A top representative of the congressional committee investigating Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff said on Wednesday that sufficient cause exists for her to be put on trial for corruption, increasing the likelihood that she will be impeached.
Congressman Jovair Arantes told the lower-house committee that there exist “minimal indications” of wrongdoing that could force her to resign, Reuters reports.
The 65-member committee will now vote on Arantes’ report, following which it will be subject to a final vote by the full parliament. Rousseff will face a trial in the Senate if the vote is passed by two-third of Congress lawmakers.
Rousseff, Brazil’s first woman President, faces allegations of having manipulated government funds to increase spending in her successful re-election bid in 2014, and Arantes said the grounds for her impeachment are rooted in evidence that she circumvented fiscal responsibility rules. Rousseff has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and reiterated last month that she will not step down.
“The Brazilian people deserve an answer that can only be given by a trial of Rousseff in the Senate,” Arantes said.
Rousseff’s potential ouster is one of the biggest scandals to engulf the South American nation in over a decade, with the biggest party in her coalition government exiting last week in order to support her impeachment. Her fate remains uncertain, however, with surveys in the Brazilian media currently showing that the two-thirds majority required to impeach her has not yet been reached.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
National Memorial Honours UK Organ Donors
A memorial dedicated to Britain's organ and tissue donors is to be officially unveiled in Staffordshire today.
The Gift of Life Memorial will be opened by the Duke of Gloucester at the National Memorial Arboretum.
It is dedicated to those who have "saved and transformed" the lives of others, NHS Blood and Transplant said.
Organ donors, recipients and the families of donors are expected to attend the event.
The memorial features a colourful mosaic butterfly on top of a forget-me-not flower.
It bears the words: "Reflection, Recognition, Remembrance", and was designed by the Birmingham-based artist Julia Hennessy-Priest.
The family of organ donor Keith Buckley, who died in December after suffering a serious head injury in a fall, will be among those at the unveiling.
His daughter Jane Stubbs said: "It's like he is living on, his legacy is still out there.
"It has helped us knowing that other people have benefited from dad's gift.
"It means something positive and good has come out of such a tragedy."
David Nix, the chairman of the Donor Family Network, said: "It has been one of the charity’s dreams to have a national memorial for everyone whose lives have been touched by organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
"We hope that this is a place where donor families can proudly remember the amazing gift their loved one made as well as a place that people whose lives have been saved by donors can pay tribute to the stranger who helped them."
Charlie Sheen Accused Of Threat To Ex-Fiancee
Los Angeles police have confirmed Charlie Sheen is under investigation, amid reports the actor threatened his ex-fiancee.
The former Two and a Half Men star was recorded saying Brett Rossi "needs to be f****** buried", according to Radar Online and the National Enquirer.
LAPD said in a statement its officers had responded last Thursday morning "to a criminal investigation where Charlie Sheen was listed as suspect".
The police department did not name the victim, but said "LAPD threat management detectives" were on the case.
Ms Rossi filed a $5m lawsuit last year accusing Sheen, 50, of assault and of failing to tell her he had HIV until after they had unprotected sex.
According to Radar Online, a New York-based gossip website, Sheen's alleged threat emerged in a 35-minute audio tape.
Referring to porn actress Ms Rossi, Sheen reportedly told another former lover in a recording: ''This piece of s*** needs to be f****** buried.
Family of gangsters. You get it. I can't be f****** extorted. It's called treason. You know what treason is?
"It's punishable by death. I'd rather spend 20 grand to have her head kicked in. Then people will realise.''
Ms Rossi reportedly went to a Los Angeles police station last Thursday after reading about the recording.
She said she had endured physical assaults and death threats during her time living with Sheen, an affidavit said, according to Radar.
Ms Rossi reportedly said Sheen, whom she dated from 2013-14, was prone to fits of rage and had previously brandished firearms at her.
Sheen did not immediately comment.
The Platoon star revealed his HIV status last November on national television, insisting he never hid his diagnosis from any sexual partners.
Murdered Shopkeeper 'Disrespected Islam'
A man accused of murdering a Muslim shopkeeper has issued a statement saying Asad Shah had "disrespected" the Prophet Muhammad.
Tanveer Ahmed, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, appeared in court for the second time accused of murdering the 40-year-old outside his shop in Glasgow's Shawlands area last month.
The taxi driver made no plea when he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Wednesday for a full committal hearing in private, but afterwards released a statement through his lawyer John Rafferty.
It said: "This all happened for one reason and no other issues and no other intentions.
"Asad Shah disrespected the messenger of Islam the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Mr Shah claimed to be a Prophet.
"When 1,400 years ago the Prophet of Islam Muhammad peace be upon him has clearly said that 'I am the final messenger of Allah there is no more prophets or messengers from God Allah after me.
"'I am leaving you the final Quran. There is no changes. It is the final book of Allah and this is the final completion of Islam.
"'There is no more changes to it and no one has the right to claim to be a Prophet or to change the Quran or change Islam.'
"It is mentioned in the Quran that there is no doubt in this book no one has the right to disrespect the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and no one has the right to disrespect the Prophet of Islam Muhammad Peace be upon him.
"If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world.
"I wish to make it clear that the incident was nothing at all to do with Christianity or any other religious beliefs even although I am a follower of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him I also love and respect Jesus Christ."
Police had previously described the killing as "religiously prejudiced".
Mr Shah, an Ahmadi Muslim who moved from Pakistan to Scotland 18 years ago, was found outside his shop in Minard Road on 24 March, and pronounced dead in hospital.
Hours before, he posted a Facebook message wishing all Christians a happy Easter.
Ahmed, 32, was remanded in custody and is due to appear in court at a later date.
"If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world.
"I wish to make it clear that the incident was nothing at all to do with Christianity or any other religious beliefs even although I am a follower of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him I also love and respect Jesus Christ."
Police had previously described the killing as "religiously prejudiced".
Mr Shah, an Ahmadi Muslim who moved from Pakistan to Scotland 18 years ago, was found outside his shop in Minard Road on 24 March, and pronounced dead in hospital.
Hours before, he posted a Facebook message wishing all Christians a happy Easter.
Ahmed, 32, was remanded in custody and is due to appear in court at a later date.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
American Idol’s Impact on Culture Is More Than Just Its Winners
American Idolkicks off its two-part finale Wednesday night—a long spectacle whose least important part will be choosing the 15th winner of the show. After all, the lengthy broadcast will be far more about celebrating the franchise, which was for many years TV’s most successful, than about any one singer’s fortunes. And even more important, Idol‘s real impact has little to do with most of its winners.
Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, certainly, were Idol winners who converted their success on the show into real-world superstardom; other early winners, like Jordin Sparks and Fantasia Barrino, work consistently in the recording industry. But they’ve found success by moving away from Idol‘s cheesy Americana and talent-show trappings. Indeed, the show has done far more to change the television industry than it has to change music.
Consider that Idol was the first of its kind in the U.S. When it launched in 2002 as an adaptation of the U.K. Pop Idol franchise with few expectations attached, the reality genre was young. Survivor, another adaptation of European TV, had begun two years prior. And Survivor, with its focus on canny strategizing, has little in common with the flat earnestness of Idol, which promises that pure meritocracy will win out. When Survivor has a disappointing winner, it’s because the game shook out in a manner that privileged less appealing qualities. When Idol does, it’s because you—yes, you!—didn’t cast enough votes.
Five years or so ago, the question of Idol‘s winners has created an apparent death spiral; not enough people other than, it seemed, tween and teen girls were voting, and so the winners tended year after year to be inoffensively cute white male guitarists. This made viewing the show seem less urgent and further limited the voting base. Why would anyone dissatisfied with Idol watch it when all of the shows it spawned dominated the airwaves?
Idol, whose success guaranteed imitators, is the forerunner of one of the two dominant modes of contemporary reality TV, the talent-competition show (the other is Real Housewives-style candid reality, and Survivor straddles the two). Once a foreign import, reality TV is now at the very heart of original American programming. Idol‘s offspring include not only The Voice, which has stolen Idol‘s heat, but also Dancing With the Stars, Project Runway, and Top Chef. All of these shows, whether viewers are actually empowered to vote or not, are designed to feel like reassuring morality stories. The candidate with the best alchemy of winning backstory, raw talent, and hard work either takes the crown—or is cruelly denied in a manner to be resolved in the marketplace or, more likely, on an All-Stars season.
Without Idol, we might not have Amy Schumer; the comedian got her big break on NBC’s Idol-for-jokes Last Comic Standing. Fifth Harmony, the ascendant girl group who just notched their first Top 10 hit with “Work From Home,” was formed on The X Factor, Fox’s attempt to make an Idolesque show to run through autumn. Gwen Stefani’s career comeback on The Voice, Candice Cameron Bure’s post-Dancing With the Stars role on Fuller House, the restaurant in your city that got a little extra juice from its chef having been cut by Padma—all of them are proof of Idol‘s impact.
So too is the way we watch TV. Fifteen seasons is so long a time that the medium has changed around Idol. Never before the show had viewers been so directly allowed to influence what they want to happen; this coincided with a boundless expansion of programs available to watch. Viewers went from being able to choose which amateur singer got to continue on in a splashy Fox reality show to being able to choose which amateur singer to watch on YouTube. The technology would exist without Idol, but would the audience’s confidence that they’re empowered to be the one who chooses stars?
More than anything else, Idol made explicit the nature of stardom; it’s by consent of the governed. A movie star whose movies don’t sell tickets isn’t going to be a movie star forever. But that sort of hashing-out of star futures usually happens behind the scenes and over a slightly longer term than a TV seasons. Idol allowed fans to closely track the fortunes of their favorite and to exert direct influence over what happened to them. Now that we’re empowered to enter the narratives of stars’ lives by tweeting praise or criticism at them, it’s hard to believe just how thoroughly Idol itself won.
Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, certainly, were Idol winners who converted their success on the show into real-world superstardom; other early winners, like Jordin Sparks and Fantasia Barrino, work consistently in the recording industry. But they’ve found success by moving away from Idol‘s cheesy Americana and talent-show trappings. Indeed, the show has done far more to change the television industry than it has to change music.
Consider that Idol was the first of its kind in the U.S. When it launched in 2002 as an adaptation of the U.K. Pop Idol franchise with few expectations attached, the reality genre was young. Survivor, another adaptation of European TV, had begun two years prior. And Survivor, with its focus on canny strategizing, has little in common with the flat earnestness of Idol, which promises that pure meritocracy will win out. When Survivor has a disappointing winner, it’s because the game shook out in a manner that privileged less appealing qualities. When Idol does, it’s because you—yes, you!—didn’t cast enough votes.
Five years or so ago, the question of Idol‘s winners has created an apparent death spiral; not enough people other than, it seemed, tween and teen girls were voting, and so the winners tended year after year to be inoffensively cute white male guitarists. This made viewing the show seem less urgent and further limited the voting base. Why would anyone dissatisfied with Idol watch it when all of the shows it spawned dominated the airwaves?
Idol, whose success guaranteed imitators, is the forerunner of one of the two dominant modes of contemporary reality TV, the talent-competition show (the other is Real Housewives-style candid reality, and Survivor straddles the two). Once a foreign import, reality TV is now at the very heart of original American programming. Idol‘s offspring include not only The Voice, which has stolen Idol‘s heat, but also Dancing With the Stars, Project Runway, and Top Chef. All of these shows, whether viewers are actually empowered to vote or not, are designed to feel like reassuring morality stories. The candidate with the best alchemy of winning backstory, raw talent, and hard work either takes the crown—or is cruelly denied in a manner to be resolved in the marketplace or, more likely, on an All-Stars season.
Without Idol, we might not have Amy Schumer; the comedian got her big break on NBC’s Idol-for-jokes Last Comic Standing. Fifth Harmony, the ascendant girl group who just notched their first Top 10 hit with “Work From Home,” was formed on The X Factor, Fox’s attempt to make an Idolesque show to run through autumn. Gwen Stefani’s career comeback on The Voice, Candice Cameron Bure’s post-Dancing With the Stars role on Fuller House, the restaurant in your city that got a little extra juice from its chef having been cut by Padma—all of them are proof of Idol‘s impact.
So too is the way we watch TV. Fifteen seasons is so long a time that the medium has changed around Idol. Never before the show had viewers been so directly allowed to influence what they want to happen; this coincided with a boundless expansion of programs available to watch. Viewers went from being able to choose which amateur singer got to continue on in a splashy Fox reality show to being able to choose which amateur singer to watch on YouTube. The technology would exist without Idol, but would the audience’s confidence that they’re empowered to be the one who chooses stars?
More than anything else, Idol made explicit the nature of stardom; it’s by consent of the governed. A movie star whose movies don’t sell tickets isn’t going to be a movie star forever. But that sort of hashing-out of star futures usually happens behind the scenes and over a slightly longer term than a TV seasons. Idol allowed fans to closely track the fortunes of their favorite and to exert direct influence over what happened to them. Now that we’re empowered to enter the narratives of stars’ lives by tweeting praise or criticism at them, it’s hard to believe just how thoroughly Idol itself won.
Beyoncé: ‘Anyone Who Perceives My Message as Anti-Police Is Completely Mistaken’
In her much-anticipated Elleinterview published Tuesday, Beyoncé spoke about the meaning behind her “Formation” video and clarified that she is against police brutality, but not antipolice.
“Anyone who perceives my message as antipolice is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of officers who sacrifice themselves to keep us safe,” Beyoncé said. “But let’s be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things.”
Her “Formation” song, which the singer also performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, was greeted by fans and critics as a celebration of the fight for equality — for women, for African Americans and for LGBTQ people. But it also drew the ire of police unions and even former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who argued that her Black Lives Matter message was antipolice, with some even calling for a boycott of her tour. (One shot in the “Formation” video shows “Stop Shooting Us” written in graffiti and the video ends with Beyoncé sinking into the water atop a police car.)
Beyoncé fired back at such critics in her interview: “If celebrating my roots and culture during Black History Month made anyone uncomfortable, those feelings were there long before a video and long before me,” she said.
The “Formation” flap isn’t the first time that the pop superstar has come under fire for her politics, and Beyoncé also took the opportunity address her stance on feminism. While many (including this writer) applauded the singer for emblazoning the word feministbehind her during her Mrs. Carter tour, and defining it in her song “Flawless,” some objected to her use of the word.
“I put the definition of feminist in my song [“Flawless”] and on my tour, not for propaganda or to proclaim to the world that I’m a feminist, but to give clarity to the true meaning,” Beyoncé told Elle. “I’m not really sure people know or understand what a feminist is, but it’s very simple. It’s someone who believes in equal rights for men and women,” she added. “I don’t understand the negative connotation of the word, or why it should exclude the opposite sex. If you are a man who believes your daughter should have the same opportunities and rights as your son, then you’re a feminist.”
Beyoncé also clarified that the issues of race and gender are not mutually exclusive for her: “I don’t like or embrace any label. I don’t want calling myself a feminist to make it feel like that’s my one priority, over racism or sexism or anything else,” she said. “I’m just exhausted by labels and tired of being boxed in. If you believe in equal rights, the same way society allows a man to express his darkness, to express his pain, to express his sexuality, to express his opinion — I feel that women have the same rights.”
The pop star is launching her own athletic clothing line, Ivy Park, this week.
Rowling's Harry Potter Chair Conjures Up £278k
A chair JK Rowling sat on while penning her first two Harry Potter books has sold for £278,000.
The 1930s oak chair was one of four chairs donated to the then unknown writer for her council flat in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1995.
She wrote Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets while sat on it.
It was bought by an anonymous private buyer for $394,000 (£278,000) at the Heritage Auctions sale in New York on Wednesday.
The seller, Gerald Gray, from Worsley, Greater Manchester, said the sum was much higher than he had hoped for.
"I plan to donate 10% to JK Rowling's charity, Lumos, because that's what she did in the first place," he said.
He bought the chair in 2009 after his daughter, a Harry Potter fan, saw it on eBay.
The chair has been auctioned twice before - once by Rowling in aid of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
Before she donated it to the Chair-ish a Child auction in 2002, she painted on it: "You may not find me pretty, but don't judge on what you see.
"I wrote Harry Potter while sitting on this chair."
The chair is accompanied by a signed letter "by Owl Post" describing its history.
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