Brazil cities paralyzed by nationwide strike against austerity

A demonstrators holds a placard in front of a burning barricade during a protest against President Michel Temer's proposal to reform Brazil's social security system in the early hours of general strike in Brasilia, Brazil, April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

By Brad Brooks and Pedro Fonseca

SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Nationwide strikes led by Brazilian unions to protest President Michel Temer’s austerity measures crippled public transport in several major cities early on Friday across this continent-sized nation, while factories, businesses and schools closed.

In the economic hub of Sao Paulo, the main tourist draw Rio de Janeiro and several other metropolitan areas, protesters used barricades of burning tires and other materials to block highways and access to major airports.

Police clashed with demonstrators in several cities, blocking protesters from entering airports and firing tear gas in efforts to free roadways.

Many workers were expected to heed the call to strike for 24 hours starting just after midnight Friday, due in part to anger about progression this week of congressional bills to weaken labor regulations and efforts to change social security that would force many Brazilians to work years longer before drawing a pension. In addition, the strike will extend a holiday weekend ahead of Labor Day on Monday.

This will be Brazil’s first general strike in more than two decades if it gets widespread participation.

Authorities boarded up windows of government buildings in national capital Brasilia on Thursday, fearing violent clashes between demonstrators and police.

Demonstrations are expected in other major cities across the Latin American nation of more than 200 million people.

“It is going to be the biggest strike in the history of Brazil,” said Paulo Pereira da Silva, the president of trade union group Forca Sindical.

Violent protests have occurred repeatedly during the past four years amid political turmoil, Brazil’s worst recession on record, and corruption investigations that revealed stunning levels of graft among politicians.

Nearly a third of Temer’s cabinet and key congressional allies came under investigation in the scandal this month, and approval ratings for the president, who replaced Dilma Rousseff last year after her impeachment, have fallen even further.

Rousseff’s Workers Party grew out of the labor movement, and her allies have called her removal for breaking budget rules an illegitimate coup.

“Temer does not even want to negotiate,” said Vagner Freitas, national president of the Central Workers Union (CUT), Brazil’s biggest labor confederation, said in a statement. “He just wants to meet the demands of the businessmen who financed the coup precisely to end social security and legalize the exploitation of workers.”

Marcio de Freitas, a spokesman for Temer, rejected the union’s criticism, saying the government was working to undo the economic damage wrought under the Workers Party government, which had the backing of the CUT.

“The inheritance of that was 13 million unemployed,” he said. “The government is carrying out reforms to change this situation, to create jobs and economic growth.”

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Sao Paulo and Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janiero; Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Lisa Von Ahn)

Suspect in Facebook video murder kills self in Pennsylvania: police

Coroner Lyell P. Cook (R) examines the car of a fugitive, who police said posted a video of himself on Facebook killing an elderly man in Cleveland, is seen after he shot and killed himself following a brief police pursuit in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S. April 18, 2017. REUTERS/Robert Frank

By Robert Frank

ERIE, Pa. (Reuters) – A murder suspect who police said posted a video on Facebook of the killing of a Cleveland man fatally shot himself after a “brief pursuit” by Pennsylvania State Police officers on Tuesday, police said.

Steve Stephens was accused of shooting Robert Godwin Sr., 74, on a sidewalk on Sunday before fleeing in a car and uploading a video of the murder to Facebook, becoming the focus of a nationwide manhunt.

Pennsylvania State Police officers found Stephens in Erie County, Pennsylvania, after getting a tip from the public that his white Ford Fusion was parked outside a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, Calvin Williams, the Cleveland police chief, told a news conference.

After a brief chase, Stephens stopped his vehicle, Williams said.

“As the officers approached that vehicle Steve Stephens took his own life,” Williams said. “We would have preferred that it had not ended this way,” he added, saying he and the community would have had “a lot of questions” for Stephens.

Stephens, who had no prior criminal record, was not suspected in any other killings, Cleveland officials said. Stephens said in a separate video on Facebook on Sunday that he had already killed a dozen others.

The shooting marked the latest video clip of a violent crime to turn up on Facebook, raising questions about how the world’s biggest social media network moderates content.

The company will do all it can to prevent content like Stephens’ post, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook’s annual conference for software developers on Tuesday in San Jose.

Facebook on Monday said it would review how it monitors violent footage and other objectionable material in response to the killing after Stephens’ post was visible on the social media site for about two hours.

Stephens is not believed to have known Godwin, a retired foundry worker who media reports said spent Easter Sunday morning with his son and daughter-in-law before he was killed.

Beech Brook, a behavioral health facility in a Cleveland suburb where Stephens had worked since 2008, said in a statement on Tuesday that Stephens had cleared an extensive background check.

In interviews before Stephens’ death, some of Godwin’s relatives forgave his killer.

“I forgive him because we are all sinners,” Robby Miller, Godwin’s son, said in an interview with CNN.

Others were less sympathetic.

“All I can say is that I wish he had gone down in a hail of 100 bullets,” Godwin’s daughter, Brenda Haymon, told CNN. “I wish it had gone down like that instead of him shooting himself.”

(Writing by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York, Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago and David Ingram in San Jose, CA.; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Facebook murder suspect remains at large as police ask public for help

(Reuters) – A murder suspect who police said posted a video of himself on Facebook shooting an elderly man in Cleveland remained on the loose on Tuesday as authorities appealed to the public for help in the case.

Police said they have received “dozens and dozens” of tips and possible sightings of the suspect, Steve Stephens, and tried to persuade him to turn himself in when they spoke with him via his cellphone on Sunday after the shooting.

But Stephens remained at large as the search for him expanded nationwide, police said.

The shooting marked the latest video clip of a violent crime to turn up on Facebook, raising questions about how the world’s biggest social media network moderates content.

The company on Monday said it would begin reviewing how it monitors violent footage and other objectionable material in response to the killing.

Police said Stephens used Facebook Inc’s service to post video of him killing Robert Godwin Sr., 74.

Stephens is not believed to have known Godwin, a retired foundry worker who media reports said spent Easter Sunday morning with his son and daughter-in-law before he was killed.

“I want him to know what he took from us. He took our dad,” Godwin’s daughter Tammy told CNN on Monday night. “My heart is broke.”

During the same interview, his son Robby Miller said that he wanted the shooter brought to justice and for his family to have closure.

“I forgive him because we are all sinners,” he said. “If you are out there, if you’re listening, turn yourself in.”

Facebook vice president Justin Osofsky said the company was reviewing the procedure that users go through to report videos and other material that violates the social media platform’s standards. The shooting video was visible on Facebook for nearly two hours before it was reported, the company said.

Stephens, who has no prior criminal record, is not suspected in any other murders, police said.

The last confirmed sighting of Stephens was at the scene of the homicide. Police said he might be driving a white or cream-colored Ford Fusion, and asked anyone who spots him or his car to call police or a special FBI hotline (800-CALLFBI).

(Writing by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee)

Some U.S. schools to close Wednesday as women request day off to protest

(Reuters) – At least two U.S. school districts have announced plans to close on Wednesday in anticipation of staff shortages for the nationwide “Day Without A Woman” strike.

The one-day protest, which is being held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, is intended to draw attention to the plight of women in the workplace who on average are paid less than men.

The protest is already affecting dozens of schools, which are heavily staffed by women. The strike organizers include some of the planners of the Jan. 21 women’s march on Washington and other U.S. cities.

In Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., Superintendent of Schools Alvin Crawley said classes for the entire district, which serves more than 15,000 students, would be canceled on Wednesday after 300 teachers and other staff members asked to have the day off.

“The decision is based solely on our ability to provide sufficient staff to cover all our classrooms, and the impact of high staff absenteeism on student safety and delivery of instruction,” Crawley said in an announcement.

Also canceling classes for the day are Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in North Carolina, where officials anticipated that 400 to 2,000 staffers would not show up for work. The district, which encompasses 21 schools, said absences on a typical day number around 100 staffers, or 5 percent of its workforce.

The school district stressed that the decision to close was based on student safety and was not meant as a political statement.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreaks Nationwide; Four Dead in Illinois

Four residents of a veteran’s home in Illinois are dead after an outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease.

At least 29 other residents of the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home have been infected with the deadly bacterium.  Those who died allegedly had severe underlying medical conditions that compromised their immune systems and left them particularly vulnerable to the bacteria.

“The Legionella bacteria can be found anywhere, but it’s usually in small doses that won’t make you sick,” Adams County Health Department Director of Clinical and Environmental Services Shay Drummond told WGEM-TV. “But when a cluster of people get sick like this, it’s very likely there’s one source point.”

Drummond believes the outbreak has been contained to just the veteran’s home.

At San Quentin State Prison in California, six inmates have been confirmed to have the disease with another 51 under observation in the prison’s medical unit.

Prison officials say all cooking at the prison has been shut down and that prisoners are eating box meals until the source of the disease can be found.

In New York City, where 12 people died from an outbreak this summer, a school had to be shut down after the bacteria was found in a cooling tower.  City officials praised the school’s quick response and also said the action showed the importance of a new city law designed to combat the disease.

“The Convent of the Sacred Heart School properly disinfected its cooling tower. Its cooling tower’s positive test result, and subsequent disinfection, underscores the importance of the new legislation the Mayor signed just two weeks ago,” the Department of Health said in a statement.