Psychologist: Media coverage of Prince Harry's book is the perfect example of 'bad news sells' Story by Dr Jolanta Burkev
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BRITAIN’S PRINCE HARRY has a been in his bonnet about the media.
His consistent message through the Netflix series, ITV interview and the book are that the British media and the royal family’s manipulation of the media led to his wife’s mental health decline and Harry’s subsequent departure from his royal role.
While we can only debate the accuracy of news coverage about Meghan and Harry, a more critical question is whether the issue of media bias that Prince Harry tries to highlight impacts not only him but also your well-being as a reader, listener and viewer of the news.
It is no secret that negative news sells. Our brains are attracted to the bad news as our main objective is survival. Anything that threatens our survival is red-flagged, so we pay attention to it first. However, is it possible that while the papers sell, we are the ones who pay the price of the negative news we watch, listen to and read?
Grind of daily news
Let’s take as an example the Covid-19 pandemic. Depending on the media outlet, the news about it was presented as negative (resulting in feelings of despair), neutral (facts) or positive (offering hope).
In an experiment conducted at the height of the pandemic, people watching negative news reported a significant decline in positive emotions and resilience. Yet, at the same time, those watching the same news presented positively increased their experiences of positivity.
Even though positive emotions are fleeting, they are essential. They create an accumulative effect which helps us spiral up or down. It impacts our long-term outcomes, resulting in better problem-solving, motivation to connect with others, and less worry 24 hours later.
This is why decreasing positive emotions offers a temporary benefit and has a potentially significant long-term impact on our mental health.
Last week, from the leaked Spanish version of Prince Harry’s book “Spare”, the media selected a handful of controversial stories to report. One of them was the number of people Harry killed during his deployment in Afghanistan.
It drew criticisms from his former friends, military authorities and even the Taliban leaders. By the end of the next day, the media reported a national threat to the UK citizens’ security incited by Prince Harry’s comments. Regardless of the real threat, the headlines sold millions of newspapers, resulting in even more clickbait.
But how did the people reading the news feel that day? Even though I live in Ireland, I felt worried. The memories of past terror attacks flooded back, and the fear I experienced when visiting London during one such attack. Suddenly, I found myself speaking ill of Harry for ‘acting so irresponsibly’.
It was only then I stopped myself and realised that my emotions were spiralling down. I was increasingly upset about the situation, yet the threat was not real. Perhaps there is a threat and it may happen in the future, but it is not happening now. This was just speculation fuelled by the media in response to what Harry wrote in his book and I was being sucked in. So I turned the TV off.
My experience is similar to the research findings showing that women, in particular, may experience higher stress levels when exposed to negative news. The actual news piece did not increase their stress hormone, cortisol. However, when they were exposed to stress later that day, their cortisol levels shot up higher compared to those not exposed to the negative news, leading them to experience more physiological stress overall that day.
Mindful of impact
While we need more research with larger groups of participants showing us similar results, the preliminary findings suggest that watching the negative news dampens our psychological and emotional strength making us more vulnerable to adverse outcomes. At the same time, we know that positive news does not have the same effect on us.
Is there another way for news outlets to sell the news and protect us from the adverse effects of what they present? The answer is yes.
Increasingly more outlets focus on presenting news positively in a way that inspires and enthuses people rather than focusing on the harmful outcomes that threaten them. As such, researchers found that presenting news in a positive way increases their positive emotions.
At the same time, some news is hard to present positively, given they are about very adverse events or issues. So, to soften the approach and help readers, listeners and viewers experience more positive emotions, negative stories with silver linings are shown to do the job.
Thus, it is not enough for the media to report Prince Harry’s unnecessary mention of the number of soldiers he killed and develop the story into a serious threat to public safety. Instead, considering how what he said can help us inform future communication from veterans might offer that silver lining needed to soften the message.
Harry’s book has caused a stir in the media. To balance the negative news, it would be good to see how his family discord that has played so publically may have helped other families connect.
It would be good to consider the importance of forgiveness amid this bitter conflict. It would also be good to hear how sibling rivalry gets resolved in other families rather than writing about how bad the relationship between Harry and William is. It is time to see the other side of the news.
Dr Jolanta Burke is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Positive Psychology, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.
MSNNews_20-11-22
Caroline Flack's agent calls Harry 'gross' for writing about their romance 'to sell his book' (msn.com)
https://www.msn.com/en-ie/
Prince Harry last night accused fellow royals of being ‘complicit’ in the ‘pain and suffering’ inflicted on his wife. In a bombshell interview to plug his memoir, he suggested they helped to ‘trash’ his and Meghan’s reputations, forcing them to move to California.
The prince’s astonishing claims came in a 90-minute discussion with ITV presenter and old friend Tom Bradby. However, he sensationally conceded that he believes his family were not racist, although he believes them guilty of ‘unconscious bias’.
He also backed Queen Elizabeth’s former lady in waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, who was embroiled in a toxic race row last month, saying she ‘never meant any harm’.
Harry’s memoir, Spare, will be published tomorrow, although extensive leaks and three high-profile interviews in 24 hours mean much of its content has been disseminated already.
1. Accuses his family of a ‘really horrible’ reaction to him after Queen Elizabeth’s death and of showing ‘absolutely no willingness to reconcile’;
2. Says he chose not to fight back against his estranged brother William in an infamous altercation because he has sought therapy;
3. Concedes that, while he loves his father, Charles wasn’t great at single parenthood;
4. Admits Meghan and Kate didn’t get on from the ‘get-go’ but claims there was a lot of media stereotyping;
5. Says that during one row Kate was ‘gripping edges of a chair so hard her fingers turned white’;
6. Admits William didn’t outright try to dissuade him from marrying Meghan but warned him ‘this is going to be very hard for you’;
7. Justifies his book and last month’s Netflix documentary as important for ‘historical fact and significance’;
8. Claims a lot of things are ‘unexplained’ about his mother’s death and believes the paparazzi chasing her should have been held to account;
9. Pledges a life-long war against the media, accusing the Press of trying to drive competition between members of the royal family;
10. Described as ‘horrific’ an article by Jeremy Clarkson in which he said he dreamt of Meghan being paraded through the streets naked with excrement being hurled at her;
11. Says he is happy now but still believes there can be a reconciliation with his family – as long as they take accountability.
Harry uses the interview to again parade his widely-dismissed theories that the UK press had an agenda against him and Meghan and Buckingham Palace colluded in this by leaking and placing negative stories about them.
He says this was typified by events surrounding his grandmother’s death in September, when he travelled up to Balmoral separately from the rest of the family amid confusion about whether Meghan should join him.
Harry said: ‘The day that she died was – was – was just a really, really horrible reaction from my family members and then by all accounts, well certainly from what I saw and what other people probably experienced, was they were on the back foot and then the briefings and the leaking and the planting.
‘I was like “We’re here to celebrate the life of granny and to mourn her loss, can we come together as a family?”’ He also claims that ever since he started dating Meghan, he received little help or support in trying to combat the negative stories about her. c
Extraordinarily, he says their decision to quit as working royals was wrongly attributed to them wanting to make money, even though the couple themselves said they wanted to pursue financial opportunities outside the royal family and have secured multimillion media deals.
He adds: ‘The level of planting and leaking from other members of the family means that in my mind they have written countless books.
‘Certainly millions of words have been dedicated to trying to trash my wife and myself to the point of where I had to leave my country.
‘The distorted narrative is that we wanted to leave to go and, you know, make money. We were dedicated to a life of service, as is proven by everything that we’re doing now with the work that we do.
‘And the proposal was very much on the table, publicly, which is we can’t cope in this situation and we’re gonna put our mental health first, we’ve asked for help and support.
At that time I didn’t fully understand how much – or how complicit the family were in that pain and suffering that was happening to my wife, and the one group of people that could’ve helped or stopped this from happening were the very people that were – that were encouraging it to happen.’
Harry insists he had no choice but to ‘separate’ from his family but says he has tried to have a ‘constructive’ conversations with them.
However, he says it seems to suit them if he and Meghan are painted out to be ‘the villains’. He grandly says he hopes a family reconciliation will have a ‘ripple effect’ across the world: ‘Maybe that’s lofty, maybe that’s naïve, whatever. But I genuinely feel that.’
He is also defensive about including a raft of prurient details in the book such as losing his virginity to an older woman in a field behind a pub, saying it was just ‘four lines’.
Caroline Flack's agent calls Harry 'gross' for writing about their romance 'to sell his book'
Caroline Flack's former manager has called Prince Harry 'gross' for writing about his romance with the late presenter in his memoir.
Alex Mullen, creative director at APM Media, which represented Ms Flack prior to her death in 2020, criticised the prince for recounting details of the 'tainted' affair in his forthcoming book Spare.
He wrote on Instagram: 'Gross for Prince Harry to reveal such private details about Caroline Flack. The way the press spoke about her at that time and the reason they split are both very sad and it's gross he's using her name to help sell his book.'
Mr Mullen added: 'The royal family need to strip him of all titles now.'
Harry, who briefly dated Ms Flack in 2009, wrote that they broke up after media interest in her and her family.
The prince said he didn't know who the presenter was when they were first introduced but described her as 'funny, sweet and cool'. He wrote: 'Very soon after they papped me and Flack, those photos set off a frenzy. Within hours a mob was camped outside Flack's parents' house, and all her friends' houses.
'She was described in one paper as my "bit of rough", because she once worked in a factory or something. Jesus, I thought, are we really such a country of insufferable snobs?'
The late Love Island presenter, who took her own life at the age of 40, wrote in her 2014 memoir, Storm In A C Cup, that the romance between the two had been sparked after she and Harry spent an evening 'chatting and laughing' with one another.
Mr Mullen also hit out at the prince for bringing up 'old long forgotten slurs she had to suffer in full view of the public around the world'.
He wrote: 'Harry's decision to remind all of the terrible things said about her to help sell his appalling book is grotesque.'
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Putin’s ‘Hunky-Dory’ Act Flops as Frantic Russians Flee Crimea
Putin’s ‘Hunky-Dory’ Act Flops as Frantic Russians Flee Crimea
As Ukrainian forces gain momentum and push Russia’s military to retreat from territory stolen during the war in Ukraine this year, Moscow is working to signal that some territory it took from Ukraine is off limits.
Russia’s Governor for Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said Friday that Russia is working to fortify its defenses in Crimea, the peninsula Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as fears mount that Ukrainian authorities may have their sights set on seizing it back.
“The security of the Republic of Crimea and its inhabitants is ensured through measures taken on behalf of our President,” Aksyonov said. “The joint work of the authorities, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and law enforcement agencies is aimed at ensuring that the Crimeans can feel calm.”
Despite Aksyonov's insistence calm will reign in Crimea, civilians in Crimea have reportedly begun reading between the lines and fleeing as fears mount that Ukraine might be serious about taking Crimea back, according to Emil Ibragimov, the head of the educational platform Q-Hub. Ibragimov told Radio NV that people are fleeing to the Russian region of Krasnodar to avoid any fallout, according to Newsweek.
"That is, we see this trend and can conclude that this is, of course, panic and fear that the [Ukraine] Armed Forces will be able to liberate Crimea in the near future," Ibragimov said.
Aksyonov’s attempt to craft the narrative that Crimea will hold comes as at a time when Russia’s plan to take over Ukraine seems shakier than ever before. Increasingly, Russian officials are questioning Russian President Vladimir Putin's judgment and war plans. Ukrainian forces’ counteroffensives throughout Ukraine have forced Russia to retreat from multiple pockets it had seized during the conflict this year. Just earlier this month, Ukrainian forces pushed Russian troops from Kherson—a key city which was Russia’s last stronghold west of the Dnieper River—which Ukrainian officials view as a precursor to taking Crimea back.
Kherson lies just north of Crimea, and the defeat there represents a major loss for Putin’s dream to create a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, as well as supply further incursions into Ukrainian territory.
The loss of Kherson also signals to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration that it may be go-time to go after Crimea and kick Russia out, The Daily Beast has learned. The official in charge of taking Crimea back from Russia in Zelensky’s administration, Tamila Tasheva, told The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview early this month that seizing back Kherson is a precursor to taking back Crimea, and that the Zelensky administration is increasingly eyeing the military component of kicking Russia out.
“We understand it’s really connected—deoccupation of Crimea—connected to the situation in the battlefield, in the southern part of Ukraine, especially deoccupation of Kherson,” Tasheva told The Daily Beast.
And while diplomacy is key to taking back Crimea, “we also [talk] about another mechanism of deoccupation including, of course, military components of deoccupation,” Tasheva added.
Zelensky said in an interview Thursday with Bloomberg that there will be no peace until Ukraine has taken back Crimea. “A simple ceasefire won’t do the trick,” he said.
Russia has, indeed, been focusing attention on Crimea in recent days, according to a British intelligence analysis shared Friday.
“Following the withdrawal of its forces from west of the Dnipro River, Russian forces continue to prioritise refitting, reorganisation and the preparation of defences across most sectors in Ukraine,” the intelligence analysis said. “ Units have constructed new trench systems near the border of Crimea, as well as near the Siversky-Donets River between Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.”
The particularly limited number of stable roads and railways in this area could make it vulnerable to Ukrainian targeting, according to the Institute for the Study of War. Ukrainian forces are reportedly not yet working on the east bank of the river, though.
The renewed attention on Crimea comes as Ukrainian forces are gaining ground across Ukraine and as Russian leadership increasingly realizes how poorly prepared the military is to match Ukraine and its continued military assistance from the west, given Russia’s poor logistics and execution of battle plans since the early days of the war. The response from Russia has been a frenzied attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, in an apparent attempt to use what little strength it has left to deprive Ukraine of energy resources during the winter, analysts say.
Russia initiated attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure following several attacks against Crimean military entities in October. While Russian forces continue their offensives in Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and southwest of Donetsk City, in just the last 24 hours Russia has been shelling the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Luhansk, according to the regional military administrations. Early this week Russia unleashed nearly 100 missiles in Ukraine in what is believed to be one of its largest attacks yet this year.
Recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure have left approximately 50 percent of the Ukrainian energy system out of order, Denys Shmyhal, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, said. Emergency shutdowns are predicted in the coming hours and through the weekend, state energy company Ukrenergo said in a statement Friday.
The dire situation coincides with the first snow in Ukraine, in a signal that tougher winter days lie ahead. Ukrainian officials have begun to fear that they may not be able to repair from some attacks on energy infrastructure in the near future, according to Politico.
Poland is preparing for an influx of Ukrainian refugees as the winter months settle in and Ukraine may become increasingly unlivable, according to local reports.
Ukrainians will need to be resilient in the coming days if Russia continues its campaign, Ukrenergo warned Friday.
“Limitation of consumption is the consequence of rocket attacks by Russians on the energy system of Ukraine,” Ukrenergo said Friday. “This winter, we must show endurance and courage to confront the enemy on the energy front.”
Shmyhal added Friday that Ukraine has imported nearly 9,000 generator sets to try to help ease the difficulties with energy supplies, according to customs data as of this week.
360 News msm.com 20-11-22
MSNNews_20-11-22 (inltv.co.uk)
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THE RIGHT TRACK
Biden is right to pivot toward diplomacy in the Russia-Ukraine war
Netherlands summons Russian ambassador over criticism of MH17 ruling
https://www.msn.com/en-ie/
The Netherlands' complaint is related to Moscow's statement that the trial "was not impartial", a "totally reprehensible" assessment, according to Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, who has accused Russia of turning "the world upside down", the daily 'Het Parool' reports.
For Hoekstra, the Kremlin is reacting "incorrectly and indecently" to a decision of the Dutch legal system, which is "really unacceptable" if one takes into account, he emphasized, "that Russia is currently violating all the principles of international law".
Hoekstra said that it is essential to respond to these accusations coming from Russia, partly also to 'show' the relatives of the victims that the Netherlands stands for the division of powers.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday regretting that this court in The Hague had "ignored" the principles of impartiality, while criticizing the alleged political motivations behind the whole judicial process.
The court sentenced Russian defendants Girkin and Dubinsky, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, to life imprisonment 'in absentia' for the murder of the 298 people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014. They were all found guilty of involvement in the supply, deployment and removal of the 'Buk' system used to bring down the plane.
Moreover, the judges have confirmed that the plane was hit by a Russian-made missile that would have been launched from a territory located in Pervomaisk, in an area under Russian control, in eastern Ukraine.
Kim Jong Un’s daughter makes first public appearance with her father
In the photographs the daughter, whose name has not been released by KCNA, is wearing a white coat and accompanies Kim Jong Un in what appears to be the supervision of the launch of the intercontinental missile announced this Friday.
The North Korean leader is very reserved when it comes to his private life and hardly any information has been released. As reported by CNN, South Korean intelligence estimates that the marriage bond with Ri Sol Ju became known three years after the wedding.
In 2013 basketball player Dennis Rodman told the newspaper 'The Guardian' that he had met Kim's baby and that it was called "Ju Ae", although this information has not been officially confirmed, but confirmed the rumors that arose in the country that his wife was pregnant a year earlier.
Elon Musk submits Donald Trump’s Twitter account reinstatement to a poll on the social network.
The poll has exceeded three million votes in just one hour, when the balance is in favor of recovering the Republican's account with 56.7 percent of the support, while the remaining 43.3 percent have positioned themselves against this decision.
The social network allows the user to customize the time allowed to answer the question, however Musk has maintained the default option whereby a period of 24 hours is given to participate.
This Friday, Musk acknowledged that the "had not yet been taken", although the profiles of actress and humorist Kathy Griffin, psychologist Jordan Peterson and conservative satirical news portal Babylon Bee had been restored.
Trump's profile on the social network of the blue bird was suspended after the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when a mob of ultranationalists stormed the US Parliament to try to prevent the transfer of power to the president-elect, Joe Biden, considering that the elections had been rigged.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [luˈiz iˈnasju ˈlulɐ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ]
_(cropped).jpg)
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [luˈiz iˈnasju ˈlulɐ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ] (
listen); born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, he was the 35th president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010. After winning the 2022 Brazilian general election, he will be sworn in on 1 January 2023 as the 39th president of Brazil, succeeding Jair Bolsonaro. Of working-class origin, he migrated as a child from Pernambuco to São Paulo with his family. He began his career as a metalworker and trade unionist. During the military dictatorship in Brazil, he led major workers' strikes between 1978 and 1980, and helped start the Workers' Party in 1980, during Brazil's political opening. Lula was one of the main leaders of the Diretas Já movement which demanded democratic elections. In the 1986 Brazilian legislative election, he was elected as a federal deputy in the state of São Paulo with the most votes nationwide. He ran his first major campaign in the 1989 Brazilian presidential election, losing in the second round to Fernando Collor de Mello. He ran twice more in the 1994 and 1998 presidential elections, losing both elections in the first round to Fernando Henrique Cardoso. He won the 2002 Brazilian presidential election, defeating José Serra in the second round. He was reelected in the 2006 Brazilian presidential election, beating Geraldo Alckmin in the second round.
Described as left-wing, Lula's first presidency, which coincided with the first pink tide in the region, was marked by the consolidation of social programs like Bolsa Família and Fome Zero, leading Brazil to leave the UN's Hunger Map. During his two terms in office, he undertook radical reforms, leading to growth in GDP, a reduction in public debt and inflation, and helping 20 million Brazilians escape poverty. Poverty, inequality, illiteracy, unemployment, infant mortality, and child labor rates fell significantly, while the minimum wage and average income increased, and access to school, university, and health care were expanded. He played a prominent role in foreign policy, on a regional level (as part of the BRICS) and as part of global trade and environmental negotiations. Lula was considered one of the most popular politicians in the history of Brazil and was one of the most popular in the world while president. His first term was marked by numerous scandals, notably the Mensalão scandal and Escândalo dos Sanguessugas. After the 2010 Brazilian general election, he was succeeded by his former Chief of Staff, Dilma Rousseff.
After his first presidency, Lula remained active in the political scene and began giving lectures in Brazil and abroad. In 2016, he was appointed as Rousseff's Chief of Staff, but the appointment was suspended by the Supreme Federal Court. In July 2017, Lula was convicted on charges of money laundering and corruption in a controversial trial, and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. The federal judge of the case, Sergio Moro, later became Minister of Justice and Public Security in Bolsonaro's government. After an unsuccessful appeal, Lula was arrested in April 2018 and spent 580 days in jail. Lula attempted to run in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election but was disqualified under Brazil's Ficha Limpa law. In November 2019, the Supreme Federal Court ruled that incarcerations with pending appeals were unlawful and Lula was released from prison as a result. In March 2021, Supreme Federal Court Justice Edson Fachin ruled that all of Lula's convictions must be nullified because he was tried by a court that did not have proper jurisdiction over his case. Fachin's ruling, which was confirmed by other Supreme Court Justices in April 2021, restored Lula's political rights.[27] The Supreme Federal Court ruled later in March 2021 that judge Moro, who oversaw his corruption trial, was biased.[28] All of the cases Moro had brought against Lula were annulled by 24 June 2021. Following the court ruling, Lula was legally allowed to run for president again in the 2022 elections, and defeated Bolsonaro in the runoff.
| President-elect of Brazil | |
|---|---|
| Assuming office 1 January 2023 |
|
| Vice President | Geraldo Alckmin (elect) |
| Succeeding | Jair Bolsonaro |
| President of Brazil | |
| In office 1 January 2003 – 31 December 2010 |
|
| Vice President | José Alencar |
| Preceded by | Fernando Henrique Cardoso |
| Succeeded by | Dilma Rousseff |
| National President of the Workers' Party | |
| In office 15 July 1990 – 24 January 1994 |
|
| Preceded by | Luiz Gushiken |
| Succeeded by | Rui Falcão |
| In office 9 August 1980 – 17 January 1988 |
|
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Olívio Dutra |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 1 February 1987 – 1 February 1991 |
|
| Constituency | São Paulo |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Luiz Inácio da Silva
27 October 1945 Caetés, Pernambuco, Brazil |
| Political party | PT (1980–present) |
| Spouses |
Maria de Lurdes Ribeiro
(m. 1969; died 1971) |
| Children | 5 |
| Residence(s) | São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Education | National Service for Industrial Training |
| Occupation | Metalworker, trade unionist |
| Signature |  |
| Website | lula |
Brazil's former president Lula walks free from prison after supreme court ruling
- Workers’ party leader had been held for 580 days for corruption
- Court rules incarceration unlawful until appeals exhausted
- Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been released from prison after a supreme court ruling that delighted his supporters and infuriated followers of the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula, who was serving a 12-year corruption sentence, was greeted by hundreds of supporters wearing red vests emblazoned with his face outside the federal police headquarters in the city of Curitiba, where he had been imprisoned for 580 days.
In a speech to the crowd, Lula thanked party militants who had camped outside throughout his imprisonment, and attacked the “rotten side” of the police, prosecutors, tax office and justice system for jailing him.
“They did not imprison a man. They tried to kill an idea,” he said. “Brazil did not improve, Brazil got worse. The people are going hungry. The people are unemployed. The people do not have formal jobs. People are working for Uber – they’re riding bikes to deliver pizzas.”
-
Lula was imprisoned in April 2018 after a sentence for corruption and money laundering handed down by the controversial judge Sergio Moro was upheld by an appeal court. He has always proclaimed his innocence and argued the case against him was politically motivated.
On Thursday, Brazil’s supreme court ruled defendants could only be imprisoned after all appeals to higher courts had been exhausted, paving the way for Lula and another 5,000 prisoners to be freed.
- The decision followed revelations on investigative website the Intercept Brasil that Moro had colluded with prosecutors leading the sweeping corruption investigation, known as Operation Car Wash, into bribes and kickbacks at the state oil company Petrobras that imprisoned Lula, powerful business leaders, middlemen and politicians from his Workers’ party and its political allies.
-
Polls had showed Lula was leading in last year’s presidential election, but the conviction removed him from the race, giving Bolsonaro a clear run.
Bolsonaro then named Moro his justice minister, heightening the sense of injustice. The president appeared to recognize the former judge’s contribution in a speech on Friday. “If he hadn’t accomplished his mission, I wouldn’t be here either,” Bolsonaro said.
As president from 2003 to 2010, Lula presided over an extraordinary period of economic growth and reduction of inequality as innovative cash transfer schemes took tens of millions out of poverty. Even in prison he has cast a long shadow over Brazilian politics – and his release is only likely to widen bitter political divides.
“A free Lula increases polarisation, which could increase Bolsonaro’s support,” said Maurício Santoro, a professor of international relations at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. “On the other hand, his charisma and political ability will make the opposition more effective against Bolsonaro. As leader of the opposition, Lula has more international prestige than the president.”
Bolsonaro did not immediately react to Lula’s release, but Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s congressman son, tweeted that leftists celebrating the news were “shitting on society’s head”.
Controversy swirled around the supreme court decision – the third time it had changed its mind on the issue in 10 years. Richer Brazilians have traditionally dragged out legal processes to remain at liberty until their crimes became erased by the statute of limitations.
Others imprisoned in the same corruption investigation have also requested release – including Lula’s former chief of staff, José Dirceu, João Vaccari Neto, the party’s former treasurer, and Renato Duque, a Petrobras executive embroiled in the scandal.
Nor are Lula’s legal problems over – he faces eight other cases, according to the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. His lawyers have called this legal blitzkrieg “lawfare”. In one case, he was handed a 12-year, 11-month sentence over his alleged ownership of a country house – a decision the appeal court will consider next week. Brazil’s Congress is also considering measures that could effectively revert the supreme court’s decision.
But Lula was keen to show he had lost none of his fighting spirit. Earlier on Friday, his official Twitter account posted a video of him working out to the soundtrack from Rocky.
Lula: Brazil ex-president's corruption convictions annulled
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Published
-
A Supreme Court judge in Brazil has annulled ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's corruption convictions, opening a path to a possible run for the presidency in 2022.
He was convicted following an investigation into a huge bribery scandal, dubbed Operation Car Wash,.
But Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin said the court that had convicted Lula had lacked the necessary jurisdiction.
The prosecutor-general's office said it would appeal against the annulment.
Why does it matter?
Lula, who governed Brazil between 2003 and 2010, is a towering figure in left-wing politics in Brazil and beyond.
He is also the most senior politician to have been convicted as part of Operation Car Wash, the corruption scandal which brought down dozens of politician and business leaders across the country but which by some - including Lula - has been denounced as a political witch hunt.
Media caption, Lula spoke to the BBC from prison in 2019
After his conviction was upheld on appeal, Lula was banned from the presidential race.
The ban came just over a month before the first round of the election and the man who replaced Lula as the candidate for the Workers' Party, Fernando Haddad, did not have the same recognition or popularity and was defeated by the far-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro.
Justice Fachin's decision could clear the way for Lula to run for the presidency in 2022, where his main rival would likely be Mr Bolsonaro, who is widely expected to run for a second term in office.
An opinion poll conducted by Ipec on Sunday suggested Lula would gain more votes than Mr Bolsonaro - the only politician to do so.
Analysis by Katy Watson South American Correspondent
A lot could happen between now and 2022 - no more so than in Brazil where courts famously go back and forth on the finer detail - but if Lula does run in 2022, it's set to be an explosive campaign - one that many experts feel has kicked off today.
Jair Bolsonaro is expected to run for re-election and if Lula faces him, it would divide the country much like the 2018 elections. Although Lula couldn't run in the end, Bolsonaro was propelled to power by many Brazilians' hatred of him and his Workers' Party.
Politics was - and still is - polarised. While Lula remains very popular, he's seen by his detractors as a symbol of corruption at the very top. The difference this time of course is Covid-19 - in recent months, Jair Bolsonaro has been heavily criticised for his handling of the pandemic and the economy is struggling - that might alter his chances of victory.
No matter what, the two men are set to dominate politics in the months to come.
Why was Lula's conviction annulled?
Justice Fachin was responding to a request by Lula's lawyer who questioned whether the court that convicted Lula had jurisdiction to try him.
Mr Fachin agreed with Lula's lawyers that the court located in the city of Curitiba, in Paraná state, should not have tried Lula because the crimes he was accused of did not take place in that state.
At the time of the alleged crimes, Lula was president and resided in the capital, Brasilia. Justice Fachin said the cases against him should therefore be handled by a court in that city.
He annulled four corruption cases against Lula and ordered they be retried in Brasilia.
What does this mean for Lula?
The 75-year-old is free to run for political office - for now at least.
Despite Lula's lawyers saying the decision was a vindication "of his innocence", Mr Fachin did not make any kind of ruling on whether the former president was guilty or not of the corruption charges.
It just means that the cases against Lula are going back to square one. So he could be convicted again.
Can the decision be overturned?
Yes, two things can happen.
- The appeal the prosecutor-general office plans to lodge could be upheld by the Supreme Court, leading to a reversal of Justice Fachin's decision.
- If Lula is convicted and that conviction is upheld on appeal before the presidential election in October 2022, Lula would again be barred from running for office.
However, legal experts told BBC News Brasil that they deemed a reversal of Justice Fachin's decision unlikely as his arguments for declaring that the Paraná court had no jurisdiction were in line with previous Supreme Court decisions.
Given the short time span between now and the election and the slow workings of Brazilian courts, it also seems unlikely that Lula would be convicted and that conviction confirmed on appeal before October 2022.
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Bolsonaro supporters hold encampments in front of barracks to call for a coup d’état
The state and federal authorities - Ministry of Defense or Public Security - have not provided data on the number of people attending these rallies or on how many protest points are active, according to the newspaper 'Estadao'.
The demonstrators are camped to ask for "relief" and have punctually carried out blockades and roadblocks, as reported by the Federal Traffic Police.
Reports from the Military Police, the Civil Police and the Federal Police point to a majority presence of elderly people, with hardly any young people, and state that they are financed by politicians, policemen, trade unionists and rural workers.
"We are staying here until the Armed Forces prevent the real coup, which is the inauguration of Lula", explained Luiz, one of the demonstrators gathered in front of the Eastern Military Command, in the center of Rio de Janeiro.
The encampments are plagued with tarpaulins and gazebos and adorned with banners with slogans such as "Armed Forces, save Brazil", "We want clean elections" or "The people are camping so that the thief does not go up the ramp" in reference to the ramp of the Planalto Palace, presidential headquarters.
Stops to sing the national anthem are common and the Brazilian national soccer team t-shirts, symbol of Bolsonaro's campaign, abound.
"If Bolsonaro doesn't speak, we will be robbed," added another man who accuses Lula's Workers' Party of wanting to confiscate the population's assets. "God willing this will end before the World Cup," has indicated another participant, in reference to the start of the World Cup in Qatar this Sunday, November 20.
Pelosi assures that the attack on her husband was not a reason to resign from the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives.
Regarding her husband's recovery, Pelosi reported that he is progressing favorably and "is doing well", although she stressed that the most traumatic part of the situation was that the assault took place in his private home in San Francisco.
On a personal level, she acknowledged feeling guilty because her husband was the main victim of an assault that, predictably, was aimed at her, since the attacker was always asking "Where is Nancy?
"If he had fallen, slipped on the ice or had an accident and hurt his head, that would be horrible, but for it to be an assault against him because they were looking for me.... They call it 'survivor's guilt' or something like that," he admitted.
Pelosi announced her resignation from the leadership of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives on Thursday, just hours after the victory of the Republicans in the Lower House was certified.
The representative confirmed that she would continue to serve as a congresswoman "speaking for the people of San Francisco," but will not run for re-election to the Democratic leadership. "The time has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I respect so much," she said.
US – US Justice Department appoints independent prosecutor to investigate Donald Trump
"Based on recent developments, including the former president's announcement that he will be a candidate for president in the upcoming election and the incumbent president's stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a prosecutor," Garland said.
Smith must now investigate the possible criminal implications that Trump could face after an FBI operative discovered in his luxurious mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, a remarkable amount of classified documents related to the defense of the United States.
Likewise, the independent prosecutor will also analyze the role of the former president in the ignominious afternoon of January 6, 2021, when a mob of ultra-nationalist hotheads stormed the Capitol in Washington to try to stop the transfer of power to the newly elected president, Joe Biden, considering that the elections were rigged.
According to witnesses consulted by the aforementioned U.S. television network, Smith's main objective in leading both investigations is to gather more information and bring the testimony of witnesses before a federal grand jury in the coming weeks.
Smith has stressed that his main task will be to carry out these investigations "independently and based on the best traditions of the Department of Justice". "I will exercise independent judgment and move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate," he said.
However, the announcement has not been well received by former President Trump, who, in statements to the conservative Fox network, has assured that he "will not participate" in the investigations led by Smith, as he is not willing to collaborate with the "worst politicization of American Justice".
The former president has defended that his innocence has already been demonstrated repeatedly over the past few years, as he has overcome up to two 'impeachment' (impeachment) and former special prosecutor Robert Mueller failed to prove the alleged collusion of Trump.
Finally, Trump has been convinced that this announcement by the Justice Department comes just now, a few days after the former president announced his candidacy for the 2024 elections, because he is the one who leads "all the polls" among voters of "both parties".
"Hunter Biden is a criminal many times and nothing happens to him. Joe Biden is a criminal many times, and nothing happens to him (...) It is unfair to the country and to the Republican Party (...) The party has to stand up and fight," he concluded.
Ukrainian deputy defense minister estimates that the offensive in Crimea could take place by the end of December
The deputy minister has assured in this regard that peace talks with the Kremlin can only occur when Russia has abandoned "every inch of Ukraine", Crimean peninsula included.
A scenario that, according to the deputy minister, has the full support of the Ukrainian people. "The existing consensus in Ukrainian society is that we have to go all the way, no matter what kind of scenario is on the table," he added in reference to the possible use of weapons of mass destruction by Russia.
"The possibility is remote, but it would be a drama," Havrilov has indicated about a nuclear option that Russia has ruled out on numerous occasions before accusing Ukraine and its allies of fueling that kind of rhetoric.
"People have paid a lot of blood, a lot of efforts for what we have already achieved and everyone knows that any delay is just the continuation of this war against Ukraine's existence as a nation," he has indicated.
Russia warns that «Zelenski and his henchmen» will be held accountable for POW deaths
The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday accused Ukrainian military of the execution of at least a dozen prisoners of war captured in images that it denounced as a "methodical and intentional murder".
Although the Ministry's statement does not provide details at the moment about the executions, its publication coincides with a complaint also made Friday by pro-Russian authorities in the Donetsk region about a possible massacre of Russian servicemen in the town of Makivka, just east of the capital.
In this context, the Russian Foreign Ministry has appealed to international bodies to "condemn this heinous crime" and to launch a "thorough" investigation so that these alleged executions do not go unpunished.
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