BRASILIA (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s attempt to oust Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro was not the best decision and likely premature, Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourao told reporters on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: Brazil's Vice President Hamilton Mourao looks on near Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro during an award ceremony for the Order of Military Judicial Merit, in Brasilia, Brazil March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File PhotoMourao, a retired army general, said in a radio interview that he thinks there are cracks emerging in the lower ranks of the Venezuelan armed forces, but not among the commanders that Guaido had hoped would abandon Maduro and join the opposition. “We don’t see light at the end of the tunnel for Venezuela,” he said on Radio Gaucha. He said Brasilia was worried that the crisis in its neighbor could spark a civil war. His view contrasts with that of President Jair Bolsonaro, who said on Wednesday that the unsuccessful uprising called by Guaido was not a defeat and that the Brazilian government had information on cracks in the Venezuelan military that could still lead to the collapse of Maduro’s leftist government. Bolsonaro’s top security adviser had said on Tuesday that military support for Guaido appeared to be weak and it was not clear whether military officers were abandoning Maduro. Bolsonaro’s right-wing government threw its support behind Guaido’s push to oust Maduro on Tuesday and called on other nations to do the same. His vice president, however, has from the start cautioned against entering a conflict with the Venezuelan armed forces, whose high command he is familiar with, as he served as a Brazilian military attache in Caracas. Mourao has contradicted Bolsonaro on a series of issues, from a woman’s right to abortion to moving Brazil’s embassy to Jerusalem, laying bare rifts between the more pragmatic military ministers and the ideologically right-wing members of the cabinet. Mourao has opposed any consideration of a military intervention in Venezuela to oust Maduro, a position that Bolsonaro has now adopted, though during a visit to the White House last month he said he would not rule out military action. The Brazilian government has made clear this week that it would not allow other nations to use its territory for any potential intervention in Venezuela. Mourao said in the radio interview that he expects Maduro to have Guaido arrested and the opposition leader must now be going “from house to house” in hiding. Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Tom Brown and James DalgleishOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Google is hurrying to shut down its troubled Google+ social-media platform.On Monday (Dec. 10), the company revealed that a security flaw could have exposed profile information such as names, email addresses, jobs, and ages of 52.5 million Google+ users without their permission in November. The Alphabet-owned company now says it will close down the main Google+ platform by April 2019, four months earlier than planned.The security lapse happened one month after Google announced another bug from March that put users’ information at risk. The company waited six months to tell people about that flaw. The new disclosure comes as Google CEO Sundar Pichai heads to DC on Dec. 11 to be grilled by the US House Judiciary Committee over the company’s data practices.The latest Google+ flaw allowed third-party apps to access users’ profile information even if it wasn’t made public by the user, Google said. The information was accessible for six days before the company fixed the bug. The company said it hasn’t yet found evidence that app developers took advantage of the flaw. The issue was introduced in a software update that compromised a Google+ API.The bug also meant that apps people willingly shared their Google+ information with were able to see the profile data of their friends, or other users who shared information with them.All Google+ APIs will be shut down in 90 days, which is also sooner than planned, the company said.The enterprise version of Google+, aimed at businesses and other organizations, will remain.Looking for more in-depth coverage from Quartz? Become a member to read our premium content and master your understanding of the global economy.

Bernardo de Mello Paz's open-air gallery is a vast temple to the world's finest modern artists.The Inhotim Institute, as the museological complex is called, is set in botanical gardens in the countryside of central Brazil.With 500 artworks ranging from three multicoloured Volkswagen Beetles to a swimming pool-cum-address book, and 140-hectare gardens boasting 5,000 plant species, Inhotim has been heralded as the finest art destination in Latin America.But that idyllic vision was left tainted after a federal judge sentenced Paz, who became a billionaire through a network of mining and steel companies, to more than nine years in jail for money laundering late last year. His sister, Virgínia de Mello Paz, got five years. Both siblings will appeal against their convictions.Paz is accused of receiving $98.5m (£70.6m) between 2007 and 2008 into an account intended for donations to Inhotim, but instead using some of those funds to meet the obligations of his other companies. The question, in the wake of the conviction, is what will become of Inhotim and its eccentric owner?"It was one of the great curatorial opportunities of our time," remembers Allan Schwartzman, the New York-based artistic director who has worked with Paz for 14 years building up the museum's collection from artists across the world. Founded in 2002, it opened its doors in 2006 and today functions as a non-profit institution."Bernardo is a cerebral man who exists in isolation," Mr Schwartzman added. "Inhotim was about quiet social activism. His primary motivation was to create something beautiful to inspire people from a wide a range of socio-economic backgrounds."Federal prosecutors in the state of Minas Gerais, where Inhotim is located, declined to be interviewed but released a statement that accused the siblings of "using devices, such as the cleansing of financial movements between his companies, to launder money arising from the evasion of social security contributions" - allegations that Paz had previously dismissed as a "mountain of nonsense and lies".Mr Schwartzman, too, says it is not an image he recognises. "I have always known Bernardo to be a man of great integrity, generosity and public mindedness. He poured everything of his psychological being and economic capacity into creating this museum," he said. "The art world has risen up in support of Bernardo."In the wake of his conviction, Paz stood down from his role as chairman of the board of directors, to be replaced by World Bank economist Ricardo Gazel."Obviously there is an impact on our reputation. He was the creator. His name will always be associated with Inhotim," says Mr Gazel. "But it is important to clarify the independence of Inhotim. Our administration is separate from Bernardo and his businesses, although we have obviously received donations from him."Bernardo decided to step down because he didn't want this news. Certain people have devious interpretations of what happened. He preferred to step down. It increases what already existed - the distance between his business and Inhotim."Once entirely funded by Paz's wealth, which is estimated to be at least $800m, the future of Inhotim looks secure, even without him.In 2014, he funded 50% of the maintenance budget, but in 2017 that figure was less than 10%."For a long time Bernardo already saw the need to make Inhotim more self-sustainable," says Mr Gazel. "Once we created the institution we have gained many other sources of income, such as sponsorship from banks and [mining giant] Vale.""The future of Inhotim looks secure. It is important for any cultural institution to depend on the whole society, not just on one person."One other cloud hangs over Inhotim. Paz is said to owe the state of Minas Gerais a debt of 500m reais ($154m), for the most part liabilities left by his companies in the mining and steel industry that have since closed.As a solution, Paz has offered part of the collection at Inhotim, including works by Adriana Varejão and Linda do Rosário, to the government as payment. He says the works are worth $190m, a fraction of the total $1.5bn art collection.But it would seem the government would be happy for the works to remain at Inhotim. "If the government of Minas Gerais does have an interest in keeping the works in Inhotim, it will be necessary for them to formally lend the works to the Institute, just as Paz did before," explains Lina Santin, a partner at law firm Santi Estevão & Cabrera."There is no other such museum in Brazil," Paz has been quoted as saying in local media. "The government is not going to take them away from here."All photographs subject to copyright.

Much respect is due to Apple marketing guru Ken Segall for his work with Steve Jobs making the Apple brand what it is today. The famous “Think Different” campaign came from Segall and TBWA\Chiat\Day, as his agency was called back in the day.But Segall is no fan of Apple’s current marketing messages and ad content. He says they’re boring, the result of a huge company playing it safe.“The passing of Steve Jobs created a completely different approach to marketing which we can see the results of,” Segall told The Daily Telegraph. “As a marketer, I look at that and can see the difference between Steve being there–and not being there–very clearly.”In a nutshell, Segall says Apple’s ads aren’t memorable and don’t create an emotional connection with consumers. “They should be building a personality for the phone,” he said, arguing that the iPhone should be “a thing that people might want to be part of because it rises above the features of the moment.” People should lust after the iPhone not because of specific features and specs, but because it’s an iPhone.Segall is a voice worth listening to, to be sure. As much as anyone, he helped elevate the Apple brand to today’s stratospheric heights. But raising a brand to iconic status is a different job than keeping it there and humming like a cash machine. Apple is a very different company–a far larger and more mature one–than the one Segall worked for. The products are different: Apple now makes its money mainly from selling iPhones and services like the App Store and iTunes these days.Ken Segall [Photo: Flickr user marklittlewood1]Apple was building up its core brand when Segall worked with Jobs on the “Think Different” campaign. I’d argue that the company’s ads still convey that iconic brand power, and manage to wrap a lot of more specific product messaging around it.Talking about specific product features (and even specs) in ads is necessary in the mature consumer tech markets in which Apple plays. Thanks to YouTube, and a vastly larger and more mainstream tech press, consumers are much more aware of new products and features than they used to be, I’d argue. So instead of focusing mostly on celebrities or lifestyle, iPhone ads, for example, focus on specific features like FaceID and Animoji. Other iPhone ads zero in on services delivered through the device: There’s an ad for Apple Pay, and a number of them for Apple Music.It’s likely that Apple’s ad messaging is more market research data-driven these days, and less guided by the artistic or market instincts of individuals. Many of Apple’s ads seem to carefully position Apple’s products against competing products, or against consumer attitudes that might prevent someone from buying (the iPad ads that say “It’s a computer. It’s unlike any computer” might reassure a buyer of the device’s power and versatility).The approach seems to work. The Apple Watch started selling well after Apple figured out in 2016 that people were more likely to understand and buy a health and fitness product than an all-purpose computer-on-the-wrist. An advertising campaign featuring the Watch’s fitness attributes got that message across. Sales soon started climbing.And, of course, Apple has sold the sh*t out of iPhones since the introduction of the iPhone 6 in 2014.Apple has far more products and far more ads than it used to. Some of its ads aren’t very exciting, I’ll admit, but they make clear points that differentiate their products. Others, well, they just can’t be called boring, like the Spike Jonze-produced “Welcome Home” ad for example (you know, the one where the lady dances around the house and the house keeps changing shape).Segall is shooting from the cheap seats without the benefit of the market data Apple has. His comments may have rung true in 1995, but today not so much.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong braced for more mass protests over the weekend, even as China warned it could use its power to quell demonstrations and U.S. President Donald Trump urged his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to meet with the protesters to defuse weeks of tensions. Hundreds of China’s People’s Armed Police (PAP) on Thursday conducted exercises at a sports stadium in Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong a day after the U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about the movements, which have prompted worries that the troops could be used to break up protests. Trump told reporters on Thursday he did not want to see a resort to violence to quell the protests in Hong Kong and reiterated that he wanted to see China “humanely solve the problem.” “I am concerned. I wouldn’t want to see a violent crackdown,” Trump said, speaking in Morristown, New Jersey. “If he (Xi) sat down with the protesters - a group of representative protesters - I’d bet he’d work it out in 15 minutes. ... I know it’s not the kind of thing he does, but I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Trump said he had a call with Xi scheduled “soon.” Ten weeks of confrontations between police and protesters have plunged Hong Kong into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997, and have presented the biggest popular challenge to Xi in his seven years in power. The Civil Human Rights Front, which organized million-strong marches in June, has scheduled another protest for Sunday. China’s ambassador to London warned that Beijing could use its power to quell the Hong Kong protests if the situation deteriorated further and repeating charges that some protesters had shown “signs of terrorism.” “The central government will not sit on its hands and watch,” the ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, told reporters. “We have enough solutions and enough power within the limits of (the) Basic Law to quell any unrest swiftly,” Liu said, referring to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which states that the Hong Kong government can ask the Chinese garrison in the city to help maintain order. Related CoverageTrump says does not want to see a violent crackdown by China in Hong KongBeijing has option of forceful intervention in Hong Kong: Global Times tabloid“The central government of China will never allow a few violent offenders to drag Hong Kong down a dangerous road, down a dangerous abyss,” Liu said. The Friday edition of China’s state-controlled Global Times tabloid also warned that China had the option to “forcefully intervene” and lashed out at what Beijing describes as U.S. interference in Hong Kong. “If Hong Kong cannot restore the rule of law on its own and the riots intensify, it’s imperative then for the central government to take direct actions based on the Basic Law,” it said, saying the Shenzhen PAP deployment was “a clear warning.” The paper said the situation in Hong Kong “won’t be a repeat of the June 4th political incident in 1989,” referring to the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 30 years ago. White House national security adviser John Bolton warned against a repeat of Tiananmen in an interview on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Trump tied a U.S. trade deal with China to a humane resolution of the protests. Trump has been seeking a major deal to correct trade imbalances with China ahead of his 2020 re-election bid and has faced criticism from Congress and elsewhere for not taking a stronger public line on Hong Kong and for his characterization of the protests earlier this month as “riots” that were a matter for China to deal with. Trump’s tougher stance on Hong Kong followed a debate within his administration over whether Washington was looking too compliant while China appeared to be preparing for a crackdown, a source familiar with the deliberations said. On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing had noted Trump’s comment that Beijing needed to resolve the Hong Kong crisis on its own. Servicemen walk past military vehicles in the parking area of the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen across the bay from Hong Kong, China August 16, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas PeterWestern governments have stepped up calls for restraint following chaotic scenes at Hong Kong’s airport this week that forced cancellation of nearly 1,000 flights and saw protesters set upon two men they suspected of being government sympathizers. France called on city officials to renew talks with activists, while Canada said China should handle the protests with tact. Two opposition lawmakers from Hong Kong visiting the United States on Thursday urged the outside world to stay focused on developments. “For the international community to speak up for Hong Kong is extremely important, and we see that across the American political establishment,” Dennis Kwok of the liberal-democratic Civic Party said at the Asia Society thinktank in New York. He and fellow party member Alvin Yeung were to meet with U.S. lawmakers. The airport, one of the world’s busiest, was returning to normal on Thursday but under tight security after thousands of protesters jammed its halls on Monday and Tuesday nights. Late on Wednesday night, police and protesters faced off again on the streets, with riot officers quickly firing tear gas. Seventeen people were arrested on Wednesday, bringing the total detained since June to 748, police told a news conference, adding that police stations have been surrounded and attacked 76 times during the crisis. Despite the Shenzhen deployments, several Western and Asian diplomats in Hong Kong said they believed China had little appetite for putting its forces onto Hong Kong’s streets, and a U.S. official said on Wednesday the PAP activities appeared aimed at intimidating the protesters. The U.S. State Department warned on Wednesday that continued erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy put at risk the preferential economic status it enjoys under U.S. law and leading members of the U.S. Congress have warned that a crackdown could be met by U.S. sanctions. Slideshow (12 Images)Research firm Capital Economics said the protests could push Hong Kong into a recession and risked “an even worse outcome if a further escalation triggers capital flight.” Hong Kong’s property market, one of the world’s most expensive, would be hit hard in that scenario, it added. Financial Secretary Paul Chan unveiled a series of measures worth HK$19.1 billion ($2.44 billion) on Thursday to tackle economic headwinds, but he said it was not related to political pressure from the protests. Some business and citizens’ groups have posted newspaper advertisements backing Hong Kong’s government. The head of Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment (0027.HK), Lui Che-woo, urged talks to restore harmony. The protests have affected the neighboring Chinese territory of Macau, with some visitors avoiding the world’s biggest gambling hub amid transport disruptions and safety concerns. Reporting by Farah Master and Tony Munroe in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Donny Kwok, Noah Sin, Kevin Liu and Twinnie Siu in HONG KONG, Steve Holland in MORRISTOWN, N.J., David Brunnstrom, Makini Brice and Jonathan Landay in WASHINGTON, Rodrigo Campos in NEW YORK, Estelle Shirbon and Costas Pitas in LONDON, Mathieu Rosemain in PARIS and David Ljunggren in OTTAWA; Writing by David Brunnstrom and Farah Master; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Leslie AdlerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Hong Kong's police say they were stretched and struggling.Months into a city-wide rebellion calling for democratic reform, activists had changed tack, hitting many targets at once. They couldn't keep up.But they have now reorganised operations and say they are on top of the situation, making it unlikely mainland troops will be seen on the city's streets.This information came from a nearly three-hour briefing this week, given by senior police officers to international journalists, including the BBC.They gave an unusually frank assessment on their capabilities and the likelihood of an intervention from Beijing. They say it won't happen and this is why.If, at some point, this city's evolving crisis deteriorates to a level beyond the reach of the local authorities, this could mean mainland riot troops coming across from the border city of Shenzhen.Images of the People's Armed Police arriving in convoys have been published by Chinese state media, accompanied by threats of intervention.If this happened, "we'd be in completely new territory", a senior Hong Kong police officer said and his colleagues nodded in agreement.He said there was no capacity for interoperability between mainland forces and Hong Kong police. There are no protocols, no plans. They have never even had joint training.This would seem to suggest that if troop trucks start driving into Hong Kong, it means the Chinese government are taking control of the operation.A senior officer we spoke to was adamant that "it won't happen". Hong Kong police "can handle" the current crisis, he said.He added that speculation on social media that mainland Chinese police were already within their ranks - spurred partly by some officers not showing their identification numbers and rumours of Mandarin Chinese being spoken - was totally false.China's ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, warned on Thursday that Beijing could "quell any unrest swiftly", and accused unidentified "foreign forces" of inciting the protests.However, on this point, they were also frank.When we asked if police had seen any evidence to back up the allegations that foreign governments had either funded or organised the anti-government protests, the answer was straight to the point: "No."Hong Kong police admit that, at one point, they were stretched too thin to respond to the number of moving protests, with hardline activists adopting a "hit-and-run" strategy. They would hurl bricks at a police station or block a cross-city tunnel and then, when the riot teams arrived, they would run.During a widespread strike on 5 August, there were clashes in a dozen sites across the territory.Police say they can now send out teams much more quickly - that they are more mobile, and have taken advantage of protesters breaking into smaller groups by moving in fast to make arrests. Why are there protests in Hong Kong? Young, radical and ready for tear gas 'I'm in Australia but I feel censored by Chinese students' The authorities can call on some 3,000 trained riot police, who normally have other roles within the 30,000-strong police force.They also feel more confident because they have apprehended what they call significant figures among the most radical protesters.While this movement has been described as leaderless, relying on consensus-building within chat groups, police feel that key people have been able to sway support for certain types of actions.They say they've been able to find and grab these "main players" with the help of intelligence gathered by undercover officers placed within the ranks of the protesters. They sometimes call these "decoy operations". The use of undercover police has led to concern and even paranoia among groups of protesters.On Tuesday, activists attacked two men - including a Chinese state media journalist - at Hong Kong's airport, accusing them of being mainland officers.On all sides, people are becoming much more cautious who they trust, including journalists. Both the police and protesters often want to see some ID before talking to you.Police have also come under fire for what - at times - is seen as a heavy-handed approach, including the use of tear gas in residential areas and underground train stations.Then there are images that seem to show riot teams firing rubber bullets and tear gas horizontally - at head-shot range - straight into crowds of activists.Police said this should not be happening. "Baton round" rubber bullets are to be fired at the ground and the idea is that they then ricochet into people.This could be what happened to me on 5 of August when a projectile - police say most likely a rubber bullet - hit me straight in the face, smashing my tear gas mask.One of the officers told me he did not think I would have been deliberately shot in the head. "At least I hope not," he said. He added that it was more likely a round bounced up at me from below and that it was just unfortunate to strike me where it did. Who knows?Another officer told me that police would be crazy to fire at somebody's head with any type of round. "If they killed somebody, they would face a murder charge," he said.The Special Tactical Contingent - a riot team known as the "Raptors" - were filmed last weekend chasing protesters into an underground train station and, at the top of an escalator, firing non-lethal rounds at activists from point-blank range, then laying into them with batons.The police are making no apologies for this response given, they say, the violent attacks against their own officers who have had bricks and metal bars thrown at them.Then there is the use of tear gas which is beyond its use-by date. We asked if reports were true that this could be harmful.These officers told us manufacturers have assured them it is completely safe - however, to be sure, they would be recalling any expired canisters.Given how much tear gas they are firing, does this mean they could run out? "No."There is also a really crucial question regarding their long-term future: how can they start to rebuild public trust?The officers we met shook their heads and shrugged. "It's going to take a long time to be honest," one said.Probably the worst public-relations disaster for the police came on 21 July, when they were nowhere to be seen as triad-connected gangs of men, dressed in white, waited for protesters at Yuen Long train station and proceeded to assault them with home-made weapons. Passers-by were also caught up in the attacks.Although police have now made dozens of arrests among the "white shirts", many in the general public and especially among the pro-democracy camp, are calling for an independent inquiry into recent events, including alleged links between some officers and underworld gangs.Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam has rejected the need for such an inquiry, saying that the Independent Police Complaints Council is already looking at the matter.The officers we spoke to also said there was no need for a dedicated independent inquiry. Even when we asked them whether this might be a way to win back public trust, they said they couldn't see the value in it.In the meantime, police on the ground are coming under enormous personal pressure.After a full day of street battles with protesters, they have routinely been surrounded in the street by ordinary citizens in their hundreds hurling abuse at them. "The sound has been deafening," said one of the officers we spoke to. How weeks of protests have hit Hong Kong tourism Were triads involved in Hong Kong attacks? Brand 'witch hunt' takes over Chinese internet UK should not interfere in Hong Kong protests: Chinese ambassador There is also cyber-bullying. At least 300 officers have had their personal information placed online; photos of their children have been published and groups go to the workplaces of their wives or husbands, just to let them know they are aware of who they are.We were told about one teenage daughter of an officer who was harassed by an adult while she was playing sport. They said to her: "What your father is doing is disgusting."Activists have cut electricity to police homes and sent fake food deliveries to them in the early hours of the morning.The fear of being identified for retribution is so high, we were told, that when police go to hospital for treatment, some of them describe their occupation as "public servant" rather than "police officer".They fear hospital records could be leaked or even that they could be harassed in hospital.Only a political solution can ultimately ease Hong Kong's crisis.Those who can bring this about are not on the front lines. This is the realm of police and activists.Would these officers like to see some sort of action from the city's leaders, especially Chief Executive Carrie Lam, to take the heat off the police?They smile. It looks like they really would like to say more - but instead, after a brief pause, we are told: "We can't get involved in politics".The say they want protesters to return to demonstrating peacefully - "the Hong Kong way". But tens of thousands of activists here now believe that peaceful protest has been ignored by those in power and that escalation is the only option to somehow bring about democratic reform.The police know this is not going to end soon.There has been an increased number of resignations from the force as a result of this crisis, we were told.But the biggest impact, they say, has been for officers to pull together and support one another.Is there any possibility that the protest movement has created divisions within the force?Not a chance, they say. Exactly the opposite.What questions do you have about Hong Kong? Let us know and a selection will be answered by a BBC journalist.Use this form to ask your question:

JUST WATCHEDSulley Muntari: Racism happens every gameReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSulley Muntari: Racism happens every game 03:31"The governing bodies, including The FA, UEFA and FIFA, must do more to promote methods of reporting racism and they must listen to supporters' demands," said Lord Ouseley, chairman Kick It Out."Clubs or countries whose supporters are racially abusive should face harsher sanctions, including points deductions."The survey found that only 28% of fans know how to appropriately report racist incidents. That figure is as low as 13% in Arabic countries. A spokesperson from The FA, English football's governing body, told CNN that "we encourage all fans and participants who believe that they have been the subject of, or witness to, discriminatory abuse to report this through the appropriate channels: The FA, our County FA network or via our partners at Kick It Out." Ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, FIFA announceda "dedicated anti-discrimination monitoring system" that enabled referees to stop, suspend or abandon a match if racist or discriminatory chanting took place.This came after the Russian Football Union was fined $28,000 forracist chanting by fansduring a friendly against France in March.Fans wore black face paint and carried bananas in a parade in Sochi, Russia, before the Confederations Cup in 2017.In recent months the German Football Federation has come under scrutiny after star player Mesut Özil, who has Turkish heritage,announced his retirement from international footballfor what he called a "feeling of racism and disrespect."In the survey, 77% of German football fans said they feel comfortable with a player of different ethnic or racial background representing their national or club team. Amongst Europe's top five leagues, this figure is lowest amongst Italian fans (71%).In 2017, Ghanaian footballer Sulley Muntari said he received racial abuse every game playing in Italy's Serie A. Playing for Pescara at the time, Muntari walked off the pitch after hearing abuse and latertold CNN Sportthat he'd support a player boycott in protest against racism.European governing body UEFA instructs that a player or team found guilty of racist conduct must be suspended for at least 10 matches. Referees are instructed to stop, suspend, or even abandon a match if racist incidents occur.JUST WATCHEDLazio stands with Anne FrankReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLazio stands with Anne Frank 01:31In a statement to CNN, UEFA said that "the fight to eliminate racism, discrimination and intolerance from football is a major priority for our organization. "UEFA condemns such deplorable behavior and has always shown zero tolerance for any form of racism and discrimination. "The campaign against discrimination, not just in and around football, but in European society as a whole, is a key belief of UEFA's social responsibility program."FIFA did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Follow @cnnsport "As our research reveals, too many supporters, both in the UK and across the world, are unsure of how to report discrimination," Lord Ouseley told CNN. "Leaders in football must use their platform to do more to raise awareness of the reporting methods available to fans. "Paltry fines for clubs or national associations have a very limited impact on repeat offenders, so governing bodies need to be bolder in their approach to tackling racist abuse. "Education is vital to help people understand the impact of racist behavior, but at the same time stadium bans, more severe fines, and points deductions all have to be on the table. Our research shows that supporters across the globe would be receptive to that too."

The Senate Intelligence Committee asked Google to send one of its top leaders to Washington, joining Twitter and Facebook, to discuss the use of social media by foreign actors to manipulate U.S. elections. Google offered only to send its lawyer. The committee angrily refused, and left an empty chair at the witness table to mark Google’s absence.Several senators slammed Google during the hearing. “I’m deeply disappointed that Google, one of the most influential platforms in the world, chose not to send its own top corporate leadership to engage this committee,” said the committee’s ranking Democrat Mark Warner (D-VA). “Because I know a number of our committee members have questions about a number of structural vulnerabilities on Google’s platforms that they need answers to.”Google released this statement in its defense Wednesday: “Over the last 18 months we’ve met with dozens of Committee Members and briefed major Congressional Committees numerous times on our work to prevent foreign interference in US elections. Our SVP of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, who reports directly to our CEO and is responsible for our work in this area, will be in Washington, D.C. today, where he will deliver written testimony, brief Members of Congress on our work, and answer any questions they have. We had informed the Senate Intelligence Committee of this in late July and had understood that he would be an appropriate witness for this hearing.” There are plenty of theories about Google’s real reason(s) for not sending a top dog like Larry Page to the hearing, and none of them are very pretty. Here’s what we’ve heard: Google may have felt it had little to gain from appearing, and little to lose by staying away. In general, consumers aren’t really paying attention to this issue. Google doesn’t have a “star” who does well in public appearances. Twitter’s public face is Jack Dorsey. Facebook’s is Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg. Apple’s is Tim Cook. Is Larry Page or Sundar Pichai the “face” of Google? Not so much. Larry Page doesn’t know the in-the-weeds issues of platform vulnerabilities and foreign manipulation that were discussed at the hearing. To train him on the issues, and coach him on talking about them with Congress, would have been a big time commitment that may not have paid off in the end. Google CEO’s Sundar Pichai’s name “looks foreign” to conservative lawmakers and is hard to pronounce, one expert source said. Google may have seen that as a potential problem in the hearing. Had Google appeared, it’s very likely that senators would have asked about Donald Trump’s claim that the company is suppressing positive stories about him from conservative news outlets. Corporate hubris? “There’s an empty chair next to you where Google was supposed to sit,” said Marco Rubio (R-FL). “Maybe it’s because they’re arrogant . . .” Had Google appeared, it’s very likely that senators would have asked about reports that a watchdog group posing as Russian trolls was able to buy political ads from Google with no problem. Rubio, continuing: “. . . and maybe it’s because there’s this story posted at 3:36 yesterday–this group went on, they pretended to be Kremlin-linked trolls. They used the details of the Internet Research Agency, which is a Kremlin-linked troll farm, were able to buy ads online [on Google] and place them at CNN, CBS This Morning, Huff Post, Daily Beast, so I’m sure they don’t want to be here to answer these questions . . .” Google is anti-American? “Perhaps Google didn’t send a senior executive today because they have recently taken actions such as terminating cooperation they had with the American military on programs like artificial intelligence,” said Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Google is sleeping with the enemy. Cotton, continuing: “This at the very same time they continue to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party on matters like artificial intelligence or partner with Huawei and other Chinese telecom companies that are effectively arms of the Chinese Communist Party.” Google wants to play ball with the Communists, Cotton believes, and doesn’t want to talk about it. “And, credible reports suggest, they are working to develop a new search engine that would satisfy the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship standards after having disclaimed any intent to do so eight years ago,” Cotton said. “Perhaps they didn’t send a witness to answer these questions because there is no answer to those questions.” Here was Google's conundrum: It had to decide a) send Page/Pichai and field questions about China and other uncomfy issues or b) accept the open chair treatment and bipartisan disgust/attacks about China and uncomfy issues they then could not rebut. — Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) September 5, 2018In reality, the truth is probably some combination of the above reasons.Had Google been represented at the witness table, the hearing this morning would have been more contentious and interesting. It would have produced better clips for the TV affiliates in the senators’ home districts. But it’s not clear that it would have brought the government and the tech industry any closer on how to make sure social media is never again used to hijack a U.S. election.

Donald Trump has decided to scrap a program giving work permits to people who came to the United States illegally as children but will give Congress up to six months to find a legislative alternative, according to reports.The US president decided to delay enforcement of his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program in order to give Congress time to devise legislation to replace it, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Sunday.The Obama administration policy protects nearly 800,000 young men and women often called “Dreamers” from deportation and allows them to work legally. The decision to give Congress half a year to come up with an alternative represents a compromise after Republicans and business leaders asked Trump to keep the program. They included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, who tweeted that 250 staff were “Dreamers” and “I stand with them”.“Dreamers” are a fraction of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, most of them Hispanic. Trump as a candidate promised to deport all of them, but many Americans have rallied to support the young adults who have spent large parts of their lives in the United States. The decision, to be announced on Tuesday, will seek to placate both sides in the immigration debate at a time when the president is also grappling with North Korea’s nuclear program and Houston’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey.House of Representatives speaker Paul Ryan urged Trump on Friday not to rescind the program and was joined by senator Orrin Hatch, also a Republican. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American Republican from Florida, tweeted her dismay with the decision to scrap Daca: “After teasing #Dreamers for months with talk of his ‘great heart,’ @POTUS slams door on them. Some ‘heart’.” Trump’s base may also be disgruntled about the president’s decision to leave open the option of a fix. Representative Steve King, a hawk on immigration and Iowa Republican, tweeted his opposition to the plan on Sunday night. Democrats, such as Minnesota senator Al Franken, also wanted the program to continue. Franken called the reported decision a “disgrace”. Nancy Pelosi, the top House Democrat, last week asked Ryan to meet her party to discuss a “comprehensive legislative solution”. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin downplayed the warnings from business figures, telling Fox News Sunday he was “less concerned about the economic impact”.Most of the Dreamers came from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. More than 200,000 live in California, while 100,000 are in Texas. New York, Illinois and Florida also have large numbers. Congress under presidents of both parties has been unable to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The Daca issue has been actively debated within the White House and Trump administration. One senior administration official described the debate as a “tug of war” between factions.Daca supporters argue that the people it protects are US-educated and integrated into American society, with little connection to the countries in which they are citizens. Opponents of the program argue that illegal immigrants take jobs from US citizens. Topics US immigration Trump administration Donald Trump news

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s attempt to oust Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro was not the best decision and likely premature, Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourao told reporters on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: Brazil's Vice President Hamilton Mourao looks on near Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro during an award ceremony for the Order of Military Judicial Merit, in Brasilia, Brazil March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File PhotoMourao, a retired army general, said in a radio interview that he thinks there are cracks emerging in the lower ranks of the Venezuelan armed forces, but not among the commanders that Guaido had hoped would abandon Maduro and join the opposition. “We don’t see light at the end of the tunnel for Venezuela,” he said on Radio Gaucha. He said Brasilia was worried that the crisis in its neighbor could spark a civil war. His view contrasts with that of President Jair Bolsonaro, who said on Wednesday that the unsuccessful uprising called by Guaido was not a defeat and that the Brazilian government had information on cracks in the Venezuelan military that could still lead to the collapse of Maduro’s leftist government. Bolsonaro’s top security adviser had said on Tuesday that military support for Guaido appeared to be weak and it was not clear whether military officers were abandoning Maduro. Bolsonaro’s right-wing government threw its support behind Guaido’s push to oust Maduro on Tuesday and called on other nations to do the same. His vice president, however, has from the start cautioned against entering a conflict with the Venezuelan armed forces, whose high command he is familiar with, as he served as a Brazilian military attache in Caracas. Mourao has contradicted Bolsonaro on a series of issues, from a woman’s right to abortion to moving Brazil’s embassy to Jerusalem, laying bare rifts between the more pragmatic military ministers and the ideologically right-wing members of the cabinet. Mourao has opposed any consideration of a military intervention in Venezuela to oust Maduro, a position that Bolsonaro has now adopted, though during a visit to the White House last month he said he would not rule out military action. The Brazilian government has made clear this week that it would not allow other nations to use its territory for any potential intervention in Venezuela. Mourao said in the radio interview that he expects Maduro to have Guaido arrested and the opposition leader must now be going “from house to house” in hiding. Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Tom Brown and James DalgleishOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Empire actor Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges accusing him of lying to the police about being the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in downtown Chicago in January.Lawyer Tina Glandian entered the plea on behalf of the 36-year-old actor during a hearing in Cook county circuit court after Judge Steven Watkins was assigned to oversee the case, including the future trial.Watkins granted Smollett’s request to be allowed to meet with lawyers in New York and California, but said the actor must give the court at least 48 hours’ prior notice. He scheduled the next hearing for 17 April.Smollett is charged with 16 counts of disorderly conduct.Prosecutors allege that Smollett, who is black and openly gay and plays the gay character Jamal Lyon on the hit Fox TV show, hired two friends to help him stage the attack on him in downtown Chicago early on the morning of 29 January.They say Smollett was unhappy about his salary and wanted to drum up publicity to help his career.Smollett has denied that he staged the attack and maintains he is innocent. His attorneys have called the charges against him “prosecutorial overkill”.There were several supporters outside the courthouse doors as Smollett arrived for the hearing, including some who waved signs. Activist Wisdom Cole led a few chants in support of the actor, the black community and the LGBT community.“Jussie has been a person of high caliber and character. He comes from an activist family. He has a consistent track record and history of supporting marginalized people ... and so his track record is not on par with the idea of a hoax,” she said. Topics Chicago Empire Law (US) US crime Illinois news

A former estate agent in South Africa has been jailed for racist abuse in what has been called a landmark ruling. A court jailed Vicky Momberg for three years, with one year suspended, for using a derogatory word against a black police officer 48 times. Her lawyer said she was not in a normal state at the time, as she had just been the victim of a smash-and-grab robbery. Racism remains a major issue in South Africa, almost 24 years after white minority rule ended. Africa Live: More on this and other other stories South Africa still awaits its golden age Why South Africa's born-free generation is not happy Momberg was convicted of four counts of crimen injuria after her racist rant was caught on video, and went viral on social media. She hurled insults at black officers trying to assist her after she was robbed on the outskirts of the main city, Johannesburg, in 2016, and complained about the "calibre of blacks in Johannesburg compared to black people in Durban", where she was based. Handing down her ruling, magistrate Pravina Raghoonandan said some may think the sentence was harsh but it was intended to signal that racism will not be tolerated in South Africa. Previous prosecutions had not prevented racist incidents, and therefore imposing a direct prison sentence without the option of a fine would send a strong message, she added. Momberg is now a convicted racist. At one point in court, she said she could not recall using the highly offensive word, which was commonly used during the height of white minority rule to demean black people. But the video evidence sank her, and it shocked many South Africans. She used the derogatory word 48 times in a rage-filled, vitriolic assault against black people - police officers - trying to help her. South Africa has seen a spate of racist incidents in recent years. They have shone a light on the country's painful history, and the fact that the nation is still divided. It has led to calls for special legislation to deal with such cases, and for harsh sentences for racists. Prosecutor Yusuf Baba said it was the worst case of crimen injuria, which refers to injuring someone's dignity through racial insults, to appear before the courts in South Africa."This is a landmark ruling... It sets a precedent for other racial-related cases." National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Phindi Mjonondwana said. Momberg's lawyers argued that she went into an "emotional storm" after the robbery, and should be sent for rehabilitation rather than to prison. Her lawyer indicated that she would appeal against the conviction and sentence. If the appeal fails, she will be the first person to be imprisoned in South Africa for racist abuse.The emergence of social media has brought numerous cases of racism in South Africa to light. In October, two white farmers who forced a black man into a coffin, beat him up and threatened to burn him alive were sentenced to jail for more than 10 years each, after a video of the incident went viral. In 2016, a court fined former estate agent Penny Sparrow 150,000 rand ($13,000; £9,000) for calling black people "monkeys" in a Facebook post.

Enlarge this image President Donald Trump, pictured at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, continued to rail against the 9th Circuit Court Appeals. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption toggle caption Susan Walsh/AP President Donald Trump, pictured at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, continued to rail against the 9th Circuit Court Appeals. Susan Walsh/AP "It is out of control, has a horrible reputation," Trump wrote on Twitter. He insisted judges "know nothing" about security and safety issues along the border and alleged they are "making our Country unsafe." He also said "there will be only bedlam, chaos, injury and death" unless law enforcement can "DO THEIR JOB."A few hours later during a televised teleconference with members of the military, Trump again bashed the San Francisco-based court. "We get a lot of bad court decisions from the Ninth Circuit, which has become a big thorn in our side," he said. "It's a terrible thing when judges take over your protective services, when they tell you how to protect your border. It's a disgrace." Moments later he told reporters he has "a lot of respect" for the chief justice but added people interpreting the laws "always give us a bad interpretation." Politics Chief Justice Roberts Issues Rare Rebuke To Trump; Trump Fires Back The Twitter missives and subsequent televised remarks picked up a thread that began on Wednesday following a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, who issued a temporary restraining order against Trump's asylum policy earlier this week saying the administration must consider all asylum claims regardless of where migrants enter the country. Tigar is not a judge on the 9th Circuit. He is a district court judge who sits in San Francisco. And as NPR reported: "... the Ninth Circuit, which encompasses much of the western United States, has not yet been asked to rule on [Tigar's] decision. Tigar's decision is also temporary, lasting only until Dec. 19 when the judge is scheduled to hear arguments about whether the order should remain permanent. Displeased by the decision, the president called it a "disgrace" in an off-the-cuff news conference, adding, "this was an Obama judge and I'll tell you what, it's not going to happen like this anymore." That's when Roberts entered the fray. Politics Chief Justice Roberts Issues Rare Rebuke To Trump; Trump Fires Back "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," the chief justice said in a statement. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."The public chiding triggered a spate of tweets from Trump in which he addressed Roberts directly. ""Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," he wrote.This is not the first time Roberts has commented on criticism from a sitting president but his statement on Wednesday is the most pointed response he has issued, Amy Howe, founder of the Supreme Court blog Howe on the Court, told NPR's Morning Edition. In this case, Roberts chose to tangle with Trump on the idea of partisan judges "because he's frustrated and he was trying to send a message to the president that the judiciary is not your punching bag," Howe said. "He's been trying to promote the idea that the judiciary, no matter what the president says, is an independent branch of the government." she added. As for Roberts, despite an invitation from Trump to "say what he wants" on the subject, the chief justice refrained from re-engaging in the dispute thus far.

Alexander Nix, the former chief executive of the elections consultancy Cambridge Analytica, is facing fresh questions about his conduct after a leak of documents revealed he used a highly offensive racial slur to describe the prime minister of Barbados.The British consultant, who lost his business after an investigation by the Observer exposed the firm’s unauthorised use of data from millions of Facebook users, has been pitching to once again run election campaigns in the Caribbean.Nix had worked in the region previously for SCL Elections, a sister company of Cambridge Analytica, before both closed down earlier this year.New details around the firm’s work in the Caribbean – and the tactics it was prepared to use – have emerged from leaked emails and documents relating to SCL.The Guardian has seen an exchange of messages in which Nix appears to refer to Mia Mottley, who was elected prime minister of Barbados in May, and senator Lucille Moe, who is the country’s information minister, as “niggers”. The messages are dated October 2010.At the time, it appears SCL was pitching for business with the Barbados Labour party and had apparently attempted to make contact with Moe and Mottley, who was then leader of the opposition.A member of SCL’s team wrote to Nix on 15 October, saying: “I get the distinct impression they don’t want to talk to us.” To which the SCL Elections boss replied: “they just niggers.”The Guardian asked Nix about the exchange. He did not respond to a request for comment. He has previously blamed the “global liberal media” for bringing down Cambridge Analytica.In an emailed statement, Moe confirmed that SCL had contacted the Barbados Labour party in order to offer its services. She said: “We were not comfortable working with them so we took a decision not to engage their services.”The disclosure is likely to fuel concerns about a return by Nix to the region, where his work was the subject of controversy and denunciations from local politicians long before SCL and Cambridge Analytica came under scrutiny in Britain.Last month, the Guardian has been told, Nix made contact with the opposition party of St Kitts and Nevis, a state in the eastern Caribbean.According to a senior source from the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour party, Nix offered to manage its next campaign. A general election is expected to be called in the coming months, with opposition leader Denzil Douglas hoping to oust the prime minister.“Nix said although the company has been changed, the people who work there are the same and so they were available to provide services in campaign management,” the source claimed. The offer has not been accepted by the party.Nix did not, apparently, give the name of his new firm. Since Cambridge Analytica went into administration in May, a number of reports have surfaced of former staff and directors regrouping at new businesses. One former executive, Mark Turnbull, is now managing director of Auspex International, a company launched in July that bills itself as an “ethically based” geopolitical consultancy. Nix has not declared any involvement with Auspex.SCL and Cambridge Analytica claimed to have advised political parties in more than 100 elections, spanning 30 countries – many of them former British colonies.Both companies were forced to close following revelations about the behaviour of Cambridge Analytica – and the new leak highlights the array of dirty tricks SCL was prepared to deploy during the Caribbean campaigns.During the 2010 election in Dominica, for instance, staff pretended to be anthropology researchers from a fictitious London university, complete with a fake logo. As part of its pitch for a campaign in St Lucia the same year, SCL offered to create an NGO from scratch to praise and endorse the party it was working for.SCL explained that the NGO would organise “events that are bi-partisan in nature (or appear to be)”, “raise issues of interest to the client” and “investigate opposition allegations and neutralize attacks”. The service would cost $20,000 (£15,000) a month.In addition, SCL proposed carrying out a sting against a rival, who was to be contacted by someone from the firm posing as a representative of a European construction group interested in winning business on the island – in return for a donation to his party.In the event, no St Lucian election was held that year. The plans were not, therefore, put into effect and there is no suggestion local politicians were informed of or approved these tactics.SCL worked for the St Kitts Labour party in two previous elections. The first was in 2010, when the firm helped Douglas secure a fourth term as prime minister. His 20-year premiership was eventually brought to an end in 2015 when Labour was once again advised by SCL. His successor, Timothy Harris, is expected to call the next general election later this year or early in 2019.Additional reporting by Stephanie Kirchgaessner. Topics Cambridge Analytica Barbados Caribbean news

Brazil’s far-right, pro-gun president-elect has signalled he will seek to relax his country’s firearms laws in a bid to combat a homicide epidemic that last year claimed nearly 64,000 lives.In his first television interview since being elected on Sunday, former army captain Jair Bolsonaro said it was time to abandon what he called the politically correct fallacy that Brazil would be a safer place if everybody was unarmed.“It won’t be any better. If there were three or four armed people here now, I’d be certain that some nutter wouldn’t be able to come in through that door and do something bad,” the right-wing populist told his interviewer from Record, a television channel owned by one of his powerful supporters.In the 30-minute interview, Bolsonaro – whose sons and supporters are often seen sporting clothing or hats celebrating automatic weapons and the National Rifle Association – said he believed gun laws should be made more flexible.“I ask myself: ‘Why can’t a truck driver have the right to carry a gun?’” he said.“Just think about it; put yourself in the shoes of a truck driver. He nods off at the petrol station … and when he wakes up the next day his spare tyre has gone.”Allowing more people to carry weapons and defend themselves with guns would certainly reduce violence, Bolsonaro claimed. “Statistics show that when the number of autos de resistência [police killings] carried out by the military police goes up, violence goes down the region where they took place.”“More than safeguarding someone’s life, firearms safeguard the freedom of a people,” Bolsonaro added.Bolsonaro’s remarks about loosening gun laws were not his only controversial comments of the night.In an interview with another Brazilian broadcaster, Globo, he said he would withdraw government advertising from media outlets he deemed to be “lying” and refused to significantly row back threats made last week to imprison or force into exile left-wing political opponents.“It was a fiery speech and I was referring to the top brass of the PT and also of the PSOL,” Bolsonaro said, referring to two leftwing parties.“It was a moment of anger. It was a heated address. In Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil those who disrespect the law will feel the weight of that very same law.”Bolsonaro’s incendiary comments provoked an immediate reaction from his political opponents. “The majority of the Brazilian population is against the right to carry weapons and wants more intelligent solutions,” tweeted former environment minister and presidential candidate Marina Silva, calling Bolsonaro’s proposal “appalling”.“Firearms are responsible for 71% of recorded homicides in Brazil. That is why I don’t tire of saying … The more guns, the more violence,” Silva added.Bolsonaro also told Record that “if it were up to me” social movements such as the Landless Workers’ Movement would see their activities classified as terrorism.Earlier in the day Marcelo Freixo, a leading leftist politician, called for resistance to Bolsonaro’s attempts to criminalize legitimate activism. “Bolsonaro has clearly threatened activism. He has said he will put an end to activism … We cannot sit around waiting for this to happen,” Freixo told the Guardian. Anti-Bolsonaro protests are planned for Tuesday in cities across Brazil.In Monday night’s interviews, Bolsonaro, who is also notorious for his racist and homophobic statements, rejected claims he was a bigot.“I’d like to know ... what’s a minority? What are the rights of these ‘minorities’?” he asked his interviewer.“We’re all the same. There’s no difference between me and you. It doesn’t matter what the colour of your skin is, your sexual preference, the region where you were born, your gender. We’re all equal … We can’t take certain minorities and think they have super powers and are different from the others.”In a recent interview Scott Mainwaring, a Harvard Kennedy school Brazil expert, said he was troubled by Bolsonaro’s faith in firearms.“The idea that you can reduce violence by cutting back on the restrictions of purchasing and carrying guns is ludicrous. There is no public security specialist in the world, or very few, who would say that is a good idea. It’s a terrible idea. It will increase violence.” Topics Jair Bolsonaro Brazil Americas news

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Hong Kong government unveiled a HK$19.1 billion ($2.4 billion) package on Thursday to support a slowing economy as escalating political protests and the prolonged U.S.-China trade war weigh heavily on the Asian financial centre. A man walks on a street after the clashes between anti-extradition bill protesters and police officers during a demonstration in Sham Shui Po neighbourhood in Hong Kong, China, August 11, 2019. REUTERS/Issei KatoFinancial Secretary Paul Chan announced the package at a news conference as anti-government protests roiled Hong Kong for the third month. He said the government is expecting to lower its 2019 GDP growth forecast to 0%-1%, from the original 2%-3%. The measures include subsidies for the underprivileged and business enterprises, as well as somewhat higher salary tax rebates. The off-cycle support came ahead of the annual policy address in October and the budget, scheduled for early next year. Chan insisted the intervention was not related to political pressure from the protests. “It is prudent and reasonable to assume that the economic headwinds will continue to be very strong,” he said. The government will also provide a 90% guarantee for approved loans to small and medium sized businesses, create more construction jobs, and hand HK$2.3 billion of subsidies to 900,000 school students. Hong Kong will release its latest economic forecasts along with second-quarter data on Friday, though analysts said the April-June readings would not give a full picture of the sharp shock to businesses seen in the last two months. Ten weeks of increasingly violent confrontations between police and demonstrators have plunged the international business hub into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Tourists are cancelling hotel bookings and retailers are forecasting a sharp drop in sales, adding to the pressure on local businesses from the year-long trade war and China’s broader economic slowdown. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam last week warned the next downturn will hit the city’s economy like a “tsunami”, and said her administration will provide more “daring measures” in supporting growth. (GRAPHIC - HK retail sales, tourism receipts as of Aug 15 2019: tmsnrt.rs/2YQKnCq) But Chan’s package is unlikely to ease the downward pressure on Hong Kong’s small and open economy, said Cliff Tan, East Asian head of global markets research at MUFG. “The world’s going into recession ... Hong Kong will not be able to somehow ride that out without being affected,” he said, adding that China’s economy was also struggling. Preliminary data showed Hong Kong’s economy expanded 0.6% in April-June from a year earlier, in line with the first quarter’s decade-low pace and much less than economists expected. But GDP contracted 0.3% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Research firm Capital Economics warned the protests could push Hong Kong into a recession, or risk “an even worse outcome if a further escalation triggers capital flight”. Financial markets have shown signs of stress, with stocks .HSI dipping to their lowest since January this week. Chinese paramilitary forces conducted exercises across the border from Hong Kong on Thursday, raising fears that Beijing may be preparing to act against mass demonstrations in the Asian financial hub it has described as “near terrorism”. (GRAPHIC - Chart - Under pressure - HK stock market: tmsnrt.rs/2N0J90m) Additional reporting by Twinnie Siu, Clare Jim and Felix Tam; Editing by Kim Coghill and Darren SchuettlerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Brazilian federal judge Sergio Moro waits to cast his vote in Curitiba, Brazil October 7, 2018. REUTERS/Rodolfo Buhrer/File PhotoSAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that he wants to nominate crusading anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro to either the Supreme Court or to serve as his justice minister. Bolsonaro made the comments during a wide-ranging interview with TV Record. Moro is the judge leading the “Car Wash” trials that have convicted scores of high level politicians and business elite for a sprawling graft scheme. Among those Moro convicted was former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Moro did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment. Reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The world needs to understand what Brazil has become, before it’s too late. Jair Messias Bolsonaro’s Brazil is not just another country that elected a far-right president at a time when the world’s most powerful nation is led by Donald Trump. It’s not just South America’s version of the current trend of countries sliding into authoritarianism, like we’ve seen in Hungary, Poland, Turkey and the Philippines. It’s not simply a peripheral nation with a pathetic leader. Brazil has become the apocalyptic vanguard that signals how radical this moment is – one with the power to worsen the climate crisis at top speed and blight the entire planet.The election of Bolsonaro is a response to what we might call civilisation’s new discontent. Maybe people can’t identify the source of their anxiety, which has driven up the consumption of tranquillisers and sedatives. The average citizen might apply more familiar labels to the corrosion of their quality of life, air, and water; to a relentless fear of the “other”; to the feeling they’re walking in quicksand. But what’s underpinning this new discontent pervading all areas of human experience is our climate crisis.Bolsonaro was elected in October, on his pledge to go back “50 years”. Fifty years ago, Brazil lived under a military dictatorship. For Bolsonaro and his followers, who are outright defenders of torture and the elimination of adversaries, it was a glorious era. Despite the terrifying menace of nuclear war, the world was still a place where science promised nothing but progress and solutions – it delivered no bad news, like global warming, that led to limitations on an individual’s daily life or on government actions. It was a time when white, heterosexual men held power and knew precisely who they were. They may have faced some resistance from minorities, but they still enjoyed absolute hegemony.We cannot comprehend what is now happening in Brazil – and around the world – unless we understand that our culture wars are tightly bound up with humanity’s need to say goodbye to 20th-century illusions of power and face a planet made more hostile by human hand. Things will soon reach catastrophic levels if nations and their residents do not unite in a global effort to do something extremely hard and unpopular: impose limits on ourselves to counteract global warming.The election of Bolsonaro ties all this together like no other event. The Bolsonaro administration promises a “new era” – a return to a time free of doubts and insecurity, with certainty about what a man is and what a woman is and a clear sense who’s in charge of the public sphere and the family. Their ultra-conservatism is at times corny, at times biblical – but never innocent.Soon after Bolsonaro’s inauguration last week, the minister of women, family, and human rights, Damares Alves – an evangelical pastor – stated in a video that now “girls wear pink and boys, blue”. Beside her, a supporter held an Israeli flag. Some neo-Pentecostals likewise waved Israeli flags at the inauguration. These religious groups, who are growing numerically and wielding greater power in Brazil, voted overwhelmingly for Bolsonaro.A significant portion of them believe Jews will play a role in fulfilling scriptural prophesies about the return of the Messiah. It must be remembered that Bolsonaro was baptised in the River Jordan, in Israel, a couple of years before the presidential campaign. Now in power, he has announced that Brazil will move its embassy to Jerusalem, which, say these evangelicals, will be the “stage for Armageddon”. In a recent visit to Brazil, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared: “We have no better friends in the world than the evangelical community.”Ernesto Araújo, the dogmatic foreign minister, said Bolsonaro’s rise will be marked by “God through the nation”. He has also written that climate change is an “ideology” dreamed up so imperialist nations could determine Brazil’s future. “The people who say there are no men and women are the same ones who preach that countries don’t have the right to protect their borders,” Araújo stated in his inaugural speech.This Brazil, stitched from a patchwork of dogmas, might be a fascinating topic of study if it didn’t put the whole planet at risk. Ideological discourse serves to instil the notion of destiny and to ensure cohesion within a population frightened about everything it might lose, from salaries and jobs to symbolic positions in the realms of race, gender, and sexual orientation. When Bolsonaro says he’s going to “free Brazil from political correctness”, he’s pledging to break both the “chains” that force people to respect minorities and those that curtail devastation of the Amazon forest.In his first days in power, the president shifted responsibility for demarcation of indigenous and quilombola territory – which makes up a large part of the protected Amazon – to the agriculture ministry. This government sector is controlled by agribusiness, responsible for much of deforestation and eager to get their hands on the remaining forest. Bolsonaro promised to turn the public land occupied by indigenous peoples into private land where mining and agribusiness concerns can reap profits. The goal is to make more forest land available for capitalist speculation: cattle, soybeans, mining, and major construction projects.This is why government ideologues fabricated the idea that “communism” – a system never implemented in Brazil and now largely irrelevant worldwide – is a looming threat to Brazilians. The supposed “international Marxist plot” serves to justify turning the forest into a commodity. In this fantasy, indigenous peoples, who are the chief barrier to destruction of the Amazon, are portrayed as a “threat to national sovereignty”.The deforestation rate for 2018 was the highest in a decade. The mere possibility that Bolsonaro might win had a liberating effect on deforesters and further inflamed conflicts in a country where more environmental defenders are killed than in any other.Without the world’s biggest tropical forest, there is no way to control global warming. If Bolsonaro’s messianic capitalism is not stopped, life on this planet will be much worse for everyone. For a contingent of neo-Pentecostal evangelicals, this may be welcomed as an apocalypse preceding the final salvation of “true believers”. For most of humanity, it will bring nothing but horror and suffering – perpetuated by the stupidity of a species with delusions of grandeur.Translated by Diane Grosklaus Whitty•Eliane Brum is a Brazilian journalist, writer and documentary maker Topics Jair Bolsonaro Opinion Brazil Americas LGBT rights Climate change comment

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong braced for more mass protests over the weekend, even as China warned it could use its power to quell demonstrations and U.S. President Donald Trump urged his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to meet with the protesters to defuse weeks of tensions. Hundreds of China’s People’s Armed Police (PAP) on Thursday conducted exercises at a sports stadium in Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong a day after the U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about the movements, which have prompted worries that the troops could be used to break up protests. Trump told reporters on Thursday he did not want to see a resort to violence to quell the protests in Hong Kong and reiterated that he wanted to see China “humanely solve the problem.” “I am concerned. I wouldn’t want to see a violent crackdown,” Trump said, speaking in Morristown, New Jersey. “If he (Xi) sat down with the protesters - a group of representative protesters - I’d bet he’d work it out in 15 minutes. ... I know it’s not the kind of thing he does, but I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Trump said he had a call with Xi scheduled “soon.” Ten weeks of confrontations between police and protesters have plunged Hong Kong into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997, and have presented the biggest popular challenge to Xi in his seven years in power. The Civil Human Rights Front, which organized million-strong marches in June, has scheduled another protest for Sunday. China’s ambassador to London warned that Beijing could use its power to quell the Hong Kong protests if the situation deteriorated further and repeating charges that some protesters had shown “signs of terrorism.” “The central government will not sit on its hands and watch,” the ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, told reporters. “We have enough solutions and enough power within the limits of (the) Basic Law to quell any unrest swiftly,” Liu said, referring to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which states that the Hong Kong government can ask the Chinese garrison in the city to help maintain order. Related CoverageTrump says does not want to see a violent crackdown by China in Hong KongBeijing has option of forceful intervention in Hong Kong: Global Times tabloid“The central government of China will never allow a few violent offenders to drag Hong Kong down a dangerous road, down a dangerous abyss,” Liu said. The Friday edition of China’s state-controlled Global Times tabloid also warned that China had the option to “forcefully intervene” and lashed out at what Beijing describes as U.S. interference in Hong Kong. “If Hong Kong cannot restore the rule of law on its own and the riots intensify, it’s imperative then for the central government to take direct actions based on the Basic Law,” it said, saying the Shenzhen PAP deployment was “a clear warning.” The paper said the situation in Hong Kong “won’t be a repeat of the June 4th political incident in 1989,” referring to the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 30 years ago. White House national security adviser John Bolton warned against a repeat of Tiananmen in an interview on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Trump tied a U.S. trade deal with China to a humane resolution of the protests. Trump has been seeking a major deal to correct trade imbalances with China ahead of his 2020 re-election bid and has faced criticism from Congress and elsewhere for not taking a stronger public line on Hong Kong and for his characterization of the protests earlier this month as “riots” that were a matter for China to deal with. Trump’s tougher stance on Hong Kong followed a debate within his administration over whether Washington was looking too compliant while China appeared to be preparing for a crackdown, a source familiar with the deliberations said. On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing had noted Trump’s comment that Beijing needed to resolve the Hong Kong crisis on its own. Servicemen walk past military vehicles in the parking area of the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen across the bay from Hong Kong, China August 16, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas PeterWestern governments have stepped up calls for restraint following chaotic scenes at Hong Kong’s airport this week that forced cancellation of nearly 1,000 flights and saw protesters set upon two men they suspected of being government sympathizers. France called on city officials to renew talks with activists, while Canada said China should handle the protests with tact. Two opposition lawmakers from Hong Kong visiting the United States on Thursday urged the outside world to stay focused on developments. “For the international community to speak up for Hong Kong is extremely important, and we see that across the American political establishment,” Dennis Kwok of the liberal-democratic Civic Party said at the Asia Society thinktank in New York. He and fellow party member Alvin Yeung were to meet with U.S. lawmakers. The airport, one of the world’s busiest, was returning to normal on Thursday but under tight security after thousands of protesters jammed its halls on Monday and Tuesday nights. Late on Wednesday night, police and protesters faced off again on the streets, with riot officers quickly firing tear gas. Seventeen people were arrested on Wednesday, bringing the total detained since June to 748, police told a news conference, adding that police stations have been surrounded and attacked 76 times during the crisis. Despite the Shenzhen deployments, several Western and Asian diplomats in Hong Kong said they believed China had little appetite for putting its forces onto Hong Kong’s streets, and a U.S. official said on Wednesday the PAP activities appeared aimed at intimidating the protesters. The U.S. State Department warned on Wednesday that continued erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy put at risk the preferential economic status it enjoys under U.S. law and leading members of the U.S. Congress have warned that a crackdown could be met by U.S. sanctions. Slideshow (12 Images)Research firm Capital Economics said the protests could push Hong Kong into a recession and risked “an even worse outcome if a further escalation triggers capital flight.” Hong Kong’s property market, one of the world’s most expensive, would be hit hard in that scenario, it added. Financial Secretary Paul Chan unveiled a series of measures worth HK$19.1 billion ($2.44 billion) on Thursday to tackle economic headwinds, but he said it was not related to political pressure from the protests. Some business and citizens’ groups have posted newspaper advertisements backing Hong Kong’s government. The head of Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment (0027.HK), Lui Che-woo, urged talks to restore harmony. The protests have affected the neighboring Chinese territory of Macau, with some visitors avoiding the world’s biggest gambling hub amid transport disruptions and safety concerns. Reporting by Farah Master and Tony Munroe in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Donny Kwok, Noah Sin, Kevin Liu and Twinnie Siu in HONG KONG, Steve Holland in MORRISTOWN, N.J., David Brunnstrom, Makini Brice and Jonathan Landay in WASHINGTON, Rodrigo Campos in NEW YORK, Estelle Shirbon and Costas Pitas in LONDON, Mathieu Rosemain in PARIS and David Ljunggren in OTTAWA; Writing by David Brunnstrom and Farah Master; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Leslie AdlerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LONDON (Reuters) - China will use its power to quell Hong Kong protests if the situation deteriorates further after some protesters have shown signs of terrorism, China’s ambassador to London said on Thursday. Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming speaks during a news conference in London, Britain August 15, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson“Should the situation in Hong Kong deteriorate further ... the central government will not sit on its hands and watch,” ambassador Liu Xiaoming told reporters. “We have enough solutions and enough power within the limits of (the) Basic Law to quell any unrest swiftly,” Liu said. “Their moves are severe and violent offences, and already show signs of terrorism.” He added: “the central government of China will never allow a few violent offenders to drag Hong Kong down a dangerous road, down a dangerous abyss.” Ten weeks of confrontations between police and protesters have plunged Hong Kong into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997 after being governed by Britain since 1842. They have also presented the biggest popular challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping in his seven years in power. China’s ambassador accused unidentified foreign forces of fomenting violent protests in Hong Kong, warning them that their “conniving” efforts had been noticed and that they would end up damaging themselves. “Foreign forces must stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs,” he said. “Stop conniving in violent offences - they should not misjudge the situation and go down the wrong path otherwise they will lift the stone only to drop it on their own feet.” He added: “evidence shows the situation would not have deteriorated so much had it not been for the interference and incitement of foreign forces. Hong Kong is part of China. No foreign country should interfere in Hong Kong’s internal affairs.” Liu also accused Western media of being unbalanced in their reporting and of confusing right and wrong. Reporting by Estelle Shirbon and Costas Pitas; writing by Kate Holton and Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen AddisonOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.