Brazil To Elect President Amid Corruption Claim

By Karine Mayer, South America News Editor

Nearly 143 million people are expected to go to the polls in Brazil's presidential election run-off today.

The conservative elite are threatening to kick the left out of power after 12 years.

Voters will choose between incumbent Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party and Social Democratic Party rival Aecio Neves.

The latest polls give Ms Neves a slight lead.

The challenges for whoever wins will be to fight inflation which is creeping up and boost the economy that has slowed down in the last couple of years.

Ms Rousseff, 66, is a former Marxist guerrilla who fought military dictatorship and was imprisoned and tortured in the 1970s.

Her 54-year-old opponent, from an aristocratic family, has been trying to shed his playboy reputation.

More than 35,000 troops have been deployed

Mr Neves is the grandson of the first president who was elected democratically in 1985 but who died before he could take office.

As the last presidential debate started on Friday, a right-wing news magazine, Veja, published a corruption claim on its front page.

Between a picture of Ms Rousseff and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (popularly known as Lula) were the words "they knew everything."

A former executive at Petrobras testified he had accepted bribes on behalf of the energy firm to give lucrative contracts to dozens of construction companies.

And he claimed he handed over some of the cash to Lula and Ms Rousseff's Worker's party (PT) and close allies.

Ms Rousseff has been trying to appeal to the business supporters of Mr Neves, and he in turn has promised to keep the welfare plan (bolsa familia) which helps nearly three million low income families.

All Brazilians aged between 18-70 have to vote, and in the fifth largest country in the world all polling stations have 'electronic urns'.

Some urns have a long road to travel.

In the northern state of Para, in the Amazon, urns had a 30-hour boat trip down the Amazon River and were then guided by the local indigenous people to their village Waiwai.

Video: Brazil Chooses: Neves Or Rousseff?

They are carefully guarded, with over 35,000 troops joining local police across the country.

Claudio Pereira, a Brazilian military police spokesperson, said: "This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, we will have 35,000 military police officers working for the election, guarding the ballot boxes, taking care of all the voting areas, 5,418 voting centres."

They will be focused in the poorer neighbourhoods and favelas or "communities" as they are known in Rio de Janeiro.

At the end of the last debate, each candidate addressed voters for a final time.

Ms Rousseff said: "I want a Brazil that wants to grow together."

Mr Neves said: "I represent a change of values and what you're looking for, no longer a political party."

15.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

US Ebola Nurse Slams Quarantine Process

An American nurse who has been treating Ebola patients in Africa has criticised quarantine rules that keep her isolated despite testing negative.

Doctors Without Borders worker Kaci Hickox returned to the US from Sierra Leone on Friday and was taken to a New Jersey hospital in case she had the killer virus.

She has now been told she is free from the disease, but will be unable to leave quarantine for another 21 days.

Illinois joined New York and New Jersey on Saturday night in introducing a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for anyone who has been involved in treating victims in west Africa.

Other states, including Virginia and Georgia, are also considering whether to impose the same regime.

Video: '10,000 Ebola Orphans By Christmas'

It follows 33-year-old doctor Craig Spencer falling ill with ebola having spent several days travelling around New York, riding the subway and visiting a bowling alley.

Writing in the Dallas Morning News, Ms Hickox said: "This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me.

"I am scared about how health care workers will be treated at airports when they declare that they have been fighting Ebola in West Africa.

"I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganisation, fear and, most frightening, quarantine."

Video: Ebola Response: Science Not Fear

She said on telling a border official she had just arrived back, she was immediately ushered into a private room before having questions "barked" at her.

She said she was made to wait hours with little to eat, only to later test negative for the virus.

Despite the test, she must wait in a secure facility in New Jersey until it is certain she has not contracted the disease.

She said: "I... thought of many colleagues who will return home to America and face the same ordeal. Will they be made to feel like criminals and prisoners?

Video: New York Fears After New Ebola case

"The US must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity."

The number of Ebola cases worldwide has now exceeded 10,000, with nearly 5,000 not surviving.

President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to be guided by the facts about Ebola and "not fear".

Dr Spencer, who is being held at the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, was described by officials overnight on Saturday as "entering the next phase of his illness".

Video: Cured Texas Ebola Nurse 'Blessed'

A health service statement said: "The patient is awake and communicating. In addition to the required supportive therapy, we initiated antiviral therapy within hours of admission. We also administered plasma therapy yesterday."

Meanwhile, in Sierra Leone, a team from the British Army has started training residents in how to use protective equipment to reduce the spread of the disease.

Many of the locals who have volunteered to help fight the virus have no medical background.

15.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ukrainian Refugees Flee To Russian Arctic

By Katie Stallard, Russia correspondent, in Murmansk

More than 800,000 refugees have crossed the border into Russia since the start of the year, according to the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR).

At least a quarter of a million are thought to be displaced inside Ukraine.

With the country going to the polls today for parliamentary elections, the situation in the east remains dangerously unstable, despite the ceasefire supposedly in place.

Larisa and Evgeniy Golubyatnikova fled the fighting near Donetsk in August with their two children - three-year-old Margarita and her 13-year-old brother Vadim.

They told me their village was surrounded and they could hear shelling close by.

They had to leave so quickly they could only bring the children and a single suitcase.

"Do you like it here in the north?" Larisa asks her daughter.

The family is among 72 refugees living in a college dormitory in Murmansk

"I like it in Ukraine," Margarita replies.

"They are shooting there, it is scary," her mother tells her.

Video: Ukraine Conflict Deaths

The family is living in one room of a college dormitory in the northern city of Murmansk.

Some 72 Ukrainian refugees have been housed here, the youngest of whom is just six months old.

It was the only destination on offer for relocation when they arrived in the crowded refugee camp in Southern Russia this summer, but they decided it was better than staying at the camp.

Within 24 hours they were on board a plane bound for the Arctic.

Video: Trapped Between The Battle Lines

"We don't have anyone here," Larisa explained, "That is why it is hard and scary.

"I think after a move like this one, nothing can scare us anymore."

Her husband, Evgeniy, added: "The only comfort is that there is a peaceful sky over our head now.

"It was hard, even unbearable to stay there. We did it for our children."

Video: Lenin Statue Toppled In Ukraine

Located north of the Arctic Circle, winters in Murmansk can be tough. For six weeks of the year it will be completely dark, the temperature regularly drops below -20C.

But the family has found warmth amongst the people - volunteers have donated winter clothes and done their best to make them feel welcome.

"Margarita misses her granny, especially after speaking to her on the phone," Larisa told us.

"We told her that we left from where they were shooting, that here it is better here."

Video: MP Dumped In Bin By Angry Mob

Adjusting to their new life in the Arctic has not been easy - the college accommodation is only temporary, and they still need somewhere permanent to stay.

But the family thinks their children will have a better future here than in Ukraine.

15.00 | 0 komentar | Read More