Tuesday, 1 November 2022

Elon Musk deletes tweet about violent attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband

Elon Musk deletes tweet about violent attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband

Elon Musk deletes tweet about violent attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband


Elon Musk speaks at the Satellite 2020 Conference in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 2020.Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images file






A violent attack on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband has sparked global headlines, drawing correlations with the January 6 riots and raising concerns about right-wing domestic extremism in the United States.







Police in San Francisco allege a 42-year-old man broke into the Pelosi family home and confronted Paul Pelosi, saying "where is Nancy?" before a struggle ensued over a hammer.


Mr Pelosi was hospitalised and underwent surgery for a fractured skull after the attack, which also left him with injuries to his arms.


High-profile Americans have condemned the attack, but Tesla founder Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, took a different approach in a now-deleted tweet.


What did the deleted tweet say?  Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had shared a tweet blaming the attack on hateful Republican rhetoric and linked to an LA Times story about how the suspect promoted far-right conspiracy theories online.


Musk responded to that tweet by saying "there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye", and linked to a Santa Monica Observer article making unfounded allegations about Mr Pelosi.







Fact-checkers have described the Santa Monica Observer as a purveyor of hoaxes, including a theory that Clinton herself had died and been replaced by a body double.





Musk's tweet prompted fresh concerns about how he will handle hate speech and misinformation on the social media platform, particularly ahead of next week's midterm elections in the US.


What was the reaction? Some people have demanded Musk apologise for the tweet, but others have accused him of "caving to the leftist mob", among other things, by removing it.







Screenshots taken before the tweet was deleted showed that Musk's reply to Clinton had been liked and retweeted tens of thousands of times.


At time of publication of this article, the only acknowledgement Musk had made about the tweet — or the decision to delete it — was to post this dig at the New York Times:





Associate Professor Diana Bossio — from Swinburne University of Technology's department of media and communications — says the real reactions to this incident and to Musk's takeover of Twitter more broadly will be revealed in who decides to leave the platform and what they use instead.


"(It's) just classic trolling by someone who has something to gain by influencing US politics," Dr Bossio says.


"The question is: Who do we want controlling our public squares — and if these are spaces dictated by investors and owners, are they really for the public? 


"I think a lot of Silicon Valley-style innovation culture has suggested that these platforms are 'for the people' and that platform creators can be trusted to work in the service of democratic ideals of free speech — but deals like Musk’s Twitter takeover show that this is not always the case."


Is this a sign of what's to come for moderation on Twitter? Musk earlier announced a content moderation council with "widely diverse viewpoints" will be appointed, but that "no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes".


That update comes amid discussion about the possible reinstatement of former US president Donald Trump's Twitter account, which was permanently disabled after the Capitol riots.





Dr Bossio — who is Swinburne's Social Media Research Group lead — says Musk's announcements get people talking, but there's still a lot of missing information about how things will look when his changes are made.


"I think Twitter actually does need to take more action, not less, on content moderation that fights hate speech and disinformation," she says.


"We've seen, just in the last 24 hours, troll accounts trying to test the limits of a Musk-run Twitter by flooding the platform with racial slurs.


"Twitter hasn’t changed its policies on hate speech and probably won’t, so I don’t think it’s going to immediately descend into the bin fire that some people are predicting.


"I think Musk might find it a little harder to balance his ideas of free speech with the increasingly regulatory environments being legislated by governments, and the rapid migration of younger users away from platforms like Facebook and Twitter."



What else has happened since Musk took over?



Musk immediately fired multiple top Twitter executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, as soon as his multi-billion-dollar acquisition of the social media company was complete.


That was four days ago.


On Sunday, local time, the "Chief Twit" said that the social media platform's "whole verification process is being revamped right now", but there has been limited detail about what could end up changing.


Technology newsletter Platformer has reported that Twitter is considering charging for verification (or blue ticks), meaning users would have to subscribe to Twitter Blue at $US4.99 a month or lose their "verified" badges if the project moves forward.

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End of the Lvov Affair: Europe Tires of Ukrainian Refugees

End of the Lvov Affair: Europe Tires of Ukrainian Refugees

End of the Lvov Affair: Europe Tires of Ukrainian Refugees


©AP Photo / Petr David Josek






European Union and NATO countries have taken in millions of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the Russian military operation there in February. But recent reports suggest the guests have outstayed their welcome in countries unready to host so many.







Europeans are increasingly tiring of their Ukrainian refugee guests — many in their own homes, as the conflict enters its ninth month.


Now Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's government has told them not to come back soon, for fear of overloading the electrical network crippled by Russian missile and drone strikes.


Nearly eight million Ukrainians have fled the country since February 24, most of them to European Union (EU) and NATO member states that support the Kiev regime's attacks on the people of the eastern Donbass region, which recently voted to join the Russian Federation. But why is "the Europe of solidarity" turning its back on the nation that leaders wanted to welcome into its economic and military blocs?



Germany



German media reported over the weekend that some local authorities were being left to cope with the influx unaided. The small eastern town of Cottbus, near the Polish border, has taken in around 1,500 of the roughly one million Ukrainian refugees in Germany. Some 500 of those are children for whom places must be found in local schools.







"The feds reimburse us for the upfront asylum costs, but not the running costs," said Stefanie Kaygusuz-Schurmann, the town's education and integration chief. Germany allocates incoming refugees to its 16 federal states based on their populations and tax revenues as an indicator of wealth. Wealthy North Rhine-Westphalia in the west of Germany has a quota of 21 percent, compared to three percent for Brandenburg, where Cottbus is found.


But the town council has complained that the federal government 90 miles away in Berlin had failed to keep its promises of financial aid.


"Rich Germany can do everything," mayoral spokesman Jan Glossmann said. "But that money is not spread around evenly."


Earlier in October, Cottbus said it would accept no more arrivals until a more "equitable" settlement policy was put in place. Glossman said the town hall had heard "no official response" from either state or federal officials.







Meanwhile, one online initiative to promote solidarity with the refugees has drawn criticism for portraying them collectively as a wild pig dubbed My Friend Mykola — playing to ethnic Ukrainian stereotypes.





United Kingdom



The British government has been one of the most enthusiastic for sanctions on Russia and arms to Ukraine, which have backfired on Western nations' economies.







It also encouraged citizens to take Ukrainian refugees into their home, offering them £350 a month to care for an individual or family — far less than they could get by renting a spare room to a lodger, and increasingly worthless thanks to 10 percent inflation and multiplying energy prises caused by the sanctions. At the same time, the state is accommodating people trafficked by sea who then claim political asylum in hotels around the country.


Unsurprisingly, less than a quarter of Brits and just two out of the 650 MPs in Parliament were willing to take in a Ukrainian. British media reported that around 100,000 refugees welcomed into private homes are coming to the end of their six-month tenures with nowhere else to go


While repeating Kiev's claims against Russia uncritically, the British mainstream media could not resist reporting on the antics of some ungrateful guests from the east.


The most infamous was 22-year-old Sofiia Karkadym, who began a relationship with 30-year-old Yorkshireman Tony Garnett just days after she moved into his family home. Garnett left his wife and two young daughters to move into a flat in Bradford with Karkadym, but their relationship soon turned toxic. Tony called the police on his birthday in September after Sofiia drank heavily and began rowing with him, stabbing the wall threateningly with a kitchen knife.







The blonde homewrecker complained to reporters she was left homeless and friendless in "disgusting" temporary accommodation police found for her in the West Yorkshire city.


That soap opera was not an isolated incident, however. In the leafy south-eastern county of Surrey, 52-year-old dotcom millionaire Haakon Overli, founder of payday loan website Wonga.com, left his wife and kids for 39-year-old Mariia Polonchuk.


The furtive lovers were photographed with Overli's family and local MP Jeremy Hunt — now imposing Ukraine conflict-driven austerity measures as chancellor of the exchequer, at a local village fete. But perhaps most outrageous was the Ukrainian woman who reported her British host family to the police for modern-day slavery after they asked her to help with the washing-up.


Mental health specialist Hannah Debenham from Uckfield in East Sussex had to endure an hours-long interrogation at the local police station after the unnamed refugee woman in her 30s made the complaint, while her husband was grilled at their home.








Czech Republic



The Czech capital Prague has seen huge demonstrations against the sanctions on Russia that have sent household bills soaring. But as early as May this year there were signs — literally — of hostility towards Ukraine.


Shops began displaying notices reading: "No entry to Ukrainians" in the spring, following a string of alleged thefts and anti-social behaviour in the city. Landlords also reportedly refused to rent to Ukrainians after incidents where they graffitied swastikas in apartments and trashed the rooms.


Refugees of the Roma ethnic minority — now openly persecuted with impunity by neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine — also found cold comfort in the Czech Republic and neighbouring Germany.


More than 500 were forced to live for weeks in a shelter at Prague's central railway station meant to house just 250 overnight. Others who tried to move on to Germany were prevented from getting off their train by police at Dresden station and sent back.







Other East European countries are also unhappy with the influx. Poland, which has accepted well over a million refugees from its eastern neighbour, has received just €144 million in aid from the European Union in return. Warsaw has demanded billions in compensation from Brussels.


Bulgaria to the south had taken in nearly 300,000 Ukrainians by the early summer, putting them up in resorts along its popular Black Sea coast. But in May, the government said they would have to move on to make way for paying tourists.



Belgium



Andre Maton, a social worker in the Belgian city of Charleroi, told Sputnik that families there were "exhausted" from the strain of looking after refugee families.







The government pays benefits of €1,300 a month to each adult Ukrainian refugee, plus €300 for each of their children. They are offered a standard agreement to sign saying they will pay 20 percent of that to their host family — but that has stirred resentment.


"It is often more than what the host family has to live on. And tensions arise when the refugees refuse to give up some of the money they receive for the costs they incur," Maton said. "Some hosting families consider it abnormal that refugees 'make savings on their backs.'"


Some families who agreed to host a mother and two children found themselves looking after three adults, the social worker said. Meanwhile inflation was outstripping the meagre compensation they received, while the language barrier prevented refugees from finding work to support themselves



Ireland



An internal government memo leaked in May expressed fears that the influx of refugees would threaten "social cohesion" in the republic of five million inhabitants, which was already suffering from an acute housing shortage before the conflict.







It reportedly raised concerns about the impact on public services, transport, travel, and the Irish tourism industry. Officials said supporting refugees would impact the “wider population,” highlighting “the unsustainability of that very model of humanitarian response, additional budgetary pressures, and increased demand for public services” — of which some already have “unmet demand.”


Government projections were based on an assumption of 250 arrivals per day, while the true figure was an average 335 per day by late May.


Irish media called the document the “first evidence of concerns at the highest levels of government about the impact of this crisis on communities across the country.”

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Monday, 31 October 2022

Russian Foreign Ministry Summons Dutch Ambassador Over Intelligence Provocations

Russian Foreign Ministry Summons Dutch Ambassador Over Intelligence Provocations

Russian Foreign Ministry Summons Dutch Ambassador Over Intelligence Provocations


©Sputnik / Evgeny Odinokov






The Dutch ambassador has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday over provocations against Russian diplomats by foreign intelligence services, the ministry said.







"The Dutch Ambassador to Moscow, Beschoor Plug, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. A strong protest was expressed to him in connection with the recruitment approach by UK intelligence services to the military attache of the Russian embassy in The Hague on October 20.


During the conversation, it was stressed that such provocative actions are unacceptable, contradict the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and hinder the normal functioning of Russian foreign missions," the ministry's statement read.


In recent years, foreign intelligence services have committed several provocations against Russian diplomatic employees in the Netherlands, the ministry added.


"In recent years, several such provocations have been committed against Russian employees in the Netherlands by foreign special services, which, as we see, feel themselves at home on Dutch territory. In December 2018, representatives of the CIA (the US Central Intelligence Agency) approached a diplomat of the Russian permanent mission to the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) in a park, in December 2019, they persuaded an attache of the Russian embassy to cooperate in the closed zone of Schiphol airport in Amsterdam," the statement said.







According to the Russian foreign ministry, Dutch authorities and law enforcement agencies do not stop such illegal actions, but also take part themselves.


"In April, employees of the Dutch special services tried to recruit three Russian diplomats who had previously been declared 'persona non grata.' In July 2020, tracking equipment was found in the car of a diplomat of the embassy in The Hague during regular maintenance check," the ministry said.


The Russian foreign ministry calls on Dutch authorities to refrain from unfriendly actions that lead to further degradation of bilateral relations.




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BPPOM - Tiga Industri Farmasi Terbukti Hasilkan Produk dengan Cemaran Etilen Glikol

BPPOM - Tiga Industri Farmasi Terbukti Hasilkan Produk dengan Cemaran Etilen Glikol

BPPOM - Tiga Industri Farmasi Terbukti Hasilkan Produk dengan Cemaran Etilen Glikol








Kepala Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan (BPOM), Penny Lukito mengatakan bahwa obat sirop produksi PT Yarindo Farmatama dan obat sirop produksi Universal Pharmaceutical Industries terbukti mengandung cemaran etilen glikol (EG) dan dietilen glikol (DEG) melewati ambang batas. Ini membuat kedua perusahaan mendapat sanksi administrasi maupun pidana atas pelanggaran yang dilakukan.







"Berdasar hasil pemeriksaan, terkait sirop obat mengandung EG dan DEG melewati ambang batas adalah pertama PT Yarindo Farmatama dan kedua adalah Universal Pharmaceutical Industries," ujarnya dalam konferensi pers yang digelar secara hybrid, Senin (31/10).


Penny menjelaskan bahwa PT Yarindo Farmatama memproduksi obat Flurin DMP Sirop (obat batuk dan flu). Berdasarkan hasil penyelidikan, beberapa barang bukti disegel, diambil, dan disita, berupa bahan baku, produk jadi, bahan pengemas, serta dokumen untuk penelusuran lebih lanjut terkait dengan penyaluran distributor bahan baku.


Penny menuturkan bahwa Flurin DMP Sirop terbukti menggunakan bahan baku propilen glikol yang mengandung cemaran EG sebesar 48 mg/ml. Padahal menurut aturan, jumlah kandungan cemaran EG yang diperbolehkan hanya sebesar 0,1 mg/ml.


Menurut Penny, penemuan cemaran EG dalam produk PT Yarindo sesuai dengan rekam jejaknya selama ini yang kerap kali berperilaku tidak patuh atas aturan yang ada.







"PT Yarindo memiliki rekam jejak recall yang paling banyak dalam dua tahun terakhir. Akhirnya kita temukan, PT Yarindo ini memang terpenuhi menghasilkan produk yang tidak memenuhi ketentuan," ucapnya.


Sementara, produk PT Universal Pharmaceutical Industries yang terbukti memgandung bahan cemaran adalah Unibebi Cough Sirup (obat batuk dan flu), Unibebi Demam Sirup (obat demam) serta Unibebi Demam Drops (obat demam). Penyitaan bahan baku juga dilakukan, serta penelusuran dokumen yang berkaitan dengan produsen pemasok bahan baku.


Temuan lebih lanjut BPOM menunjukkan produk PT Afifarma turut melanggar aturan. Paracetamol Drops dan Paracetamol Syrup rasa peppermint memiliki cemaran EG dan DEG melebihi batas aman.


Cemaran etilen glikol (EG) dalam produk Flurin DMP Sirup mencapai 48 miligram per mililiter, sedangkan ambang batas amannya adalah 0,1 miligram per mililiter. Perusahaan ini pun tidak melapor ke BPOM saat melakukan perubahan formulasi obat.


"Apabila ada kondisi di mana mereka mengganti supplier atau formulasinya mau diganti, itu harus melapor ke BPOM agar mendapat izin. Karena itu termasuk dalam perubahan variasi minor dari satu variasi obat," ujar Penny.


Lebih lanjut Penny menyatakan, industri farmasi pun harus memastikan bahwa bahan baku yang dibeli dari distributor sesuai dengan tingkat/standar farmasi (pharmaceutical grade), bukan standar industri (industrial grade).







Penny mengakui, ada perbedaan harga yang sangat mencolok antara bahan baku standar farmasi dan bahan baku standar industri.


"Ada perbedaan harga yang mencolok sekali antara yang pharmaceutical grade dengan industrial grade yang bisa digunakan untuk pelarut cat. Lebih murah karena tidak harus melalui sistem purifikasi yang levelnya tinggi, sehingga (pharmaceutical grade) relatively mahal. Itu kalau ada kejahatan bisa dilihat di sana," tutur Penny.


Data terakhir Kementerian Kesehatan menyebutkan bahwa terdapat 269 kasus anak menderita gagal ginjal akut misterius yang tersebar sejumlah provinsi Indonesia. Sebanyak 157 di antaranya meninggal dunia. Diduga, penyakit ini muncul akibat adanya cemaran EG dan DEG dalam akibat meminum obat sirop yang dikonsumsi anak.

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Ruang Kelas SMA 34 Jakarta Terbakar, 6 Mobil Damkar Dikerahkan

Ruang Kelas SMA 34 Jakarta Terbakar, 6 Mobil Damkar Dikerahkan

Ruang Kelas SMA 34 Jakarta Terbakar, 6 Mobil Damkar Dikerahkan


Ruang kelas SMA 34 Jakarta terbakar. (Foto dok. Gulkarmat Jakarta Selatan)






Kebakaran terjadi di salah satu ruang kelas SMA 34 Jakarta, di Jalan Margasatwa Nomor 1 RT 1/RW 1 pada Senin pagi tadi, 31/10/2022. Kebakran diduga karena korsleting listrik.







Kepala Seksi Operasional (Kasie Ops) Sudin Penanggulangan Kebakaran dan Penyelamatan (Gulkarmat) Jakarta Selatan, Sugeng ketika dikonfirmasi wartawan membenarkan adanya peristiwa tersebut.


"Kami terima berita (laporan) pukul 06.05 WIB," kata Sugeng kepada wartawan.


Api pertama kali dilihat seorang warga bernama Dina dari salah satu ruang kelas di SMA 34 yang berukuran 4x4 meter. Dugaan sementara karena korsleting listrik.


"Ibu Diana melihat api dari lantai tiga ruang kelas dua, lalu menelpon ke Damkar Jagakarsa," ujarnya


Guna memadamkan api, sebanyak 6 mobil pemadam dikerahkan. Proses pemadaman berlangsung dari pukul 06.20 WIB hingga 06.30 WIB atau dalam waktu 10 menit.







Akibat kejadian ini kerugian ditaksir mencapai Rp 20 juta. Dilaporkan tak ada korban luka atau meninggal dalam kejadian itu.


"Korban nihil. Taksiran kerugian Rp 20 juta," ujar dia.


"Situasi aman," kata Sugeng







"Lalu menghubungi Damkar Jagakarsa. Diketahui objek yang terbakar ruang kelas," kata Sugeng dalam keterangannya.


Sugeng menerangkan, penyebab kebakaran diduga akibat adanya hubungan pendek arus listrik (korsleting) di ruang kelas XI IPS 2.


"Dugaan penyebab korselting listrik," ujar dia.


Sebanyak 6 unit mobil dikerahkan untuk memadamkan api di lokasi. Sugeng memastikan, tidak ada korban jiwa dalam insiden tersebut.


Terpisah, Kapolsek Cilandak Kompol Multazam Lisendra mengatakan, penyidik Unit Reskrim Polsek Cilandak telah turun melakukan olah TKP. Puslabfor Mabes Polri akan dilibatkan untuk mengusut penyebab kebakaran.


"Kami sedang menyelidiki penyebab pasti kebakaran dengan mengundang Puslabfor," ujar dia.







Multazam menerangkan, pihaknya telah memeriksa sejumlah orang saksi. Salah satunya ialah Slamet yang saat itu melihat adanya kepulan asap tebal di lantai 3.


"Saksi melakukan pengecekan ke lantai 3, ruangan kelas 11 IPS 2 dalam keadaan terkunci kemudian pintu didobrak paksa dan dilakukan pemadaman dengan alat APAR tabung," ujar dia.

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Lula da Silva Clinches Third Presidential Term After Besting Bolsonaro in Brazil's Runoff Election

Lula da Silva Clinches Third Presidential Term After Besting Bolsonaro in Brazil's Runoff Election

Lula da Silva Clinches Third Presidential Term After Besting Bolsonaro in Brazil's Runoff Election


©AP Photo / Andre Penner






Brazilians flooded the polls on Sunday to elect a new president in what turned out to be an extremely close runoff competition between two of the biggest names in Brazilian politics eyeing drastically different versions of Brazil’s future.







Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva clinched Brazil's top job Sunday after besting incumbent Jair Bolsonaro with 50.90% of the vote, figures released by the country's election authority confirmed.


With 99.96% of the ballots counted, Bolsonaro gained 49.10%. The ouster marks the end of a politically heightened period for Brazil as Bolsonaro gained widespread attention for his accelerated destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the government's failure to effectively implement preventative COVID-19 measures such as masking practices. Brazil documented nearly 700,000 covid-related deaths.


Earlier, a congressional inquiry recommended Bolsonaro be charged with nine offenses, including charlatanism and crimes against humanity, for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear if those charges will be handed down once Bolsonaro passes the presidency to da Silva


The elected president had more than 60.2 million votes, a record in the history of Brazilian democracy. He will begin his third presidential term on January 1st, 2023. Da Silva previously served as president from 2003 to 2010.







Da Silva responded to the winning results by sharing an image of his hand over the Brazilian flag, captioned "democracy."




In a victory speech, da Silva acknowledged that the challenges ahead would be "immense" but that efforts to rebuild the country would be "necessary... in all its dimensions."


"The majority of the Brazilian people made it very clear that they want more - not less - democracy," he told supporters. "This is the victory of an immense democratic movement that was formed, above political parties, personal interests and ideologies, so that democracy would win."


The Sunday results mark the latest South American country to oust a conservative leader in favor of electing a leftist president on the continent. Earlier, similar moves were made by Colombia, Chile and Honduras.







Mainstream polling firms all had Lula pegged for a 4-7 point win over Bolsonaro, but the race remained painfully close over the course of the evening, with Brazilian media unofficially calling the election in favor of da Silva just before 7 p.m. EST, with less than 99% of the votes accounted for.


Reports indicate that US President Joe Biden plans to send US national security adviser Jake Sullivan to Brazil in the coming days to reinforce US support for a peaceful transition. It is yet unclear if da Silva plans to accept support from the US government.


Shortly after the election was called, Biden issued his congratulations for da Silva, noting in a White House-released statement that he "looks forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead." The American leader added that he believed the election process to have been "free, fair and credible."


After the polls closed at 4 p.m. EST, results poured in relatively quickly – mostly due to the fact that Brazil is the only country in the world that uses a fully electronic voting system.


As Bolsonaro’s support has been stronger in wealthier areas of Brazil, where the more-developed infrastructure allows for faster internet connections than poorer regions - where leftists are favored, early results skewed in Bolsonaro’s favor. However, as the night wore on, da Silva’s edge creeped forward, eventually overtaking Bolsonaro just before 6 p.m. EST.







During the first round of voting on Oct. 2, da Silva took nearly 6 million more votes than Bolsonaro, who performed better than predicted but it wasn’t enough to secure the 50% of the vote required to avoid the runoff election.


Ahead of the Sunday vote, a Datafolha institute poll showed that 49% of Brazilians were in favor of da Silva, whereas 44% of respondents supported the reelection of Bolsonaro.


Da Silva had an 80% approval rating when he previously left office in 2010; however, during the recession that succeeded his presidency, he was arrested after being charged with accepting a condo and home improvements from companies vying for government contracts.


Da Silva spent almost 18 months in jail before his convictions were nullified by the Supreme Court. The high court ultimately determined that the judge ruling his case was biased – allowing da Silva to run again for the presidency.



Troubles Ahead of Final Tally



According to several reports circulating on social media, federal highway agents were stopping vehicles and questioning occupants in several states across Brazil in an effort to suppress voter turnout for Sunday’s election. These stops violated orders made by election officials on Saturday to halt any traffic stops that could prevent people from making it to the polls.







The federal highway police has been asked by Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court justice who heads Brazil’s election agency, to provide proof that his officers were not violating election rules to benefit Bolsonaro. According to a federal highway officer with access to internal data, the highway police had stopped over 550 buses across the country by Sunday afternoon – a considerable amount more than those stopped during the first round of voting on Oct. 2, when they stopped nearly 300 buses.




Highway Police Chief Silvinei Vasques was seen in a since-deleted Instagram “story” on Saturday urging people to vote for Bolsonaro, and has previously posted photographs of himself on the app standing next to Bolsonaro. Vasques responded to Morae’s order by refusing to cease Election Day traffic stops, citing the fact that Morae’s order didn’t apply to “all federal highway operations.”




As reported earlier by the New York Times, the traffic stops prevented people like Thomas Thaler, a 45-year-old computer programmer whose wife gave up on voting after the bus she was on was stopped by highway police on its way to Recife. Others were still able to make it to the polls, but had to take alternate routes after being questioned by officers.


In a statement to reporters, Moraes said that the investigation by election officials found that though the stops delayed the buses, they ultimately didn’t didn’t stop them from reaching their intended destinations – the polling stations. “We didn’t have any voters who didn’t vote because of the operations.”

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Video - Cable Bridge Collapses in Gujarat, India, Killing Over 90 People

Video - Cable Bridge Collapses in Gujarat, India, Killing Over 90 People

Video - Cable Bridge Collapses in Gujarat, India, Killing Over 90 People


The collapsed portion of an old suspension bridge over the Machchhu river in Gujarat’s Morbi district on October 30, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI






According to NDTV in India, the death toll has risen to 91 after a bridge collapsed in the Gujarat region. The news outlet also reported an official informing them that the suspension bridge allegedly opened four days ago after seven months of repairs, but lacked the official ‘fitness certificate’ from the municipal authorities.







Sandeepsinh Zala, the Chief Officer of Morbi Municipality told them: “The bridge was given to Oreva company for operation and maintenance for 15 years. In March this year, it was closed to the public for renovation. It reopened after renovation on the Gujarati New Year day celebrated on October 26”.


He added: “It was opened to the public after the completion of the renovation work. But the local municipality had not yet issued any fitness certificate after the renovation work”.



Sunday, October 30 at 5:05pm



At least 28 people are feared to have died by drowning this evening, Sunday, October 30, in the Gujarat region of western India when a pedestrian cable bridge suddenly snapped and collapsed. Around 400 people are thought to have been crossing the bridge at the moment it broke, plunging them into the waters below.


Initial reports online suggest that another 43 people have been injured, with at least 80 other people missing in the river. Video footage uploaded onto social media shows the horrific aftermath of the collapse in the Morbi district.







One video, taken some hours before the incident occurred, shows the bridge totally packed full of people trying to cross. According to one news source, the cable bridge had only recently reopened five days ago following renovation work.








The area has no electricity connection - a factor that is making the rescue operations further difficult. Mohan Kundariya, Member of Parliament from Rajkot, said more than 60 bodies have been fished out of the water so far. Reports from the local hospital state that the death toll has risen to 91, with many patients in critical condition.






The incident took place at 6.40 pm when dozens of people were on the bridge, known as Julto Pool (shaking bridge); the 230-metre-long (754 feet) colonial-era crossing was built during British rule of India in the 19th Century.


The bridge was owned by the Morbi municipality. However, the civic body had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Oreva Group, a private firm a few months ago, handing over its operations and maintenance for 15 years


Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has announced compensation, has spoken to Gujarat Chief Minister and other officials regarding the accident


For Ahmedabad resident Vijay Goswami and his family members, it was a close shave as they had visited the suspension bridge in Gujarat's Morbi on Sunday afternoon, but returned halfway through the bridge out of fear after some youths from the crowd started shaking it.






A few hours later, their fears proved right when that bridge on the Machchhu river, a tourist attraction, collapsed around 6.30 pm, killing at least 90 people.


Mr Goswami said when he and his family were on the bridge, some youths started shaking the bridge intentionally, making it difficult for people to walk. He said since he felt this act could prove dangerous, he and family returned without proceeding further on the bridge. He said he even alerted the bridge staff about it, but they were indifferent.


The British-era bridge had reopened for the public just four days back after remaining shut for renovation work for seven months.


Goswami said he had gone to Morbi with family to enjoy the Diwali vacation.


"There was a huge crowd on the bridge. My family and I were on the bridge when some youths started shaking it intentionally. It was impossible for people to stand without holding any support. Since I had a feeling that it may prove dangerous, my family and I came back after covering some distance on the bridge," Mr Goswami told reporters after reaching Ahmedabad.






"There was a huge crowd on the bridge. My family and I were on the bridge when some youths started shaking it intentionally. It was impossible for people to stand without holding any support. Since I had a feeling that it may prove dangerous, my family and I came back after covering some distance on the bridge," Mr Goswami told reporters after reaching Ahmedabad.


"Before leaving the spot, I alerted the on-duty staff to stop people from shaking the bridge. However, they were only interested in selling tickets and told us that there is no system to control the crowd. Hours after we left, our fears turned true as the bridge eventually collapsed," he said.

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