Olympics 2016: Brazil World Cup winner Rivaldo warns tourists to avoid Rio |TheNews Linzer

• Former Fifa world player of year says violence is ‘getting uglier’
• Wider public concerns over Zika virus and political turmoil

Brazilian World Cup winner Rivaldo is telling tourists to stay away from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because of the danger of endemic violence.

Rivaldo posted the warning on his Instagram account and alluded to the case of a 17-year-old woman killed on Saturday in a shootout.

“Things are getting uglier here every day,” Rivaldo wrote. “I advise everyone with plans to visit Brazil for the Olympics in Rio — to stay home. You’ll be putting your life at risk here. This is without even speaking about the state of public hospitals and all the Brazilian political mess. Only God can change the situation in our Brazil.”

The Olympics open in just under three months.

In a recent statement, Amnesty International said at least 11 people were killed in police shootings in Rio’s impoverished favelas in April. It said at least 307 people were killed by police last year, accounting for 20% of the homicides in the city. Continue reading...





Published By - Theguardian.com- Tech News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Monday 9 May 2016 18.24 BST

Obama takes aim at Trump and Republicans at final correspondents' dinner

The president mocks the billionaire’s foreign policy and business credentials and pokes fun at himself and other politicians

Barack Obama has delivered a scathing satirical take-down of Donald Trump, lampooning the Republican frontrunner’s foreign policy and business credentials, and ending his final White House correspondents’ dinner by literally dropping the mic and saying: “Obama out.”

In the traditional tongue-in-cheek address to the Washington press corps, the president also had fun at the expense of fellow Democrats Bernie Sanders, who was present, and Hillary Clinton, whose efforts to appeal to younger voters were mercilessly mocked.

Although he did not linger on Trump for as long as some had expected during the half-hour speech, especially those who recall the correspondents’ dinner in 2011 where he roasted the celebrity tycoon as he sat in the room, Obama did deliver some zingers. Continue reading...





Published By - Theguardian.com - Tech News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Sunday 1 May 2016 06.12 BST

Search for survivors continues after collapse of Nairobi apartments

Rescue and security workers search through rubble of building in Kenyan capital as seven people are confirmed dead



Rescue workers are continuing to search for residents feared trapped in the rubble of a six-storey building that collapsed in Nairobi after days of heavy rain, killing at least seven people.

The building in the Huruma residential estate collapsed late on Friday. Kenyan television stations showed rescue and security workers working through rubble and heavy slabs of concrete. It is not known how many people were in the building at the time of its collapse.

Japheth Koome, of Nairobi County police, told Reuters: “Seven people are confirmed dead and 121 people have been rescued and rushed to various hospitals in Nairobi.”

The collapse raised concerns about the safety of other blocks in the area. “It is raining, and these houses were built without Nairobi County authorisation,” Jonathan Mueke, deputy governor of Nairobi County, said on the privately owned QTV station. “I am asking residents in the area to leave. In the area where this one collapsed there are 189 houses.” Continue reading...





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Saturday 30 April 2016 10.21 BST

Egyptian cleric defends CIA agent convicted over his rendition

Abu Omar says Sabrina De Sousa, who faces extradition to Italy, is a scapegoat and the real culprits are more senior officials

The radical Egyptian cleric who was kidnapped in Milan by the CIA in 2003 has come to the defence of a former CIA officer convicted for her alleged role in his extraordinary rendition.

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who is known as Abu Omar, told the Guardian in a telephone interview that he believed Sabrina De Sousa, who faces imminent extradition to Italy, was a scapegoat and ought to be pardoned by Italy’s head of state, Sergio Mattarella. De Sousa, a 60-year-old dual American and Portuguese citizen, faces a four-year prison sentence and is due to be extradited from Portugal on 4 May.

“Sabrina and the others who were convicted are scapegoats. The US administration sacrificed them. All of those higher up in the hierarchy are enjoying their immunity,” he said. “These people higher up, without doubt they should be convicted in this case. They should face trial.”





Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 29 April 2016 12.06 BST

Barack Obama says world needs a united Europe

US president urges continent to not give in to ‘fears over security and inequality’ by creating new barriers

The world needs a strong, democratic and united Europe, Barack Obama said on Monday, to guard against rising intolerance and authoritarianism within the European Union and across the globe.

In an ambitious and sweeping speech urging modern Europe to remember its emergence from division, war and hatred, the US president said: “We cannot allow fears about security and inequality to undermine our commitment to universal values. That is a false comfort.”

Speaking in Germany on the final day of his tour of Europe and the Middle East, Obama had a blunt message for the continent. “Perhaps you need an outsider to remind you of the magnitude of what you have achieved from the ruins of the second world war.”

Patrick Wintour in Hanover

Published By - Theguardian.com - Sports New, LifeStyle News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Monday 25 April 2016 13.41 BST