Work longer hours. Get fewer benefits. Retire years later. Those are the ingredients of the bitter medicine Brazilians are being asked to swallow as a cure for the country’s moribund, overregulated economy.

It would be a tough sell under any conditions, but it’s even harder because few trust the politicians trying to pour it down their throats. And a wave of corruption scandals that threaten to topple even the president could water down, if not sink, any cure.

President Michel Temer finds himself in a dilemma: He needs the economic reforms to boost his credibility — and perhaps even to avoid being ousted over a flurry of corruption allegations. But his credibility and that of his allies is so low that few Brazilians trust them to do what’s necessary to expand the job market and get people back to work.

Temer’s future is unclear

Congress — and action on the reforms — has all but come to a halt in recent weeks after a recording emerged in which Temer apparently endorses the payment of hush money to a former lawmaker imprisoned on money laundering and corruption charges. He has also been accused of accepting bribes. He denies wrongdoing, but he could soon face formal charges.

The country’s political and business class has been distracted, when not terrified, by a stream of revelations about bribery, kickbacks and general corruption centered on the national oil company, Petrobras, that has led to the jailing of dozens of the country’s elite. The politicians also face an impending deadline: next year’s October elections.

“The only thing that appears certain is that the reform agenda has been compromised,” said Silvio Campos Neto, an economist at Tendencias, a Sao Paulo-based consultancy. “The survival of this government is uncertain, and this has a negative impact on the resumption of investments.”

Reforms are a must

Business leaders and top economists argue that reforms are needed to convince investors to start pouring money again into Latin America’s largest economy, which is tentatively emerging from a deep recession.

They’ve been backing Temer’s proposed reforms that would lengthen the legal work day, let agreements negotiated between employees and bosses override some labor laws and allow companies to outsource more work and hire temporary workers for longer — potentially reducing the number of jobs with full benefits.

Temer also wants workers to contribute longer before they receive pension benefits. Many public workers in Brazil now can retire at age 54 with nearly full benefits. The reforms would set a minimum retirement age for the first time in Brazil, at 65 for men and 62 for women.

Approval rating under 10 percent

The proposed cuts are one reason Temer’s approval rating is below 10 percent in many polls, giving him no political leverage beyond the doors of congress, where his nervous allies hold a majority.

Unions staged an April 28 general strike that brought much of the country to a halt, and they promise more action.

If Temer doesn’t listen, “we will once again stop Brazil and then maybe Brasilia will hear the voice of the people,” said Joao Cayres, director of the Central Workers Union, which represents over 7 million people.

Business-minded economists argue that current labor laws discourage hiring. And the generous benefits for retirees are taking an increasing chunk of the country’s gross domestic product.

“The economy won’t collapse if Congress fails to approve the reforms, but its recovery will be slow and full of uncertainty,” said Ricardo Ribeiro, of Sao Paulo’s MCM Consultancy.

Temer won’t step down

 Temer, who denies wrongdoing, argues he can still deliver the reforms.

 At a meeting of business leaders on May 30, he insisted the economy was “on the right track” and promised to leave “the house in order” for the next president.

Two days later, he got a rare piece of good news: The country’s gross domestic product expanded by 1 percent in the first quarter of this year as compared to the last quarter of 2016 thanks in part to bumper harvests of soy and corn.

It was the first time GDP had grown after eight consecutive quarters of contraction, ending Brazil’s worst recession in decades. The economy has been dragged down in large part by a slump in global prices for its commodities.

Ruling favors Temer

Temer also notched a victory last week when Brazil’s top electoral court voted narrowly to reject allegations of illegal financing in the 2014 presidential campaign. He could have been ousted if it had ruled otherwise.

Risk consultancy Eurasia said Temer’s breaks wouldn’t be enough to get the existing pension reform measure through. “A stripped-down version of it is likely, although even then close to a toss-up,” wrote Christopher Garman, head of Brazil analysis for the group.

Some 14 million Brazilians are unemployed, or 13.7 percent of the workforce, up from 10.9 percent at the same period last year.

Thousands of public workers are not being paid on time, or at all. Among them are the chorus, orchestra and ballet at the Municipal Theatre of Rio de Janeiro. They plan to ask theater-goers for donations of canned food and household goods as they enter for the season-opening opera “Carmina Burana.”

Ballet dancer has backup plan

Renata Gouveia, a 19-year-veteran ballet dancer at the company, spends her nights making truffles to sell and is designing and selling her own dancewear.

“Out of something terrible, I’m trying to take out the positive, working in things I never saw myself doing,” she said.

“Talk that the economy is improving is “a joke,” said Jose Augusto, a 53-year-old handyman who came to the Ministry of Labor in Rio de Janeiro recently looking for work. “In order to hit the restart button, Brazil needs to employ its workers first. We are millions.”

“Our politicians are shameless thieves,?” added Augusto. “Everything’s rotten, starting with the president and all of the congressmen.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Bangladesh has begun training thousands of school girls to protect them from being blackmailed or harassed online following an alarming rise in cybercrimes. 

The Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Division of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Post, Telecommunication & Information Technology recently finished conducting a pilot project in which female students from urban areas were taught how to keep themselves safe if they faced online threats.

“Most of the victims of cybercrime in our country are young girls. So, we decided to spread awareness among the girls first. In this pilot project, over 10,000 girls from 40 schools and colleges took part in our workshops and we got a massive response. Now we have our target to take this campaign across the whole country involving 40 million students in 170,000 schools and colleges,” Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for ICT told VOA.

Internet growth

Bangladesh has experienced a double-digit growth in Internet use every year in the past 15 years and almost half of the social media users in the country are women and teenage girls, but authorities say they make up about 70 percent of cybercrime victims.

Mishuk Chakma, a cybersecurity expert of Dhaka Metropolitan Police said the boyfriends of the Facebook-using girls often trick them into posing for intimate photographs or videos.

“Later, when their relationships are on the rocks, their former boyfriends post the photos and videos in the social media to emotionally blackmail the girls. Such photos and videos often trigger troubles in the lives of the girls after they get into new relationships or get married,” Chakma told VOA. “In such a situation many marital relationships are getting into troubles and even in a few cases the girls are taking extreme steps like attempting suicide.”

Sahana, a 15-year-old who took part in an ICT-organized workshop, said she feels she has benefitted from the training. 

“I shall verify one’s identity in many ways before I accept his or her Facebook ‘friend request’ now. Now I have also learned that I should not disclose much of my personal information on Facebook,” she said. “Also, I am quite confident now that none can harass or blackmail me on Facebook.”

Raising awareness

Sometimes the criminals are superimposing faces of the girls, who are known to them, onto the bodies of nude models or adult film stars to blackmail and defame the girls, Chakma said.

“Cyber harassment of girls and women can be effectively curbed if the spread of awareness among the social media users increases,” he said.

The Office of the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) of the ICT Division hired cybersecurity consulting agency Four D Communications to conduct the recent training of the 10,000 girls.

Abdullah Al Imran, managing director of Four D Communications, said apart from learning how to defend themselves online, the girls also learned how to bring cyber criminals to justice. 

“Very surprisingly we found that as much as 93 percent of the girls who participated in the training did not know that Bangladesh already has an ICT Act to help cyber harassment victims. We also taught them where and how they would seek help in case they were harassed or blackmailed online,” Imran told VOA. “Girls mostly from urban areas took part in our pilot project. I am sure, in smaller towns and rural areas the Internet literacy level among girls is even lower and they are more vulnerable there.”

But Lawyer Tureen Afroz, an advocate in Dhaka’s Supreme Court, said to deal with the growing cybercrime the government should amend further the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006 or ICT Act to make it up to date.

“Indeed it’s a good initiative that the government is trying to educate the girls and raise awareness among them about the growing trend of cybercrimes.  But, the government also needs to revamp the judiciary to achieve higher rate of success in fight against such crimes,” she said. “We are still unable to make the best use of smarter electronic evidences to pin down the cyber criminals in the court of law.”

Expansion

Senior officials say the government is keen to spread cyber safety awareness across the whole country.

Abul Mansur Mohammad Sharf Uddin, who heads the government’s cyber safety awareness campaign, said his department is busy on a blueprint to expand the campaign. 

“For the students, the contents on Internet literacy, which will be included to the national curriculum, will be ready soon. We want to introduce the course not just in schools and colleges, but also in over 100 universities of the country. We will also raise teachers across academic institutions of the country who will conduct cyber safety training classes for students locally,” Sharf Uuddin said.    
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From: MeNeedIt

Actor Bill Cosby could charm jurors at his sexual assault trial if he testifies this week, but experts say the risk would be considerable.

Accuser Andrea Constand has told her side of the story. The jury also heard Cosby’s version in the form of his police statement and his lurid deposition in her 2005 lawsuit. But will they hear from the 79-year-old actor himself when the defense starts Monday?

Cosby’s spokesman says maybe, but his lawyers remain mum.

“He could be a fantastic witness. … He’s an actor and he’s a very good actor,” said Duquesne University School of Law professor Wes Oliver. “(But) he is potentially opening the door to a whole lot of cross-examination that they fought really hard to keep out.”

Prosecutors wanted 13 other accusers to testify at the trial, but the judge allowed just one, an assistant to his agent at the William Morris Agency. That meant the prosecution rested its case on Friday, just five days after the trial began.

If Cosby testifies, and denies drugging and molesting Constand or anyone else, the judge might allow more accusers to testify as rebuttal witnesses.

“It would be very bad for him for the jury to even begin to think about the other women,” Oliver said.

The defense’s main goal this past week has been to attack the credibility of Constand and the William Morris assistant, Kelly Johnson. Johnson had corroborating evidence in the form of her 1996 worker’s compensation claim. A lawyer on the case recalled her startling account of being drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby, but his notes revealed a glaring discrepancy in the account. He said the encounter occurred in 1990, while Johnson insists it was 1996, the year she left her job.

The defense had more trouble trying to discredit Constand. They hammered home the point that she doesn’t know just when it happened, and they questioned why she had regular phone contact with Cosby later that spring. Constand said she had to return calls from the Temple University trustee because he was an important booster and she worked for the women’s basketball team.

She filed a police complaint in January 2005 after moving back home to the Toronto area, and then sued Cosby in March 2005 when the local prosecutor decided not to charge him.

Cosby’s testimony in her civil case shows just how hard a witness he would be to control. His answers, like his comedy routines, meander from point to point and veer toward stream of consciousness.

And he uses jarring language to describe his sexual encounters with various young women. He talks in the deposition of “the penile entrance” and “digital penetration,” and he told Constand’s mother, when she called to confront him, that her daughter had had an orgasm. And he can display hints of arrogance.

“One of the greatest storytellers in the world and I’m failing,” Cosby said when asked to repeat an answer in the deposition.

The defense could call other witnesses to try to bolster their argument that Cosby had a consensual relationship with Constand, 35 years his junior.

The trial would move to closing arguments on Monday if they decide not to put anyone on the stand.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand and Johnson have done.
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From: MeNeedIt

Katy Perry opened up about having suicidal thoughts during a marathon weekend livestream event.

“I feel ashamed that I would have those thoughts, feel that low, and that depressed,” she said Saturday on YouTube during a tearful session with Siri Singh from the Viceland series “The Therapist.”

The pop star has been livestreaming herself since Friday, filming her life for anyone with an internet connection to see. She’s been doing yoga, hosting dinner parties, sleeping, applying makeup and singing, of course.

By Sunday, the most revealing 60 minutes of the four-day “Katy Perry – Witness World Wide” event was her time with Singh.

Perry told Singh she struggles with her public persona. In the past, she said, she has had suicidal thoughts. She talked about the challenge of being her authentic self while promoting her public image as she lives “under this crazy microscope.”

“I so badly want to be Katheryn Hudson (her birth name) that I don’t even want to look like Katy Perry anymore sometimes – and, like, that is a little bit of why I cut my hair, because I really want to be my authentic self,” she said.

Perry is sporting a new short, blond hairstyle.

The YouTube event is a promotion for her new album “Witness.” The livestream will culminate in a free concert Monday in Los Angeles for 1,000 fans.
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From: MeNeedIt

Judy Garland has been laid to rest in a mausoleum named for her at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

A spokeswoman for Garland’s estate says her family and friends held a private memorial service for the actress Saturday, which would have been Garland’s 95th birthday. She was buried in the Judy Garland Pavilion.

Garland’s children, Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joe Luft, wanted to bring their mother’s remains “home to Hollywood” from her original burial site at New York’s Ferncliff Cemetery, publicist Victoria Varela said. They attended the service, along with Garland’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

In a statement released to The Associated Press, they offered gratitude to their mother’s “millions of fans around the world for their constant love and support.”

Garland’s children announced earlier this year that they had relocated their mother’s remains to Los Angeles. Garland’s third husband, Mickey Deans, buried her in New York, but her children said she wished to be interred with her family in Hollywood, Varela said.

The Judy Garland Pavilion is intended as a final resting spot for Minnelli, Luft and other family members, cemetery spokeswoman Noelle Berman said in January.

Garland, star of classic films including The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me in St. Louis, died in 1969 at age 47 in London.

Jayne Mansfield, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino and Cecil B. DeMille are among the entertainment luminaries buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Rocker Chris Cornell was laid to rest there last month.
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From: MeNeedIt

Natural caves where desert natives once made their homes … places where massive boulders appear to rise up from the desert … ancient rocks inscribed with symbolic carvings … a once-active volcano where visitors can walk down into its center. These are just a few of the timeless wonders that national parks traveler Mikah Meyer recently visited during his journey through the southwestern state of New Mexico. He shared highlights with VOA’s JulieTaboh.
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From: MeNeedIt

Danger lurks at Dracula’s castle.

Romanian authorities have closed a 13th-century fortress connected to Vlad the Impaler after a mother bear and her cubs were found roaming in the area.

The citadel, atop a mountain in central Romania, can be reached only by climbing 1,480 steps. It was shut in late May “for the safety of visitors,” its website said Saturday.

Local prefect Emilian Dragnea says the Environment Ministry had agreed to capture the four bears and relocate them elsewhere. Authorities blame people for leaving food in the area.

The citadel was repaired by 15th-century Romanian prince Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic novel “Dracula.”

Bran Castle, also associated with Dracula, is a bigger tourist attraction.

Romania is home to between 5,000 and 6,000 brown bears.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Adam West, the actor who played the title role in the kitschy 1960’s “Batman” television series, has died at age 88, Variety reported on Saturday, citing a family statement.

West, who was so closely identified with his tongue-in-cheek portrayal of the cartoon superhero that he had trouble landing other roles when the show ended, died on Friday evening after a struggle with leukemia, his representative told Variety.

His representatives did not immediately return calls or emails seeking comment.
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From: MeNeedIt

U2 turned their first headlining appearance at a U.S. music festival into Bono-roo.

The Irish rockers performed a two-hour set Friday night at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, as part of their world tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their Grammy-winning The Joshua Tree album.

They played the full album, as well as some of their other hits, including New Year’s Day and Beautiful Day, to tens of thousands of music fans.

Toward the end of the performance, lead singer Bono asked if they had made a mistake in not coming to the festival sooner, and later added, “Thanks for naming it after me.”

The band kicked off their tour last month in Canada, which hits the United Kingdom, Europe and Central America through Oct. 19.

The band has previously played the Glastonbury Festival, but their appearance on the Bonnaroo lineup this year was a huge get for the 16-year-old music festival.

Before their set, U2 guitarist The Edge received the Les Paul Spirit Award in a presentation from the Les Paul Foundation on the festival grounds. The Edge, whose name is David Evans, called Paul an inventor and innovator who pioneered advances in electric guitars and recording.

“I owe him a great debt of gratitude not only for the contributions he made to music, but in terms of his contributions to the technology,” Evans said.

The political nature of the album, which was inspired by the band’s fascination with America, was reflected on the giant screens behind the band. The screens showed images of female activists, scenes of the American desert and poems from American writers. Often Bono would stop singing to let the chorus of voices from fans complete the song.

As he ended the performance with their hit, One, he called it “a night we will never forget.”
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From: MeNeedIt

The hosting rights for both the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games should be awarded at the same time, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board recommended on Friday.

Paris and Los Angeles are the only candidates left in the race for 2024 and, if passed, the recommendation would almost certainly mean that each would host one of the next two summer Games, with only the order still to be decided.

IOC president Thomas Bach said the recommendation would be put to an extraordinary IOC session in Lausanne in July.

Decision in September?

There is a further IOC session in Lima in September which was originally scheduled to choose the 2024 hosts and may now decide whether Paris or Los Angeles go first.

“Having two such great cities, two such great countries, two candidates who are really enthusiastic and promoting the Olympic Games and the Olympic spirit … this represents a golden opportunity for the Olympic Games,” Bach told reporters.

“It is a win-win-win situation.”

Bach heavily implied that, if the recommendation was passed, there would be no chance for other candidates to enter the race for 2028. He also denied that getting the 2028 would be a consolation prize.

“It is a fascinating race to have Paris and Los Angeles striving for the Olympic Games, it is hard to imagine something better and it is a very strong sign of stability,” he said.

Bach praised both cities for including a high number of existing venues in their plans, saying this would “lead to significant cost reductions in the organization of the Games and make them more sustainable and more feasible.”

The Paris and Los Angeles organizing committees both welcomed the announcement.

Cities pulled out of bidding

The Olympic Games, once perceived as the hottest of sports properties, is now seen by many cities as a liability that can potentially drag an entire country’s economy down.

Rome, Budapest, Hamburg and Boston all pulled out of bidding for 2024.

Bach said the board had proposed the same 28 sports for 2024 which featured in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, provided they “comply with the Olympic charter and this includes the world anti-doping code.”

Extra pressure on weightlifting 

But he said there was an extra condition for weightlifting, which has been plagued by doping with numerous participants testing positive in re-tests of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

“The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has until December 2017 to deliver a satisfactory report to the IOC on how they will address the massive doping problem this sport is facing,” he said.

He added that the IOC had already sent a warning to the IWF by reducing the number of athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Games from 260 to 196.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is likely to impose a new sugar trade deal with Mexico even if final revisions to it fail to win support from the U.S. industry, trade lawyers and experts say.

After announcing a deal this week that would dramatically cut the amount of refined sugar that Mexico ships to the United States, officials from the two countries are working with their industries on final language that would govern its operation.

At issue is a new right of first refusal granted to Mexico to supply all U.S. sugar needs not met by domestic suppliers or other foreign quota holders.

A coalition of American sugar cane and beet farmers and a major refiner want a more explicit guarantee that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not Mexican producers, will dictate what type of sugar fills that gap. They are worried that a flood of refined sugar will pour in, rather than the raw sugar needed to keep U.S. mills running.

Sugar, lumber issues

The final sticking point stands in the way of resolving a years-long dispute over Mexican access to the highly regulated U.S. sugar market, which is protected by a complex web of subsidies and rationed quotas for foreign producers.

The sugar industry is known for its sway in Washington. But its point of view on Mexican imports is not shared by sugar users such as confectioners and soda makers.

The Trump administration wants to clear away the sugar dispute and a lumber trade row with Canada before starting full-scale negotiations to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement.

An industry rarely objects to a government-negotiated settlement of its anti-dumping case, and U.S. sugar producers could do little to stop the Commerce Department from implementing a final deal after a two-week comment period, said Seattle-based trade lawyer William Perry, who previously worked at Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

‘Never entirely happy’

While the industry could ask the International Trade Commission to overturn the settlement that suspends anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duty orders issued in 2014, chances for success look slim. The panel in 2015 rejected a challenge by two sugar refiners to the previous U.S.-Mexico pact.

“Petitioners are never entirely happy with suspension agreements like this,” Perry said. “They would rather have anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders with rates high enough to shut out imports.”

A Commerce spokesman said that Ross hoped the U.S. sugar industry would ultimately endorse the final agreement.

Willing to compromise

Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the administration was probably willing to compromise on some industry-specific concerns to help reach its larger NAFTA goals of reducing U.S. trade deficits.

The U.S. sugar industry must probably present evidence of new Mexican dumping before going back to Commerce for more changes to the deal, said Daniel Pearson, a senior fellow of the libertarian Cato Institute and former International Trade Commission chairman.

“They would do well to take this agreement and run with it and see how it works,” Pearson said, noting that it raises prices and keeps U.S. refiners well-supplied with raw sugar.

Mexico OK with language

Mexico made major concessions to maintain its access to the lucrative U.S. market, agreeing to ship no less than 70 percent of its quota volume as raw sugar to U.S. refineries. It gave ground on nearly all of the U.S. producers’ demands.

American Sugar Alliance spokesman Phillip Hayes said the final hurdle should be easy to address by making clear that the USDA, not Mexico, can dictate the type and purity level of any additional imports.

But Juan Cortina, head of Mexico’s main sugar trade group, said there was no problem with the language because any additional needs would filled with raw sugar, as Mexican producers would have to keep higher inventories of that grade.
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From: MeNeedIt

It’s another week of smooth sailing, with only the tiniest of changes in the hit list from the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending June 10, 2017.

Number 5: Ed Sheeran “Shape of You”

Let’s start in fifth place, where Ed Sheeran backs off a slot with “Shape Of You.”  This song’s a force to be reckoned with: it opened at number one back in January, one of less than 30 songs to accomplish that feat. It held the top slot for 12 non-consecutive weeks, and according to Billboard has spent the most time inside the Top Five since debuting there: 20 weeks.

Number 4: Kendrick Lamar “Humble”

Kendrick Lamar rebounds a slot to fourth place with his former champ “Humble.” Kendrick kicks off his North American tour on July 12 in Glendale, Arizona.

Number 3: DJ Khaled Featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper and Lil Wayne “I’m The One”

DJ Khaled treads water in third place with “I’m The One” featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne. On June 23, Khaled drops his star-filled album Grateful – he tweeted the cover photo on Monday, featuring his young son Asahd.

He and Drake reunite on the next single, “To The Max.” Khaled and Drake have a long history of collaborations, including last year’s Top 20 hit “For Free.”

Number 2: Bruno Mars “That’s What I Like”

Bruno Mars spends yet another week in the runner-up slot with “That’s What I Like.” Fresh from a performance at the Billboard Music Awards, he’s prepping for another award show appearance. 

Bruno just signed on to appear at the 2017 BET Awards, happening June 25 in Los Angeles. Last month, Bruno sang his latest single “Versace On The Floor” at the Billboard Music Awards…then watched the track experience a 395 percent sales jump.

Number 1: Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber “Despacito”

Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber share Hot 100 gold for a third week with “Despacito.” On June 4, Justin hit the stage at Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester benefit concert. He sang some of his biggest hits accompanying himself on guitar and broke down onstage as he addressed the fans gathered in Manchester, England.

The Top Five machine just keeps on turning. Who’ll be number one next week? Join us to find out.
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From: MeNeedIt