The Crown Capital Management International Relations Must-Reads from Around the World

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The Crown Capital Management International
Relations Must-Reads from Around the World
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Brazilian Congress  Brazil has been attempting
to combat government corruption yet the lower
chamber of Congress has picked Henrique Alves
who is under investigation for graft to become
its speaker notes Reuters. And last Friday the
Senate chose Renan Calheiros as its president He
resigned from the post in 2007 because of a
scandal involving payments by a lobbyist to
maintain his former mistress. Still thanks to an
unprecedented clean-up in Brazilian politics of
late six ministers four of them members of
Congress were fired for corruption and graft
over the past two years. Although the Supreme
Court ruled that members of Congress should be
stripped of their political rights they have yet
to be expelled. The assemblys reluctance to
expel corrupt politicians has enhanced the views
of many Brazilians that officials elected to
Congress are enriching themselves at the expense
of the nation writes Reuters.
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Marseilles Makeover  The southern French port
city of Marseille is trying to shed its image of
poverty and crime after being designated as
European Capital of Culture for 2013reports the
New York Times which the paper compares to
winning the Olympics. Frances second-largest
city is spending nearly 135 million on the
makeover. From a poor rough crime-ridden and
corrupt crossroads whose economy declined with
the end of colonialism to an attractive tourist
destination of sun sea seafood and culture
writes the Times.
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Drug-Resistant TB  Five developing nations
plagued with infectious-disease problems have
agreed to work together for the first time to
combat an epidemic of drug-resistant
tuberculosis notes the Wall Street Journal.
Brazil Russia India China and South Africa
the BRICS countries signed the deal after a
year of dire reports about the worsening of
drug-resistant TB globally despite progress in
reducing the incidence of regular TB according
to the Journal. The BRICS nations with their
booming economies and emerging middle classes
are under increasing pressure to address their
health problems with their own funds rather than
take donations from wealthy developed countries
like the U.S. comments the WSJ.
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Soccer Betting Scam  680 suspicious matches
fixed in a global betting scam run from Singapore
have been identified in an inquiry by European
police forces the European anti-crime agency
Europol and national prosecutors said Reuters.
Investigators found that between 2008 and 2011
308 suspicious matches were played in Europe
while another 300 were identified in Africa Asia
and Latin America.  Last year an anti-corruption
watchdog revealed that 1 trillion is gambled on
sport each year 3 billion a day with most of
the money coming from Asia and bet on soccer
matches. Investigators said that no names of
players or clubs will be released while the
investigation is ongoing. Yet the BBC revealed
Tuesday that Liverpool said they havent been
contacted by Europol in response to reports
suggesting their 1-0 home win over Debrecen in
the Champions League group stage in 2009 is under
suspicion. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing
by the British club.
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Historic Egypt Visit  The President of Iran
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on the first official
visit to Egypt since the Islamic revolution in
1979 reports the BBC. Mr. Ahmadinejad who was
greeted by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on
arrival is to take part in a summit of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation which begins
on Wednesday. Although relations between the two
countries have improved since Morsis election in
June the two heads of state continue to disagree
on certain issues such as the Syrian conflict.
If Tehran and Cairo see more eye-to-eye on
regional and international issues many (issues)
will change  Ahmadinejad said before leaving
Tehran.
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Comic Relief  According to the Guardian Comic
Relief should never really have worked.
Nevertheless Feb. 5 marks the 25th anniversary
one of the U.K.s most successful charities and
fundraising events. Since the first Red Nose Day
was held in 1988 800m (1.26bn) has been raised
for an estimated 40 million people in 70 of the
worlds poorest countries. It has also helped
support 10 million people across the U.K. A major
success has been particularly notable in the
field of education between 1999 and 2008 the
number of children attending school in
sub-Saharan Africa increased by 46.5 million.