Supervisor warned that crane was unstable
SAO PAULO – A safety engineer at the World Cup stadium where a giant crane collapse killed two workers allegedly warned his supervisor of possible problems with the operation, only to have his concerns brushed aside, a labor union leader charged Thursday, as sniping over the accident heated up.
The incident has fed worries about Brazil’s capacity to host next year’s showcase tournament, as well as the 2016 Olympics, though authorities insist they will be ready for both.
Sao Paulo’s Arena Corinthians was slated to be completed by the end of December, and workers have suggested that speed was a top priority on the construction site, with many working 12-hour shifts and skipping vacations.
The stadium was initially scheduled to be part of the Confederations Cup earlier this year, but world football’s governing body FIFA scrapped the venue from the warm-up tournament because of financing problems before construction even started.
Antonio de Sousa Ramalho, president of Sao Paulo’s civil industry workers’ association, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that supervisors pressed ahead with the operation to finish the roof despite several rainy days that soaked the soil. He said the engineer warned his supervisor that the ground was not stable enough to support the 500-ton piece of roofing.
Police in Egypt arrest prominent activist
CAIRO – Egyptian security forces arrested a prominent political activist Thursday night over inciting a demonstration in defiance of a new law heavily restricting protests in the country, his family said.
The arrest of Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a blogger who rose to prominence in Egypt’s 2011 revolution, quickly dominated social media. His previous detention sparked protests against the military, which appeared likely again as recently quiet liberal and secular groups have expressed increasing alarm over the military-backed government since it enacted the new protest law this week.
Meanwhile, police used tear gas and water cannons Thursday to disperse protesting students and supporters of the country’s ousted Islamist president, sparking clashes that killed one person
Abdel-Fattah’s father, prominent lawyer Ahmed Seif al-Islam, told The Associated Press that security forces raided his son’s home Thursday night in Cairo. His father said that Abdel-Fattah’s wife was beaten during the raid and that authorities seized laptops from the house.
Iran’s sanctions will squeeze economy
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The sanctions relief offered to Iran by the U.S. and five world powers has begun to get the gears of commerce slowly turning again in an economy that remains in shambles.
The Obama administration estimates relief from some sanctions in exchange for a temporary pause in Iran’s nuclear-enrichment program will amount to just $7 billion. That’s a meager amount for the economy of a nation of nearly 80 million people – it’s less than one month’s worth of Iran’s oil production and just 7 percent of Iran’s overseas cash that remains frozen under the sanctions.
Still, Iranians see the move as a much needed step toward a more normal economy after years of crippling inflation and job losses.
“Markets operate on a psychological basis,” says Ray Takeyh, an Iran expert at the Council on Foreign Relations and former U.S. State Department senior adviser. “The psychology of Iranian commerce has changed.”
Derailment evacuees allowed home in Ohio
WILLARD, Ohio – Most of the estimated 425 families evacuated after a train derailment and chemical spill were allowed to return home Thursday.
About three dozen homes closest to the scene of Tuesday night’s derailment remained off-limits, and residents could be out of their homes until late today, the city said.
Gov. John Kasich was briefed in Willard by officials and visited with evacuated families having a Thanksgiving dinner provided by the railroad at the high school.
Kasich said the evacuation and cleanup had been handled well and could serve as a model for emergency crews.
“The people of Willard have handled this very well, the first responders, the fire chief, the city manager and the company,” Kasich said before flying to Columbus for Thanksgiving dinner with his family.
“They are definitely on top of the situation. They are really professionals,” Kasich said in a phone interview.
An area of more than 425 homes was evacuated after the train derailment damaged a railcar that leaked styrene monomer, a flammable liquid that is used to make various plastic and rubber products.
Court orders review in gay Russian’s asylum
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court has ordered immigration officials to review their decision not to grant asylum to a gay man who said he was attacked for his sexual orientation in 2002 and 2003 in his native Russia and feared he would be persecuted if forced to return there.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Board of Immigration Appeals was wrong when it concluded that the man had failed to show that government officials in Russia were either unwilling or unable to control his attackers, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.
The man was only identified as “John Doe” in the opinion.
“The government failed to present any evidence to rebut Doe’s undisputed testimony that he suffered serious assaults at the hands of individuals on account of his homosexuality or to show that the Russian government was able and willing to control non-governmental actors who attack homosexuals,” the court said.
It ordered the board to review the case and said federal officials had to show circumstances had changed in Russia to allay the man’s fears, or that he could be relocated to a safe area in the country.
A call and email to the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review was not immediately returned on Thursday. Government offices were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Someone who answered the phone at the Russian Embassy in Washington said the embassy was also closed. Emails to the Russian Consulate in San Francisco were not immediately returned.
The ruling comes after Russian lawmakers passed a law this summer banning gay “propaganda,” prompting some activists to call for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
Associated Press
