Brazil’s court begins hearing on removing President Temer
Brazil’s court begins hearing on removing President Temer
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s top electoral court started deciding Tuesday evening whether embattled President Michel Temer should be pushed out of office over allegations of illegal campaign financing in the 2014 presidential election.
The session opened with Judge Herman Benjamin, the special investigator in the case, starting to read his findings. The hearing was expected to take three days, and there is no deadline for a final ruling of the seven electoral judges.
The suit was brought after the election by the right-leaning Brazilian Social Democracy Party, whose presidential candidate, Aecio Neves, lost to the ticket of then President Dilma Rousseff and Temer as her vice presidential running mate. Ironically, the party has been a key ally of Temer since he took over the presidency after Rousseff was suspended and then impeached last year.
If the court decides the Rousseff-Temer ticket did receive illegal campaign financing, as several plea bargains have suggested, Temer mandate would be annulled and Congress would have to pick some to serve out his term through December 2018. However, the career politician whose popularity is hovering around 8 percent has said he would appeal.
Rousseff claims innocence as does Temer, who argues that his team was not responsible for the fundraising of the ticket.
Man attacks Paris police with tool at Notre Dame ‘for Syria’
PARIS (AP) — An assailant wielding a hammer attacked Paris police guarding Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday, crying “This is for Syria!” before being shot and wounded by officers outside one of France’s most popular tourist sites.
At least 600 people were blocked inside the iconic 12th century church while police first secured the streets around it, then combed the pews while visitors sat with their hands raised for the check. Others fled in panic from the sprawling esplanade outside the cathedral.
The assault was the latest act of violence targeting security forces at high-profile sites in France, which remains under a state of emergency after a string of Islamic extremist attacks.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but police searching a residence linked to the attacker in the Paris suburb of Cergy-Pontoise found a declaration of allegiance to the Islamic State group, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters that a police officer in a three-person patrol was lightly wounded in the attack, and the assailant was shot and wounded by a fellow officer. The attacker’s condition was being evaluated.
Family says Chinese activist faces subversion charge
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities have charged rights activist Jiang Tianyong with subversion of state power, six months after he disappeared and lost contact with his family and lawyers, his wife said Tuesday.
Prosecutors in the central city of Changsha sent the family a notice of the charge dated May 31, Jin Bianling told The Associated Press. That marked the first official confirmation of Jiang’s whereabouts since he was taken away by state security agents in late November.
Vaguely defined subversion charges are frequently leveled against human rights activists and perceived political foes of the ruling Communist Party. Convictions, which are a virtual certainty, sometimes lead to prison sentences of a dozen years or more.
Jiang previously worked with foreign media and rights groups to publicize the plight of China’s human rights lawyers, many of whom were detained in an intense crackdown launched in July 2015. U.N. representative on human rights Philip Alston said in a report this month that he believed that Jiang and other people he spoke to last year during a visit to China had suffered official reprisals.