels attacks on Tuesday tens of thousands of people were sharing images on social media of the country's most famous creation in tears.

With many invoking Herge's cub reporter - who always got the better of the baddies in the end - one Twitter user put words into the boy hero's mouth: "Let's be strong, together and humane faced with these crazies.

"We are all Belgians," said a user called Ulysse, who lives in Paris.

French film-maker and graphic novelist Joann Sfar had Tintin consoling his sidekick Captain Haddock: "Sometimes I want to leave for the Moon, Captain."

But the most shared image of all was one showing a figure dressed in French colours putting an arm around a crying Belgian flag. Full story...

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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

A conversation about reality - "My Dinner with Andre " 1981...

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‘Europe is at war’: Leaders speak out against deadly terrorists attacks in Brussels...

World leaders have spoken out against the terrorist attacks in Brussels with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls saying that the continent is “at war,” while the German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said it was an attack against the EU’s freedom.

The Belgian capital was rocked by a twin blast at the city’s airport at around 8am local time (07:00 GMT) and an explosion at the Maalbeek Metro station, just meters away from a number of EU buildings less than an hour later. At least 34 people have been killed in what the Belgian authorities have said were both terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw says that some of those who took part in the assaults could still be at large.

"The court investigator is engaged in the probe into the events in Zaventem [Brussels airport] in order to do everything possible to determine the perpetrators and find out whether they remain at large," he said at a press conference. Full story...

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Tech-obsessed kids spend less time outdoors than high security prisoners, a shock report claims...

Gadget-obsessed kids now spend less time outdoors than high security prisoners, a shock report revealed today.

Britain is facing a health 'time bomb' if parents cannot get youngsters playing outside.

Experts say they must move away from sedentary lifestyles, and put away computer games to experience 'playing out'.

But the poll of 12,000 parents found, on average, children spend an hour or less playing outside per day.

Prisoners serving life sentences in jail who must get at least 60 minutes under UN guidelines.

One in ten of those polled said their child never spends leisure time outdoors, prompting fears they are forgetting how to play. Full story...

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Brazil descends into chaos as Olympics looms...

Brazil is spiraling dramatically into chaos even as the Olympics are fast approaching in August.

An increasingly uncertain political backdrop is sparking widespread, and sometimes violent, protests. The country is in the midst of its worst recession in 25 years. A massive corruption scandal involving its biggest company has engulfed numerous executives and politicians. Add to that the deadly Zika virus, and you have a country in crisis mode.

Concerns are rising over whether Brazil will be adequately prepared for this seminal global event. The International Olympic Committee told CNNMoney Friday that it is "very closely" watching the political events unfolding.

The Summer games begin August 5 in Rio de Janeiro, and the world spotlight will turn on a nation at a crossroads.

Brazil was awarded these Olympics games in 2009, when the country's economy was booming. Now the country is battling a slew of social, economic and political challenges. Full story...

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Tesco manager in Malaysia offers shoplifter a job...

A father of three was caught shoplifting at a hypermarket here, but instead of being punished, he has been offered a job there – and money to help him out.

The 31-year-old man, who declined to be named, said he was thankful to be given a second chance and a job instead of being handed over to the police after last Wednesday’s incident.

He said he stole some food stuff worth RM27 from the Tesco hypermarket in Alma because his children were hungry and he did not have any money.

“I had quit my job as a contract worker after my wife fell into a coma during a birth complication last week. She is still warded at the Bukit Mertajam hospital,” said the man whose family is from Kuala Nerang, Kedah.

He is currently putting up at a relative’s house in Alma. He said he was walking to his relative’s house after visiting his wife at the hospital with his two-year-old son when they passed Tesco at about 6pm. Full story...

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Majority of Norwegians 'do not believe in God' for first time in country's history...

The number of Norwegians who say they do not believe in God has reached an all-time record and eclipsed those who do believe for the first time ever, according to reports.

An annual survey answered by 4,000 Norwegians revealed that those replying "no" or "don't know" to the question "Do you believe in God?" now comfortably outweighed those who said "yes".

According to The Local, 39 per cent said "no" when asked whether they believed, compared to 37 per cent who said "yes", while the remaining 23 per cent said they did not know.

When the question was first asked in 1985, a full 50 per cent said they believed in God while only one-fifth said they did not.

And Jan-Paul Brekke of Ipsos Norway, who led the survey, said that since they started asking 30 years ago "the percentage of those who said they aren't sure has been about the same". Full story...

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Five prisons to close as falling crime rate leaves cells empty in Holland...

More prisons will close in the next few years as the government looks to cut the cost of hundreds of empty cells, justice minister Ard van der Steur has told parliament.

The Telegraaf says it has obtained internal documents revealing that the government plans to shut five prisons, with the loss of 1,900 jobs. A further 700 staff will be given ‘mobile’ positions, though the exact meaning of this is unclear.

The downward trend in crime, which has fallen by an average of 0.9% in recent years, is expected to mean 3,000 prison cells and 300 youth detention places will be surplus to requirements in five years’ time.

Van der Steur also said that judges were imposing shorter sentences, meaning criminals were spending less time on average in jail. More serious crimes are also becoming less common, he added.

After finalising plans to close 19 prisons last year, the justice ministry said there were no plans for further cuts, but Van der Steur said the empty cells were costing the state too much. Full story...

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Monday, March 21, 2016

How the voting system is used to enslave you to ONE private corporation...

In the USA, many Americans are watching the 2016 Presidential Debate, so they can make an “inform” decision to vote for the candidate that they believe is the best to lead their country.

What most Americans do not realize is that all presidential candidates are “actors” applying for a job of a corporation called the United States.

After being hired, they are trained to be professional actors and liars, so that they can fool the American people to support the United States, Inc., and help spread its franchise throughout the world.

The word franchise means “the right or license granted by a company to an individual or group to market its products or services in a specific territory”.

But did you know that the word franchise can also mean “the right to vote”? Full story...

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A woman beheaded in the road. Five headless corpses hanging from cranes. As a documentary exposes the horror of life in Saudi Arabia, why DOES Britain cosy up to this kingdom of savagery?

Five bodies hang from a pole suspended between two cranes, a public display which serves as a reminder to those who might contemplate a life of crime.

They belonged to a gang of five robbers, all of whom were publicly beheaded before their corpses were hoisted high in the air, where they remained for days.

The gruesome sight is one scene in a shocking documentary to be aired this week which sheds light on life in Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s bloodiest and most secretive countries.

The film, Saudi Arabia Uncovered, contains harrowing footage of beheadings. A woman dressed in black is held down at the side of a public road by four Saudi policemen, after she has been convicted of killing her stepdaughter.

She is executed with a sword blow to the neck, as she screams: ‘I did not do it.’ Full story...

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Scandalous EU/Turkey refugee deal...

Wars cause human floods to flee for safe havens. EU countries complicit with Washington’s endless wars of aggression bear full responsibility for the severest refugee crisis since WW II - a high crime without accountability.

Thousands continue fleeing war theaters in desperation, unwanted when arriving in Europe, treated like criminals or garbage to be disposed of.

Brussels representing 28 EU countries and Turkey conspired to punish desperate people needing help, turning their backs on them contemptuously.

Ankara is being bribed with about $6.7 billion and other concessions to turn Turkey into a virtual concentration camp for millions of refugees, warehousing them under appalling conditions, denying them all rights - letting a fascist police state mistreat them with impunity, and be rewarded for it. Full story...

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