Brazilians rage against President Dilma Rousseff, corruption

August 17, 2015

Sao Paulo, Aug 17: Hundreds of thousands of protesters demanded Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff`s resignation Sunday, blaming her and the leftist Workers` Party for runaway corruption and looming recession in Latin America`s biggest country.

dilmaprotest

Crowds singing the national anthem and chanting "Dilma out!" paraded through the capital Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, the country`s largest city Sao Paulo and elsewhere across Brazil.

With some counts still incomplete, the G1 news site reported the latest police estimate for turnout to be 866,000 in dozens of cities and towns.

Organizers claimed a total of 1.9 million, including a million in Sao Paulo, where police counted only 350,000.

It was the third major anti-Rousseff protest this year, with 600,000 demonstrators taking to the streets in April and at least one million in March.

Less than a year into her second term, Rousseff is all but a lame duck, with the opposition considering controversial impeachment proceedings, and the country`s elite caught in a vast embezzlement scandal centered on state-oil company Petrobras.

"We can`t take this corruption any longer," said Rogerio Chequer, leader of the Vem Pra Rua (Go on the Streets) group, which helped organize the protests.

"If Congress has even a minimum of sense, it will decide on impeachment," he said at the Sao Paulo march, where many in the crowd wore the national football team`s famous yellow shirt.

Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla, has likened impeachment threats to a coup plot and insists she will not be forced from office.

Late Sunday, her spokesman Edinho Silva said "the government sees these demonstrations as part of normal democracy."These are dark days for Brazil, which hosts the Summer Olympics in Rio next year.

The world`s seventh-largest economy is sliding into recession, its credit rating reduced to near junk status.

Austerity measures have replaced the economic go-go years fueled by Chinese demand for commodities, while the ever-expanding Petrobras bribes and embezzlement probe is fueling a deep political crisis.

Prosecutors have brought charges against a who`s who of Brazilian movers and shakers, including the billionaire head of the global construction company Odebrecht and a navy admiral once tasked with overseeing a secret nuclear program.

Rousseff`s Workers` Party has been badly hit by the scandal and she has been tainted by association, even if not directly implicated.

Her party`s treasurer was among those arrested in April.

The boisterous but peaceful crowds in towns and cities across the country pinned the blame on Rousseff, illustrating how Brazil`s "Iron Lady" has become the least popular president in modern times, with single-digit ratings.

In Rio, there was a carnival-like mood. Samba music blasted, some protesters carried surfboards, others rode skateboards and many wore bikinis or bathing suits.

But protesters said their opposition to Rousseff and the Workers` Party is serious.

"They`re looting Brazil, stealing everything," said Jorge Portugal, 63, who is retired from a job in marketing.

In Brasilia, retired engineer Elino Alves de Moraes, 77, called for Rousseff and her "gang" to be jailed.

At a rally in Belo Horizonte, the man who narrowly lost to Rousseff in her deeply divisive 2014 reelection, Aecio Neves, said the protests show that "Brazil has woken up."

But one of the most popular heroes for the opposition masses was not Neves or even a politician -- it was Sergio Moro, the 43-year-old judge handling the Petrobras cases.

"We are all Moro," placards read, and "Power to Sergio Moro!"

"Judge Moro is the country`s salvation," said one Sao Paulo protester, Jose Freitas, 88.Rousseff is struggling to stay afloat. The question is whether opponents dare drag her all the way down.

A key figure in her fragile governing coalition, House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, defected in July and is considering whether to pull the trigger on impeachment proceedings.

Analysts say Cunha -- under investigation for allegedly demanding a $5 million bribe -- is waiting to be sure that Congress would follow his lead, while Rousseff is racing to negotiate a truce.

One possible relief for her came earlier this week when she and Senate President Renan Calheiros -- under investigation in the Petrobras affair -- agreed to market-pleasing reforms.

The deal took Rousseff ever further from her socialist roots, but could help lure her right-wing opponents from the cliff edge.

"The middle classes want to kick her out of power in any way, but to what end?" asked Andre Perfeito, head economist at Gradual Investimentos.

"In business circles and the elite, there`s an idea that it would be even worse if she left. It doesn`t mean they`re for Rousseff, but that getting rid of her would be even riskier."

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News Network
January 30,2020

Hamilton, Jan 30: Caught unaware about the Super Over scenario, Rohit Sharma took five minutes to “find” his abdomen guard after the third T20 International against New Zealand had ended in a tie on Wednesday.

The India vice-captain said the team had almost given up with New Zealand going great guns at one point.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Melbourne, Jun 20: If 15 teams can be allowed to enter Australia for the T20 World Cup then fans will not be stopped from watching live action from the stadiums, Cricket Australia's interim CEO Nick Hockley said on Saturday.

Hockley replaced under-fire Kevin Roberts, who recently got the boot from Cricket Australia, which is grappling with financial woes.

Different possibilities are being worked out for the T20 World to go ahead as scheduled later this year and one of them is to host the tournament before empty stands in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Hockley said crowds will be allowed, though, hosting 15 teams with players, officials and support staff is "complex" as of now, hinting that probably the ICC flagship event could be pushed back.

"The reality is, and we've got much more understanding about this in recent weeks, is crowds are most likely to come back before international travel. Our biggest challenge is getting 15 teams into the country," Hockley told cricket.com.au when asked if he would like to see the World Cup proceed without fans.

"If I compare it with the prospect of a bilateral tour, you're talking about bringing one team in and then playing individual matches. But the prospect of bringing 15 teams in and having six or seven teams in one city at the same time, it's a much more complex exercise."

When specifically asked whether crowds would be permitted by the time borders have opened to the point that 15 teams will be allowed to travel to Australia, Hockley replied in an affirmative.

"That's the current thinking, yes."

Hockley said it came as a shock when he was asked by Cricket Australia to replace Roberts.

"I've had very mixed emotions. I was very shocked to be asked. I didn't see it coming at all, so I probably haven't had time yet to process it. I feel very sad for Kev (Roberts). On the other hand, I feel this is a massive privilege to be asked, it's a massive responsibility and a massive opportunity even if it's only for the next few months," he said.

Hockey did not commit when asked if he would like to assume the role full time, but he did say that he would quit as CEO of the T20 World Cup Organising Committee.

"My approach throughout my entire career has been to focus on doing the best job I can with what I've been tasked with, and the future will look after itself. And I'll continue the same approach.

"That's (T20 World Cup) been a real priority over the last 48 hours. We're reasonably well progressed and we will be appointing an interim because you just can't do both," he said.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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