Já me metem nojo... Desde aquelas caricaturas do alá. Foi os véus em França... Foi o emblema de uma equipa de futebol porque tinha uma cruz... Não se pode dizer nada que é logo ameaças de morte... Ó tempo... volta para trás...
Português The Weatherman candidato a prémio no Reino UnidoFoi seleccionado entre dez mil candidatosO músico português The Weatherman foi seleccionado, entre dez mil candidatos, para um prémio de revelação que será atribuído em Outubro, na Semana de Música do Reino Unido, noticia a agência Lusa.Alexandre Monteiro, que assina o projecto The Weatherman, explicou à agência noticiosa que, para promover a sua música no mercado britânico, candidatou-se a um prémio a atribuir a novos artistas, no âmbito da «British Music Week».Na resposta, a organização disse-lhe que tinha sido um dos 50 artistas seleccionados, entre os dez mil que concorreram, para marcar presença a 3 de Outubro em Londres.Nesse dia serão anunciados os dez finalistas ao prémio e o vencedor terá a oportunidade de actuar no encerramento do evento, a 7 de Outubro.Mesmo que não chegue aos dez finalistas, para Alexandre Monteiro só o facto de ter sido seleccionado e poder marcar presença em Londres já é uma janela de oportunidade.«Não faço ideia do que vou encontrar lá, mas vou aproveitar para levar uns discos, DVD com videoclips e arranjar concertos», disse.«Não é vida fácil para uma banda de cá sempre que se aventura num mercado como o de Inglaterra», sublinhou.The Weatherman lançou na Primavera «Jamboree Park At The Milky Way», segundo disco de originais, descrito pelo próprio como um álbum pontuado por «canções com dimensão de celebração».«Jamboree Park At The Milky Way» sucede a «Cruisin` Alaska», disco de 2006 pontuado por canções com influências dos Beach Boys, The Beatles e Rolling Stones.Alexandre Monteiro é licenciado em Som e Imagem pela Universidade Católica e, a par da música, trabalha ainda na Poptones, projecto da incubadora de indústrias criativas InSerralves, responsável pelo recém-criado logótipo musical da Fundação de Serralves.A British Music Week vai na quinta edição e congrega uma semana de eventos em vários espaços de Londres destinados a artistas, produtores e profissionais da indústria discográfica.
Governo pela manutenção da reciclagem de plásticosMinistério do Ambiente «estranha» decisão da Sociedade Ponto Verde de suspender a reciclagem com base no argumento da sustentabilidade financeiraO Ministério do Ambiente estranha a «eventual decisão» da Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV) de suspender a reciclagem dos plásticos mistos. Sobretudo sendo essa decisão «meramente sustentada no argumento da sustentabilidade financeira», refere a tutela em nota enviada à Lusa.O Ministério do Ambiente reage assim ao anúncio do presidente do conselho de administração da SPV. Barahona d'Almeida declarou, também à Lusa, que a SPV abandona em Outubro a retoma e o envio para reciclagem de produtos como embalagens de manteiga ou copos de iogurtes sólidos. Isto para evitar a falência, iminente depois de a empresa ter aprovado para este ano um orçamento de sacrifício, com 10 milhões de euros de prejuízo.«Na crise que vivemos não há sectores protegidos. A crise também se repercutiu no SIGRE (gerido pela SPV) e a situação é de uma enorme gravidade», afirmou Barahona d'Almeida.O responsável avisou que os prejuízos em causa correm ainda o risco de duplicar no final de 2009 «se não acabarmos com a retoma dos plásticos mistos». Em causa está o aumento das quantidades de resíduos de embalagens recolhidas, que implica custos que não estão a ser suportados pelo valor que os embaladores pagam à SPV para suportar o tratamento dos resíduos.O Ministério do Ambiente contrapõe agora, em nota enviada à Lusa, que a reciclagem de plásticos mistos tem vindo a ser assegurada com recurso a um «sistema experimental em funcionamento desde 2007, e que tem evidenciado resultados positivos e elevada adesão por parte dos Sistemas de Gestão de Resíduos Urbanos».Por isso, a decisão da SPV pode «comprometer os bons resultados» que Portugal tem alcançado, assim como colocar em risco o cumprimento das metas comunitárias a que o país está obrigado.O secretário de Estado do Ambiente, Humberto Rosa, em articulação com o secretário de Estado da Indústria e da Inovação, Castro Guerra, convocou uma reunião interministerial com «carácter de urgência» para sexta-feira.O objectivo do encontro, no qual participarão a SPV e organismos competentes dos ministérios do Ambiente e da Economia, é tomar as «medidas necessárias» para garantir a reciclagem dos plásticos mistos. Isto «sem comprometer a sustentabilidade do Sistema Integrado de Gestão de Resíduos de Embalagens (SIGRE)», refere a tutela.
Indonesian woman gives birth to 8.7 kilo boyAn Indonesian woman has given birth to an 8.7-kilogramme (19.2-pound) baby boy, the heaviest newborn ever recorded in the country, a doctor said Wednesday. Skip related contentRelated photos / videosThe baby (right) is 62 centimetres long and was born by caesarean section Enlarge photoThe baby, who is still unnamed and is 62 centimetres (24.4 inches) long, was born by caesarean section Monday at a public hospital in North Sumatra province, a gynaecologist who took part in the operation told AFP."This heavy baby made the surgery really tough, especially the process of taking him out of his mum's womb. His legs were so big," Binsar Sitanggang said.The boy is in a healthy condition despite having to initially be given oxygen to overcome breathing problems, the gynaecologist said."He's got strong appetite, every minute, it's almost non-stop feeding," he said."This baby boy is extraordinary, the way he's crying is not like a usual baby. It's really loud."The boy's massive size was likely the result of his mother, Ani, 41, having diabetes, Sitanggang said.She had to be rushed to hospital due to complications with the pregnancy, which had reached nine months. The baby, her fourth, was the only child not delivered by a traditional midwife.When a diabetic mother's glucose level is high during pregnancy, the baby can receive too much glucose and grow too large, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.Indonesia's previous heaviest baby, weighing in at 6.9 kilos, was born in 2007 on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, according to the Indonesian Museum of Records website.
British firm Mabey and Johnson convicted of bribing foreign politiciansBAE the next target as bridge-building firm becomes first major UK company to be convicted of foreign briberyA string of foreign politicians and officials were named as having received corrupt payments from a British firm today, as the company admitted it had systematically paid bribes around the world to win contracts.The bridge-building firm, Mabey and Johnson, is the first major British company to be convicted of foreign bribery. Many of its contracts were financially supported by the British taxpayer.The conviction by the Serious Fraud Office comes as the fraud agency turns its attention to a bigger target, BAE, Britain's biggest arms firm.The SFO has given BAE until Wednesday to decide whether to bow to an ultimatum and agree to some version of a plea bargain over long-running corruption allegations.Richard Alderman, the agency's director, has put his credibility on the line, and, according to Whitehall sources, is committed to asking law officers for consent to prosecute the arms giant if it fails to accept multimillion-pound penalties.Today, at Southwark crown court, London, John Hardy QC for the SFO, revealed the names of 12 individuals in six countries alleged to have received bribes from the Reading-based Mabey and Johnson.He said the company paid "a wide-ranging series of bribes" totalling £470,000 to politicians and officials in Ghana.He identified five who travelled to Britain to collect sums of money from £10,000 to £55,000 from bank accounts in London and Watford.Ministers and officials in Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique, Bangladesh, and Jamaica were also bribed, Hardy told the court.Hardy said that over eight years, the firm gave £100,000 "to buy the favours" of Joseph Hibbert, a key Jamaican official in awarding contracts, one of them worth £14m.The court was told how the firm, owned by one of Britain's richest families, paid bribes totalling £1m to foreign politicians and officials to get export orders valued at £60m to £70m through covert middlemen.The Mabey family built up a fortune of more than £200m by selling steel bridges internationally.The company also broke UN sanctions by illegally paying £363,000 to Saddam Hussein's government from 2001 – 2002.This first conviction has been hailed as a landmark by the British government, which has been heavily criticised for failing to prosecute any UK firm for foreign bribery. Campaigners said the failure rendered the 1997 pledge to crack down on corrupt exporters worthless.The firm will pay out more than £6.5m, including fines and reparations to foreign governments.It pleaded guilty to corruption in a pioneering deal with the SFO. It is the first time the agency has concluded a US-style plea bargain with a firm accused of corruption overseas.The company said it had reformed itself, stopped making corrupt payments, and got rid of five executives. Timothy Langdale, the firm's QC, said: "This is a new company. It is not the one which made these payments."The SFO investigation continues to look into whether individuals should be prosecuted.
'Hitler's Skull' Is A Woman's, Say DNA TestsA skull long believed to be that of Adolf Hitler actually belonged to a woman, according to an American scientist who has taken DNA samples from it. The skull was taken by Soviet forces in 1945 when they found charred remains outside the Nazi dictator's bunker in Berlin.The Russians said at the time that the findings backed claims that Hitler had shot himself on April 30, 1945, and then been cremated along with his wife, Eva Braun.Now, however, archaeologist and bone specialist Nick Bellantoni says the skull really belonged to a woman aged under 40 and not Hitler - who was 56 when he died.Neither does Mr Bellantoni believe the skull belongs to Braun, Hitler's long-time girlfriend and last-minute wife, who is thought to have killed herself by taking cyanide and would therefore not have had a bullet wound - as this skull has.The Russians say they have never claimed the skull itself was the chief reason for their belief the skull was Hitler's.Instead, they point to dental records as confirmation that Hitler killed himself.Some historians have believed for years that the Nazi dictator did not die in Berlin."There is no forensic evidence whatsoever that Hitler died in the bunker," historian and journalist Gerrard Williams told Sky News Online."The Nazi high command had been making plans since 1943 to get out of Germany and to set up a Fourth Reich mainly in South America so they had no need to die in situ in Germany."There was a very effective route out of Germany to South America and the Nazis had help from various factions, in particular a Croatian cardinal from the Vatican called Alois Hudel."As for the dental records, they were destroyed on the orders on Martin Borman in 1944. So there were no records on top Nazi leaders with which to compare the charred findings."One reason why there was such a belief at the end of World War II that the skull was Hitler's, Mr Williams suggests, is that everyone needed Hitler to be dead."Everyone wanted to close the chapter very quickly because, of course, the Cold War was just starting up. It was convenient, that's all."
Caso 'Portucale'Negócio dos submarinos investigadoO Departamento Central de Investigação e Acção Central está a realizar uma busca, esta terça-feira, aos escritórios dos advogados que terão estado envolvidos no concurso da compra de submarinos quando o líder do CDS/PP, Paulo Portas foi ministro da Defesa.As buscas tiveram início pelas 10h00 desta terça-feira em duas sociedades de advogados com sede em Lisboa: Vieira de Almeida e Serpa Almada.Em causa está um negócio que ultrapassa os 800 milhões de euros e que foi assinado por Paulo Portas, então ministro da Defesa, em Abril de 2004.
A maioria destes ‘jogadores’ é menor.
