Brazil’s front-running far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed during a rally while campaigning for next month’s election.

On Thursday, Bolsonaro, notorious for making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks, was being led through a crowd on the shoulders of supporters in Juiz de Fora city in the southern state of Minhas Gervais when an assailant stabbed him from the front and he appeared to scream in pain, reports CNN.

Known to many of his countrymen as the “Brazilian Trump”, Bolsonaro was taken to a hospital where medical officials and his family said he was in a stable condition.

“Unfortunately it was more serious than we hoped,” tweeted his son Flavio Bolsonaro.

“The wound reached part of his liver, lung and intestine. He lost a lot of blood, reaching the hospital… Almost dead… His condition now seems stable. Please pray!”

Brazil’s federal police said that they arrested a man identified as Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, 40, whom a group of people tried to lynch after accusing him of staging the attack, reports Efe news.

Bolsonaro is one of the most controversial candidates in the current electoral round because he is a defender of Brazil’s 1964-1984 military dictatorship.

He is also facing court proceedings for inciting violence.

According to a voter survey released on Wednesday, the rightist would finish first in the October 7 election if imprisoned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose candidacy was declared invalid by election authorities does not participate, but he would lose in a runoff.

Lula was heading all the voter surveys with some 40 per cent support but recently he was declared “ineligible” to run because of his conviction on corruption charges.

Pakistan observed Defence Day on Thursday by paying tribute to martyrs on the 53rd anniversary of the 1965 war with India.

The day dawned with a 31-gun salute in the federal capital and 21-gun salute in the provincial capitals. A change of guard ceremony was held at the mausoleums of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi and at Allama Iqbal’s in Lahore, Geo News reported.

Special prayers were offered followed by change of guard ceremonies at the mausoleums of Allama Iqbal in Lahore and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi. A ceremony at the Pakistan Navy headquarters in Islamabad was also held.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and outgoing President Mamnoon Hussain issued their messages of solidarity on the Defence Day.

Khan said Pakistan believes in peaceful coexistence and wants to promote mutual cooperation with other countries, including its neighbours, on the basis of equality, Radio Pakistan reported.

“The people of Pakistan will leave no stone unturned in defending their motherland, while standing side by side with (the) valiant armed forces of the country,” he said.

Hussain said the spirit of sacrifices rendered by the armed forces and the nation should inspire the people to forge unity among their ranks.

The highlight of the day will be a function scheduled for 8 p.m. at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Khan will be the chief guest at the ceremony, which will be attended by Army Chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, services chiefs, ministers, diplomats and people from various walks of life.

New Delhi, French directors Pierre X. Garnier and Jose Revault are working on a documentary which traces the life of ace choreographer Terence Lewis as a man in his 40s and follows his move to step away from the world of dance for acting.

Lewis met the directors — the founders of 7eme Lune, the International Film Festival of Rennes for young directors in France — during his vacation in Corsica in 2016. He hid his identity, but they discovered about him through social media.

“I was pleasantly surprised when they told me that they want to do a documentary because I was very curious to, first of all, know why they want to do a documentary as I have already shot for lots of television shows where a lot of my life has been captured, especially the BBC show ‘Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai’.

“I have also spoken about my life quite a lot of times to newspapers, channels and there have been lots of stories about from where I come from and how and where I have reached here,” Lewis told IANS in an email.

So, he wasn’t keen to add one more story.

“But they explained to me that, ‘We were not interested in your story (going) from rags to riches because that’s already been kind of documented. We don’t want to talk about your success, films, TV shows or any other things that are already there. We want to talk about all the things I shared with them in Corsica on a one-on-one’… They found my personal talk with them very interesting.”

The dance guru says the documentary is “different from the regular” ones.

“It is a little bit more internal, in the head and deep… It is not about me talking about my success, my laurels or how amazing my journey is… It is about me as a person now in the present — what are the challenges I am facing as a man in 40s, as a person who is also moving from dance and taking a step… into films as an actor and writer… so it is that journey that they want to chronicle.”

They have shot around 40 per cent and, technically, “need to have 60 hours of footage to make it into a documentary series”. The makers are now crowdfunding to shoot the latter part of the film and for post-production. They need to raise around Rs 700,000.

“What started as a simple project has now become a full-fledged project and we are on Wishberry this month, urging people to help us make the film to just cover the basic expenses of shooting, editing and camera…I hope we are able to reach the target.”

Lewis is hopeful that the documentary will be out next year.

He runs the Terence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company and specialises in Indian folk, contemporary and neo-classical dance forms. He has even choreographed international stage shows, Bollywood shows, Broadway Western musicals and music videos. He became popular as a mentor and judge on “Dance India Dance”.

What was his first reaction to the documentary project?

“I was like ‘Oh my God, that’s bit scary’ as I spoke to them like friends… Like sharing my life about things that were beyond my films and work. I spoke to them about my personal quest… how I was searching for meaning in my life and the philosophies that combine us, politics to history.

“They were like, ‘We want to talk about many things that are going on in your head’ because they found my philosophy — and a certain aspect of my questioning and reasoning things and embracing certain aspects of life — very interesting.

“They wanted to present this kind of an Indian man, a thinking Indian man with certain questions about life, to the Western universe and they said it is very important for an Indian voice to be heard. And they were very curious about new India and (the) conversations that are happening between the traditional and conventional and politics and history.”

Lewis said they were interested in the artistic and cultural changes that are happening in India, and to know how he perceived India as opposed to the Western form, what are the difficulties, strengths of living in a country like this.

He also shared with them his thoughts on nationality, region and ethnicity, apart from a lot about life and the ways people are dealing with relationships, choices, why we are the way we are.

(IANS)

Washington Using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, scientists have spotted a surprising feature emerging at Saturn’s northern pole as it nears summertime — a warming, high-altitude jet stream with a hexagonal shape.

The vortex is akin to the famous hexagon seen deeper down in Saturn’s clouds, according to the finding published in the journal Nature Communications.

The results suggest that the lower-altitude hexagon may influence what happens above, and that it could be a towering structure hundreds of miles in height.

“The edges of this newly-found vortex appear to be hexagonal, precisely matching a famous and bizarre hexagonal cloud pattern we see deeper down in Saturn’s atmosphere,” said lead author of the new study Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester in Britain.

When Cassini arrived at the Saturnian system in 2004, the southern hemisphere was enjoying summertime, while the northern was in the midst of winter.

The spacecraft spied a broad, warm high-altitude vortex at Saturn’s southern pole but none at the planet’s northern pole.

The new study reports the first glimpses of a northern polar vortex forming high in the atmosphere, as Saturn’s northern hemisphere approached summertime.

This warm vortex sits hundreds of miles above the Clouds, in the stratosphere, and reveals an unexpected surprise.

“The mystery and extent of the hexagon continue to grow, even after Cassini’s 13 years in orbit around Saturn,” Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker said.

“I look forward to seeing other new discoveries that remain to be found in the Cassini data,” Spilker added.

(IANS)

Pakistan is expanding its uranium-enrichment and plutonium production facilities, triggering fears that it may become the 5th largest nulcear-weapon state and have 220 to 250 warheads within the next seven years, a report has said.

The report published on August 31 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists authored by members of the Federation of American Scientists says that Pakistan was also developing several delivery systems.

“Pakistan continues to expand its nuclear arsenal with more warheads, more delivery systems, and a growing fissile materials production industry… We estimate that the country’s stockpile could… grow to 220 to 250 warheads by 2025, if the current trend continues,” said the 12-page report.

The report first appearted in Jane’s Defence Weekly, a London-based magazine that reports on military and corporate affairs said on Wednesday.

(IANS)

An unnamed senior US administration official has assailed President Donald Trump’s “amorality” and reckless decision-making in an op-ed and said he or she is part of a “resistance” working to thwart Trump’s worst impulses.

“The dilemma — which (Trump) does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” the New York Times piece read. “I would know. I am one of them.”

Trump labelled the anonymous writer “gutless” and the newspaper as “phony”. His press secretary said the mystery writer was a “coward” who should quit, the BBC reported.

The NYT said disclosing the name of the official, who is known to the publication, would jeopardize the official’s job, and that publishing the piece anonymously was the only way to deliver an important perspective to readers.

Major newspapers almost never publish unnamed op-ed pieces. At The New York Times, it is very rare, but not entirely unprecedented, the CNN said.

The op-ed came on the heels of reports based on a damning book about Trump’s presidency by veteran journalist Bob Woodward and amplified the sense that top advisers to the President have serious concerns about his conduct in office and leadership abilities.

It is likely to compound Trump’s sense of paranoia that he is surrounded by advisers who may be duplicitous and untrustworthy, the CNN report added.

Trump quickly lashed out on Wednesday, dismissing the op-ed as “really a disgrace”. He demanded for the name to be revealed.

“We have somebody in what I call the failing New York Times that’s talking about he’s part of the resistance inside the Trump administration,” Trump said. “This is what we have to deal with. And you know the dishonest media … But it’s really a disgrace.”

He then pivoted to his accomplishments, claiming that “nobody has done what this administration has done in terms of getting things passed and getting things through.”

Trump later tweeted a pointed and unsubstantiated attack on the NYT, questioning if the author of the op-ed exists. If the author does exist, the organization should publicly identify the individual, Trump said.

“Does the so-called ‘Senior Administration Official’ really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source?” Trump tweeted.

“If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!”

(IANS)

US President Donald Trump wanted to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad killed after the Syrian government reportedly carried out a chemical attack in April 2017, a new book by renowned journalist Bob Woodward alleges.

The attack, which was widely blamed on forces loyal to the Syrian government, was carried out on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, killing more than 80 people.

According to the book ‘Fear: Trump in the White House’, by Woodward, Trump wanted the US military to go into Syria and assassinate al-Assad.

“Let’s f*****g kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the f*****g lot of them,” Trump said according to Woodward’s book.

A year after Khan Sheikhoun, Syria chemical weapons ‘still used’
Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the Pentagon would “get right on it” after Trump made his request, according to Woodward, but after getting off the phone with Trump, Mattis made it clear to his staff that they were not going to follow through with Trump’s plan.

“We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured,” Mattis said according to Woodward’s book.

Instead of targeting al-Assad personally, the Pentagon drew up plans for air strikes to take out Syrian military infrastructure.

Following those air strikes on 7 April 2017, Trump praised the US military, saying the military personnel “represented the United States and the world so well”.

In an official response to the allegations, Mattis called the quotes used in Woodward’s book “fiction” and “a product of someone’s rich imagination,” adding that the publication was “a uniquely Washington brand of literature”.

“In serving in this administration, the idea that I would show contempt for the elected Commander-in-Chief, President Trump, or tolerate disrespect to the office of the President from within our Department of Defense, is a product of someone’s rich imagination,” Mattis’ statement said.

Trump also responded to the book, calling the quotes in the book “made up by frauds, a con on the public”.

The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?

When asked about the allegations, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley denied ever hearing threats made by Trump against al-Assad.

“I have not once ever heard the president talk about assassinating Assad,” Haley told Al Jazeera correspondent James Bays.

The Syrian government has always denied it was involved in the chemical attack, but an independent United Nations panel concluded the attack was carried out by al-Assad’s forces.

‘We’re in Crazytown’
Woodward’s book also details several other encounters in the Trump White House between senior staff and the president.

According to the book, sources told Woodward that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly regularly lost his temper with Trump, calling him “unhinged” and “an idiot”, the Washington Post reported.

“It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had,” the book quotes Kelly as saying according to unnamed sources.

Trump himself also railed against the people he appointed, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, the book states.

Rob Porter, former staff secretary, was told by Trump to ignore whatever Priebus said, saying that Priebus was “a little rat”, Woodward wrote.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recently been targeted by Trump on Twitter for his recusal in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election, was also alleged to have been criticised regularly by Trump.

Trump in war of words with Attorney General Jeff Sessions
“This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner,” Trump said about Sessions, according to the book.

Another allegation made in the book is that former top economic adviser to Trump Gary Cohn stole a letter off Trump’s desk to prevent the US from withdrawing from a trade agreement with South Korea.

“I’ll just take the paper off his desk,” Cohn, who has since quit the White House, said to his staffers.

Woodward is considered one of the most renowned investigative political journalists in recent decades.

He became famous after he and his colleague Carl Bernstein revealed the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration in the 1970s.

Their reporting eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.

Since then, Woodward has written several books about the inner workings of presidential administrations.

Aljazeera

Kabul Taliban key commander Mullah Ghousuding was among 7 persons killed on Wednesday in a blast outside Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Afghanistan’s western Badghis province, police said.

“The notorious Mullah Ghousuding, alias Sia Khan, along with his men were busy in subversive activities to terrorize people outside Qala-e-Naw city but an explosive device suddenly went off, killing him and six others on the spot,” a police spokesman told Xinhua news agency.

Describing the commander as a “dreadful terrorist,” the spokesman said Sia Khan’s killing could prove a major blow to the Taliban in Badghis province and adjoining areas.

(IANS)

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that India’s planned purchase of a Russian missile system or its relations with Iran will not be “the primary focus” of the “incredibly important” 2+2 Strategic Dialogue meeting he and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis will be having with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Seetharaman this week.

Calling India a “true strategic partner,” he said on Tuesday the meeting in New Delhi is “really about things that are big and strategic and will go on for 20, 40, 50 years” and “those are the kinds of topics that Secretary Mattis and I are hoping to address”.

“We have a true strategic partner who, frankly, is our only major defence partner… with whom we have a great relationship and who is very important to our success in our Indo-Pacific strategy — enormous country with incredibly opportunity and capacity for wealth creation,” he told reporters travelling with him to India according to a transcript provided by the State Department.

“We hope we can find opportunities to continue to expand the relationship not only diplomatic and military-to-military but a good set of business relationships as well,” he added.

“There’s half a dozen things on the agenda that we’re really intent on making progress on,” he said.

The 2+2 Strategic Dialogue was postponed twice at the request of the US — first in April when the leadership of the State Department was transitioning from Rex Tillerson to Pompeo.

“I regret it was my fault the second time” in July, he said. “I had to travel to Pyongyang.” Trump had suddenly set up a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump had decided on the Strategic Dialogue when they met in Washington in 2017.

Trump administration’s strategic vision embodies India and the US as “the two bookends of stability” in the Asia Pacific region — and a counterbalance to China’s rising power.

Symbolically, the US now calls the region Indo-Pacific and even renamed its Pacific military command.

At this week’s meeting, Iran and the Russian missile defence system purchase “will certainly come up, but I don’t think they will be the primary focus of what it is we are trying to accomplish here,” Pompeo said.

“Those decisions are important to the relationship for sure, but I don’t see us resolving those during this set of meetings of the Strategic Dialogue,” he added.

India is planning to buy five advanced S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems from Russia in a deal estimated to cost about Rs 40,000 crore.

India reportedly also plans to continue buying oil from Iran despite threat of sanctions by Trump, who reneged on the agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to stop Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has arrived in Damascus for talks with Syrian government officials, the privately owned Tasnim news agency reported.

The top Iranian diplomat is scheduled to hold talks with President Bashar al-Assad and Prime Minister Imad Khamis on bilateral relations and the latest developments in Syria, the agency said.

Syria’s war: Damascus airbase blasts ’caused by electrical fault’
Zarif’s visit on Monday comes after Amar Hatami, Iran’s defence minister, travelled to Damascus and signed an agreement for defence cooperation with his Syrian counterpart Ali Abdullah Ayoub. Hatami also met Assad duding his trip.

Iranian forces have backed Assad in the country’s seven-year-old civil war.

Tehran has provided steady political, financial, and military support to the government during this period.

‘Iranian advisers to stay’
Separately, Iran’s military attache to Damascus told Iranian media on Tuesday that the country’s military advisers would remain in Syria under a defence agreement signed this week.

“The continued presence of Iran’s advisers in Syria is one of the areas covered in the defensive-technical agreement between Tehran and Damascus,” said Brigadier-General Abolghasem Alinejad last Tuesday, according to the Fars and Tabnak news agencies.

Russia and Iran, which support Assad, and Turkey have been in close cooperation over Syria in order to find a solution to the conflict.

Iranian, Russian and Turkish presidents are scheduled to meet in Tehran to discuss the latest developments in Syria in early September.

Since Russia military intervened on Assad’s behalf in 2015, the regime has regained much of the territory lost to fighters in the early years of the war.

Syria’s war has left more than 350,000 people dead and displaced millions since it broke out with the brutal repression of an initially peaceful uprising in 2011.

(ALJAZEERA)