Latest news with #Congresso
Malay Mail
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Brazilian who stole ball signed by Neymar gets 17 years prison
BRASÍLIA, July 2 — A Brazilian accused of stealing a football autographed by Neymar from Congress during the 2023 riots by supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment for the theft and other charges. The Supreme Court on Monday night convicted Nelson Ribeiro Fonseca Junior, 34, over the robbery of the ball. He was also convicted of violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, armed criminal association and attempting a coup over his participation in the riots in Brasilia. More than 500 people have been convicted over the events of January 8, 2023, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace to protest his election loss to left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Ribeiro confessed to taking the ball, which Neymar's boyhood club Santos — to which he returned this year — gifted to the Chamber of Deputies in 2012. His lawyers claimed that he found it on the floor of Congress during the unrest, took it away to protect it and handed it in 20 days later to the police. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled that Ribeiro had 'actively participated' in events leading to the storming and sacking of Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace. Moraes described the ball which he took, which had been on display in a corridor, as a 'public good belonging to the public heritage' of Brazil. The riots came a week after Lula was sworn in after narrowly defeating far-right incumbent Bolsonaro in October 2022 elections. The demonstrators called for the military to intervene to oust him. Bolsonaro, a former army captain who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, is accused of instigating the riots, although he was in the United States at the time. He is on trial for allegedly plotting to wrest power from Lula in the event of his victory. Prosecutors claim the plot only failed due to a lack of military backing. Bolsonaro denies the charges. — AFP
Reuters
12-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil government revises IOF taxes after pushback, tweaks investment levies
SAO PAULO, June 11 (Reuters) - The Brazilian government published on Wednesday an executive order altering taxes levied on investments, as well as a new decree walking back part of the recently announced hikes on the IOF tax on financial transactions. The government had announced in May the increase of the IOF tax, including on credit and foreign-exchange transactions, to boost public revenues. The move triggered strong pushback from both Congress and market players, prompting the government to seek an alternative path as lawmakers threatened to overturn the measure. Wednesday's executive order, which will need Congress' approval to remain valid, includes measures previously unveiled by Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, such as taxes on investment income and capital gains, including stocks and bonds, at 17.5%, replacing the current sliding scale of 15% to 22.5%. It also sets a 5% income tax on investments currently except from income levy, and raises the income tax rate levied on so-called interest on equity (JCP) payments to 20% from 15%.
Reuters
11-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil's finance minister urges lawmakers to back economic agenda
BRASILIA, June 11 (Reuters) - Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said on Wednesday the country needs to push ahead with measures under consideration in Congress to ensure the current growth cycle in Latin America's largest economy is sustainable. Haddad made his remarks during a hearing in the lower house of Congress after Speaker Hugo Motta said earlier on Wednesday the government's proposal to roll back a controversial tax hike on some financial transactions faces resistance from lawmakers. On Sunday, Haddad proposed offsetting the revenue loss from the scaled-back financial transactions tax with higher taxes on online betting, private credit instruments and financial institutions. "We need to understand that presenting solutions focused on increasing revenue, without cutting spending, does not work," Motta added in a post on the X social media site. During his opening remarks at the hearing, Haddad noted that leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government is delivering average annual economic growth of 3%, but said it is necessary to "keep advancing with the economic measures being addressed to this House" to ensure the growth cycle continues. "There is no reason we can't continue to grow, but we must have the courage to face certain taboos," Haddad added. He also said the government has been expressing to Congress its concerns over certain spending trends, many of which are being honored by the Lula administration despite not having been initiated by it, such as rising expenditures related to the Fundeb education fund. Haddad argued it is better to correct distortions in the current tax system than to simply raise tax rates. He also defended an income tax reform bill sent to Congress that proposes higher exemptions for the middle class and a boost in taxation of wealthier people.
CBC
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Winnipeg director Matthew Rankin says next films will focus on Progressive Conservatives, Esperanto
Social Sharing Universal Language director Matthew Rankin says he's channelling his creative energy into two new films: one probing Canada's conservative legacy and another on the world's most famous made-up language. The Winnipeg native says he's working on an "experimental collage" that recounts the history of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada through archival footage, including old TV commercials, public service announcements and instructional films. Rankin says he wants to explore the party's evolution because he's been preoccupied by what he describes as Canada's "reckoning" with conservatism. Rankin says he and Universal Language co-writer Ila Firouzabadi are also working on a docu-fiction film called Congresso, which is centred on Esperanto, the world's most widely spoken constructed language. Rankin says Congresso builds on the themes in Universal Language, which imagined an absurdist vision of Winnipeg where the two official languages are Farsi and French, and ominous propaganda banners feature former real-life Progressive Conservative premier Brian Pallister. That Winnipeg-set dramedy, which was short-listed for an Academy Award, now leads all film contenders at next month's Canadian Screen Awards with 13 nominations, including for best film, best directing and best original screenplay. Rankin says he began filming Congresso at 2022's World Esperanto Congress convention, which took place in Montreal. "Esperanto and progressive conservatism, these are not guaranteed crowd pleasers. I don't know what kind of audience there exists for that," laughs Rankin, reached by phone in Montreal last month following word of the Canadian Screen Award nominations. "But we felt the same way about Universal Language. If these only play at the Oakville Creativity Festival, that's fine. I have no clue who will watch anything. I really just am following what thrills my soul." Rankin says he's similarly following his instinct in exploring the many shades of conservatism with a still-untitled film. "Conservatism is something we're kind of reckoning with at the moment, and it's something that I don't exactly understand the meaning of. Progressive conservatism, which is a very Canadian idea, is even more mysterious in a lot of ways, but it's very different from contemporary conservatism," he says. "[The film] explores what it means and its evolution." Timely topic amid trade tension Rankin says the film feels especially timely amid trade tensions with the United States and threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to make Canada the 51st state. He said it's healthy that Canadians are now thinking about what their citizenship means. "It's really good that people ask these questions because people don't even vote anymore, right? There's been a degree of collective withdrawal from the idea that we live in a society. I think we've been led down this terrible path of disposable culture and clientelism," he explains. "It's the idea of: Why should I pay for your chemotherapy, your employment insurance, your health care, your experimental animation? I don't use any of that. That's your problem. It's just every man for himself." He says the film is inspired by the works of U.S. documentary filmmakers Adam Curtis and Brett Morgen, who he calls masters of the experimental collage. He hopes to finish the movie next year. Rankin says he's glad to live in a country that funds universal health care and supports the arts, but worries more Canadians are adopting a mindset of "one-stop shopping and 'I don't care about my neighbour."'
