The video that brought the incident to Rio authorities’ attention was released on Sunday by Brazilian media outlet Globo Noticias. The footage from the helicopter’s camera shows how officers tracked Marcio Jose Sabino Pereira – known as ‘The mathematician’ –through the Coreia slum in western Rio.The suspect got into a car and drove off, and during the pursuit police opened fire on the moving vehicle with an automatic weapon. The crossfire from the shootout struck the road around the car and the surrounding buildings. Perreira was found dead in the vehicle the next day on May 12.Rio police chief Martha Rocha described the use of force by police as “disproportional,” and said that a probe had been opened into the incident on April 30. Secretary of Public Security Jose Mariano Beltrame told Globo TV that police sometimes make mistakes.“We have police who make mistakes, we have police that do it right and our policy is always to look for the best for the people,” he told Globo, adding that the incident was highly out-of-the-ordinary for the police force.The officer who piloted the helicopter and was in command of the operation, Adonis Lopes de Oliveira, will be questioned on Wednesday by magistrates in connection with the shooting of Perreira.Marcio ‘The Mathematician’ Perreira was one of Rio’s most prolific drug dealers, wanted on 26 charges of drug trafficking, conspiracy to traffic and homicide.Rio de Janeiro’s favelas are a hotbed for violence and crime, with regular police incursions to wheedle out drug traffickers. Since 2003, Rio police have killed more than 11,000 people in connection with the drug trade.Concerns have been raised over security in Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and huge investments have been made by the city’s government to cut down on delinquency in the city’s infamous favelas. There have been accusations that police are forcefully repressing residents in the city’s poorer areas in preparation for the Games. … Read More
Artscape – The New African Photography: Barbara Minishi
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Edie Falco: I took “The Sopranos” home with me
I am rarely starstruck, but on Monday, I was admittedly nervous at the prospect of meeting four-time Emmy winner Edie Falco, star of Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie,” in an ABC dressing room, following her appearance on ”The View.” But my nervousness melted away the moment Falco entered the room, her now-brunette hair swept in a ponytail, strolling over to a chair in bare feet, a pair of heels in her hands — for as you might expect, she is as approachable as the women she portrays. Minus the Carmela Soprano nails. And the Jackie Peyton tough reserve.At 49, Falco is busier than ever: In addition to promoting the season 5 premiere of “Nurse Jackie,” which airs on Sunday, she’s currently starring onstage off-Broadway in a new play titled “The Madrid,” written by Liz Flahive (incidentally, one of the writers of “Nurse Jackie”). Like Jackie, the mother she portrays in the play, Martha, wants to flee from her life. But unlike Jackie, who relies on drugs and an affair as an escape, Martha literally runs away from her family, and no one, except her daughter, knows where she is or has any sense of why she left.Continue Reading… … Read More
Natural gas extraction causing frequent quakes, property damage in northern Netherlands
Farmers living atop Europe’s largest gas field in the isolated northern Netherlands are angry at increasingly frequent earthquakes caused by extraction. Freezing winds and a glimmer of cold light pass through the three-foot by two-inch (one metre by five centimetre) crack in Martha and Jan…
Boehner: ‘I can’t imagine’ supporting a gay son’s marriage
Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman recently reversed on his opposition to same sex marriage after his son came out as gay, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says that he would never support equal marriage rights for an LGBT child. During an interview with ABC that aired on Sunday, host Martha…
Boehner “can’t imagine” having a gay child would change his position on same-sex marriage
In an interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said he “can’t imagine” that having a gay child would change his position against marriage equality.Responding to a question from Raddatz about Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) change of heart following the revelation that his own son was gay, Boehner said that he could appreciate his close friend’s decision but remained adamant that marriage “is a union of a man and a woman”:MARTHA RADDATZ (HOST): Can you imagine yourself in a situation where you reversed your decision as Portman has on gay marriage if a child of yours or someone you love told you they were gay. BOEHNER: Listen, I believe marriage is a union between one man and one woman. It’s what I grew up with, it’s what i belive, it’s what my church teaches me and I can’t imagine that position would ever change.Continue Reading… … Read More
Massachusetts Attorney General: Pot shops allowed statewide
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley ruled Wednesday that medical marijuana dispensaries must be allowed statewide and individual municipalities cannot legally block them. The ruling (PDF) was issued by Coakley’s Municipal Law Unit in response to a 2012 bylaw passed by officials in…
