Helen H. Moore's Blog, page 759
June 4, 2016
Conclusion of Brazil subway line depends on loan approval
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian officials say the conclusion of a new subway line crucial for the transportation of visitors to the upcoming Rio Olympic Games depends on the federal government’s approval of a $390 million loan.
Rio de Janeiro’s Transportation Department said Saturday in a statement that the National Development Bank has agreed to extend the loan but the Finance Ministry must still approve it.
The line is scheduled to be inaugurated on Aug. 1, four days before the games open on Aug. 5. On Friday, Transportation Secretary Rodrigo Vieira said work on the line cannot be delayed even by a day.
The O Globo newspaper, without citing sources, said the loan has not been approved because Rio’s cash-strapped state government has not given guarantees it will be able to repay it.
June 3, 2016
7 years after war’s end, Sri Lanka on cautious path to peace
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — For seven years, the ethnic Tamil housewife has waited for news of a son who vanished near the frenzied end of Sri Lanka’s quarter-century-long civil war. After so much time, she has little faith that the Sinhalese-majority government will help solve such mysteries and heal old wounds.
“There is no place I haven’t gone in search of him,” said Shantha, who like many people in this teardrop-shaped tropical island nation goes by one name. She last saw her son in March 2009, when he was 23 years old and injured in the crossfire of fighting. The military promised to take him to safety. She never heard from him again.
“The government just talks about good governance, but no good seems to be coming,” she said, weeping.
For the hundreds of thousands of minority ethnic Tamils like Shantha, the government’s repeated promises of post-war reconciliation ring false, even as authorities take tentative steps toward fulfilling some of them.
Tamil rebels demanding self-rule fought the government from 1983 to 2009 before being crushed by Sri Lanka’s army. While the U.N. counts some 100,000 people killed in the fighting, rights groups believe the number was much higher, including some 40,000 civilians believed to have been killed in the war’s final months.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa led the military in crushing the rebellion and continued to rule until last year, when he lost an election to Maithripala Sirisena. Many expected a new era of national healing and atonement, but more than a year later, there has only been slow progress as Sirisena cautiously balances the anguished demands of the Tamils with the persistent fears of the Sinhalese majority.
“It’s very difficult. It’s very challenging,” Sirisena said during last month’s ceremony in Colombo honoring soldiers on the seventh anniversary of their victory over separatist rebels.
His government has handed back some of the property seized by the army, discontinued the military’s involvement in civil administration and policing, and lifted bans on some Tamil expatriate groups that had previously supported the rebels’ separatist cause, with the aim of opening communications with them. Sinhalese nationalist groups are already rallying against these moves.
“Building reconciliation aimed at non-recurrence of violence can never be done with bricks, cement, iron, sand or any other material,” Sirisena said. “It’s about bringing people’s minds together; uniting hurting minds; uniting minds full of hatred.”
Changes are not coming fast enough for many Tamils, tens of thousands of whom have been homeless since the military bombed their homes or took their land. Jobs are hard to come by. Families are desperate for news on missing relatives. Many have refused to accept death certificates offered by the previous government and wait for information on what actually happened to them.
The mistrust between Tamils and Sinhalese goes back centuries, to when Tamil kings invaded from present-day southern India. Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority northern region was among the first to embrace English schools set up by British missionaries. Tamils dominated high-level jobs in government, medicine and law, creating a notion among the Sinhalese that they were being marginalized.
After Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain in 1948, Sinhalese took control of the country and it was the Tamils who felt marginalized, setting the stage for the rebel movement.
During the fighting, both sides were accused of committing war crimes, though the allegations have never been investigated.
When he was president, Rajapaksa refused international oversight over any war-crimes inquiries and denied allegations that troops had executed prisoners, targeted civilians and hospitals and blocked food and medicine shipments to civilians living in rebel-held areas. Rebels, meanwhile, were accused of recruiting child soldiers, using civilians as human shields and killing people who tried to flee their control.
A documentary aired in 2010 by Britain’s Channel 4 TV station showed scores of naked, blindfolded prisoners being executed by soldiers. The video was apparently captured by troops on their mobile phones as souvenirs. Rajapaksa said the documentary was a fabrication, but Sirisena’s foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, said last month that it was authentic, in what was seen as a major step toward acknowledging crimes.
Observers said part of the problem is that Sinhalese were fed a heavy dose of triumphalism after the war.
Among the Sinhalese, “there is hardly any awareness of the need for special measures for reconciliation,” said Jehan Perera, head of the local peace activist group National Peace Council. And those measures “will create apprehension in the southern people, which is why the government is progressing slowly.”
In the next U.N. Human Rights Council sessions starting June 13, the High Commissioner for Human Rights is set to brief on Sri Lanka’s progress toward reconciliation.
Sri Lanka won praise last year for finally promising a war-crimes investigation with international participation. The government also set up a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution likely to grant Tamils more political power, rights and protections against discrimination.
The Cabinet created an office to find missing people, though rights groups say it is being set up without consulting victims’ families as promised. The government has also promised various reforms intended to prevent a return of hostilities, but several have yet to be implemented.
The delays feed frustrations among Tamils waiting for the return of their land, for justice for war abuses or for knowledge of what happened to missing loved ones.
In the Tamil-majority Jaffna Peninsula in the north, 68-year-old Kasuthuri is impatient to regain her house and land where her family grew vegetables and reared cattle. The military declared it part of an off-limits high-security zone nearly three decades ago.
“When the president visited us, he promised we can go back home within six months,” she said. That was five months ago, and nothing has been said since.
But she is glad she can now at least air her grievances. “If it was the previous government,” she said, “I would have ended up being abducted.”
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AP writer Maryathas Newtan contributed to this report from Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
Colombia scores 2 first-half goals, beats US in Copa opener
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Cristian Zapata scored his first international goal, James Rodriguez added a 42nd-minute penalty kick, and Colombia beat the United States 2-0 Friday night in the opener of the Copa America.
U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann spoke before this about the importance of a strong showing in the special edition 100th anniversary Copa to create buzz for a potential 2026 World Cup bid. Instead, the 31st-ranked Americans began the biggest tournament at home since the 1994 World Cup with a dud as FIFA President Gianni Infantino watched among the announced sellout crowd of 67,439.
Geoff Cameron lost his mark on the first goal, and DeAndre Yedlin left a raised arm that led to a hand ball call and Rodriguez’s penalty kick.
The Americans will look to rebound on Tuesday against Costa Rica at Chicago, then close their group stage four days later against Paraguay at Philadelphia.
Marlins post premature tribute to ailing Ali on scoreboard
MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Marlins have showed a photo of Muhammad Ali on their video board indicating the heavyweight champion died, although there has been no announcement of his passing.
Marlins president David Samson said he had been informed Ali died. Samson declined to identify the source of the information. Ali was hospitalized in the Phoenix area battling serious respiratory problems.
Moments after Miami’s game Friday night against the Mets ended, a photo was displayed on the video board at Marlins Park showing a triumphant Ali standing over Sonny Liston at the end of their 1965 fight. Shown in the corner were these dates: “1942-2016.”
Samson said his understanding was Ali was dead, and he had not been aware the news had not been made public yet.
Dickey takes no-hitter into 6th, Jays stop Bogaerts, Bosox
BOSTON (AP) — R.A. Dickey took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays stopped Xander Bogaerts’ 26-game hitting streak and the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 Friday night.
Bogaerts went 0 for 3 and walked twice, with the Fenway Park crowd doing when he didn’t see a strike in the eighth inning.
Bogaerts came up again with two runners on base and two outs in the ninth inning and, after taking three straight balls to begin the at-bat, struck out against Roberto Osuna to end it.
Boston tied its longest losing streak of the season with its third consecutive defeat. The Red Sox have lost six of their last nine games.
One start after no-hitting the Red Sox for 5 1/3 innings, Dickey (3-6) didn’t give up a hit until David Ortiz opened the sixth with a double. Osuna got his 13th save.
Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer off David Price (7-2) in the first inning.
Price, who helped pitch Toronto into the playoffs last season and then signed with Boston, stayed in the game after being hit by Jose Bautista’s line drive in the third.
Dickey walked five, hit a batter and struck out four. The Toronto knuckleballer left after allowing Mookie Betts’ ground rule double with two out in the seventh, only the second hit off Dickey.
Ortiz got his 500th double with Boston, third in team history to Carl Yastrzemski (646) and Ted Williams (525).
Ortiz added double No. 501 in the eighth after Bogaerts walked. Hanley Ramirez’s groundout scored one run to make it 5-2, but Boston got no closer.
Price gave up two earned runs on six hits, four walks and a hit batter, striking out five in seven innings.
Devon Travis hit a two-run homer in the eighth to make it 5-1.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: OF Brock Holt will travel to Pittsburgh to see a concussion specialist when the team goes to San Francisco for next week’s series against the Giants. Holt was put on the concussion injury list on May 20.
UP NEXT
RHP Steven Wright (5-4) goes for Boston on Saturday against Toronto RHP Marcus Stroman (5-1).
The Latest: Several cars ablaze in Oregon train derailment
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Latest on a train derailment in Oregon’s scenic Columbia River Gorge (all times local):
7 p.m.
A Union Pacific spokesman says several cars have caught fire of the 11 that derailed from a train hauling oil in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge.
Union Pacific said at a news conference Friday evening that the cause of the derailment is under investigation.
Authorities say a mobile home park in Mosier with about 50 homes close to the incident was evacuated and will remain evacuated until further notice.
Authorities said Friday evening they were moving into what they described as a cooling operation at the blaze and said they’d work into the night on suppressing the fire.
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3:20 p.m.
A Union Pacific spokesman says that a derailment that caused a fire in Oregon’s scenic Columbia River Gorge caused an oil leak.
Aaron Hunt said Friday that 11 cars in the 96-car train derailed around noon near Mosier, about 70 miles east of Portland.
There were no fatalities or injuries.
The train was hauling oil from Eastport, Idaho, and was headed for Tacoma, Washington.
It was carrying Bakken crude oil, a type of oil known to be highly volatile.
A large plume of black smoke was visible over the gorge as the oil caught fire.
Union Pacific was sending a hazardous response team to contain the oil.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much was released.
Maia Bellon, director of Washington state’s Department of Ecology, says no oil has been spotted in the Columbia River.
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1:45 p.m.
A train towing cars full of oil has derailed in Oregon’s scenic Columbia River Gorge, sparking a fire that is sending a plume of black smoke high into the sky.
The accident near Mosier, Oregon, happened just after the noon hour Friday.
Ken Armstrong, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestry, says the incident involves eight cars filled with oil and one is burning.
Highway 84 is closed for a quarter-mile near the site, and the radius for evacuations was a half-mile.
The train was operated by Union Pacific. A spokesman for the railroad didn’t immediately return calls.
Mosier is about 70 miles east of Portland.
Ex-Oppenheimer & Co. employee faces insider trading charges
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. financial adviser accused of teaming up with a childhood friend who worked at Pfizer to trade on secrets about acquisitions the drugmaker was considering was arrested on insider trading charges Friday.
David Hobson was arrested at his home in Providence, Rhode Island, and later was released after an appearance in federal court in Providence. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors said Hobson had carried out the insider-trading scheme between 2008 and 2014 by working with his childhood friend Michael Maciocio, who worked for Pfizer Inc.
Federal authorities allege that Maciocio obtained confidential business data about other pharmaceutical firms that Pfizer was considering acquiring and then used the nonpublic information to trade in their stocks, making about $116,000 in illegal profits. Maciocio is accused of tipping off Hobson, a stockbroker, who officials said then used the information to rake in about $187,000 for himself and $145,000 for his customers.
Maciocio, whose job at Pfizer had him evaluate whether the company could manufacture certain drug compounds in-house, was not usually provided with the name of the company Pfizer was planning to acquire and relied on the information he received from the company, including the drug’s chemical structure, the phase of any clinical trials and the company’s code name, to identify the companies, prosecutors said.
Maciocio, of Wakefield, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty two weeks ago to conspiracy and securities fraud charges, according to federal prosecutors. His attorney did not immediately respond to a comment request Friday.
A spokeswoman for Pfizer said the company had cooperated with authorities and fired Maciocio as soon as it learned of the allegations. Oppenheimer said it also cooperated with law enforcement and would continue to do so.
Besides the criminal charges, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against the two men, who are in their 40s, seeking an unspecified monetary penalty.
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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister contributed to this report.
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Follow Michael Balsamo on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeBalsamo1.
Mexican officials exhume 117 corpses from common grave
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials said Friday they have finished exhuming the remains of 117 people buried by authorities in a common grave in the central state of Morelos.
Shoddy practices at the gravesite intended for unidentified bodies came to light last year after a judge ordered the state prosecutor’s office to exhume a corpse and turn it over to family members. They found they had to dig around dozens of plastic-wrapped bodies without any documentation connecting them to case files.
The Morelos state government said Friday that the bodies had been reburied at a regular graveyard.
State prosecutors said DNA samples had been taken to help connect the bodies to people looking for missing relatives.
Because nobody was sure how many had been buried in the pit, exploratory wells were dug to prove there were no more bodies.
The exhumations came after a long battle by the families of the missing, many of whom complained of shoddy investigations into their relatives’ disappearances.
Morelos, like the neighboring states of Guerrero and Mexico, has suffered drug violence and disappearances for years.
Argentina’s Macri hospitalized for irregular heartbeart
FILE - In this April 7, 2016 file photo, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri arrives at government house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The presidency said in a statement Friday, June 3, 2016, that Macri suffered from a light arrhythmia at around 3 p.m. local time. But he carried on working normally at the presidential residence in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The 57-year-old Macri was later checked into a hospital for precautionary studies. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File) (Credit: AP)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine President Mauricio Macri has been hospitalized for an irregular heartbeart.
The presidency said in a statement Friday that Macri suffered from a “light arrhythmia” at around 3 p.m. local time, but he carried on working normally at the presidential residence in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
Macri was later checked into a hospital at around 7:30 p.m. for precautionary studies. He had not been released by 11 p.m. but the presidential press office said he is expected to be discharged “in the next few hours” and will return to his home.
Macri took office in December vowing to revive Argentina’s economy and root out corruption. The 57-year-old is the former mayor of Buenos Aires. He also has been president of Boca Juniors, one of Argentina’s top soccer clubs.
