Egipto: Tomou posse o faraó Al-Sisi

Former army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has been sworn in as Egypt's new president after winning elections in May by a landslide.

Security forces were deployed at key locations around the capital Cairo ahead of the ceremony at the Supreme Constitutional Court.

The retired field marshal overthrew President Mohammed Morsi last July.

He has since been pursuing a crackdown on Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which urged a boycott of the elections.

Liberal and secular activists, including the 6 April youth movement which was prominent in the 2011 revolution that ousted long-serving President Hosni Mubarak, also shunned the 26-28 May poll in protest at the curtailing of civil rights.
'Time to work'
Mr Sisi, 59, was sworn in for a four-year term at a ceremony shown live on television.

It comes almost a year after he ousted Egypt's first freely elected President, Mohamed Morsi following mass protests against his rule.

At the swearing-in, the court's deputy head Maher Sami said that had not been a coup, and that Mr Sisi was responding to the will of the people.

Justices present for the ceremony applauded after Mr Sisi took the oath of office.

He replaces the outgoing interim president, Adly Mansour, who returns to his post as chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court.

In the May elections, he secured 96.9% of the vote and his sole challenger, left-winger Hamdeen Sabahi, received only 3.1%, according to the official results.

Many Egyptians believe that after three years of turmoil Mr Sisi is the saviour they have been waiting for

Mr Sisi's opponents fear his election victory will mark a return to authoritarian rule

However, the turnout was less than 50%.

Despite this crowds are expected to flock to Cairo's Tahrir Square to celebrate his victory, the BBC's Orla Guerin in the Egyptian capital reports.

Mr Sisi inherits a nation that is divided and weary, our correspondent says. Experts warn that if he cannot deliver in the next year or two he could face a mass revolt, like his predecessors.

In a televised speech after the poll, he said he wanted "freedom" and "social justice", echoing the slogan of the 2011 revolution.

 

Abdul Fattah al-Sisi

• Born in Cairo in 1954
• Had long military career, latterly specialising mainly in military intelligence
• Appointed army chief under Mohammed Morsi
• Key figure in interim government after ousting Morsi in July 2013

He said it was now "time to work", adding: "Our co-operation in work and construction will lead to prosperity and luxury."

He also faces a wide array of other challenges, including fixing the economy, preventing further political crises and easing poverty.

More than a quarter of Egyptians live below the poverty line - most in rural areas.

He has pledged to build 26 new tourist resorts, eight new airports and 22 industrial estates.

Mr Sisi has also promised to restore security in a country where attacks by Islamist militants have left hundreds of security personnel dead over the past 11 months.

The militants have stepped up attacks in response to the state's crackdown on Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, in which more than 1,400 people have been killed and 16,000 detained.

Mr Morsi and other senior leaders of the Brotherhood, which has been designated a terrorist organisation, are currently standing trial on a series of charges. They strongly deny any wrongdoing.

Critics fear that Mr Sisi will continue to show little tolerance for dissent. BBC

Norte-americanos rigorosamente vigiados

For seven years, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been using a congressionally approved warrantless Web surveillance system with a near-limitless ability to spy on Americans’ phone calls, emails, video chats, search history and more.
The existence of the classified ‘PRISM’ surveillance program was revealed in simultaneous reports by the Washington Post and the Guardian. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the NSA is monitoring Web searches, credit card transactions and customer records from companies such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon.  
A leaked 41-page PowerPoint presentation, verified by both papers and published almost concurrently Thursday evening, outlines details of the previously undisclosed PRISM program.The slides were slated for declassification in 2036.

--- E tem esta gente uma Estátua da Liberdade! 

Bissau: Visita de Xanana e Alkatiri

O primeiro-ministro de Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão, chegou hoje à Guiné-Bissau para convidar as novas autoridades eleitas para a cimeira da Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP).              

Lusa

                             06 de Junho de 2014 |  Lusa

                                    

"Vim com Mari Alkatiri [líder da oposição em Timor-Leste] em missão especial para entregar ao presidente e ao primeiro-ministro eleitos um convite para participarem na cimeira da CPLP", a realizar em Dili, Timor-Leste, a 23 de julho, referiu à chegada ao aeroporto de Bissau.

       

  

Xanana Gusmão aterrou na capital guineense num voo comercial poucos minutos antes das 13:00.
À chegada, tinha à espera alguns jogadores da seleção nacional de futebol da Guiné-Bissau, bem como o selecionador Paulo Torres, internacional português, e dirigentes da federação de futebol.
Os "djurtos" (alcunha alusiva a uma espécie de chacal) agradeceram o apoio financeiro de Timor-Leste que lhes permitiu jogar e vencer a República Centro-Africana na primeira pré-eliminatória de acesso à fase de grupos do Campeonato Africano das Nações (CAN) a realizar em 2015.
"Ainda bem que ganharam, porque a nossa [seleção de Timor-Leste] está a perder", referiu Xanana Gusmão, que se escusou a prestar mais comentários sobre a visita à Guiné-Bissau.
A passagem de Xanana Gusmão vai ser encurtada, saindo de Bissau na madrugada de terça-feira, em vez de partir ao princípio da tarde do mesmo dia, 10 de junho, disse fonte da comitiva timorense à Lusa.
Durante quatro dias de estadia, o primeiro-ministro timorense vai manter contactos com as autoridades de transição ainda em funções e também com o Presidente da República eleito, José Mário Vaz, e com o próximo primeiro-ministro, Domingos Simões Pereira - a serem empossados nas próximas semanas.
Vai ainda reunir-se com representantes das forças de segurança, chefias militares, Comunidade Económica dos Estado da África Ocidental (CEDEAO) e partidos políticos.
Timor-Leste apoiou financeiramente o recenseamento eleitoral realizado na Guiné-Bissau entre dezembro e fevereiro e Xanana Gusmão vai fazer na segunda-feira a entrega simbólica da respetiva base de dados - o registo do eleitorado já serviu de base às eleições de abril e maio (legislativas e presidenciais).
A deslocação de Xanana Gusmão está incluída numa série de visitas do primeiro-ministro timorense a vários países da CPLP antes da cimeira da organização.
A Guiné-Bissau realizou este ano as primeiras eleições após o golpe de Estado militar de abril de 2012, o que vai permitir o regresso do país à norma constitucional, bem como o reatamento de plenas relações diplomáticas com a comunidade internacional.
O Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) venceu as legislativas de 13 de abril com maioria absoluta e vai ocupar 57 dos 102 lugares da ANP.
O líder da força política maioritária, Domingos Simões Pereira, ex-secretário executivo da CPLP, vai ser o novo primeiro-ministro.

O Brasil está à venda

A “estrangeirização” das terras brasileiras não é um movimento exatamente novo.

Mas enquanto as questões fundiárias e ambientais não estavam no topo da agenda e o mundo não demandava tanto alimento como hoje – até o gigante chinês ter despertado – a situação era vista como aceitável. Ou quase nem era “vista”. A realidade agora é outra: a acumulação aumentou muito nos últimos anos e desperta preocupação.

O último levantamento mais preciso, com dados de 2010, falava de 34,3 mil propriedades rurais sob domínio direto do capital externo, cuja extensão chegava a 4,5 milhões de hectares. O Instituto Nacional de Colonização Agrária (Incra) está fazendo outro levantamento, mas já sabe que houve aumento.

Comenta-se que, daquele total, aproximadamente 1,5 milhão de hectares foram incorporados apenas nos últimos três anos.

Os defensores de restrições vão em todas as direções do espaço ideológico nacional – do ex-ministro neoliberal Delfim Netto e entidades de empresários do agronegócio, como a Abiove (setor óleo vegetal), a representantes de trabalhadores rurais e organizações contrárias à concentração de terras, tais quais a Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura (Contag) e a ActionAid Brasil.

Essa união de opostos foi seguida pelo governo federal, que elevou, em 2012, as exigências às compras de terras por pessoas físicas e jurídicas de fora, além de empresas brasileiras com domínio de capital estrangeiro. Uma das exigências é o pedido de autorização para investimento. Mas a União procura dar uma aparência de normalidade, especialmente para não vender a imagem de que está bloqueando a entrada de capital externo.

O tema está em debate no Congresso Nacional e, claro, há defensores desse tipo de recurso estrangeiro, com apoio de bancas de advogados que representam os interessados e dos bancos e fundos de investimentos.

O sentimento que mistura temores quanto à soberania nacional, neocolonialismo, desmatamentos, substituição de culturas não alimentícias, avanço em fronteiras de baixo desenvolvimento humano, entre outros elementos, foi sendo montando seguindo alguns movimentos no Brasil e no mundo.

O primeiro deles é o capital chinês que se espalhou pela África e já está presente cada vez mais no Brasil, atrás da soja em terras aráveis, além de minérios. Para assegurar mantimentos em seu país e depender menos das importações, houve anúncios recentes de intenções de investimentos no Brasil da ordem de US$ 11 bilhões. Na Bahia, o Chongqing Grain Group, divulgou planos de US$ 300 milhões no Oeste da Bahia, enquanto o Grupo Pallas apontou os estados de Maranhão, Piauí, Tocantins e Bahia, para falarmos em apenas dois movimentos.

“Eles compram a África e agora querem comprar o Brasil”, disse em entrevista Delfim Netto, enquanto o presidente da Abiove, Carlo Lovatelli, advertiu recentemente: “Eles estão procurando por terras, à procura de parceiros de confiança, mas o que gostariam mesmo de fazer é correr o show sozinhos”. Como estão fazendo na Argentina e Peru.

Por falar em parceiros e Argentina, há denúncias de que os empresários chineses – que sabidamente se articulam com o apoio do governo nos bastidores – estão usando testas-de-ferro argentinos na compra de terras no Brasil. Assim, eles não aparecem. Segundo consta, isso já despertou as atenções da Agência Brasileira de Inteligência (Abin).

Mas na conta dessa “invasão”, não são apenas os investidores da China que são alvo de reclamações. Há movimentos notados de capital do Oriente Médio – outra região altamente dependente de recursos naturais importados – e de europeus e americanos, que tentam fugir da crise. Estes últimos têm chegado ao Brasil, nos últimos anos, montados através de fundos de investimentos.

O problema, na visão dos agentes de mercado que querem regulamentar a entrada desse capital no setor agrário, entre os quais José Mário Schreiner, vice-presidente da poderosa Confederação Nacional da Agricultura e Pecuária (CNA), é o tamanho da fatia desejada. Nos estados vistos como última fronteira agrícola, notadamente aqueles citados anteriormente, aos quais pode-se juntar o Pará, todos de baixo desenvolvimento e com sérios problemas fundiários e sociais, os projetos envolvem grandes extensões rurais.

Mesmo porque nos estados mais desenvolvidos e naqueles com grande vocação para plantação de grãos, pouco espaço há disponível diante da ocupação de grandes latifúndios nacionais e internacionais.

Dados do Incra dão conta que em Mato Grosso, por exemplo, um dos principais produtores e exportadores de soja, com boa presença de algodão e milho também, os estrangeiros dominam perto de 500 mil hectares e respondem por 5% do plantio de grãos. E olha que o estado pode ser considerado de exploração agrícola mais recente, tanto que em número de imóveis rurais é de apenas 1,2 mil.

Já São Paulo, por exemplo, são 12,2 mil imóveis, mas a exploração é mais antiga. O componente que mais preocupa no estado é diferente dos demais. A procura dos estrangeiros é para projetos em usinas de açúcar e álcool, com aquisição e arrendamentos de canaviais, e na silvicultura. Obviamente que não são culturas alimentícias e que avançam sobre áreas férteis (em um estado menor e já densamente ruralizado), “expulsando”, pelo poder de compra, pequenos agricultores.

Este é outro viés das críticas ao modelo de entrada dos estrangeiros, na visão da Contag e do estudioso do tema, o professor Bernardo Mançano, da Unesp de Presidente Prudente.

O acadêmico lembra em artigo em Unesp Ciência (abril) um dos lados perversos dessa corrida por terras em países pobres, conhecida pela expressão inglesa land grab: a valorização desproporcional das terras. Se já não bastasse as terras brasileiras serem valorizadas por conta de qualidade e custo de mão-de-obra barata, a demanda pressiona a oferta.

Entre 2003 e 2012, segundo pesquisa de Mançano, o preço médio do hectare no Brasil repicou de R$ 2.280 a R$ 7.470. O pequeno e até médio agricultor não pode comprar para expandir seu negócio porque não faturam para isso; quando não, acabam vendendo por não suportarem os custos de insumos que crescem em paralelo à valorização, e muitas vezes voltam a viver à margem da sociedade.

A conotação que atingiu a participação de estrangeiros na exploração rural brasileira – que envolve até pirataria de asiáticos com madeira e compras ilegais de terras indígenas no Amazonas – está longe dos tempos em que os japoneses e proprietários rurais americanos emprestavam seus sotaques aqui e ali pelo Brasil, coisa que já vem mais acentuadamente desde os anos de 1970.

Leia mais: http://portuguese.ruvr.ru/2013_04_16/estrangeirizacao-da-terra-no-brasil-preocupa-o-mercado-e-autoridades/

O dólar tem andado fraquito

Why is the US dollar so weak? For most of 2014 our forecast was that the US dollar would average US$1.29 against the euro; we held our nerve while it stayed well below that but last month gave in and revised our expectation to US$1.34. That is still above where it is now, but we think that an appreciation is imminent, as strong US growth in the second quarter will bring the prospect of US interest rate rises closer into view just as the European Central Bank loosens policy.

Predicting immediate currency movements can be difficult, as market sentiment and unexpected short-term capital flows need to be balanced against fundamental economic drivers. In the case of the eurozone, slumping imports as consumers tightened their belts in the southern periphery, Germany's big trade surplus and Spain breaking its dependence on foreign credit led to a large current-account surplusfor the eurozone. This, in turn, supported the value of the euro and outweighed the US's stronger economy and tapering of quantitative easing.

The Economist

Bissau: Vaz visitou as quintas de Jammeh

The president-elect of the Republic of Guinea Bissau Tuesday visited several farms and other agricultural projects of his Gambian counterpart, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Jammeh in Kanilai as part of his engagements of his two-day working visit to Banjul.
His Excellency Jose Mario Vaz arrived in The Gambia on Monday as guest of President Jammeh in an attempt to renew and reinforce ties between Banjul and Bissau. The visit was his first official trip to Banjul, coming hard on the heels of last month's successful election in which he swept the polls by 61.9 percent. The polls also ended the two-year transitional government in Bissau, instituted after the April 12, 2012 military takeover that disrupted a presidential run-off that year.
Vaz visited Kanilai after what was described as successful bilateral talks with his host at State House in Banjul, during which Jammeh renewed Gambia's unshakeable commitment and support towards the socio-economic development and stability of the crisis-plagued nation, but more so admonished the new leader to pursue a policy of national reconciliation in the Portuguese-speaking country.
Much as he might have heard the agricultural undertakings of President Jammeh, the visit provided Vaz the opportunity to see for himself how his host is using agriculture as a tool to accelerate development.
At the entrance of the Gambian leader's birthplace, the new Bissau-Guinean leader was given a tumultuous welcome by the people of this community, cultural troupes, students, the 'Green Youth'. He was also greeted with thunderous cannon shots.
President-elect Vaz, accompanied by The Gambia's minister of Agriculture, Solomon Owens, later visited the Kaur farm where cattle of different breeds are reared. He also inspected the pineapple and noni farms where he was received by the farm manager, Wally Secka, who briefed him about the farm and President Jammeh's agricultural activities.
Speaking to the accompanying journalists in Kanilai, The Gambia's ambassador to Bissau, Abdou Jarju, said Vaz made a request to his Gambian counterpart to see for himself the agricultural activities of President Jammeh. He said The Gambia is among the first countries that President-elect Vaz visited after his victory in last month's presidential election. The diplomat expressed hope that the visit will strengthen the existing bilateral relationship between Banjul and Bissau.
The Guinea Bissau ambassador to The Gambia, Edrisa Diallo, for his part, said President-elect Vaz's visit to The Gambia just moments after his victory manifests the cordial relations between Banjul and Bissau. End of Gambia visit
The visiting new leader ended his Banjul trip late Tuesday night and was seen off at the Banjul International Airport by the vice president and Women's Affairs minister, Her Excellency Aja Dr. Isatou Njie-Saidy, Cabinet ministers and other dignitaries. He left onboard The Republic of The Gambia' aircraft after what officials described as a successful visit that will enhance ties between the two nations.
Biography
Jose Mario Vaz, born 10 December 1957, is the president-elect of Guinea-Bissau. Mario Vaz was named by the late President Malam Bacai Sanha as the country's Finance Minister in 2009, though he and the other ministers were ousted in the 2012 Guinea-Bissau coup d'etat. He is a member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIG) and won the right to represent the party in the 2014 presidential election by beating 11 hopefuls during a two-day primary in March 2014. In the first round of the election on 13 April 2014, he won 40.9% of the votes, and entered a run-off with the second leading candidate, Nuno Gomes Nabiam. In the second round, on 18 May 2014, he received 61.9% of the votes. Though Gomes Nabiam initially contested the result, he conceded defeat on 22 May 2014.
Married with three children, Vaz was trained as an economist in Lisbon at the Office of Economic Studies of the Banco de Portugal in 1982. In 2004, he was elected as mayor of the city of Bissau, a position he held until his appointment as Finance minister in 2009.  The Daily Observer, Banjul

-- Note-se que, segundo este jornal, as propriedades agrícolas e os demais projectos não são do país, da Gâmbia, mas sim do seu Presidente, Sua Excelência o Xeque, Professor, Alhaji, Dr. Yahya Jammeh !!!

A lua é filha da Terra e de Theia

Researchers have found evidence of the world that crashed into the Earth billions of years ago to form the Moon.

Analysis of lunar rock brought back by Apollo astronauts shows traces of the "planet" called Theia.

The researchers claim that their discovery confirms the theory that the Moon was created by just such a cataclysmic collision.

The study has been published in the journal Science.

The accepted theory since the 1980s is that the Moon arose as a result of a collision between the Earth and Theia 4.5bn years ago.

Theia was named after a goddess in Greek mythology who was said to be the mother Selene the goddess of the Moon. It is thought to have disintegrated on impact with the resulting debris mingling with that from the Earth and coalescing into the Moon.

It is the simplest explanation, and fits in well with computer simulations. The main drawback with the theory is that no one had found any evidence of Theia in lunar rock samples.

Earlier analyses had shown Moon rock to have originated entirely from the Earth whereas computer simulations had shown that the Moon ought to have been mostly derived from Theia.

Now a more refined analysis of Moon rock has found evidence of material thought to have an alien origin.

One mystery replaced by another: Traces of Theia have been found on the Moon but its composition is very similar to that of the Earth?

According to the lead researcher, Dr Daniel Herwartz, from the University of Goettingen, no one has found definitive evidence for the collision theory, until now.

"It was getting to the stage where some people were suggesting that the collision had not taken place," he told BBC News.

"But we have now discovered small differences between the Earth and the Moon. This confirms the giant impact hypothesis."

But the difference, some say, could be explained by material absorbed by the Earth after the Moon formed.

And Prof Alex Halliday of Oxford University, is among many scientists who are surprised at the difference between the Theian material found in the Moon rock and the Earth is so small.

"What you are looking for is a much bigger difference, because that is what the rest of the Solar System looks like based on meteorite measurements," he said.

Dr Herwartz measured the difference in what is called the isotopic composition of the oxygen contained in rocks on Earth and Moon rock. This is the ratio of different forms of oxygen.

Studies of meteorites from Mars and the outer solar system show that these ratios are markedly different -rather like a fingerprint. So Prof Halliday and others are puzzled by the fact that the fingerprints of Earth and Theia seem almost identical.

One possibility is that Theia was formed very close the Earth and so had a similar composition. If that was the case it raises the possibility that the assumption that each planet in the current Solar System has a markedly different fingerprint that needs to be revisited, according to Prof Halliday.

"It raises the question of how well the meteorites from Mars and the asteroid belt in the outer Solar System is representative of the inner Solar System? We do not have samples from Mercury or Venus.

"They may well be similar to the Earth. If that is the case then all the arguments over the similarities of the Earth and the Moon fall away," he told BBC News.

Rock and roll: it's taken more than 40 years to discover traces of Theia in samples collected by the Apollo astronauts

Dr Dr Mahesh Anand from The Open University described the research as "exciting" but noted that the data was from just three lunar rock samples.

"We have to be cautious about representativeness of these rocks of the entire Moon, and so further analysis of a variety of lunar rocks is required for further confirmation," he said.

Other theories have been proposed to explain why the composition of the Earth and Moon are so similar: one is that the Earth spun much faster before impact, another is that Theia was much larger than current models suggest.

An alternative, controversial, theory proposed by Prof Rob de Meijer of Groningen University in the Netherlands was that the Earth's crust and mantle was blown into space by an accumulation of nuclear material 2,900km (1,800 miles) below the surface. It was this debris that clumped together to form the Moon.

He told BBC News that the new finding - demonstrating that there was a difference in the composition of the Earth and the Moon - did not change his view.

"The difference is too small," he said. "We don't know how the Moon was formed. What we need are manned missions to the Moon and a search for rocks deeper under the lunar surface, that have not been polluted by meteorite impacts and the solar wind."