Appeals court ruling restores NFL lockout

CNN Blog
(http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/29/appeals-court-ruling-restores-nfl-lockout/?on.cnn=1)


Posted: April 29, 2011, 7:47 pm ET


National Football League players have again been locked out of training facilities, because of an appeals court ruling. Meanwhile, negotiations continue over a new collective bargaining agreement between league owners and the NFL Player's Association.

A temporary stay has been granted of a lower court order that had ruled NFL owners could not lock out the players, said Michael Gans, the clerk with the 8th Circuit appeals court.

"We are back to a lockout," Gans said.

The temporary ruling allows the NFL to again suspend football operations as they seek to revise the current system.

A lockout was imposed after talks between the players and owners broke down last month and the players disbanded their union. In response, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and seven others filed a lawsuit on behalf of other current and eligible NFL players against the league to halt the lockout, which could affect the start of the 2011-12 season scheduled for September 8.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ruled in favor of the players on Monday, issuing an injunction that ordered the league's owners to lift their lockout. The NFL appealed the ruling on the grounds that federal law prohibits injunctions in labor disputes.


Posted by: CNN's Emanuella Grinberg


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

PT aprova retorno de Delúbio, tesoureiro do mensalão

------------------------------------------------
Opinião do Blog:

Sério, com coisas como essa, será que é tão difícil assim fazer oposição?!?

Ricardo Bampa - Sex, 29 Abr, 2011 | 22:14:18
------------------------------------------------

Veja.com
(http://veja.abril.com.br/noticia/brasil/pt-aprova-retorno-de-delubio-soares)

29/04/2011 - 20:51

Alguns petistas comiam pizza no momento da votação do diretório

Luciana Marques

O Diretório Nacional do PT aprovou na noite desta sexta-feira a volta do ex-tesoureiro e réu no processo do mensalão que corre no Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), Delúbio Soares, ao partido. A decisão já era esperada e não houve nenhuma manifestação pública de petistas contra o retorno de Delúbio, que foi expluso do PT em 2005 no auge do episódio do mensalão. Foram 60 votos a favor de seu retorno, quinze contra e duas abstenções. Delúbio deve se filiar no diretório do PT em Goiânia, segundo o recém-eleito presidente do PT, Rui Falcão, que votou pelo retorno do ex-tesoureiro.

Falcão disse que não poderia se omitir neste caso, mesmo podendo usar a prerrogativa de um presidente. "Ele teve um comportamento neste período que atende aos itens do manual dos filiados e sempre defendeu nossas ideias publicamente. Como não existe pena perpétua nem no Brasil, e tampouco no Estatuto do PT, encaramos isso com naturalidade", declarou.

Delúbio Soares não apareceu na reunião do diretório durante todo o dia. A votação sobre seu retorno foi acompanhada por sua esposa, Mônica, que integra o diretório. Enquanto os petistas aprovavam o retorno de Delúbio, não paravam de chegar pizzas à sede do PT.  Isso porque, com o adiantado da hora, integrantes do partido não aguentaram a fome e encomendaram a comida. Outros preferiram se dirigir à pizzaria que fica próxima ao prédio do partido. "Aqui não há caixa dois", brincou um dos sócios do restaurante, animado com o faturamento do dia.  

Três petistas discusaram a favor de Delúbio - Ricardo Berzoini, Virgílio Guimarães e Bruno Maranhão. Outros três falaram contra a refiliação do ex-tesoureiro: Walter Pomar, Renato Simões e Carlos Árabe. Berzoini ponderou que a volta de Delúbio ao partido não significa que ele terá os mesmos poderes que tinha no início do primeiro mandato do presidente Lula. "Ele não tem condições de voltar ao diretório nacional, mas apenas ao diretório municipal em Goiânia", avaliou. Berzoini negou, no entanto, que Delúbio venha a se candidatar à Prefeitura de Goiânia. Segundo ele, o atual prefeito da cidade, Paulo de Siqueira Garcia (PT), deverá ser candidato à reeleição.

A decisão sobre o retorno de Delúbio foi o último item da pauta de discussões do diretório. Antes, os petistas debateram sobre reforma política e conjuntura econômica do governo Dilma Rousseff. O partido defende cotas para mulheres na lista fechada – em que os eleitores votam no partido, e não nos candidatos individualmente. O diretório também defendeu a política econômica do governo e as medidas adotadas para o combate à inflação.

Repercussão - "Sou a favor de sua volta pelo tempo que ele passou à margem do partido e pela execração pública", disse a senadora Marta Suplicy (SP), uma das que mudaram de opinião em relação a Delúbio. O ministro da Secretaria-Geral da Presidência, Gilberto Carvalho, disse que ele retomará todos os direitos políticos. "Ele volta com direitos plenos de filiado, não há condenação judicial", disse.  "Ele terá abertura inclusive para se candidatar", observou o deputado federal André Vargas (PR). 

Se não for barrado pela Lei da Ficha Limpa no STF, Delúbio ainda pode tentar uma vaga ao cargo de vereador. Sobre o assunto, os petistas preferem não comentar.

Tags: ⁠ deluvio soares, diretório nacional, executiva, mensalão, pt, retorno

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

EUA acusam Líbia de dar Viagra a tropas e estimular estupros⁠

------------------------------------------------
Opinião do Blog:

Não pode ser?!?! É o fim dos tempos! Viagra agora é arma de guerra!

Ricardo Bampa - Qui, 28 Abr, 2011 | 21:51:21
------------------------------------------------

O Globo
(http://moglobo.globo.com/integra.asp?txtUrl=/mundo/mat/2011/04/28/eua-acusam-libia-de-dar-viagra-tropas-estimular-estupros-924343704.asp)

28/04 às 20h50 Reuters⁠

NAÇÕES UNIDAS - A embaixadora dos Estados Unidos na ONU disse nesta quinta-feira ao Conselho de Segurança que as tropas leais ao ditador da Líbia, Muamar Kadafi, estão cada vez mais recorrendo à violência sexual, e que alguns soldados têm recebido doses do medicamento contra a impotência sexual Viagra.

Vários diplomatas da ONU que participaram de uma sessão a portas fechadas do Conselho relataram à Reuters que a embaixadora Susan Rice citou a questão do Viagra no contexto do agravamento dos casos de violência sexual por parte dos soldados do regime líbio.

- Rice abordou isso na reunião, mas ninguém respondeu - disse um diplomata, sob anonimato. A acusação havia surgido inicialmente em um jornal britânico.

Se for verdade que os soldados de Kadafi estão recebendo Viagra, disseram diplomatas, isso indicaria que eles estão sendo estimulados por seus comandantes a estuprar mulheres para aterrorizar a população em áreas que apoiam os rebeldes.

O uso do estupro como arma de guerra tem recebido crescente atenção da ONU. No ano passado, o secretário-geral da ONU, Ban Ki-moon, nomeou uma relatora especial para questões de violência sexual durante conflitos armados, Margot Wallstrom.

Neste mês, Wallstrom criticou o Conselho de Segurança por não ter mencionado a violência sexual durante duas recentes resoluções relacionadas à Líbia, apesar de o Conselho ter prometido priorizar esse assunto.

Wallstrom disse na ocasião que relatos sobre estudos na Líbia não haviam sido confirmados, mas citou o caso amplamente divulgado de Eman al Obaidi, uma mulher que no mês passado foi a um hotel frequentado por jornalistas em Trípoli e disse que havia sido estuprada por milicianos leais ao governo.

O Tribunal Penal Internacional já está investigando se o regime de Kadafi cometeu crimes de guerra na sua violenta repressão a manifestantes que exigiam mais liberdade.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Obra é paralisada para preservar espécie rara de perereca no Rio

------------------------------------------------
Opinião do Blog:

No meio do caminho havia uma perereca! A perereca mais cara do mundo!

Ricardo Bampa - Ter, 26 Abr, 2011 | 14:54:49
------------------------------------------------

ANDA
(http://www.anda.jor.br/2011/04/26/obra-e-paralisada-para-preservar-especie-rara-de-perereca-no-rio/)

Ivasão de habitat

26 de abril de 2011

Um pequeno anfíbio foi capaz de paralisar parte das mais importantes obras do PAC (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento) no Rio.

Ao encontrar a minúscula Physalaemus soaresi (uma perereca de apenas 2 cm), em setembro de 2009, em um trecho de 4 km em Seropédica, o Arco Metropolitano não pôde simplesmente ignorar o animal. A solução encontrada pela secretaria de Obras, responsável pelo projeto, foi construir um viaduto ao custo de R$ 18 milhões para preservar o habitat do animal.

Trata-se de uma espécie que só vive numa área de 4,9 milhões de metros quadrados da Flonamax (Floresta Nacional Mário Xavier), em Seropédica, entre a rodovia Presidente Dutra e a antiga Rio-São Paulo – exatamente no trecho onde o Arco vai passar. E a perereca (apelidada pelos funcionários da obra de Norminha, personagem poligâmica da atriz Dira Paes na TV) não está sozinha. Há ainda o peixe das nuvens (Leptolebias minimus), também endêmico e ameaçado de extinção.

O projeto aguarda liberação do Ibama para entrar em processo de licitação. A previsão é de começar a fazer o viaduto em dois meses, no máximo. O governador Sérgio Cabral prometeu entregar a rodovia pronta em dezembro de 2012, durante fórum na Firjan (Federação das Indústrias do Rio de Janeiro). Além do problema ambiental, a obra sofreu atraso devido às mais de 3,6 mil desapropriações e da descoberta de mais de 40 sítios arqueológicos.

"Quando surge uma perereca no meio do caminho, então vai-se estudar que perereca é esta, qual a espécie, como fazer para garantir a procriação. O mesmo em relação aos sítios arqueológicos e com as desapropriações. Dá trabalho, atrasa a obra, mas isso faz parte do jogo democrático", explicou Sérgio Cabral.

Plano diretor

O valor total da obra, que une recursos dos governos federal pelo PAC e estadual, já passa de R$ 1 bilhão. A via vai ligar o complexo petroquímido de Itaboraí ao Porto de Sepetiba, em Itaguaí, desviando o trânsito pesado dos caminhões da região metropolitana.

A obra ganhou Plano Diretor Estratégico de Desenvolvimento no dia 18. O estudo cruza oportunidades e restrições ambientais da região, além de identificar problemas, como nos abastecimentos de água e de energia. A finalidade é evitar a destruição ambiental e formação de assentamentos urbanos precários.

Fonte: eBand

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Judge Ends NFL Lockout, Chaos May Ensue

MyFoxPhilly.com
(http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/sports/eagles/judge-ends-nfl-lockout,-chaos-may-ensue-042511?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

Seg, 25 Abr, 2011 | 22:18:01

A federal judge ordered an end to the NFL lockout on Monday night, leading to the possibility of free agency and trades before the NFL draft on Thursday.

That would be a Hail Mary for the players, but NFL owners still have two appeals they want ruled on immediately, and if a Circuit Court doesn't side with owners on a stay, the NFL would need to open for business for a month. And with great speed, the NFL could get a ruling by Thursday night.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered an end to the NFL lockout on Monday, giving the players a victory in their fight with the owners.

The ball is now in the hands of NFL owners, who will ask for legal rulings as quickly as possible to keep the lockout in place.

"We will promptly seek a stay from Judge Nelson pending an expedited appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals," the league said. "We believe that federal law bars injunctions in labor disputes. We are confident that the Eighth Circuit will agree. But we also believe that this dispute will inevitably end with a collective bargaining agreement, which would be in the best interests of players, clubs and fans. We can reach a fair agreement only if we continue negotiations toward that goal."
In her ruling, Judge Nelson didn't say if she would issue a stay of her ruling until owners could appeal.

If the NFL can't get a stay from Judge Nelson immediately, it would ask the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay until it can rule on the case. The second stay would take several days to happen after a decision by Judge Nelson.

Without the stays, the NFL would be forced to open for business until the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the case sometime in late May.

In other words, if the NFL can't get the stay, free agency will begin, teams could make trades and there is no salary cap.

The NFL would also run the league without a collective bargaining agreement.

Then, if the Eighth Circuit Court sides with the owners on appeal, the NFL would shut down again.

Nelson said she was swayed by the players' argument that that the lockout, now in its second month, was causing irreparable harm to their careers.

Granting the injunction swings some of the leverage to the players' side, which could actually bring the two sides closer to a resolution, according to Seth Borden, a labor law expert at McKenna, Long and Aldridge in New York.

"It's still going to boil down to the way the parties view their respective positions and respective leverage," Borden said. "Until the league and the players feel like they're at the point of no return for next season, progress will be slow toward that overall resolution."

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Judge orders NFL owners to lift lockout

CNN/Blogs
(http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/25/judge-orders-lifting-of-nfl-lockout/)


Posted: April 25, 2011, 6:35 pm ET

A federal judge ruled in favor of NFL players on Monday, issuing an injunction that ordered the league's owners to lift their lockout.

The league will ask Nelson to stay the ruling, pending the league's appeal to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

"We believe that federal law bars injunctions in labor disputes," the league said in a statement. "We are confident that the 8th Circuit will agree. But we also believe that this dispute will inevitably end with a collective bargaining agreement, which would be in the best interests of players, clubs and fans. We can reach a fair agreement only if we continue negotiations toward that goal."

A lockout was imposed after talks on collective bargaining between the players and owners broke down last month.

Posted by: CNN Sports' Alfonso Savage, The CNN Wire


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

NFL lockout gets its day in court

CNN.com
(http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/05/minneapolis.nfl.lockout.hearing/index.html)

By Tricia Escobedo and Chris Welch, CNN

April 5, 2011 4:16 p.m. EDT

St. Paul, Minnesota (CNN) -- A federal judge will hear arguments on Wednesday from lawyers representing current and former NFL players who want the league to lift its lockout and this year's football season to proceed.

Judge Susan Richard Nelson will consider whether to grant a preliminary injunction that would lift the lockout, the result of an ongoing dispute between the NFL owners and the players who have failed to reach an collective bargaining agreement.

It's possible that Nelson will make a decision after Wednesday's hearing at U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota. If she rules in favor of a preliminary injunction, the NFL is likely to appeal. If she rejects the players' motion, the lockout will continue.

Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and seven other players have filed a lawsuit on behalf of other current and eligible NFL players against the league to halt the lockout, which could affect the start of the 2011-12 season scheduled for September 8.

The players also want a future trial to determine if the NFL lockout is in violation of federal antitrust laws.

Brady v. NFL lawsuit

On Monday, the federal judge agreed to combine Brady v. National Football League with another class action lawsuit, Eller v. NFL, filed in late March by a group primarily made up of retired NFL players.

That second lawsuit is "potentially more threatening" because the plaintiffs in Eller v. NFL are not bargaining members of the NFL's players union (NFLPA) and the NFL cannot argue that they engaged in bad faith during collective bargaining discussions, according to SI.com's legal analyst Michael McCann.

"The NFLPA may be removed from the picture in Eller v. NFL, a point which would take away a key defense the NFL enjoys in Brady v. NFL," McCann explained.

Last month, negotiations between the NFL and NFLPA aimed at preventing a work stoppage broke down. The players union decertified itself. By giving up their collective bargain rights, the players could file individual anti-trust suits against the league and the owners. That move set the stage for a lengthy legal battle with owners.

At the time, the NFL accused the union of walking away from "a very good deal on the table."

If the players are locked out from playing in September, it would be the first NFL work stoppage since 1987, with months of labor and legal maneuvering for football fans already confused about how a $9 billion industry lacks enough money to satisfy everyone.

The heart of the issue between the players and the owners is how to divide the league's $9 billion in revenue.

Right now, NFL owners take $1 billion off the top of that revenue stream. After that, the players get about 60%.

The owners say that the current labor deal doesn't take into account the rising costs related to building stadiums and promoting the game. The players argue that the league has not sufficiently opened up its books to prove this.

In addition, the owners also want to increase the season by two games, which the players are against because of the risk of injuries.

While star players earn millions of dollars each year, the median NFL salary is $790,000 and the average career lasts about four years.

A lockout also impacts the league's employees: the receptionists, ticket salespeople, and stadium workers. The New York Jets have announced that they will require all business-side employees to take a one-week unpaid leave each month during any lockout.

The lockout will not stop the NFL draft, which will proceed as scheduled on April 28-30, the league said.

All other regular off-season activity would cease, threatening to delay or cancel the start of the new season.

The teams might approach the draft a bit differently in the midst of a lockout, according to Steve Politi, a sports columnist for The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey.

"Teams might (pick) based on needs rather than the best players available, because who knows when they'll be able to address those needs on the free-agent market," Politi explained.

It is possible for the NFL season to go forward with replacement players -- but analyst Michael McCann says that is not likely:

"Practical and legal hurdles would make doing so extremely unlikely," he explained.

But it's still a possibility.

"The NFL might argue that if NFL players won't accept the league's best CBA (collective bargaining agreement) offer, the league has no choice but to resume games with other players who are willing to play," he added.

CNN's Tricia Escobedo reported from Atlanta and Chris Welch reported from St. Paul. Steve Politi, a sports columnist for The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Stuntman dies when safety net fails in human cannonball show in front of huge crowd

Dare devil: A performer at a previous Scott May's show shoots out of the cannon as part of the human cannonball stunt. Today's tragedy is believed to have happened due to a safety net malfunction. The 23-year-old man has yet to be formally identified

Mail Online
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380477/Stuntman-dies-safety-nets-fails-human-cannonball-Kent.html)

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:09 PM on 25th April 2011

A human cannonball was dramatically killed today when the stunt went tragically wrong in front of a huge crowd.

Horrified onlookers watched helplessly as the 23-year-old man was fired from the cannon only for his safety net to fail to engage properly.

A Kent Police spokesman said the man's next-of-kin had been informed but he has yet to be formally identified.

Bystanders who had flocked to see the Bank Holiday stunt at a county show said the man was knocked unconscious and had blood pouring from his mouth moments after impact.

The accident happened during a performance at the Kent County Showground in Detling, Kent, this afternoon.

An evening performance was immediately cancelled and police cordoned off the showground as officers investigated the tragedy.

Members of the public were told to avoid the area and all of the Scott May daredevil shows were cancelled.

'A man taking part in a human cannonball event has died after it is believed a safety net failed to engage,' said a spokesman for Kent Police.

'The evening show was due to start at 7.30pm but it has now been cancelled.'

One woman who watched the show with her three-year-old son said she had been horrified when the stuntman - named only as Matt - landed right in front of where she had been standing.

'He was right in front of us and had blood coming from his mouth and was out cold,' she said.

The man was taken to hospital but later died from his injuries.

'We got a call at 3.40pm to the Kent County Showground, Detling, where a man in his 20s was suffering from traumatic injuries,' said a spokesman from South East Coast Ambulance Service.

'He was treated by a land ambulance crew that attended with a single responder in a car and the air ambulance crew.

'He was then taken by land ambulance with the assistance of a paramedic and doctor from the air ambulance on board.'

The Scott May's show has been touring the country since 1991 and boasts stunts including motorcycle jumps and monster trucks as well as the human cannonball.

The rocket is built on to the back of a 7.5 tonne truck and during the stunt the human cannonball climbs into the huge barrel before being fired into the air.

The performer then lands on a safety net, but must climb down before the poles holding the net in place crash to the ground.

A spokesman from the Scott May Stunt Show would not comment on the man's death but said that 'due to unforeseen circumstances all shows have been cancelled until further notice.' 

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Líder do PSDB critica tucanos que deixaram sigla em SP

------------------------------------------------
Opinião do Blog:

Que fiquem os bons!!!

Ricardo Bampa - Seg, 25 Abr, 2011 | 18:48:01
------------------------------------------------


Veja.com
(http://veja.abril.com.br/noticia/brasil/lider-do-psdb-critica-tucanos-que-deixaram-sigla-em-sp)


25/04/2011 - 18:17


"São aqueles que tinham a filiação, mas não tinham a convicção", alfinetou

O líder do PSDB na Câmara dos Deputados, Duarte Nogueira (SP), criticou nesta segunda-feira os tucanos de São Paulo que anunciaram nos últimos dias o desligamento da sigla. Na avaliação dele, os egressos "já não militavam no PSDB". "São aqueles que tinham a filiação, mas não tinham a convicção", alfinetou o tucano, negando que haja uma crise no partido.

O parlamentar não descartou a possibilidade de mais baixas serem contabilizadas daqui para frente e indicou que o processo pode ter relação com a fundação do PSD, legenda cujo criador é o prefeito de São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab.

A última baixa na legenda foi anunciada hoje pelo secretário de Esportes e Lazer de São Paulo, Walter Feldman, segundo o qual a sigla está se "desviando" de seu caminho original. O líder do PSDB argumentou que Feldman é quem havia se "desviado" do partido, quando apoiou em 2008 a candidatura à reeleição do atual prefeito. O governador de São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, era o candidato do PSDB na disputa. "O Walter já havia se desviado do PSDB. Ele só arrumou um pretexto para o que queria ter feito."


(Com Agência Estado)

Tags: ⁠ líder do psdb, partidos, tucanos que deixaram sigla


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

A Copa sem dono

------------------------------------------------
Opinião do Blog:

Certamente um dos melhores artigos sobre a "nossa" Copa! Parabéns Marcelo Rubens Paiva!

Ricardo Bampa - Sáb, 23 Abr, 2011 | 12:18:46
------------------------------------------------

Marcelo Rubens Paiva, Estadão

(http://www.sempretricolor.com.br/st2009/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27521:a-copa-sem-dono&catid=41:abril)

Sáb, 23 de Abril de 2011 10:03

Ou a Copa do Mundo de 2014 será o maior fiasco da história dos mundiais, tirando o da Colômbia, que não aconteceu, ou a mais improvisada. Já falam até em instalar puxadinhos nos aeroportos.

E, pior, não teremos quem responsabilizar, pois as decisões para levantar o evento não foram centralizadas. Conclusão que se tem quando vemos as declarações do ministro dos Esportes, Orlando Silva, que afirma, como se eximindo da responsabilidade: é uma copa federalizada.

O governo cria condições de financiamento através do BNDES e foca as atenções nos aeroportos. Estados e Prefeituras fazem as obras de transporte e infraestrutura. PPPs erguem estádios. E todos esperam que a Fifa abra o cofre.

Se tudo desse certo, teríamos trens, metrôs, BRTs e VLTs espalhados pelo Brasil, e aeroportos modernos e acessíveis. Mas, a cada dia, uma notícia desanimadora.

Minha aposta é que talvez role apenas os BRTs, Bus Rapid Transit, nosso conhecido busão-sanfonado que anda por corredores exclusivos. Com cobrador.

O trem-bala ligando Rio - São Paulo, agora avaliado em R$ 50 bilhões, teve mais uma vez a licitação adiada. Está na cara e no bolso que é inviável.

Já estava meio óbvio que não sairia do papel e fazia parte de um delírio dentre tantos de uma campanha eleitoral. Como o aerotrem, de Levy Fidelix.

Mas temos garantido, sim, um belo folder, a Matriz de Responsabilidades, assinado por muitas autoridades, algumas que nem estão mais no Poder. E representantes da Casa Civil, Infraero, Secretaria de Portos, Ministérios do Planejamento, Esporte, Fazenda e Cidades, Fifa, CBF, Secretarias Estaduais e Municipais das cidades-sede envolvidas no evento e "compromissadas".

Se algo der errado, o vilão estará dissipado entre 12 Estados, 12 prefeituras, 12 empreiteiras e centenas de burocratas.

Pode ser uma Copa com a cara do Brasil: muito sonho, muita burocracia, muito cacique, pouca ação e um futuro mais uma vez adiado.

Sem problemas. Culparemos os chatos dos hippies, que se preocupam demais com o meio ambiente, embargaram obras e não deram licenças ambientais, prejudicando a farra.

***

Desde o início, o brasileiro, que sempre sonhou em trazer de volta o evento que mais o mobiliza e mais traumatizou a nação em 1950, estranha as decisões tomadas por alguém - que não sabemos exatamente quem.

Foi a costura da aliança política de Lula que o espalhou entre 12 cidades? Na África do Sul foram 9.

Por que Natal, se em Goiana, por exemplo, há três times tradicionais que se revezam nas séries A e B? O Ministério Público já questiona a viabilidade do Estádio das Dunas. Por que Cuiabá, que tem pouca tradição no futebol?

Por que Manaus, e não Belém que abriga um ótimo estádio, o Mangueirão, e dois times de tradição, Remo e Paysandu, sendo que um deles fez história ao derrotar o Boca em La Bombonera?

Por que um quarto estádio em PE, a 19 quilômetros do Recife, prognosticado futuro elefante albino, se já existem três na cidade, dos três grandes times, Náutico, Sport e Santa Cruz?

Aliás, o Arruda, do Santa Cruz, o segundo maior estádio privado do País, recebeu recentemente a seleção brasileira e tem um gramado que, brincam os torcedores, é ovacionado.

O Maracanã recebe outra reforma bilionária. Não tinham pensado nisso na reforma da abertura do Pan? E trocarão a cobertura tombada por lona. As obras do Mané Garrincha, de Brasília, já foram interditadas pelo Tribunal de Contas do DF.

Por fim, o Itaquerão, o polêmico estádio construído sobre um terreno irregular, em que passa um oleoduto, e que precisa da aprovação da Câmara dos Vereadores. Sem contar a linha de metrô abarrotada que o liga ao resto da cidade.

Tinha o Morumbi, estádio mal construído por um arquiteto de prestígio, que pelo visto não costumava ver jogos no campo. Tinha o Pacaembu, estádio paixão da cidade, com projetos na gaveta para ser ampliado feitos pelo próprio Corinthians.

Dentre as responsabilidades do governo de SP, uma já saiu do papel: a cidade anunciou a instalação de 272 câmeras de segurança. Por enquanto, é só.

Faltam dois anos para a Copa das Confederações e três para o Mundial.

***

Dá na pinta que as obras de mobilidade urbana não avançarão em tão pouco tempo. Talvez os estádios fiquem prontos em cima da hora. Se tudo sair como a encomenda, teremos enfim estádios cobertos e dignos do nosso futebol, depois de décadas em que o torcedor tomou chuva na cabeça, e alguns elefantes brancos.

Penso em sugerir a intervenção da sociedade brasileira neste fiasco aparentemente iminente.

E escalar voluntários para ajudar os controladores de voo (nerds viciados em videogames) a pousar e taxiar aviões. Podemos oferecer galpões ao redor dos aeroportos para guardá-los. Iremos todos carregar malas dos turistas que chegam.

Podemos hospedá-lo em nossos condomínios fechados - no quarto do filhão, despachado para a casa dos avós.

Vamos priorizar os que têm infra de clube, como piscina e academia, e nomes em inglês, como São Paulo Cool. Prédio com nome em inglês é o que não falta.

Levaremos os torcedores de carro para os estádios. E buscaremos na saída. E aos domingos estarão no almoço de família discutindo a relação e as diferenças entre Messi e Neymar, Massa e Alonso, e a política externa de Lula e Dilma.

Eles nunca se esquecerão do sabor da nossa lasanha e do calor da nossa hospitalidade.

***

Falando nisso, alguém já calculou a invasão turística proporcionada pelo filme Rio?

Ele bate recordes de bilheteria aqui e lá fora. O fenômeno de Carlos Saldanha, que traça um retrato positivo em 3D da cidade, lidera até a bilheteria americana.

O problema é a gringaiada vai querer ver araras-azuis passeando entre praias, montanhas e rodas de samba. Será que, para não decepcioná-los, não é melhor começarmos a tingir urubus de azul e enfeitar mergulhões como se fossem tucanos?

Taí mais um vilão para a insana bolha imobiliária carioca. Se antes eram as novelas de Manoel Carlos, que inflacionavam os alugueis no Leblon e Ipanema, agora será "aquele desenho daquele cara da Era do Gelo".

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Ivory Coast court chief Yao N'dre rejects blame

BBC News
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13166979?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

21 April 2011 Last updated at 22:43 ET

The head of Ivory Coast's highest court has rejected personal responsibility for the crisis which engulfed the country after last November's election.



Paul Yao N'dre overturned the results of the election, handing victory to Laurent Gbagbo and sparking a dispute which culminated in heavy fighting.

Mr Yao N'dre - speaking after a meeting with new President Alassane Ouattara - said all Ivorians were to blame.

Earlier, forces loyal to Mr Ouattara exchanged gunfire in Abidjan.

The incident took place between the Invisible Commandos group - which controls areas of Ivory Coast's main city - and troops brought from the north of the country.

It was the most public sign yet of splits in the coalition of forces that brought Mr Ouattara to power last week.

Following last November's election, Mr Yao N'Dre as head of the Constitutional Court said President Gbagbo had won 51.45% of the vote, invalidating UN-backed results that gave Mr Ouattara 54.1%.

The dispute plunged the West African country into months of bloody unrest.

'All responsible'

But after meeting Mr Ouattara on Thursday, a visibly tense Mr Yao N'Dre rejected any personal responsibility for the crisis.

"We are all responsible for what happened; the current president, the former President Gbagbo, citizens, the media that inflamed it, everybody," he said.

"There is no individual responsibility. It is not about individuals, it is the institutions. We need to rebuild Ivory Coast, everyone, in a spirit of solidarity, love and fraternity."

Mr Ouattara had been receiving allegiances from senior military officers and the heads of main institutions at Abidjan's Golf Hotel where he has been based since the post-election crisis began.

Stability is slowly returning to the city, says the BBC's John James, although pockets of pro-Gbagbo militia continue to hold out in the western district of Yopougon.

Mr Gbagbo was captured last week by pro-Ouattara forces who laid siege to his presidential residence.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Sales Slump Part Of Orchestra's Woes

Qui, 21 Abr, 2011 | 15:53:00

MyFoxPhilly.com
(http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/sales-slump-part-of-orchestra's-woes042111?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

PHILADELPHIA - Court filings about the Philadelphia Orchestra's bankruptcy show plummeting sales and falling donations forced the music group to seek protection from creditors.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, also known as the Fabulous Philadelphians, was founded in 1900. The orchestra traveled the world, entertained millions and recorded the soundtrack to Disney's 1940 animated feature, "Fantasia."

It also had two iconic conductors Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy, at the helm for generations.

But 111 years later, the Orchestra's Board of Directors voted to declare bankruptcy last week. Lawyers have been retained. And paperwork has been filed with the courts.

Finger-pointing aside, the hard numbers in the Chapter 11 filings show projected a deficit for their fiscal year 2011 of $14.5 million.

Declining ticket sales, eroding endowment income, decreased donations and increased operational costs are just some of the factors listed as reasons that led to this bankruptcy protection move.

For example, 2008's 'Main Season' revenue was listed at $9.9 million. Two years later, it is down to $8.1 million.

In 2008, there were 183,000 tickets sold for the "Main Season."  In 2010, sales stood at about 151,000.

Musicians employed by the Orchestra are upset over what they say is a rush to file. They feel their jobs and pensions are at risk, not to mention what this the move will do to the reputation of the Philly institution.

Aside from the numbers, the orchestra is climbing an uphill battle – culturally.

The organization has started a texting campaign to grow donations. It is also planning to launch a new fundraising campaign dubbed "Listen To Your Heart." The closing sentence in a recent newsletter to their patrons states, "If you care, please do not abandon our Orchestra now—embrace us!"

The Orchestra is are hoping to snag a younger audience with the addition of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Nézet-Séguin is 35 years-old and is currently the Orchestra's music director-designate. He will become the full-time music director in 2012.

For now, the Orchestra is seeking to redo its contract with union employees, the Kimmel Center and Philly Pops leader Peter Nero.

(Tradutor do Google: http://translate.google.com.br/m?hl=pt-BR)


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

11 political myths and conspiracy theories that still persist

CNN.com
(http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/20/political.myths/index.html?on.cnn=1)

By Ed Hornick, CNN

April 21, 2011 10:00 a.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- Sex, lies and murder. Americans seem to love conspiracy theories and too-good-to-be-true rumors -- type "George W. Bush IQ" into Google and watch what you get -- especially when it comes to politics.

Did you know that George Washington wasn't the nation's first president? The Mob killed JFK. And, oh yeah, President Obama wasn't born in Hawaii.

All fun to talk about. And all wrong or at least without proof.

CNN takes a look at 11 political conspiracies, myths and urban legends and helps you tell fact from fiction.

1) The myth: George Washington wasn't the first U.S. president.

The facts: Theorists say it was actually John Hanson, the president of the Continental Congress, who served as the nation's first president, not George Washington.

That claim is simply false.

The office of "President of the United States" was created under the Constitution in 1787, long after Hanson died.

2) The rumor: George W. Bush has the lowest IQ of all the presidents.
The facts: A report by the Lovenstein Institute in 2001 found that George W. Bush had the lowest IQ of any president in the past 50 years. The report was discovered on the website lovenstein.org.

The problem? There is no Lovenstein Institute and no report.

Case solved.

3) The myth: Washington Redskins always predict the presidential winner.

The facts: The claim is that, since 1936, the outcome of the Washington Redskins' last home game before the presidential election has predicted the outcome of who wins the White House.

The way it works: If the Redskins lose, the incumbent party loses; if they win, the incumbent wins.

Although the circumstances have worked out for 17 elections in modern history, it is just another political superstition that pundits love to use -- or maybe to fill time.
In 2004, the Redskins lost to the Green Bay Packers 28-14 on October 31. Under the myth, incumbent President George W. Bush should have lost to Democratic Sen. John Kerry.

That was not the case. Kerry lost, too.

4) The myth: Sarah Palin didn't give birth to baby Trig.

The facts: Soon after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was announced as Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential running mate, rumors abounded that her newborn son, Trig, who was born with Down syndrome, was not hers.

The McCain campaign, along with Palin herself, shot down the rumor.

Conspiracy theorists, now called "Trig Truthers," point to photos taken in late March of that year in which Palin's stomach appears, they say, to be flat -- not the image of an expectant mother. But other photos show her with a round stomach.

Then there's the question of why Palin waited so long to seek medical attention after her water broke during a trip to Texas. Reports indicate that it took more than 15 hours for her to get to a hospital after flying back to Alaska.

Some claimed that the baby, born in April, might have been that of teenage daughter Bristol. But Bristol gave birth to her own child, Tripp, in December. Myth busted.

5) The theory: The government was behind the September 11 attacks.

The facts: The September 11 terrorist attacks have become a lightning rod for conspiracy theorists who have offered alternative explanations to the horror of that day.

Some of the theories include that the U.S. government was behind the entire terror plot, including taking down the World Trade Center, in order to take the country to war in the Middle East; the Pentagon was not hit by a commercial plane but rather by a missile; and United Flight 93 did not crash after passengers stormed the cockpit, but an Air Force jet took it out.

Popular Mechanics magazine looked into the claims and was able to "debunk each of these assertions with hard evidence and a healthy dose of common sense."

6) The myth: Sen. John McCain had an illegitimate black child.

The facts: There was an effort during the 2000 GOP presidential primaries to start a smear campaign against John McCain, who was running a tight race against George W. Bush in South Carolina, saying the Arizona senator had an illegitimate black child.

In an interview with NBC's "Today Show" last year, political operative Karl Rove, who was said to have been behind the story, shot down the claim. He said he had "nothing to do" with the rumor, adding that it came from "a professor at Bob Jones University" and not the Bush campaign.

McCain and his wife, Cindy, have an adopted daughter from Bangladesh.

Bush ended up winning South Carolina 53% to 42%.

7) The charge: The Clintons were responsible for the death of Vince Foster.

The facts: In summer 1993, Vince Foster, deputy White House counsel in the Clinton administration and close friend to the first couple, was found dead in a federal park in northern Virginia. Investigators ruled it a suicide.

In 1994, the Arkansas Project -- an effort to discredit the Clintons -- raised the idea that the couple was responsible for the murder of Foster and others who may have had incriminating evidence against the former Arkansas governor.

Three investigations into the death turned up no evidence of a link. The Clintons have emphatically denied any involvement. The rumor, however, found its way into the media and GOP circles.

8) The charge: Rep. Gary Condit was involved in Chandra Levy's disappearance.

The facts: The 2001 disappearance of Chandra Levy, an intern for the federal Bureau of Prisons, drew national attention after her parents discovered a connection with then-Rep. Gary Condit, D-California.

He was never a suspect in the case but was questioned intensively for details as to Levy's whereabouts. Condit was also rumored to have had a sexual relationship with Levy an allegation he repeatedly refused to answer.

But Condit's semen was found on her underwear, according to an FBI biologist who testified at a trial in 2010.

Levy's body was found in a Washington park more than a year after her disappearance. Salvadoran immigrant Ingmar Guandique -- who was in prison for another crime -- was convicted in her killing and sentenced in 2011 to 60 years in prison.

9) The theory: Someone besides Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK.

The facts: Decades after President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, the shooting and the events that followed continue to fascinate many Americans.

Much of that interest rests on the theory that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy -- not the act of a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Theories include that Kennedy "was killed by CIA agents acting either out of anger over the Bay of Pigs or at the behest of Vice President Lyndon Johnson," by the KGB or by "mobsters mad at Kennedy's brother for initiating the prosecution of organized crime rings," according to Time magazine.

But the Warren Commission, established to investigate the assassination, found that Oswald was the lone gunman -- and that there was not a second shooter.

10) The myth: President Zachary Taylor was poisoned to death.

The facts: Taylor, the nation's 12th president, was rumored to have died after being poisoned with arsenic, possibly by his wife.

But the claim was debunked by DNA scientists in 1991.

Medical officials in Kentucky ruled that he was not poisoned but rather died because of natural causes, such as gastroenteritis. The results were obtained after testing Taylor's tissue samples.

"The question of whether he was poisoned or not will no longer hang over us," Coroner Richard F. Greathouse of Jefferson County told the New York Times. "We've put that to rest once and for all."

Arsenic was found, but state officials said it was in levels too low to be considered deadly.

11) The myth: Barack Obama wasn't born in the U.S.

The facts: CNN has investigated these claims by "birthers" who say the nation's 44th president was not born in America and thus is not eligible to be president.

The Obama team and the state of Hawaii released a certification of live birth that documents the president's birth on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu. This is not the original birth certificate but is a valid legal document. In Hawaii and other states, original birth certificates are not released when requested later.

The certificate, officials say, allows a person born in Hawaii to get a driver's license, purchase land and obtain a U.S. passport.

Explain it to me: 'Birthers'

The "birthers" claim that Obama doesn't want to show the birth certificate because it may claim that he wasn't born in America.

But state officials -- including Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the former director of Hawaii's Department of Health -- said they saw the document, and Obama was born in the U.S.

In addition, his birth announcement appeared in two Honolulu papers. The announcements are provided to the newspapers by the Department of Health and not members of the public, according to officials.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Tigers, Cheetahs and Lions Find Perfume ‘Paws-itively’ Appealing

Disney Parks Blogs
(http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/04/disneys-animal-kingdom-tigers-cheetahs-and-lions-find-perfume-paws-itively-appealing/)

posted on April 21st, 2011 by Matt Hohne, Animal Operations Director, Disney's Animal Programs

Unless you work in animal care, you probably wouldn't think cheap perfume and tigers are a likely match. But at Disney's Animal Kingdom, the scent of the wild can be found in hundreds of perfume bottles being recycled by Disney Parks cast members as part of their Earth Day activities.

Animal care professionals have long used unique aromas such as perfumes and spices as enrichment tools to help maintain an animal's physical and mental health. Special treats such as toys, foods or fragrance prompt animals to explore, make choices and maintain a level of activity in their habitat similar to their natural behavior in the wild. With a very keen sense of smell, large cats such as tigers, cheetahs and lions like to scratch, roll and mark their own scents on logs sprayed with cologne.

In addition to "aromatherapy," we provide lions, cheetahs and tigers with a variety of other enrichment items and activities to keep the cats interested in their environments.

. Super tough plastic balls for chasing and swatting promotes physical activity.

. Drilling a hole in the ball and stuffing it with hard-to-get treats increases the challenge and the excitement.

. During the summer, frozen treats may contain meat to help the cats stay cool and encourage them to use their teeth, claws and ingenuity to get to the food inside.

. A habitat complete with hills, tall grasses, shade trees, rocks, shrubs, fabricated termite mounds, dead trees, stumps and a sweeping view of the savanna provide opportunities to rest, communicate, interact, hide and explore.

Enrichment such as perfume is just one of the tools used to provide excellent care for our animals. We also rely on positive training methods that encourage animals to participate in their daily health care and challenge them to stay mentally active.

Positive conditioning techniques train the animals to cooperate with their own medical care, which makes the vets' work much easier and safer. For example, with a hand signal or verbal cue from a zoological manager, lions, cheetahs and tigers voluntarily open their mouths for dental exams or stand on a portable scale for routine weight checks. They also present their tails or paws during medical check-ups.

This attention to care is given to all of the more than 1,700 animals representing more than 250 species at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Guests can see lions and cheetahs on the savanna of Kilimanjaro Safaris while the tigers can be seen on the Maharajah Jungle Trek in the Asia section of the theme park.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

FHC desafia Lula para nova disputa e diz que petista está 'mamando na elite'

18/04/2011 10h40 - Atualizado em 18/04/2011 12h24

Do G1, em Brasíla
(http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2011/04/fhc-desafia-lula-para-nova-disputa-e-diz-que-ele-esta-mamando-na-elite.html)

O ex-presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso rebateu nesta segunda-feira (18) as críticas do ex-presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a respeito de seu artigo publicado na revista "Interesse Nacional". No artigo, FHC sugeriu ao PSDB evitar disputar com o PT a influência sobre os "movimentos sociais" ou o "povão" e priorizar a nova classe C.

O G1 entrou em contato com a assessoria de Lula, forneceu detalhes sobre a entrevista de FHC, e aguarda resposta.

Na última quinta-feira (14), em Londres, Lula disse: "Sinceramente não sei como alguém estuda tanto e depois quer esquecer o povão. O povão é a razão de ser do Brasil".

Em entrevista ao programa "Começando o dia", com o jornalista Alexandre Machado, na rádio Cultura FM, de São Paulo, FHC afirmou que "por razões político-ideológicas, dizem que o PSDB é da elite e o PT é do povo, isso não é verdade. Eu me elegi duas vezes presidente, eu fiz as políticas sociais. Quem começou todos esses programas sociais de bolsa foi o meu governo".

"Agora mesmo o Lula, lá de Londres, está dizendo a mesma coisa, com que moral? O Lula que era contra a privatização está lá falando para a Telefonica, ganhando US$ 100 mil, e o filho dele é sócio de uma empresa de telefonia. São contra a privatização, aderiram totalmente às transformações que nós provocamos e ainda vem nos criticar e dizer que nós somos a favor da elite contra o povo e estão mamando na elite", disse FHC.

Na semana passada, Lula viajou à Europa a convite da Telefonica, empresa espanhola que em 1998 comprou a Telesp durante o processo de privatização do sistema Telebrás no governo FHC . Em Londres, Lula deu uma palestra em um seminário da Telefonica para banqueiros e empresários. O ex-presidente também foi à Espanha para receber o 3º Prêmio Libertad Cortes de Cádiz e se encontrar com o primeiro-ministro José Luiz Rodríguez Zapatero.

Durante a entrevista, FHC desafiou Lula para uma nova disputa. "O Lula, lá de Londres, refestelado na sua vocação nova, ainda se dá ao direito de gozar que estudei tanto tempo para ficar contra o povo. Ele se esquece que eu o derrotei duas vezes e quem sabe ele queira uma terceira. Eu topo". 

"Se ele quiser discutir, debater comigo, eu estou aberto. E não é porque eu tenha estudado. Eu acho lamentável que um ex-presidente da República o tempo todo faça pregação da ignorância, do não estudo, é patético", afirmou FHC.

Classe C

De acordo com FHC, houve um "pinçamento" de partes do artigo para dizer que ele sugeriu ao PSDB esquecer o "povão". "Obviamente, o pinçamento é malicioso, de quem é contra (...) Eu não disse isso. Eu disse uma obviedade, que o PT controla os movimentos sociais", afirmou.

"As políticas sociais para os mais carentes, eles [PT]estão utilizando de uma maneira demagógica, eleitoralmente. Então eu disse que enquanto isso for assim, nós [PSDB] não temos os recursos políticos para enfrentar isso, mas existe uma parte enorme do povo, a expressão 'povão' é do PT em geral, que não participam disso e nós temos muito espaço para avançar nesses setores, as novas classes sociais, a classe C. Foi isso que eu disse, uma obviedade", afirmou FHC durante a entrevista.

O ex-presidente disse ter sugerido ao PSDB que fale "com a população para ver quais são seus novos anseios de uma sociedade que é muito mobilizada".

Questionado sobre a reação negativa do PSDB ao seu artigo, FHC afirmou ter recebido declarações favoráveis do governador de São Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin; do senador Aécio Neves (MG) e do ex-candidato à Presidência José Serra. Ele disse ainda que "a celeuma se dá entre os políticos, a população não está prestando atenção a este tipo de briga". FHC concluiu a entrevista afirmando que o PSDB não deve discutir intrigas, mas sim os problemas do povo.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Up Close with Indy Jones at Tables in Wonderland on April 30

DisneyParks Blog
(http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/04/up-close-with-indy-jones-at-table-in-wonderland-on-april-30/)


posted on April 19th, 2011 by Pam Brandon, Disney Parks Food Writer


The Tables in Wonderland team just keeps coming up with fun ideas for dinner. This time it's a "Cairo Dinner Show" at the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at Disney's Hollywood Studios – and everyone gets to be on stage! Diners will watch the first scene of the live-action show from the first two rows, then the set will open to reveal a beautifully set dining room right on the stage. And while guests dine, the director yells "Action!" and the adventures continue all around the tables.

You'll be close enough to witness some of the movie-making magic responsible for Indy's triumphs over epic-scale obstacles. Based on the blockbuster film "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the show re-creates scenes with more than a dozen stunt performers demonstrating techniques Hollywood uses to fool moviegoers into thinking a favorite celebrity has taken a punch, fall or bullet.

Dinner is inspired by the food of the Middle East (where the movie takes place), served buffet style with salads, hot grilled seasonal veggies, roasted spiced lamb meatballs with cucumber mint raita and harissa, braised chicken breast, Moroccan-spiced seafood tangine, grilled flatbreads, sweets and more. Beer, wine and specialty drinks are included.

The dinner show is 7:30-9:30 p.m. on April 30. Cost is $160 per person plus tax, gratuity included. For reservations, e-mail WDW.Tables.In.Wonderland@disney.com with the following information: your interest to book, your name, daytime phone number, home address and the number of people in your party. You will be notified on a "first-come, first-served" basis. Your credit card will be taken over the phone once your reservation is confirmed. The event is limited to 250 and only for Tables in Wonderland members.


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Tribunal belga julgará em setembro suposto racismo em "Tintim"

Folha.com
(http://m.folha.uol.com.br/bbc/904802-tribunal-belga-julgara-em-setembro-suposto-racismo-em-tintim.html)

19/04/2011 - 17h07

DA BBC BRASIL

Um tribunal da Bélgica marcou para 30 de setembro o início do julgamento da ação que pretende retirar das prateleiras de livros infantis uma das obras do personagem de histórias em quadrinhos Tintim, do cartunista belga Hergé.

A ação diz respeito ao livro Tintim no Congo (intituladoTintim na África no Brasil), publicado originalmente entre 1930 e 1931 na Bélgica. O autor do processo, o cidadão congolês Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, alega que o conteúdo do livro mostra uma visão preconceituosa e colonialista dos negros e dos povos africanos.

Tintin no Congo é o segundo livro da série As Aventuras de Tintim. Na obra, o personagem viaja ao território da atual República Democrática do Congo, onde se envolve em aventuras com nativos, animais selvagens e gangues de criminosos.

Na época da publicação do livro, o país era colônia da Bélgica. A independência ocorreu em 1960, quando o novo país adotou o nome de Zaire.

Além de colocar o livro nas seções de obras adultas nas livrarias, os autores da ação pretendem que a capa da obra tenha um aviso de que seu conteúdo é racista e que um prefácio contextualize historicamente a trama.

Mondondo entrou com a ação juntamente com o Conselho Representativo de Associações Negras (Cran).

Acredita-se que os advogados de defesa da empresa Moulinsart, que detém os direitos de Tintim, e da editora Casterman, que publica a obra, irão alegar o direito à liberdade de expressão como principal argumento para manter a obra como está.

Hergé tinha 23 anos quando Tintim no Congo foi publicado.

O autor, que morreu em 1983, afirmou, anos depois da publicação do livro, que se deixou levar pelos "preconceitos da sociedade burguesa" e que o espírito da trama era condizente com a visão "paternalista" que o ocidente tinha em relação aos países africanos à época.

Nos anos 1970, Tintim no Congo ganhou uma reedição, na qual Hergé fez modificações na história.

Em uma delas, o autor transformou um trecho em que Tintim dá uma aula de história a estudantes africanos, ensinando que o país dos alunos era a Bélgica. Na nova edição, Hergé transformou o cenário em uma aula de matemática.

As Aventuras de Tintim é uma das séries de histórias em quadrinhos mais vendidas e traduzidas no mundo. Uma adaptação em 3D de Tintim para o cinema foi dirigida pelo cineasta americano Steven Spielberg, com lançamento previsto para este ano.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Europa revisará regras para registros de ligações e e-mail

------------------------------------------------
Opinião do Blog:

Absurdo! Abuso de poder! Sem autorização judicial vira autoritarismo puro!

Ricardo Bampa - Ter, 19 Abr, 2011 | 17:11:00
------------------------------------------------

Estadao.com.br
(http://blogs.estadao.com.br/link/europa-revisara-regras-para-registros-de-ligacoes-e-e-mail/)

19 de abril de 2011⁠|⁠ 16h00⁠

Por Agências

A União Europeia (UE), respondendo a preocupações a respeito da intrusão excessiva do Estado na vida dos cidadãos, está repensando a forma como guarda registros de chamadas telefônicas e dados sobre o uso da internet para fins policiais.

Desde os ataques terroristas islâmicos em Madri, em 2004, e em Londres, em 2005, a UE exige que operadoras de telefonia gravem dados sobre o emissor, o receptor, a hora e o lugar de realização de qualquer chamada telefônica ou sobre o envio de e-mails em seus 27 países-membros.

A prática foi criticada como intrusiva por defensores da privacidade.

A comissária de Assuntos Domésticos da UE, Cecilia Malmstrom, afirmou nesta segunda-feira, 18, que a lei, por si só, não garante o direito à privacidade dos cidadãos e que as interpretações dos países-membros quanto a ela variam.

"A retenção de dados se provou útil em investigações criminais, mas existe a necessidade de melhorias no que concerne à forma da diretiva, para que ela respeite tanto a segurança quanto a privacidade de nossos cidadãos", disse Cecilia em comentários a jornalistas.

A Comissão Europeia pretende apresentar alterações na diretiva este ano após consultar países-membros, formuladores de políticas, membros do setor no mercado e sociedade civil.

As regras sobre retenção de dados deram às autoridades europeias amplo acesso a registros de chamadas e e-mail.

Mas a lei da UE, que exige das companhias de telecomunicações a retenção de registros de dados por pelo menos seis meses e por um prazo de até dois anos, assim como sua entrega à polícia caso sejam requisitados, também entrou em confronto com o direito à privacidade.

/ Eva Dou (Reuters)

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Phanatic Dethrones Chicken As Top Mascot

Ter, 19 Abr, 2011 | 16:21:25

MyFoxPhilly.com
(http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/sports/local_sports/phanatic-dethrones-chicken-as-top-mascot-041911?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)



The Phillie Phanatic has officially dethroned his rival, The Famous Chicken, as America's favorite sports mascot in a Forbes annual fan survey.

The two sports mascots have swapped the top spot in the Forbes survey for the past two years, with the Phanatic (2011) and The Chicken (2010) in a tight national race.

FYI, Mr. Met was the winner in 2009, but he's now in fourth place, with the Milwaukee Sausages ahead of Mr. Met.

The Phanatic and The Chicken have been rivals since 1978, when The Chicken ruled a small roost of sports mascots.

Since then, the sports mascot business has taken off, and the Phanatic has become identified with Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, The Chicken (or The Famous Chicken as he is legally called) makes national appearances and isn't really associated with San Diego.

The Phanatic also beat The Chicken in 2008 in the Forbes poll. In an ESPN interview in 2007, The Chicken trashed Philadelphia sports fans and the Phanatic.

The Chicken's "friend," Ted Giannoulas, told ESPN he hated Philadelphia the most of any city .

"Philly will never let me in, because they know I'd steal the thunder of the Phanatic. I could sell 60,000 tickets like that. But they don't want me because I'd steal that guy's thunder," said Giannoulas, who also took some credit for developing the Phanatic's schtick.

The Phanatic was not giving interviews on Tuesday, since he is from the Galapagos Islands and not much of a public speaker.


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Robot To Throw 1st Pitch At Phils' Game

Ter, 19 Abr, 2011 | 15:13:17


MyFoxPhilly.com
(http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/sports/mlb/phillies/Phillies_Robot_First_Pitch_041911?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

PHILADELPHIA - PhillieBot for Cy Young? It's unlikely.

But the one-armed, three-wheeled robot, designed by engineers at the University of Pennsylvania, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Wednesday's game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers.

It's all part of Science Day festivities at Citizens Bank Park.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the pitching robot has been in the makings for a month and a half as Penn engineers Jordan Brindza and Jamie Gewirtz assembled parts and wrote software.

They started with a Segway, gave it a robotic arm and added a third wheel. They also gave it a pneumatic cylinder, which delivers a burst of compressed carbon dioxide to power the pitch.

The robot's computer brain can be tweaked to change pitch velocity and trajectory.


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Protesto nas redes sociais tira de circulação coleção de peles da Arezzo

Bolsa da coleção Pelemania, da Arezzo

Veja.com
(http://veja.abril.com.br/noticia/celebridades/protestos-nas-redes-sociais-fazem-arezzo-tirar-colecao-com-pele-de-animais-de-circulacao)

18/04/2011 - 20:06

Moda

"A Arezzo entende e respeita as opiniões e manifestações contrárias ao uso de peles exóticas na confecção de produtos de vestuário e acessórios. (...) E, por respeito aos consumidores contrários ao uso desses materiais, estamos recolhendo em todas as nossas lojas do Brasil as peças com pele exótica em sua composição, mantendo somente as peças com peles sintéticas." Foi com esse texto, publicado em seu site, que a grife de bolsas e sapatos Arezzo anunciou o fim da Pelemania, coleção baseada em peles de animais. Ecologicamente incorreta, a coleção se tornou alvo de críticas ferrenhas nas redes sociais, especialmente no Twitter, onde chegou a emplacar dois tópicos entre os mais comentados pelos usuários de microblogs.

No comunicado oficial, a grife procura tirar o corpo fora da polêmica, alegando que suas peças seguem todas as formalidades legais e que não entende como sua responsabilidade "o debate de uma causa tão ampla e controversa". No site da marca, já não é possível encontrar nenhuma referência à coleção, apenas a produtos de pele sintética. 

As hashtags #arezzo e #pelemania estiveram entre as mais comentadas durante todo o dia. A grande maioria dos comentários era de tipo negativo e questionava a postura ecologicamente incorreta da empresa.  "Casacos de pele em pleno século XXI, no auge da sustentabilidade. Muito estratégico", ironizou um usuário. Mesmo após a Arezzo ter anunciado que retiraria das lojas os produtos, os internautas continuam questionando a postura da empresa. "A #arezzo tirou a #pelemania de circulação, mas os animais continuam mortos", afirmou um deles. Outro chegou a questionar a estratégia de divulgação da marca: "Só eu que acho que a campanha #pelemania da @arezzo_ foi de propósito? Baita sacada de marketing", disse.

Tags: ⁠ arezzo, pelemania, twitter

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Wisdom Quotes

Mark Twain : "The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly everybody will side with you when you are in the right."

Mark Twain: "O papel adequado de um amigo é estar ao seu lado quando você está errado. Quase todo mundo vai estar ao seu lado quando você está correto."

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

The Donald: The GOP plays a crazy Trump card

The Washington Post
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-donald-the-gop-plays-a-crazy-trump-card/2011/04/15/AF3Mg1kD_story.html)

Kathleen Parker
Opinion Writer

By Kathleen Parker, Friday, April 15, 7:25 PM

As the number of Republicans declaring themselves potential presidential candidates has begun to look like a conga line without music, hope lingered that somewhere unnoticed was a brilliant dark horse biding his sweet time.

Wherever pundits and pinots merged, a mantra materialized. Surely, a miracle would occur, and The Candidate would emerge at just the right moment to rescue an ennui-stricken electorate from establishmentarians and their Tea-Partying ankle-biters. Cymbals would sound; angels would succumb to arias; Democrats would quake. And prosperity, world peace and well-adjusted children would follow. But who?

Turns out: The Candidate would be tall and rich and sport a coif that defies party identification. He would be a reality TV star. And his name would be known to all, such that even jaded veterans would slap their foreheads as the obvious became clear. But of course!

The Donald.

As presidential sweepstakes go, one couldn't find an odder — and yet more predictable — candidate than Donald Trump, whose name needs no burnishing. One can hardly walk a block in New York without stumbling into an edifice bearing his name. He towers over all others on the Monopoly game board.

Trump is inevitable in the same way that Barack Obama was. That is to say, each president tends to be a reaction to the previous commander in chief. George W. Bush was the opposite of Bill Clinton, and Obama was certainly nothing like Bush. At least not as a candidate.

This presidential formula, largely consistent through the years, has become exaggerated recently owing to cultural developments unique to our times, including our infatuation with celebrity and our attraction to extreme forms of expression. From movies to sports to politics and punditry, everything is big, loud and over the top.

If people have wearied of Obama's cerebral serenity and an approach to governance that seems overconsidered, then who better than The Donald to seize the alternative? Trump, live-and-in-living-color, is a Muhammad Ali of Main Street — bombastic and boastful, a provocateur with money to put where his mouth is. He knows what he knows, and we can take it or leave it. The Donald doesn't care. In a poll-driven punditocracy, the mind spoken so freely offers a tonic to toxicity.

Except when it doesn't. About that birther thing.

Trump entered the presidential fray with the headline-snatching pronouncement that Obama should produce proof of his birth on U.S. turf. This same ol' same ol' nonsense, which has been amply resolved by nonpartisan entities, nonetheless received the requisite attention.

Trying to convince birthers that Obama is a legitimate citizen rather than a closet jihadist is like trying to convince a terrified child that there's no monster under the bed. No amount of reasoning will do, though there is one bit of logic that seems to have escaped mention and that ought to provide relief to the most-fevered minds.

Herewith: If there were even one iota of evidence suggesting that Obama was not born in this country, does anyone really think that Hillary Clinton wouldn't have raised it during the campaign? Really?

The Clintons don't just have people; they have armadas of political machinery. If Obama were born anywhere but where he says he was born, we'd all be saying, "Madame President" and "Bill's Bubbalicious Barbecue Sauce" would be nudging Paul Newman's marinara off grocery store shelves.

A cynic might ponder the possibility that Team Obama keeps the birther meme in circulation. As the president himself told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, Republicans who embrace the birther movement are hurting themselves.

In saner times, we'd recognize and dismiss the ravings of madmen, self-promoters and false prophets. Today, thanks to the democratization of the megaphone and the political bulimia we euphemistically call "dialogue," any old canard can enjoy 15 minutes of credibility.

Sure enough, Trump's challenge to Obama's natural-born citizenship has gained traction among a disturbing number of believe-anythingers, outscoring others in GOP presidential preference polls.

While the new head of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, is urging birthers to take their meds, some have wondered whether Trump's rant is mere stunt. In the age of celebrity, it doesn't matter what people are saying about you as long as they're talking about you, goes the "thinking."

By this calculus, the more ridiculous one is, the more likely one is to benefit from buzz. And then, who knows, one may become a sensation in the Twitterverse, and then pop goes the weasel, and th-th-th-that's all, folks!

Until the next cycle begins, even sooner than the last.

kathleenparker@washpost.com

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Ivory Coast: Gbagbo party urges 'end to war'

BBC News
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13107294?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

16 April 2011 Last updated at 19:08 ET

The party of deposed Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivorian Popular Front, has appealed for an end to fighting by armed groups.

Party leader Pascal Affi N'Guessan said the "war" had to end in order to allow Ivory Coast a chance to rebuild.

Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, who won November's presidential election, captured Mr Gbagbo this week.

Shooting erupted on Saturday morning outside the main city, Abidjan, between Gbagbo and Ouattara supporters.

Pro-Gbagbo fighters had sought refuge in the sprawling Yopougon neighbourhood and pro-Ouattara fighters were trying to disarm them, local residents said.

Fears of reprisals among Gbagbo supporters have been stoked by reports of atrocities committed in the days before pro-Ouattara forces advanced on Abidjan.

At least 1,500 people have been killed in violence since the election while a further million have been forced from their homes in the west African state, which was once seen as a model of development for Africa.

'Chaotic situation'

"In many places, some of our compatriots are still fighting," said Mr Affi N'Guessan, reading out a statement to the nation, at the Abidjan hotel used as President Ouattara's headquarters.

"The FPI [Ivorian Popular Front] is devastated by the chaotic situation and presents its sympathies to the families of all those who have died."

Standing alongside former Foreign Minister Alcide Djedje, he called for a halt to "the escalation of violence".

"In the name of peace, let us end the war," he said. "Let us put an end to all forms of belligerence and confrontation. We must give our country the chance for restoration and reconstruction."

International journalists initially were prevented from hearing the FPI leader's declaration by a pro-Ouattara military officer, an Associated Press news agency correspondent reports.

Only Mr Ouattara's Ivorian Radio and Television, known by its French acronym RTI, was first allowed to film the declaration.

However, after journalists telephoned ministers in Mr Ouattara's cabinet complaining, they were allowed to record separately Mr Affi N'Guessan's statement.

Gbagbo under guard

Mr Affi N'Guessan is a former prime minister in the Gbagbo government and was seen as a hardliner, so his appeal reflects an acceptance that the struggle for power has been lost, and a feeling that Ivorians now need to get on with restoring normal life, the BBC's John James reports from Abidjan.

The call coincided with the release this weekend of around 70 prisoners held by the Ouattara government - mainly members of Laurent Gbagbo's family and household staff who were arrested when the presidential residence was stormed.

The Ouattara government has told civil servants to return to work from Monday morning, though most have not received their salaries for several months and the banks remain closed.

Many moderate members of Mr Gbagbo's government have now pledged allegiance to President Ouattara, whose victory was recognised by the UN.

The former president is believed to be living under UN protection in a town in northern Ivory Coast, where Mr Ouattara has his power base.

Mr Ouattara has said he wants his predecessor tried by both national and international courts for alleged crimes.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has said it is conducting a preliminary examination into crimes perpetrated by all sides in the conflict.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Philadelphia Nuns Call Out Goldman Sachs

MyFoxPhilly.com
(http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/philadelphia-nuns-call-out-goldman-sachs-041611?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

Sáb, 16 Abr, 2011 | 11:41:22

Scott Bomboy
MyFoxPhilly.com

A group of nuns in suburban Philadelphia plan to tackle Goldman Sachs over "sinful" executive compensation.

The Sisters of St Francis of Philadelphia are based In Aston, Pa., and they take their commitment to social responsibility seriously.

On the nun's Web site at www.osfphila.org , the nuns have issued press statements criticizing the Marcellus Shale operation, and McDonald's, and they have openly fought against human trafficking.

But now the sisters are on an international stage after their fight with Goldman Sachs was profiled in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian this week.

The nuns are none too happy that Goldman executives will get more than $69 million in pay this year. The Sisters have some of their retirement funds invested at Goldman.

The Sisters will attend the Goldman shareholder meeting with other members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility on May 6th.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation is the proponent of the shareholder proposal, which includes the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and the Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel are co-filers of this proposal.

Sister Nora Nash told The Guardian that "there is a culture of greed and this culture tells me there is a philosophical and ethical divide between these corporations and the ordinary person on the street," she says. "The middle class is disappearing. We are really concerned about the person who owns a home, does their job, lives as best they can."

Goldman has filed documents with the SEC to block the protest motion, saying "our Board believes that the preparation of the requested report would be a distraction to our Compensation Committee and our Board, would entail an unjustified cost to our firm and would not provide shareholders with any meaningful information."

Goldman Sachs paid its top five executives $69.6 million in cash and stock in 2010.

The five executives took just $5.3 million in 2009, according to a Wall Street Journal report, after Goldman was caught up the 2008 financial collapse.

In 2009, Goldman defeated a similar proposal from priests from The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate about the firm's risk-management structure and staffing.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Ação popular tenta reaver prejuízos com Panamericano

Jornal da Tarde
(http://blogs.estadao.com.br/jt-seu-bolso/acao-popular-tenta-reaver-prejuizos-com-panamericano/)

15 de abril de 2011 | 19h48 |

Fernando Scheller

Uma ação popular movida pelo desembargador Walter do Amaral, 66 anos, tenta reaver prejuízos supostamente causados pelo rombo do Banco Panamericano ao patrimônio público. A ação propõe que a conta — calculada em pelo menos R$ 695 milhões — seja dividida entre o ministro da Fazenda, Guido Mantega; pelo presidente do Banco Central, Alexandre Tombini; pela ex-presidente da Caixa Maria Fernanda Coelho; e pelo empresário Silvio Santos — todos citados como réus.

No centro dos argumentos está a compra de 49% do Panamericano pela Caixa Econômica Federal por R$ 739 milhões. O negócio foi fechado em dezembro de 2009, menos de um ano antes do estouro da fraude contábil na instituição controlada pelo Grupo Silvio Santos.

O valor de R$ 695 milhões da ação se baseia na perda de valor do Panamericano depois de o rombo de mais de R$ 4 bilhões em sua contabilidade se tornar público. Com isso, diz o texto, a Caixa perdeu a maior parte do investimento.

A ação também pede que o negócio entre o Banco Panamericano e o BTG Pactual seja declarado nulo. O autor afirma que somente a liquidação extrajudicial da instituição poderia apurar responsabilidades concretas para os problemas de administração do banco, eventualmente punindo sócios e dirigentes.

O texto também solicita que a Caixa Econômica Federal fique impedida de fazer novos aportes ao Banco Panamericano e que o Ministério da Fazenda seja proibido de conceder incentivos ao BTG.

Andamento

Ainda em primeira instância, a ação tramita atualmente da 17ª Vara Cível de São Paulo. O caso ficou nas mãos da juíza Adriana Pileggi de Soveral, que determinou segredo de Justiça para o tema. Ela também indeferiu os pedidos de liminar incluídos na ação do desembargador Walter do Amaral, embora ainda não tenha se pronunciado sobre o mérito.

Segundo a reportagem apurou, a resolução do caso pode demorar décadas. O valor da ação pode mudar à medida que novos indícios de prejuízos aos cofres públicos surgirem. Da mesma forma, será preciso anexar documentos ao processo, uma vez que atualmente toda a argumentação inicial está baseada em notícias de jornais, revistas, redes de televisão e em posts de blogs na internet.

Entre os documentos que o autor da ação solicita estão as atas de reuniões do Banco Central e da Caixa Econômica Federal referentes à compra da participação acionária no Banco Panamericano. A manifestação favorável do BC ao negócio entre a Caixa e o banco de Silvio Santos só veio em junho de 2010, cinco meses antes de o rombo nas contas da instituição vir a público.

Outro lado

Procurados pela reportagem, o Ministério da Fazenda, o BTG Pactual, o Banco Central e o Grupo Silvio Santos informaram que não se manifestariam sobre o assunto.

A Caixa Econômica Federal também se negou a comentar diretamente o tema, mas argumentou que adotou "todos os procedimentos legais" ao fechar o negócio com o Banco Panamericano, no fim de 2009.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

1912 - A viagem sem fim do Titanic

JB Blog
(http://www.jblog.com.br/hojenahistoria.php?itemid=8049)

15/04/2008 - 06:00 |
Enviado por: Lucyanne Mano

"Titanic,
cidade flutuante
que se submerge.
O perigo estava
sob o mistério negro
da névoa:
o iceberg.

Netuno,
tomado de
féro ciúme,
abalroa
um colosso
contra
outro colosso".
Jornal do Brasil

Na madrugada fria de uma segunda-feira, o Titanic, maior e mais luxuoso transatlântico até então construído, naufragou nas águas geladas do Atlântico Norte, na sua viagem inaugural iniciada cinco dias antes, quando partira do Porto inglês de Southampton.

O drama dos 2.208 passageiros começou instantes antes da meia-noite, quando o navio colidiu com um gigantesco iceberg. Após receber o pedido de socorro expedido pelo imponente Titanic, o navio Carpanthia, único a chegar a tempo de prestar socorro às vítimas, resgatou pouco mais de 700 pessoas com vida. Os demais passageiros e tripulantes, ou morreram durante a tentativa de abandonar o navio, ou foram sugados juntamente com o mesmo, engolido pelo mar, após formar um ângulo de 90º com a superfície da água e partir-se ao meio.

Peritos em acidentes marítimos apontaram falha humana e responsabilizaram o capitão Smith pelo desastre. Ambicionando encurtar o trajeto e quebrar o recorde de tempo da travessia do Atlântico Norte, o comandante fez o barco navegar em velocidade acima da recomendada numa região repleta de icebergs. A chegada do navio em Nova York estava prevista para o dia seguinte ao da catástrofe. A tragédia ocupou as páginas dos jornais de todo o mundo. Circularam as mais fantasiosas versões dos acontecimentos, uma vez que a apuração dos fatos ficou restrita aos relatos dos sobreviventes. Somente a partir dos anos 80, após uma primeira equipe mergulhar até os destroços do Titanic, foi possível apurar detalhes técnicos do naufrágio.

As lições da sinistra experiência

Durante a lenta agonia, o desespero dos passageiros foi agravado ao se constatar que o mais ousado projeto da engenharia naval da época menosprezara todas as questões de segurança: não havia equipamentos salva-vidas nem botes suficientes para todos a bordo.

A partir desta tragédia, e para evitar a retração na indústria do transporte marítimo as normas de segurança foram reforçadas com a obrigatoriedade de os navios manterem os sistemas de comunicação funcionamento contínuo, e comportarem equipamentos de resgate suficientes para todos os passageiros e tripulantes.

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Exclusive: Fiat to pay $1.5 billion stake of Chrysler: sources

------------------------------------------------
Opinião do Blog:

Indústria automotiva Norte-Americana continua problemática! Motivo: Sindicatos e regras defasadas.

Ricardo Bampa - Sex, 15 Abr, 2011 | 15:34:45
------------------------------------------------


Reuters
(http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE73E4XI20110415?irpc=932)


Fri, Apr 15 13:45 PM EDT


MILAN/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) is looking to pay around $1.5 billion for an additional 16 percent in Chrysler, which it hopes to purchase in the coming months, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Italy's biggest industrial group is also working to raise 1.5 billion euros ($2.17 billion) through a credit facility, according to one source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Fiat already owns 30 percent of Chrysler and could raise its stake to 46 percent through the purchase of shares issued by the U.S. automaker as soon as Chrysler manages to repay the $7 billion it owes to U.S. and Canadian governments.

"It will be around $1.5 billion," said one of the three sources.

A second of the sources told Reuters $1.5 billion was the "right ballpark." The third source confirmed that figure.

Sergio Marchionne, the Italian-Canadian who runs both Fiat and Chrysler, said earlier this week Chrysler would refinance the government debt by June, paving the way for a further hiking of Fiat's stake in Chrysler, also by June.

Fiat declined to comment on the cost of the additional 16 percent in Chrysler and on the planned credit facility.

(Reporting by Lisa Jucca and Kim So Young; Editing by Will Waterman)

($1=.6918 Euro)


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Brazil's airports 'will not ready for World Cup 2014'

BBC News
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13090122?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)


14 April 2011 Last updated at 21:41 ET

Most of Brazil's airports being improved for the World Cup in 2014 will not be ready in time, a report warns.

Of 13 terminals being upgraded, 10 are unlikely to be completed by June 2014, the government-backed Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) said.

It warned that even if extra investment meant that the airports were ready in time, 14 of the country's 20 airports would be operating over capacity.

Brazil expects between 800,000 and one million visitors during the tournament.

Brazil's government promised to complete major infrastructure work as part of its bid to host the World Cup. It will also host the Olympics in 2016.

In addition to 13 airports being upgraded, there is also supposed to be a new airport being built in Natal, where some of the World Cup games are due to be played.

Ipea puts much of the blame on Infraero, the state-owned airport authority, which it says, "has a low level of efficiency in the execution of investment programmes".

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said that her government will make "a strong intervention" to ensure that the airports are ready, including opening them up to private investment.


Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Strongman Out, Ivory Coast Is Reviving

The New York Times
(http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=775327&f=20&p=0)

By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: April 14, 2011

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - Fresh produce appeared on market stalls. Women carried sacks of grain on their heads. Children skipped rope in the street. Men sipped coffee in outdoor cafes.

Life began inching back to normal on Wednesday in this city battered by a week of combat, months of economic collapse and the grip of a defeated ruler who refused to step down.

Two days after opposition forces stormed the presidential residence and seized the nation's strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, residents ventured through a landscape of burned-out vehicles from last week's combat, shattered glass from waves of looting, fields of uncollected garbage abandoned for months and occasional bursts of gunfire. The central business district, Plateau, continued to be largely empty, gripped by armed looting, a resident said, and with snipers in the tall buildings.

Signs of renewal elsewhere in this sprawling port city were unmistakable. In places, the tension of previous months, when fear of Mr. Gbagbo's security forces kept streets emptied, was gone. The ubiquitous roadblocks operated by militant armed youths supporting Mr. Gbagbo had disappeared, replaced by occasional gun-swinging detachments from the irregular forces of Alassane Ouattara, the man who won the election last year but is only now taking over as president. They let people through, though.

In some neighborhoods, residents expressed hope and relief that the five-month crisis was now over, and Mr. Ouattara told reporters at his makeshift hotel-headquarters here that he would get immediately to work restoring the country. Still, Mr. Ouattara acknowledged the delicate security situation, the looting by gunmen and the need to hold all combatants accountable for human rights abuses, including his own men.

Mr. Gbagbo, captured on Monday after his defenses were severely weakened by a French and United Nations bombing campaign, was packed into a helicopter shortly after noon on Wednesday and sent to the north of the country, the United Nations office here said. He will be kept in a villa under guard, Mr. Ouattara said, noting that his justice minister was looking into possible prosecution. He said Mr. Gbagbo would be treated "with consideration."

A commission would be established, Mr. Ouattara said, to establish "the truth of what has happened" during the turbulent and murky 12 years of coup d'états, civil war, Mr. Gbagbo's violent ascension to power and his brutal repression of dissent. "We need to shed light on all this," Mr. Ouattara said. "Ivorians need to know what has happened." He struck a conciliatory note, saying the strongman's officials would be "totally protected" from physical aggression.

Mr. Ouattara, a former prime minister and International Monetary Fund official, whose degree in economics and ubiquitous dark suit is matched by the sobriety of his tone, offers a contrast to the populist, rabble-rousing Mr. Gbagbo, himself a former professor. Emphasizing the details of reconstruction, Mr. Ouattara said he would restore electricity and water, and get the banks - which have been closed since West African leaders cut off Mr. Gbagbo's government from the regional central bank - working again. "We are going to get to work," Mr. Ouattara said, "and in a few months we will see a rehabilitated Ivory Coast."

Sitting outside at Le Petit Café du Grand Nord, in a largely pro-Ouattara district of the sprawling Koumassi neighborhood, several customers said the process had already begun. Merely to be sitting there at all was a good sign, they said. It had been too dangerous in the previous months because Mr. Gbagbo's security forces would descend without warning and begin shooting.

"Life is picking up, slowly, slowly," said Laye Konaté. "People are going back to work. For the future, we have hope that there is going to be peace." Mohamed Diakité, watching a woman across the street shaving coconuts at a stall, said: "It's over. It's finished. We have been terrorized and traumatized."

Despite the optimism, "a grave humanitarian situation" continued in the country, the United Nations humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos, told the Security Council on Wednesday. She noted that hospitals and schools remained closed, families were living without food, while some neighborhoods were without electricity. She said there were 800,000 internally displaced people. "Despite the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo, the humanitarian situation in Côte D'Ivoire remains deeply troubling," she said.

The supporters of the captured strongman were not as much in evidence on Wednesday, and their outlook was less rosy. Next to the looted, burned-out Treichville headquarters of Mr. Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front Party, residents were in an angry mood.

"Get back in your car and get out of here," a Gbagbo supporter shouted, in response to inquiries.

Forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara have been accused of killing hundreds of civilians in the nation's west, and going door to door in parts of Abidjan, searching for Gbagbo supporters. But in both Koumassi and Marcory, an adjoining neighborhood, the Ouattara supporters argued that there had been no witch hunts aimed at Gbagbo supporters.

A carpenter with the same name as the president - Alassane Ouattara - said he had just emerged from months of hiding, because of his name. "We're hoping the pro-Gbagbos have disappeared," he said. "We have suffered too much."

Dan Bilefsky contributed reporting from the United Nations

Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo