SAO PAULO (AFP) – A self-described vigilante murderer who rose to fame in Brazil for claiming to have killed more than 100 victims, mainly drug dealers, rapists and other criminals, was shot dead near Sao Paulo, authorities said on Monday.
Pedro Rodrigues Filho, dubbed “Brazil’s biggest serial killer”, died on Sunday of multiple gunshot wounds in the southeastern city of Mogi das Cruzes, said the Sao Paulo state public security department.
“The suspects fled after the crime,” it said in a statement.
Rodrigues, 68, spent 42 years in prison for homicide.
He shot to fame for a series of high-profile interviews in the Brazilian media, in which he claimed to have killed his victims because they had themselves committed crimes.
Known as Pedrinho Matador, or ‘Little Pedro the Killer’, Rodrigues had also been nicknamed the ‘Brazilian Dexter’, for the US series about a vigilante serial killer.
Released in 2018, Rodrigues began a new life as a social media personality, racking up more than 250,000 followers on video app Kwai with posts telling his unusual life story, commenting on high-profile cases and warning young people against a life of crime.
Criminologist Ilana Casoy, who met Rodrigues, described him as a charismatic man who was “joyful, casual and intelligent”.
“He fascinated people — a reflection of our society, in a country where only 10 per cent of homicides are brought to justice,” she told newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA (AP) – Australia’s central bank increased its benchmark interest rate by another quarter-point to 3.6 per cent yesterday as it continues trying to tame inflation.
It was the 10th rate rise in a row by the Reserve Bank of Australia, bringing the rate to its highest point in 11 years. The increase will put more pressure on homeowners, with many already paying out hundreds of dollars each month more on their mortgages than they were a year ago.
The bank has been trying to counter inflation, which came in at a hotter-than-expected 7.8 per cent in the December quarter, its highest level since 1990.
The bank has an inflation target range of between two per cent and three per cent. Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe warned there would likely be further rate hikes. “The board remains resolute in its determination to return inflation to target and will do what is necessary to achieve that,” he said in a statement.
But Lowe also said there were indications that inflation had peaked in Australia. “Goods price inflation is expected to moderate over the months ahead due to both global developments and softer demand in Australia,” he said.
“Services price inflation remains high, with strong demand for some services over the summer.”
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers told lawmakers that the inflation problem was global but that strained supply chains in Australia were contributing.
He said somebody with a half-million dollar mortgage would be paying an extra AUD1,000 (USD672) per month after all the recent rate rises.
MILAN (AP) – Perched incongruously on the 44th floor of one of Milan’s modern glass skyscrapers is a ski lodge.
The ‘baita’, which is made of reclaimed wood from trees felled in a devastating storm that hit northern Italy in 2018, is in the headquarters of the organising committee for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.
The offices themselves are festooned with Olympic rings, which also adorn the key cards guests are given to access the building. But outside, you’d be hard pressed to find any sign that the Winter Games are coming to Milan in less than three years.
The 50,000-square-metre site that will house the Palitalia, where hockey is scheduled to take place, is currently an overgrown wasteland. And construction work has only just started at the area where the Olympic Village will be situated.
Nowhere is there even the inkling of an Olympic ring.
The organising committee has admitted there have been delays because of the coronavirus pandemic and rising costs due in part to the war in Ukraine, but Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi said there is nothing to be concerned about.
ABOVE & BELOW: International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sports Director Christophe Dubi meets the press; and a view of the construction site of the Olympic Village at the Porta Romana former railway yard in Milan, Italy. PHOTOS: AP
Workers operate inside the construction siteA closer view of the construction siteA view of the construction site of the Palaitalia at the Santa Giulia district
“What you don’t see is actually what generates a lot of time,” Dubi said in an interview with The Associated Press (AP). “It’s the administrative, the permitting and then acquiring any of the companies that will deliver the job.
“Once it starts, it goes quick… but I want to be clear, the timelines that we have received have to be respected. So far they are, but they have to be respected.”
And the International Olympic Committee (IOC) director warned that they will keep a close eye on matters to see that deadlines are met.
“What is really critical is the constant monitoring. You have to hit all the milestones and this is how you control projects,” Dubi said. “So no reason to worry. But as in everything, inspect what you expect and this is what we are going to do.”
One of the key features of Milan-Cortina’s winning bid in 2019 was the use of existing structures. That included the San Siro for the opening ceremony.
The Milan soccer clubs that use the stadium have long been in talks about rebuilding it and there were question marks over whether the ceremony would take place in the proposed new arena or the existing one.
“But for us it’s the San Siro,” Dubi said before highlighting a visit made to the stadium with the coordination commission in December. “The whole point was to pay tribute to the stadium and to look forward to what will happen, which is the opening of the games. So that’s definitely where we’re going.
“We know that there are a number of adjustments that are made to the stadium which will be ready for the games.”
There are also issues surrounding some of the facilities that need to be built. Plans to hold speedskating at Baselga di Piné have been scrapped after authorities deemed the project too expensive. Milan has offered to host it at Fiera exhibition centre, while another option could be the existing indoor oval built for the 2006 Turin Olympics.
The building of the bobsled track in Cortina has also proved contentious because of spiralling costs but an offer to host it at the track in Innsbruck, Austria – that is due to be renovated – has been rejected.
“We were always clear with the IOC and our partners that if it’s built – and of course now the construction has started, or I should say rather the demolition, which is the first step – we are going to be users in the end because we always felt that it was not necessarily needed for the games,” Dubi said. “Now there was a decision made and we respect this decision.”
It will be the first time Italy has hosted the Olympics since 2006. But with an ever-dwindling pool of countries that can feasibly hold a Winter Olympics because of climate change, Dubi said the IOC is considering the option of rotating hosts and heralded “a new era” of the Olympics in “using what already exists”.
“Territory shouldn’t adapt to the games, but the games should adapt to the territory,” he said. “So we have a lot to learn from Milano-Cortina, but there are also key decisions to be made in the future.
“For example, should we rotate between games hosts in the future? Is it something that is appealing for winter sports, appealing for those hosts? And we tend to believe it is the case.
Northern Italy ’06, ’26, Sapporo, Salt Lake City is interested as well in the future. So is there a trend whereby once you have invested, you want to re-host in the future? So we need to look into that.”
Dubi said that is partly why they are taking their time to appoint a host for the 2030 Winter Olympics.
Sweden, which lost out to Milan-Cortina in the 2026 Olympic vote, is emerging as a frontrunner, although Dubi said there are five others interested but would not name them.
“The executive board told us, ‘Hey, hang on. You pause for a few months, you get back to us with, with some strategic thinking’. And whether it’s in 2024 or onwards, let’s say that that’s not so important. We need to have the right strategy,” he said. “Imagine those games (Milan-Cortina) we awarded them seven years out. But one could argue that you can do with less… if anywhere you go, everything is ready, 100 per cent built, no reason to award the game seven years out. So we’re not really in a rush. We want to do the right thing.”
Brunei Gas Carriers Sdn Bhd (BGC) celebrated the success of BGC’s SME business partners at its main office yesterday in Kampong Jerudong.
Welcoming BGC’s counterparts from the Department of Energy at the Prime Minister’s Office were BGC Managing Director Captain Abdul Mateen Abdurrahman Liew and BGC Contracts and Procurement Manager Pengiran Dianawaty binti Pengiran Matzin.
Pengiran Dianawaty, in her opening remarks, commended the partnership between BGC and its small and medium enterprise (SME) business partner CYZ Solutions in supporting the in-country value (ICV) initiative for the production of BGC’s first made-in-Brunei boilersuits.
“As new Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE) graduates are being hired and undergoing training on garment production from cutting, sewing, trimming to ironing and packing, the prerequisites should provide both local graduates and equally, CYZ Solutions, the experience not just to produce boilersuits but also to perform professional garment production services in the upcoming years,” she said.
BGC extended appreciation to CYZ Solutions for the dedication, commitment, and collaboration with BGC to realise the ICV aspiration. “This feat is a really proud moment for CYZ Solutions as a local business, as it demonstrates that Brunei is capable of producing quality products domestically, thereby spurring local development,” said Pengiran Dianawaty.
The signing between BGC and Queazar Engineering and Construction. PHOTO: BGC
Following last year’s second cycle of the i-Usahawan programme, BGC announced that it has awarded two i-Usahawan business partners with a three-year contract – Eventive Enterprise for event management services, and Queazar Engineering and Construction for provision of cleaning services.
BGC hopes that the i-Usahawan programme will provide the steppingstone to support both business partners to be competitive industry service providers by the end of the programme, within their respective industries.
BGC views i-Usahawan as a programme that supports the Sultanate’s aspirations to develop more local youth entrepreneurs.
As such, BGC continues to play its part in the growth of the local SMEs, especially in creating opportunities for locals to start and grow their businesses.
CHITTAGONG, BANGLADESH (AFP) – Captain Jos Buttler warned his England side they have “areas to improve” ahead of their one-day World Cup defence after failing to seal a series clean sweep in Bangladesh.
England lost the third and final one-day international (ODI) against Bangladesh in Chittagong on Monday by 50 runs, although the tourists had already secured the series. With an eye on the World Cup later this year in India – where conditions will be similar to Bangladesh – Buttler changed his England side for the final match.
Sam Curran was promoted to number five in the batting order, scoring 23 off 49 balls, and the 18-year-old leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed made his ODI debut. The game was England’s last scheduled 50-over match until September 8.
“I think we played some really good cricket throughout the series and I’ve spoken a lot about these being great conditions for us to challenge ourselves in,” Buttler said.
“These are probably the conditions that we would find the hardest as a team.
England’s captain Jos Buttler plays a shot at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. PHOTO: AFP
“Now there’s plenty to learn – things that we’ve done well and areas that we can also improve,” Jos Buttler added.
England were set 247 to win in Chittagong but folded for 196 and Buttler said that “we needed someone to go on and really take ownership of that chase”. But he had no regrets about experimenting with his line-up. “We changed a few things today and gave opportunity to people in different ways, but I thought the intensity was there,” he said.
England have some difficult decisions on the make-up of their World Cup squad.
Senior players Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are both likely to return, while Test skipper Ben Stokes has hinted that he could come out of ODI retirement for England’s title defence.
Buttler can see a possible repeat of England’s build-up to last year’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup in Australia, where they emerged as champions.
“I think the schedule is hugely challenging to always get your best XI on the field,” Buttler said.
“Looking back to the T20 World Cup, we probably went into that World Cup having never played our perceived best XI.
“But then to get into the tournament and go on to win it, that gives you great confidence even though we haven’t had the opportunities to play our best team. I think that’s the way we’re building. And we know that, come the World Cup, we will have the opportunity to pick from everyone who’s available.”
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Joel Embiid kept making shots and James Harden kept finding open teammates.
The combination was all but unstoppable.
Embiid scored 42 points, Harden added 20 assists, 14 points and nine rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers broke open a close game with a decisive fourth-quarter run to beat the Indiana Pacers 147-143 on Monday night. Both teams put up numbers more closely resembling those of an All-Star Game.
Embiid went 11 of 16 from the field, made all 19 free-throw attempts and posted his 11th 40-point game this season. The 76ers shot 58.5 per cent, had six players in double figures and three with 20 or more points – Tyrese Maxey scored 24 and Jalen McDaniels had 20.
The Pacers shot 58.9 per cent with seven players in double figures – led by Tyrese Haliburton with 40 points and 16 assists – in just their second home game since February 16. Jordan Nwora added 16 points.
Indiana Pacers’ Jordan Nwora has his shot blocked by Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid in Indianapolis. PHOTO: AP
But one two-minute lapse was all Philadelphia needed.
“It was an offensive game,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “But at the same time someone had to make a defensive stand and we did that enough to win the game.”
With Philadelphia shooting 62.5 per cent overall and from three-point range through the first half and the Pacers sitting at 61.1 per cent from the field over the same span, nobody could take control.
Neither team led by more than six through the first three quarters.
Early in the fourth, Shake Milton and De’Anthony Melton made consecutive baskets to give the 76ers a 122-118 lead. Danuel House Jr followed with a three-pointer, and Milton closed out the 10-0 run with another three to make it 128-118 with 7:49 to play.
Indiana closed within 141-137 with 52.1 seconds to go but couldn’t get any closer.
To spur growth through capability development in the local shipping ecosystem and the maritime industry as well as to help local businesses to tap into the potentials in the shipping industry, Brunei Gas Carriers Sdn Bhd (BGC) launched an in-country value (ICV) development programme BGC Ignite, yesterday.
The first-of-its-kind programme seeks to drive national aspirations for the development of maritime and shipping industry through the Brunei Darussalam Maritime Cluster (BDMC) project.
BGC deems BGC Ignite – an ICV business development programme for the shipping ecosystem – a vital necessity for the shipping ecosystem, especially in supporting the delivery of the BDMC project through developing capabilities and competencies of our local people and businesses.
Under BGCIgnite, BGC aspires to support the readiness and competitiveness of local businesses with knowledge transferred through classroom trainings, networking and forums centred on safety and industry requirements, to be industry-ready by end of 2024.
In collaboration with the Industry and business ecosystem division (IBE) at the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE), BGC invited Acting Assistant Director IBE at the MoFE Haji Mohammad Hadillah bin Haji Abdul Manaf to share insights on the BDMC project updates, while taking the opportunity to hold interactive discussions with attendees for the success of the project and Brunei’s economic development.
BGC kicked off the BGC Ignite programme addressing an aspect of the broad shipping ecosystem, which is to support the capability development of ship chandling/chandelling scope. The scope includes the provision of supplies for general stores and food for ships/vessels.
BGC Contracts and Procurement Manager Pengiran Dianawaty binti Pengiran Matzin cited a titah from His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam during the opening ceremony of the 19th Legislative Council session on March 2, where the monarch highlighted the vital role of MSMEs in strengthening the Brunei economy and believes that the local enterprises should take up the opportunity to expand overseas, and create higher value propositions for the nation.
She added that as the country is opening its maritime and shipping sector, these are opportunities that businesses can aspire to align to. With BGC Ignite, BGC hopes to spur interest for collaboration towards knowledge transfer and growth for the maritime community.
ABOVE & BELOW: BGC Contracts and Procurement Operational Excellence Lead Ashsaripah binti Ahanapiah explains the BGC Ignite; BGC Contracts and Procurement Manager Pengiran Dianawaty binti Pengiran Matzin delivers her speech; and Acting Assistant Director of Industry and Business Ecosystem at the Ministry of Finance and Economy Haji Mohammad Hadillah bin Haji Abdul Manaf during his presentation. PHOTOS: JAMES KON
When my husband first received an offer for his current job, it was stated that his work day would start at 8.30am and finish at 5.30pm.
However, in the past two years, since transferring to another department, he’s been finishing work at 7.30-8.30pm daily. Despite the extra hours, he is not eligible for overtime allowances.
Due to his extended working hours, he hasn’t been spending quality time with me and our children.
My question is: Is there a law regulating the maximum number of hours employers can demand from their employees per week?
TOKYO (AFP) – The author of a sci-fi manga about to hit shelves in Japan admits he has “absolutely zero” drawing talent, so turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to create the dystopian saga.
All the futuristic contraptions and creatures in Cyberpunk: Peach John were intricately rendered by Midjourney, a viral AI tool that has sent the art world into a spin, along with others such as Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2.
As Japan’s first fully AI-drawn manga, the work has raised questions over the threat technology could pose to jobs and copyright in the nation’s multi-billion-dollar comic book industry.
It took the author, who goes by the pen name Rootport, just six weeks to finish the over-100-page manga, which would have taken a skilled artist a year to complete, he said.
“It was a fun process, it reminded me of playing the lottery,” the 37-year-old told AFP.
Rootport, a writer who has previously worked on manga plots, entered combinations of text prompts such as “pink hair”, “Asian boy” and “stadium jacket” to conjure up images of the story’s hero in around a minute.
Acting Chief Masakado Kunisawa checking copies of ‘Cyberpunk: Peach John’, Japan’s first fully artifical intelligence (AI)-drawn manga, at the office of comic book publisher Shinchosha in Tokyo, Japan. PHOTOS: AFPStudents attending a manga art design class at the Tokyo Design Academy in the Harajuku areaABOVE & BELOW: Head of the Manga Department Madoka Kobayashi using a figurine as a prop to teach a student during a manga art design class at the Tokyo Design Academy; and AI manga artist, who goes by the name ‘Rootport’ demonstrates how he produces AI manga
He then laid out the best frames in comic-book format to produce the book, which has already sparked a buzz online ahead of its release tomorrow by Shinchosha, a major publishing house.
Unlike traditional black-and-white manga, his brainchild is fully coloured, although the faces of the same character sometimes appear in markedly different forms.
Still, AI image generators have “paved the way for people without artistic talent to make inroads” into the manga industry – provided they have good stories to tell, the author said.
Rootport said he felt a sense of fulfilment when his text instructions, which he describes as magic “spells”, created an image that chimed with what he had imagined.
“But is it the same satisfaction you’d feel when you’ve drawn something by hand from scratch? Probably not.”
Midjourney was developed in the United States (US) and soared to popularity worldwide after its launch last year.
Like other AI text-to-image generators, its fantastical, absurd and sometimes creepy inventions can be strikingly sophisticated, provoking soul-searching among artists.
The tools have also run into legal difficulties, with the London-based start-up behind Stable Diffusion facing lawsuits alleging the software scraped large amounts of copyrighted material from the web without permission.
Some Japanese lawmakers have raised concerns over artists’ rights, although experts say copyright infringements are unlikely if AI art is made using simple text prompts, with little human creativity.
Other people have warned that the technology could steal jobs from junior manga artists, who painstakingly paint background images for each scene.
When Netflix released a Japanese animated short in January using AI-generated backgrounds, it was lambasted online for not hiring human animators.
“The possibility that manga artists’ assistants will be replaced (by AI) isn’t zero,” Keio University Professor Satoshi Kurihara told AFP.
In 2020, Kurihara and his team published an AI-aided comic in the style of late manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka.
For that project, humans drew almost everything, but since then AI art has become “top notch” and is “bound to” influence the manga industry’s future, he said.
Some manga artists welcome the new possibilities offered by the technology. “I don’t really see AI as a threat – rather, I think it can be a great companion,” Madoka Kobayashi, whose career spans over 30 years, told AFP.
AI can “help me visualise what I have in mind, and suggest rough ideas, which I then challenge myself to improve”, she said.
The author, who also trains aspiring manga artists at a Tokyo academy, argues that manga isn’t just built on aesthetics, but also on cleverly devised plots.
In that arena, “I’m confident humans still dominate.”
Even so, she recoils at copying directly from computer-generated images, because “I don’t know whose artwork they’re based on”.
At Tokyo Design Academy, Kobayashi uses figurines to help improve the students’ pencil drawings, including details ranging from muscles to creases in clothes and hair whorls.
“AI art is great… but I find human drawings more appealing, precisely because they are ‘messy’,” said 18-year-old student Ginjiro Uchida.
Computer programs don’t always capture the deliberately exaggerated hands or faces of a real manga artist, and “humans still have a better sense of humour”, he said.
Three major publishers declined to comment when asked whether they thought AI could disrupt Japan’s human-driven manga production process. Rootport doubts fully AI-drawn manga will ever become mainstream, because real artists are better at making sure their illustrations fit the context.
But, “I also don’t think manga completely unaided by AI will remain dominant forever”.
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (AP) – Police detained a man on suspicion of killing an 11-year-old boy and neighbours wrecked his home on Monday amid anger over escalating drug violence in the Argentine city of Rosario, where a threat was directed at football superstar Lionel Messi last week.
Máximo Jerez was killed early Sunday when at least one gunmen attacked a birthday party.
Three other children, including a two-year-old, were injured.
Hours after Máximo was buried on Monday, people in the northern Rosario neighbourhood where the alleged shooter lived attacked his home.
Local news channels carried live images of people setting fires and throwing rocks at the home of the suspect, who at one point had a gun in his hand and appeared to fire it.
Police detained the man and then had to prevent people from attacking him. Once the suspect was taken away, neighbours destroyed his home and stole his belongings.
Police in riot gear protect a man. PHOTO: AP
“We don’t want another Máximo in the neighbourhood, we’re so tired of everything, tired that they rob us and that our children die,” Antonia Jerez, the boy’s aunt, told local news media. “My nephew is no longer here, they killed him and the whole neighbourhood is in mourning, angry.”
People destroyed at least three houses in the area they claimed were used by drug dealers.
The killing was the latest dramatic turn for a city where drug-related killings have become common with a level of violence that is rare for Argentina.
Adrián Spelta, the prosecutor in charge of investigating the case, told local news media that the killing had to do with a turf war between rival drug gangs.
“Certain limits that used to exist have been crossed,” Spelta said, noting that in other occasions “the presence of minors” would have led gang members to “suspend any kind of violent attack”.
The troubles in Rosario received international attention when gunmen threatened Messi in a written message left on Thursday after they fired at a supermarket owned by his in-laws. Nobody was injured in the early morning attack.
