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Here is the Brazil World Cup Schedule 2014. The 2014 Brazil World Cup kicks off on June 12th, 2014 in Sao Paulo.
The Semi Final games will take place in Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo.
The 3rd Place game will take place in Brasilia, and the final game will
be in Rio de Janeiro. |
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Brazil World Cup Schedule – 2014
Scanners bought for Rs 1bn inoperative: Nisar
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that the scanners which were bought for Rs 1 billion are inoperative as they are not capable of identifying explosives.
Talking to media after visiting the site of bomb explosion in Islamabad that claimed 22 lives, Nisar said week and poor labourers were targeted in the explosion.
He said that the issue of terrorism could not be overcome without acquiring sophisticated technology. It is not possible for police to check each truck on the routes, he explained.
Accountability could not be done through bullet or gun, the minister added.
At Least 21 Killed, dozens injured in islamabad blast
Locals and law enforcement gathered at the Sabzi Mandi blast siteISLAMABAD: At least 21 people were killed and 116 injured, some critically, on Wednesday when an explosion occurred behind the Metro Shopping center in the Sabzi Mandi area of the capital city
Police and rescue teams rushed to the site of the incident after the explosion occurred.
Initial reports suggest that the explosive material was planted inside a box containing fruits.
Police said that a remote controlled bomb containing five kilograms of explosive material was used in the blast.
The blast occurred at a time when labourers and early morning shoppers were busy purchasing fruits.
Police initiated a search operation and cordoned off the area.
Moreover, police arrested a 'suspicious' person from the location of the blast. Sabzi Mandi is situated in the sector I-11 of the capital city and a kachi abadi of Afghan nationals is also located in the same sector.
Earlier, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Vice Chancellor Prof. Javed Akram said that 31 injured in the blast were given medical treatment in the hospital and the death toll was likely to increase.
Later, spokesperson Pims Dr. Ayesha said the earlier provided death toll was incorrect adding that 19 dead bodies and 73 wounded were brought to the hospital.
Following the attack, emergency had been declared in the hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Also, Pims hospital made an information desk which would provide information related to dead bodies and the wounded persons.
The attack occurred just prior to the Corps Commanders’ Conference which was held today.
TTP condemns attack
TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid condemned the blast in the capital city, adding that the death of civilians in the attack was regrettable.
The spokesman also denounced yesterday’s bomb explosion inside a train in Sibi which had claimed 17 lives.
Moreover, Shahid said it was possible that some “hidden hands” were involved in the attacks.
Intelligence warned of attacks
The attack came a day before the April 10 ceasefire by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ends.
Intelligence sources had first alerted the police and government officials on April 3, 2014 that possible terrorist attacks in Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta were being planned by militants who oppose the peace talks between government and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“Law enforcing agencies will be the main target of the terrorists, and in the case of their failure, any other official installation or public place,” one official said.
“TTP will choose the targets and the informal groups under its umbrella will provide support to the Ansarul Hind activists with weapons and other materials,” he added.
Security sources say the scenario looks similar to the terrorist attacks that quickly followed the announcement of a month-long ceasefire by the TTP last month. The most audacious of them was the bomb-and-gun attack on the district courts complex in Islamabad on March 3, which was claimed by Ahrarul Hind group.
Maria Miller quits as culture secretary after expenses row
Maria Miller: "I wish I could have stayed"
Maria Miller has denied
being forced to stand down as culture secretary after a damaging row
about her expenses, insisting it was her decision.
"I take full responsibility for my decision to resign. I think it's the right thing to do," she said. Appearing close to tears, she said the row had become an "enormous distraction" from "the incredible achievements of this government".
Conservative MP Sajid Javid is to replace her as culture secretary.
The MP for Bromsgrove will be promoted from his current role as Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
But Prime Minister David Cameron said he hoped Mrs Miller would return to the cabinet "in due course".
Mrs Miller was cleared of funding a home for her parents at taxpayers' expense, but was told to repay £5,800 of the expenses she claimed.
The independent parliamentary commissioner for standards had previously recommended she repay £45,000.
But the lower sum was approved by the Commons Standards Committee, which has the final say on whether to accept the commissioner's recommendations - a decision which sparked a backlash across the political spectrum and calls for changes in how complaints against MPs are investigated.
'Enormous distraction'
“Start Quote
Nick Robinson BBC political editorThis decision is a defeat for a minister who believes she has been found not guilty on the central charge of asking the taxpayer to pay for a home for her elderly parents”
The committee also criticised her
"attitude" during the investigation, which it ruled was a breach of the
parliamentary code of conduct.
Mrs Miller apologised in the Commons, but was criticised for the brevity of the statement she made.David Cameron's official spokesman said the PM and Mrs Miller discussed her future on Tuesday night and her resignation was confirmed on Wednesday morning.
In a TV interview, she dismissed speculation that she had been pushed into resigning by Downing Street.
"I was cleared of the central allegation made about me by a Labour MP," she said.
"I hoped that I could stay, but it has become clear to me over the last few days that this has become an enormous distraction, and it's not right that I'm detracting from the incredible achievements of this government.
"I've been a member of the Conservative Party for 30 years.
"I continue to support, obviously, my colleagues here in Parliament, the government, and above all the prime minister."
Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was "saddened" by the news.
"She worked incredibly hard as part of a team," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "She has done some brave and right things, not least that equal marriage is now on the statute book."
Mr Gove, a former journalist, said he "would not criticise the press", but said: "Over the course of the a last couple of days the pressure on Maria Miller grew more intense.
Mr Gove said politicians still needed to reflect on the level of public anger about expenses
He also commended Mr Cameron's defence of Mrs Miller, arguing that his "loyalty, that desire to think the best of those who work with him, is a virtue".
"I don't think his judgement has been flawed," he said.
It comes a day before Parliament breaks for its Easter recess and ahead of a session of Prime Minister's Questions at which Mr Cameron was expected to come under pressure over the row.
'Incandescent' Labour MP John Mann, whose complaint sparked the investigation into Mrs Miller's expenses, welcomed her resignation.
"My reaction is it's about time too... Maria Miller should have resigned immediately and when she didn't resign, David Cameron should have shown a bit of leadership and he should have sacked her," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"There is a difference between loyalty and blind loyalty," he continued later.
Voters were "incandescent" about Mrs Miller's expenses claims and Mr Cameron's "failure to act" had been "incomprehensible to most people", Mr Mann said.
He also said that criticism of the media's role in the affair was "total rubbish".
Labour MP John Mann said Maria Miller should have resigned "days ago"
"There's a word missing in British politics these days and that's honour, and I would define honour as: if you've done something wrong, as a cabinet minister, you resign - and if you don't resign you get sacked."
'Devastated' Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: "Labour is making much of this today, but let's face it they have MPs who have gone to jail - which is something that hasn't happened on our side - for wrongdoing."
Because Mrs Miller's case related to claims made between 2005 and 2009, before the expenses system was reformed, the investigation was governed by the rules which were in place at the time, Mr Shapps said, with MPs seen to be "judging themselves".
This was a discredited system, Mr Shapps said, adding: "In future that is resolved by the fact that it all goes now to an independent body in the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, that there is a lower tier tribunal which would look after these cases and can make judgements that the public can have confidence in. It's long overdue."
Maria Miller: "I fully accept the recommendations of the committee and thank them for bringing this matter to an end"
She also acknowledged that her role in "implementing the recommendations made by Lord Justice Leveson on the future of media regulation, following the phone hacking scandals, would always be controversial for the press".
The prime minister said he was sorry to receive Mrs Miller's resignation but accepted her decision.
"I think it is important to be clear that the Committee on Standards cleared you of the unfounded allegations made against you, a point which has been lost in much of the comment in recent days," he wrote.
Are suspected North Korean drones a threat to South Korea?
The wreckage of a crashed unmanned aerial vehicle on a mountain in Samcheok, South Korea on April 6, 2014.
Painted sky-blue, these small flying machines may look like toy
planes but they have South Korea scrambling to secure its airspace.
In recent weeks, South Korea's defense ministry has discovered three crashed unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) that it believes belong to Pyongyang. Equipped with
Japanese-made digital cameras, the drones captured images of important
military installations and South Korea's presidential office in Seoul,
according to local media reports.
South Korea says the
aircraft are a sign of Pyongyang's heightened surveillance that should
be taken seriously, and yet officials and experts suggest the drones
pose little, if any, real threat.
"The small drones,
presumed to have come from North Korea, don't really have great military
significance," a spokesperson for South Korea's defense ministry, Kim
Min-seok told reporters on
"Even if they are to be
used for future attacks,(they) can only carry 2-3 kilograms of TNT and
cannot cause a huge (amount of) damage," he said.
The machines are made of polycarbonate, which is difficult to detect with radar, according to South Korea's Yonhap
news agency. The vehicle, which flies at an average speed of about 110
km per hour at an altitude of 1.3 km, is controlled by a basic
transmission system but isn't sophisticated enough to send images
instantaneously.
"Even if it is used for
reconnaissance with a camera attached, the quality will be no better
than information collected by commercial satellites," said Kim.
"Also, there is a limit
to how much it can be utilized in operations because they don't have (a)
real-time transmission function."
Of the three drones, two have turned up images of targets of military significance -- strategically important islands near the Demilitarized Zone, and the Blue House, residence and office of South Korea's President Park Keun Hye.
The data from the third
drone, which had been found by a wild ginseng digger, could not be
analyzed as its discoverer had wiped the camera's memory card for his
own use, the Korea Times reported.
According to James Hardy, the Asia Pacific editor of IHS Jane's Defence Weekly magazine, this type of UAV can only travel limited distances.
"It has quite a small
range, it doesn't have very long endurance so it would only be up there
for a few hours. You would use those to see what the other guys are
doing in a battlefield environment. So it's very useful in terms of
knowing what's going on behind the next hill, or the next mountain or
even over the other side of a wall."
Most armies have unmanned vehicles like these to varying degrees, says Hardy, but they're not designed to be armed.
"They're very much
closely built off a remote-controlled aircraft that you can buy in a toy
store. They're just a militarized version of that," Hardy said.
Flying bombs?
North Korea has flaunted
similar, larger UAVs at military parades in recent years. These target
drones are designed to test how well pilots can shoot at a moving
object, or the accuracy of missiles. But it seems the North Koreans have
reverse-engineered them with explosives, says Hardy.
"The way in which those
have been used or have been modified by some countries is that they put
an explosive in the front, so they do turn it into a flying bomb or a
flying missile. So it's got a one-way mission -- you can fly it
somewhere and then you can crash it."
Video footage shows
North Korean exercises uses them for this purpose, but it's an expensive
way to build a bomb, says Hardy. "You get one use out of it."
The explosion, depending
on the charge and the level of sophistication of the charge, would be
only big enough to take out a single vehicle or a ship.
"UAVs are a major part
of the modern battlefield. We just have to look at how the U.S. uses
them in Pakistan and Yemen and Afghanistan, but the UAVs that the U.S.
is using are significantly more sophisticated. There's no comparison
really."
Some analysts have also
suggested North Korea could use UAVs to carry out a chemical or
biological attack on the South. But Hardy doubts it would come to that.
"If North Korea did a
chemical or biological attack on South Korea in any kind of situation,
the United States and South Korea would respond with a massive amount of
force...You would have the world's largest military on your doorstep
very quickly."
South Korea bolsters air defense network
The discovery of the
drones comes amid mounting tensions across the 38th parallel. Annual
U.S.-South Korean joint military drills that ended on April 7, drew
criticism from North Korea, which views the exercises as "dress
rehearsals for invasion," according to James Person, coordinator of the
North Korean International Documentation Project at the Woodrow Wilson
Center.
Two weeks ago, Pyongyang fired two mid-range ballistics missiles off its eastern coast, in apparent response to the drills. Days later, the two sides exchanged hundreds of shells
across the Northern Limit Line, their disputed maritime border, after
North Korea warned it was preparing to test another nuclear device.
"This time of year is provocation season," says Hardy.
"It's all good stuff
because it allows the North Koreans to do something provocative and
slightly annoying which might embarrass South Koreans, but it's not
provocative enough to create a proper military response."
But South Korea is taking precautions to secure its airspace.
In a weekly meeting with
senior aides Monday, South Korea's President Park Keun Hye warned that
insecurities among many citizens, especially those living near the
border, are growing in light of the recent provocations from North
Korea.
"Drones suspected of
belonging to North Korea appeared to have spied in all directions, but
our military authorities were completely in the dark about this," she
said. "I think there are problems with the air defense and ground
reconnaissance systems.
"We should view it
seriously that North Korea has fired missiles and strengthened
reconnaissance. To prepare for the possibility of additional
provocations, we need to come up with measures to immediately block and
repel any provocations."
On Monday, South Korea's
military launched an expansive search for further drones. Two days
later, a spokesperson for the defense ministry told CNN that South Korea
plans to purchase low-altitude radar to improve the country's ability
to detect small UAVs. He declined to say how many or where the radar
would come from.
South Korea's own
reconnaissance drone program includes a deal to buy four Global Hawk
UAVs from Northrop Grunman Corp for over $800 million.
Person, from the Woodrow
Wilson Center says that if the drones are from North Korea, it is a
violation of the armistice agreement and South Korea should be concerned
that its airspace was violated. "But given just how low-tech these
things are, I don't think South Korean officials are so very concerned
right now," he said.
The football showpiece promises the best of the beautiful game – but building work is behind schedule and protests are growing at the amount of public money spent
Protesters in São Paulo demonstrate against the public money spent on the forthcoming World Cup Photo: GETTY
6:30AM GMT 05 Mar 2014
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With just 99 days left until the start of the 2014 World Cup, the host nation
Brazil has an image problem. For all the complexities it faces as a
developing country, with 200 million people living in vastly differing
circumstances, it finds itself reduced frequently to its most famous assets:
football, carnival, beaches and women.
There will have been little surprise outside Brazil when sports brand Adidas
launched two World Cup T-shirts that focused on the curves of the female
form, a laddish nod to the possible benefits of travelling to the tournament
this summer – one of them carried the slogan “Lookin’ to Score” next to a
cartoon of a bikini-clad girl on a beach; the other read “I love Brazil”
with a heart resembling the upside-down buttocks of a woman wearing a thong.
The Brazilian authorities responded indignantly, and the company withdrew the
T-shirts from sale last week. Yet there are contradictions in the national
image at every turn. While appearing horrified at the sexism perpetuated by
Adidas – the government denounced the designs as playing to sexualised
stereotypes – the same country celebrated carnival this week with the main
TV network, Globo, using a naked female samba dancer as its muse.
The “Globeleza” – based on the network’s name and beleza, meaning beauty – is
elected by viewers annually, her modesty protected only by some body paint
and glitter. And while the four-day bacchanal was celebrated on the streets
of Rio de Janeiro with the usual fervour, stereotypical images of a
colourful and vibrant party overshadowed a street cleaners’ strike that left
a tide of rubbish across the city.
But holding the World Cup in Brazil ought to be the perfect match, the event
that unites the nation and heals the cracks. This is the country that has
won the World Cup five times, that gave us the talents of Pele, Zico and
Ronaldo, and where football is often described in religious terms.
“Brazil is the mecca of football,” Jérôme Valcke, Fifa secretary general, said
last week after a local organising committee (LOC) board meeting.
Moreover, when the decision to make Brazil the host was announced in 2007, the economy was booming, with annual growth of more than five per cent. Under the then president Lula da Silva, the Bolsa Familia welfare programme was lifting millions out of extreme poverty and the country was thriving, grouped with Russia, India and China as one of the fast-developing Bric economies.
But as the World Cup edged closer, the economy stalled, growing by just 2.3 per cent last year. Preparations for the tournament have fallen so far behind schedule that Fifa has considered moving matches away from one of the 12 host cities. Two of the World Cup stadiums are unlikely to be finished until mid-May, a month before the event starts, throwing into chaos plans for test events, and transport projects have been delayed or cancelled.
“From what I hear abroad, they are talking about our very same doubts, delays, demonstrations, security – all this is very natural,” said Ronaldo, the former striker and Brazil’s World Cup poster boy, who is a member of the LOC board. “There was uncertainty around the Winter Olympics and Sochi and we know the event was very successful. We hope the same will happen here, it’s a lot of work. Until the end of the World Cup, I’ll keep on fighting to convince people that it is a wonderful project for all of us in Brazil.”
But for all Ronaldo’s optimism, the World Cup has caused divisions within a rapidly changing and growing country. Last summer’s Confederations Cup, which acted as a dress rehearsal and should have been the starting gun for the countdown to the biggest footballing party in the world, was instead the backdrop to the biggest protest movement in a generation.
The demonstrations that flared in cities across Brazil were sparked by a 20 centavos (six pence) rise in bus fares, which coincided with massive investment in the World Cup, a slowdown in the economy and a rise in the cost of living. The proposed increase would have hit the poor hardest in a country where the minimum wage is less than £200 a month and many of the working classes face long bus commutes to cities from deprived suburbs.
“The protests against the World Cup really bother the government because they want to sell the image abroad that we have no problems,” said Paulo Ventura, a student from São Paulo. “The aim is to show those outside Brazil that while we have many problems in various areas, our illustrious government is spending an absurd amount on the World Cup.”
Among the demands from the protesters were free public transport, greater public spending on education and health care, and better security. And they soon became targeted at the World Cup: banners reading “Fifa Go Home” and “There Won’t Be a World Cup” became a familiar sight.
“People say Brazil is an emerging country, but it’s emerging from nothing,” says Luciano Cardoso, a residents’ association leader. “We’re 88th in the world for education. In my opinion, the World Cup gives no benefits at all because 70 per cent of the spending on works is public money. So why didn’t they do it before if they had so much money to invest, to give to Fifa, as a donation?”
There are concerns within Fifa that protests will start again during the World Cup, testing the £475 million security operation that will see 170,000 troops, police and security staff on the streets. Popular support for hosting the tournament has fallen from almost 80 per cent in November 2008 to around 50 per cent last month, according to figures from the research institute Datafolha – though those in favour of protests during the competition are less than a third.
“Of course we would like the World Cup. Brazil loves football. Some people don’t like football but the majority like it,” says Claudia Favaro, representative of the Popular Committee in Porto Alegre, one of the host cities, which campaigns against abuses linked to the World Cup. Popular Committees were set up in each of the 12 host cities to monitor preparations for the tournament and their impact on human rights, including discrimination against the poor.
Many of the upgrades to transport infrastructure and stadiums have been carried out to meet Fifa standards, a requirement that has annoyed many who believe it comes at the cost of other priorities such as health care and education.
“The problem is the 'Fifa standard’,” Favaro says. “It doesn’t give anything back to the country. The organisation of a country is down to the state, to the government. But they put public money into delivering a standard that Fifa requires. Our stadiums are excellent, but they have to have everyone seated, everything formal.”
Among the grievances are the evictions required to make way for infrastructure, often affecting some of the 11 million people who live in favelas, or informal shanty-type communities. Compensation of £13,000 from the government in Porto Alegre has left many out of pocket, with an equivalent property now costing between £17,500 and £20,000.
“It’s very clear that the human rights legacy was not a real concern,” says Raquel Rolnik, UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing and a professor at the University of Sao Paulo. And the perceived legacy of the World Cup could prove decisive when Brazilians go to the polls in October. President Dilma Rousseff is expected to seek a second term, with her approval rating currently at 55 per cent after dropping to 30 per cent during last summer’s protests.
She has dubbed this year’s event the “Cup of Cups” in the hope of using a successful showpiece as a springboard for election success. “Brazilians are ready to show that they know how to receive tourists and contribute to make this the Cup of Cups,” she said, in a message marking the 100 days milestone.
Meanwhile in Rio, “Imagina na Copa” – which translates as “imagine this during the World Cup” – has become the catchphrase of taxi drivers, directed at all manner of shortcomings, including road works and traffic jams. They will take some persuading that a football tournament can change a nation’s fortunes.
Moreover, when the decision to make Brazil the host was announced in 2007, the economy was booming, with annual growth of more than five per cent. Under the then president Lula da Silva, the Bolsa Familia welfare programme was lifting millions out of extreme poverty and the country was thriving, grouped with Russia, India and China as one of the fast-developing Bric economies.
But as the World Cup edged closer, the economy stalled, growing by just 2.3 per cent last year. Preparations for the tournament have fallen so far behind schedule that Fifa has considered moving matches away from one of the 12 host cities. Two of the World Cup stadiums are unlikely to be finished until mid-May, a month before the event starts, throwing into chaos plans for test events, and transport projects have been delayed or cancelled.
“From what I hear abroad, they are talking about our very same doubts, delays, demonstrations, security – all this is very natural,” said Ronaldo, the former striker and Brazil’s World Cup poster boy, who is a member of the LOC board. “There was uncertainty around the Winter Olympics and Sochi and we know the event was very successful. We hope the same will happen here, it’s a lot of work. Until the end of the World Cup, I’ll keep on fighting to convince people that it is a wonderful project for all of us in Brazil.”
But for all Ronaldo’s optimism, the World Cup has caused divisions within a rapidly changing and growing country. Last summer’s Confederations Cup, which acted as a dress rehearsal and should have been the starting gun for the countdown to the biggest footballing party in the world, was instead the backdrop to the biggest protest movement in a generation.
The demonstrations that flared in cities across Brazil were sparked by a 20 centavos (six pence) rise in bus fares, which coincided with massive investment in the World Cup, a slowdown in the economy and a rise in the cost of living. The proposed increase would have hit the poor hardest in a country where the minimum wage is less than £200 a month and many of the working classes face long bus commutes to cities from deprived suburbs.
“The protests against the World Cup really bother the government because they want to sell the image abroad that we have no problems,” said Paulo Ventura, a student from São Paulo. “The aim is to show those outside Brazil that while we have many problems in various areas, our illustrious government is spending an absurd amount on the World Cup.”
Among the demands from the protesters were free public transport, greater public spending on education and health care, and better security. And they soon became targeted at the World Cup: banners reading “Fifa Go Home” and “There Won’t Be a World Cup” became a familiar sight.
“People say Brazil is an emerging country, but it’s emerging from nothing,” says Luciano Cardoso, a residents’ association leader. “We’re 88th in the world for education. In my opinion, the World Cup gives no benefits at all because 70 per cent of the spending on works is public money. So why didn’t they do it before if they had so much money to invest, to give to Fifa, as a donation?”
There are concerns within Fifa that protests will start again during the World Cup, testing the £475 million security operation that will see 170,000 troops, police and security staff on the streets. Popular support for hosting the tournament has fallen from almost 80 per cent in November 2008 to around 50 per cent last month, according to figures from the research institute Datafolha – though those in favour of protests during the competition are less than a third.
“Of course we would like the World Cup. Brazil loves football. Some people don’t like football but the majority like it,” says Claudia Favaro, representative of the Popular Committee in Porto Alegre, one of the host cities, which campaigns against abuses linked to the World Cup. Popular Committees were set up in each of the 12 host cities to monitor preparations for the tournament and their impact on human rights, including discrimination against the poor.
Many of the upgrades to transport infrastructure and stadiums have been carried out to meet Fifa standards, a requirement that has annoyed many who believe it comes at the cost of other priorities such as health care and education.
“The problem is the 'Fifa standard’,” Favaro says. “It doesn’t give anything back to the country. The organisation of a country is down to the state, to the government. But they put public money into delivering a standard that Fifa requires. Our stadiums are excellent, but they have to have everyone seated, everything formal.”
Among the grievances are the evictions required to make way for infrastructure, often affecting some of the 11 million people who live in favelas, or informal shanty-type communities. Compensation of £13,000 from the government in Porto Alegre has left many out of pocket, with an equivalent property now costing between £17,500 and £20,000.
“It’s very clear that the human rights legacy was not a real concern,” says Raquel Rolnik, UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing and a professor at the University of Sao Paulo. And the perceived legacy of the World Cup could prove decisive when Brazilians go to the polls in October. President Dilma Rousseff is expected to seek a second term, with her approval rating currently at 55 per cent after dropping to 30 per cent during last summer’s protests.
She has dubbed this year’s event the “Cup of Cups” in the hope of using a successful showpiece as a springboard for election success. “Brazilians are ready to show that they know how to receive tourists and contribute to make this the Cup of Cups,” she said, in a message marking the 100 days milestone.
Meanwhile in Rio, “Imagina na Copa” – which translates as “imagine this during the World Cup” – has become the catchphrase of taxi drivers, directed at all manner of shortcomings, including road works and traffic jams. They will take some persuading that a football tournament can change a nation’s fortunes.
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Saharan dust stopped me going for a jog, Cameron
Even the Prime Minister has been affected by the Saharan dust cloud - prevented from going on his early morning jog
The Prime Minister did not go for his morning run bercause of the Saharan dust cloud Photo: Rex Features
The "extraordinary" Saharan dust cloud that has descended on the UK
has prevented the Prime Minister from taking his morning run, he has said.
David Cameron said that the unusual smog-like conditions were "unpleasant"
and warned people to "listen very carefully" to the weather
forecasts and official health advice.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast he said: "It is unpleasant, you can feel it in
the air. The advice is that you listen very carefully to what the Met Office
is saying about the weather, and Public Health England's website.
He added: "I didn't go for my morning run this morning, I chose to do
some work instead. You can feel it but it is a naturally occurring weather
phenomenon - it sounds extraordinary, Saharan dust, but that it what it is."
His comments come as it emerged healthy schoolchildren were being kept indoors
as government experts' conflicting messages about the dangers of smog led to
widespread confusion.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs warned of "very
high" levels of pollution due to a mixture of dust from the Sahara and
industrial emissions from Europe arriving on a south-easterly breeze.
Smog obscures landmarks across the City of London (Reuters)
But its own advisers at Public Health England admitted that the "vast majority of people" would feel no effects and independent experts said there was "no need" to stay indoors.
Photographs of the Prime Minister's official car coated in a thin film of dirt captured the public imagination following an air pollution alert issued by Defra earlier in the week.
Pollution levels have reached 10 out of 10 in some parts of the country due to a combination of local pollution, pollution from the industrialised urban parts of Europe, and a large wind storm in North Africa which has blown dust across the British Isles.
So far scores of flights have been cancelled because of smog as a red dust - swept up from the Sahara and carried by the winds - has settled on cars and windows.
Dr Helen Dacre, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, said: "Weather conditions have conspired to create a 'perfect storm' for air pollution."
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