Politicians face investigation in Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal

Saturday 7 March 2015 04.00 GMT

The Guardian

Brazil’s supreme court has approved the investigation of dozens of senior politicians, including a former president and leaders of congress, for alleged connections to what prosecutors call the country’s biggest ever corruption scandal.

In total, 54 people are to be investigated by the attorney general, including 21 federal deputies and 12 senators — though that figure is expected to grow as evidence is gathered on corruption involving the state energy company Petrobras.

The investigations and any possible trials will take years to play out, but the action announced on Friday throws the second term of president Dilma Rousseff into further disarray as she faces dueling political and economic crises. She is not being investigated despite serving as chair of the Petrobras board for several years as the kickback scheme played out.

Experts say the investigations could create further gridlock in congress just as Brazil and its sputtering economy desperately need fiscal and political reform measures passed.

But the investigation is widely viewed as necessary for the nation’s democracy to advance and shake off deep-rooted impunity for the rich and powerful.

“You can’t put this genie back in the bottle. People are going to have to face the consequences,” said Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. “There used to be the idea that people in positions of power in Brazil were untouchable. They’re no longer untouchable.”

Federal investigators revealed a year ago that they had started an investigation into the scheme, and efforts until now focused efforts on big construction and engineering firms that allegedly paid over $800m in bribes and other funds. The money purportedly won them inflated contracts with Petrobras, and prosecutors say some of that cash flowed into the campaign coffers of the president’s Workers’ Party and its allies. (…)

“This has been a topic of debate” (l. 20)

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Headline says:

Can drugs for depression harm babies’ hearts?

Science says: A study of more than 900,000 women found that those who took antidepressants while pregnant weren’t more likely to have fetuses with heart defects. That’s good news for the 8% to 13% of women who take the drugs, but if you’re pregnant, you should still talk to your physician about side effects.

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The FDA will limit salt in processed foods.

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A broccoli drink can detox your blood

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Bag your Bags, Bring 'em Back

[1] The best way to recycle your plastic bags and film is to bring

[2] them back to a store that collects them for recycling. Just stuff

[3] them clean and dry into a single plastic bag, tie it up, and drop

[4] it into a plastic bag collection container found at the retail

[5] partners. Note: The stores listed below have partnered with

[6] King County to promote the Bag Your Bag campaign. There

[7] may be other stores not listed that accept plastic bags for

[8] recycling.

[9] Plastic bags and film collected at grocery stores stay cleaner

[10] and are easier for recycling facilities to process than bags

[11] placed in your home recycling collection bin. The bags are

[12] turned into new products like decking, benches, playground

[13] structures, and new plastic bags. And remember to bring along

[14] your reusable bags when you shop.

[15] The Bag your Bags, Bring 'em Back campaign is a partnership

[16] between the King County Solid Waste Division and local

[17] grocery stores to show the best way to recycle plastic bags.

Answer question according to Text.

How stress affects your health
Stress: We've all felt it. Sometimes stress can be a positive force, motivating you to perform well at your piano recital or job interview. But often — like when you're stuck in traffic — it's a negative force. If you experience stress over a prolonged period of time, it could become chronic — unless you take action.
Even short-lived, minor stress can have an impact. You might get a stomach-ache before you have to give a presentation, for example. More major acute stress, whether caused by a fight with your spouse or an event like an earthquake or terrorist attack, can have an even bigger impact.
Multiple studies have shown that these sudden emotional stresses — especially anger — can trigger heart attacks, arrhythmias and even sudden death.
When stress starts interfering with your ability to live a normal life for an extended period, it becomes even more dangerous. The longer the stress lasts, the worse it is for both your mind and body. You might feel fatigued, unable to concentrate or irritable for no good reason, for example. But chronic stress causes wear and tear on your body, too.
Stress can make existing problems worse. In one study, for example, about half the participants saw improvements in chronic headaches after learning how to stop the stressproducing habit of “catastrophizing,” or constantly thinking negative thoughts about their pain. Chronic stress may also cause disease, either because of changes in your body or the overeating, smoking and other bad habits people use to cope with stress. Other forms of chronic stress, such as depression and low levels of social support, have also been implicated in increased cardiovascular risk. And once you're sick, stress can also make it harder to recover. One analysis of past studies, for instance, suggests that cardiac patients with so-called “Type D” personalities — characterized by chronic distress — face higher risks of bad outcomes.
Adaptado de: <http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress.aspx> Acessado em 01 de maio de 2015.

“Isolation”, “consolidation” and “self-reliance” are different

terms used among Moscow´s political and business elite to

mean the same thing. In the face of international sanctions

occasioned by its support of the rebels in eastern Ukraine and its

[5] earlier annexation of Crimea, Russia is preparing to pull inward

and face a long period of diplomatic antagonism and economic

hardship. That process appears to be accelerating. On August

6th the Kremlin responded to Western pressure by announcing

that it will ban agricultural import from countries imposing

[10] sanctions on Russia.

By increasing his support of the rebels last month, Mr. Putin

has shown that he values his own understanding of Russia´s

historic destiny more than the economic well-being of his

country and its global reputation. He is making a risky bet that

[15] challenging the architecture of the post-cold-war order will reap

its own rewards and compensate for a drop in living standards.

Despite the crisis, such problems have not yet hurt Mr. Putin.

Indeed he is more popular than ever and his propaganda

apparatus is proving to be highly effective.

[20] Mr. Putin may be sending in Russian troops on the pretence

of a “humanitarian” operation. According to NATO, 20,000

Russian soldiers have amassed at the Ukrainian border. Even if

troops do not cross the border, the confrontation between

Russia and the West looks set to continue through the rule of

[25] President Vladimir Putin and, perhaps, beyond.

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