Ukrainian forces reclaim port city from rebels

By Aleksandar Vasovic3 hours ago

By Aleksandar Vasovic

MARIUPOL Ukraine (Reuters) - The Ukrainian flag fluttered over the regional headquarters of Mariupol on Friday after government forces reclaimed the port city from pro-Russian separatists in heavy fighting and said they had regained control of a long stretch of the border with Russia.

The advances are significant victories for the pro-European leadership in a military operation to crush the armed rebellion, which began in east Ukraine in April, and hold the former Soviet republic of 45 million together.

In central Mariupol, police cordoned off several streets, where roadblocks of sandbags and concrete blocks, once manned by rebels, were riddled with bullet-holes and the burnt-out hulk of an armoured personnel carrier with rebel insignia smouldered.

"At 10:34 a.m. the Ukrainian flag was raised over City Hall in Mariupol," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on Facebook, less than six hours after the attack began on the city of 500,000, Ukraine's biggest Azov Sea port.

A ministry aide said the government forces stormed the rebels after they were surrounded and given 10 minutes to surrender. At least five separatists and two servicemen were killed in the battle before many of the rebels fled.

Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Letting Rebels Bring In …Play Video

A group of around 100 Mariupol citizens, who had gathered in the town centre to show their opposition to the government's actions, exchanged obscenities and crude gestures with Ukrainian soldiers, who were driving through town in a column of armoured trucks.

"The government brought everything here, including a cannon... people were not allowed to come and witness how the government was shooting its own citizens," 52-year-old Andrei Nikodimovich said.

Mariupol, which has changed hands several times in weeks of conflict, is strategically important because it lies on major roads from the southeastern border with Russia into the rest of Ukraine and steel is exported through the port.

Regaining control of the long and winding frontier is also vital for the government because it accuses Moscow of allowing the rebels to bring tanks, other armoured vehicles and guns across the porous border.

Avakov said the government forces had won back control of a 120-km (75-mile) stretch of the border that had fallen to the rebels, but it was unclear who controlled other parts of the some 2,000-km frontier.

Ukraine’s Heart of SteelPlay Video

UKRAINIAN GAS COMPROMISE

The rebels rose up in the Russian-speaking east and southeast after Russia annexed Crimea in March following the overthrow of Moscow-leaning President Viktor Yanukovich, who had triggered protests by spurning trade and political pacts that would have deepened ties with the European Union.

The new president, Petro Poroshenko, intensified the military operation against the rebels after he was elected on May 25 but is also trying to win support for a peace plan.

On Friday a separatist leader Denis Pushilin said he was potentially open to the idea of talks provided there were mediators present, including Russia.

"If an international organisation were also involved that would be a plus too," he said in an interview on Russian television.

Poroshenko's aides say progress has been made at initial meetings with a Russian envoy and that any immediate threat of a Russian invasion has receded.

Moreover, Ukraine said on Friday it was ready to pay a compromise price of $326 per 1,000 cubic metres for Russian natural gas to avert the threat of Moscow cutting off supplies and allow time to reach a long-term pricing agreement.

Moscow demanded $485 per 1,000 cubic metres at the start of the negotiations - European customers last year paid Gazprom $387 per 1,000 cubic metres - before a discount of $100 per 1,000 cubic metres.

The sides have disagreed over how much Ukraine should pay for its gas, and Russian state gas exporter Gazprom has threatened to turn off the taps to Kiev if it does not start paying billions of dollars in debts by Monday. This could disrupt supplies to the European Union as it gets about half its gas imports from Russia, half of them via Ukraine.

Political ties have also been strained by the appearance of several tanks in east Ukraine. Avakov accused Russia on Thursday of allowing the rebels to bring them across the border and Poroshenko told Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone that the situation was "unacceptable."

Evidence that Russia is directly assisting the rebels militarily would implicate Moscow in the uprising, making a mockery of its denials of a role in the fighting.

Russia did not immediately respond to the accusations and it was not clear how Putin reacted to Poroshenko by phone.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Pavel Polityuk; additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Natalia Zinets; writing by Timothy Heritage and Alessandra Prentice; editing by Jon Boyle)

Ukraine reclaims large part of border with Russia

After reclaiming Mariupol from rebels, Ukraine forces say they've made much bigger gains.
Why Mariupol matters

ANKARA (Reuters) - Shi'te Muslim Iran is so alarmed by Sunni insurgent gains in Iraq that it may be willing to cooperate with Washington in helping Baghdad fight back, a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

The idea is being discussed internally among the Islamic Republic's leadership, the senior Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official had no word on whether the idea had been raised with any other party.

Officials say Iran will send its neighbor advisers and weaponry, although probably not troops, to help its ally Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki check what Tehran sees as a profound threat to regional stability, officials and analysts say.

Islamist militants have captured swathes of territory including the country's second biggest city Mosul.

Tehran is open to the possibility of working with the United States to support Baghdad, the senior official said.

"We can work with Americans to end the insurgency in the Middle East," the official said, referring to events in Iraq.

"We are very influential in Iraq, Syria and many other countries."

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Iraqi Shiite tribal leaders chant slogans against the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and th …

For many years, Iran has been aggrieved by what it sees as U.S. efforts to marginalize it. Tehran wants to be recognized as a significant player in regional security.

COMMON CAUSE

Relations between Iran and Washington have improved modestly since the 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani, who promised "constructive engagement" with the world.

And while Tehran and the United States pursue talks to resolve the Islamic state's decade-old nuclear standoff with the West, they also acknowledge some common threats, including the rise of al Qaeda-style militancy across the Middle East.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama said the United States was not ruling out air strikes to help Baghdad fight the insurgents, in what would be the first U.S. armed intervention in Iraq since the end of the U.S.-led war.

Rouhani on Thursday strongly condemned what he called violent acts by insurgent groups in the Middle East.

“Today, in our region, unfortunately, we are witnessing violence, killing, terror and displacement," Rouhani said.

"Iran will not tolerate the terror and violence ... we will fight against terrorism, factionalism and violence.”

Asked on Thursday about Iranian comments, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "Clearly, we've encouraged them in many cases to play a constructive role. But I don't have any other readouts or views from our end to portray here today.”

Fearing Iraq's war could spill into Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the international community to back Maliki's administration "in its fight against terrorism".

Brigadier-General Mohammad Hejazi said Iran was ready to supply Iraq with “military equipment or consultations,” the Tasnim news agency reported. "I do not think the deployment of Iranian troops would be necessary," he was quoted as adding.

The senior Iranian official said Iran was extremely worried about the advance of ISIL, also a major force in the war against Iran's close ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, carving out a swathe of Syria territory along the Iraqi border.

"The danger of extremist Sunni terrorist in Iraq and the region is increasing ... There have been several high-ranking security meetings since yesterday in Tehran," the official said.

"We are on alert and we also follow the developments in Iraq very closely."

(Additional reporting by Michelle Moghtader in Dubai, Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by William Maclean and Janet McBride)

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U.S. could gain unlikely ally over Iraq

Sources say Iran is so alarmed over the rise of Sunni insurgents that it's pondering its options.
'We can work with Americans'

President Obama has so far turned down Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s request for U.S. air strikes against the Islamic extremists taking over his country. But if Obama changes his mind, U.S. jets could be flying over Iraq in less than a day.

U.S. air bases, housing dozens of American fighters and bombers, are well within striking distance of Iraq. High-flying spy drones like the Global Hawk can just as easily fly over Iraq as Afghanistan or any other conflict zone in the region. The aircraft carrier U.S.S. George H.W. Bushis a few days’ sail away, in the North Arabian Sea. And it boasts dozens more fighters on board.

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That’s why a number of retired high-ranking U.S. Air Force officers, including Lt. Gen. David Deptula, who served as the Air Force’s first deputy chief of staff for intelligence, say any strikes, if ordered, could begin almost immediately.

“If you can provide me with the appropriate intelligence we can start doing (air strikes) within 24 hours,” he told The Daily Beast. “There are a variety of means do this, whether you are talking about long-range, high-payload aircraft or smaller aircraft. With the requisite intelligence information you can start again in 24 hours.”

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U.S. Considering Military Action in IraqPlay Video

“No question we could strike anytime,” added a second senior retired Air Force officer, who asked not to be quoted by name. He saw no “tech or logistical” reasons why air assets couldn’t be diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq.

The Daily Beast first reported Wednesday that Maliki has been asking for months for the United States to begin launching air strikes inside his country against targets associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS). But Obama has yet to agree to re-entering the war he has boasted on many occasions of ending in 2011.

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And that includes air strikes, which some outside experts say could backfire, reinforcing the ideas that Iraq’s Shi’ite government is only looking to knock off Sunnis—or that the Americans are always coming to the rescue. Baghdad “will simply assume that we’ll take over, that we’ll do the job,” Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote Thursday in The Daily Beast.

Even Sen. John McCain, who famously pushed for more American involvement in Iraq, told reporters Thursday, “I am not calling for air strikes.”

Kerry: 'Range of Options' Discussed for Ir …Play Video

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But with ISIS forces taking over Iraq’s second largest city—and threatening to take over Baghdad—that assessment may be reconsidered. Obama, for one, is hinting that he is changing his mind. On Thursday after a meeting with Australia’s prime minister, Obama told reporters that Iraq will need additional U.S. assistance against the ISIS-led insurgency. He did not get into specifics, however.

Deptula said the Air Force is ready for this kind of mission. But he also said any agreement for U.S. air strikes inside Iraq should also include basing rights for U.S. forces. At the end of 2011, U.S. diplomats failed to negotiate an extension to the Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq that would give the U.S. military access to the Iraqi bases inside the country.

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“The United States should have been provided basing rights,” he said. “If we are going to assist the Maliki government it needs to be provided inside of Iraq, we should not be doing this from outside.”

Iraq refugees fear airstrikesPlay Video

But the capacity exists to do it from the outside. Deptula said—but would not specify—that the Air Force was capable of launching air strikes into Iraq from bases it uses in neighboring countries. Those bases include an airbase in Incirlik, Turkey, the hub of U.S. air operations in the 1990s that patrolled the air space of northern Iraq. After U.S. troops left Iraq in 2011, many of the drones, sensors and other surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft used in Iraqi bases were transferred to Incirlik.

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Another air base that could be used for these operations is Al-Udeid, west of Doha, Qatar. Al-Udeid served as the center for the air campaigns during the height of the Iraq and Afghan wars. The base is still used for some of air missions over Afghanistan and houses B1-bombers, a long range aircraft that can deliver up to 48,000 pounds of bombs in a single sortie.

In Iraq, the idea of U.S. air-strikes is gaining popularity from unexpected sources. One of Maliki’s rivals, deputy prime minister Saleh al-Mutlaq told The Daily Beast, that he supported U.S. air strikes against ISIS targets, so long as those air strikes did not hit positions inside Mosul, Fallujah or other population centers.

READ MORE Iraq Is Vietnam 2.0

Raw: Gun Camera Footage Shows Iraqi AirstrikesPlay Video

But al-Mutlaq also said air strikes alone were not enough. “Yes I support some air strikes,” he said. “But the United States should also restart the political process in Iraq. If they defeat ISIS this time without any changes in the political process which has proved disastrous, this will happen again in a year or two and then the United States will have to come back.”

In 2010, the party of Iyad Allawi, a Shi’ia Iraqi who ran a non-confessional party won the most seats in the Iraqi election. But the United States stood on the side lines in the aftermath of the election and Allawi was excluded from the government that formed later that year and Maliki remained prime minister.

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As U.S. soldiers left Iraq at the end of 2011, Maliki then began to consolidate his power. Iraqi courts for example issued an arrest warrant for Tariq al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice president of Iraq, forcing him to flee Baghdad at the time. Maliki’s government refused to pay the salaries of the Sunni fighters who helped defeat al Qaeda in 2007 and 2008 known as the sons of Iraq. And then in the face of largely peaceful demonstrations in western Iraq that began in December 2012, Maliki sent his army to crush the Sunni Arab protestors.

Sterling Jensen—who served as an Arabic interpreter for the U.S. Army in Anbar, Iraq during the surge and now teaches at United Arab Emirates’ National Defense College in Abu Dhabi—said the crisis caused by the ISIS insurgency will not be solved until the Maliki government addresses the demands first raised by the Sunni protestors in western Iraq.

Iraq Vets Disheartened by Insurgency PresencePlay Video

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“U.S. air strikes against ISIS would be helpful in the short-term, but potentially damaging in the mid to long term because air strikes without government overtures to Sunni Arabs, such as releasing prisoners, guarantees of repealing the de-Baathification laws and revising counter-terrorism laws, would potentially strengthen the hand of a sectarian Shiite government that stays in power by marginalizing Sunnis. U.S. air strikes should only be used if the Iraqi government shows more willingness to reconcile with the Sunni population,” he said.

Republican senators who were briefed on the crisis in Iraq Thursday also were reluctant to support U.S. air strikes in Iraq.

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Asked whether he was calling for immediate airstrikes in Iraq, Republican senator, Lindsey Graham—not usually shy about proposing military force—told reporters, “I’m not the commander in chief. I’m tired of telling him what to do. It’s not really my place to tell him what to do.”

Iranian Troops Helping Iraq Win Back TikritPlay Video

Sen. James Inhofe, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “This is too early to have each one of us making our recommendations … at this point, we’re waiting to make that determination.”

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McCain said he wanted Obama to consult with his top generals about what to do on Iraq before offering his own advice.

“Air strikes may be part of it, air strikes may not be part of it,” he said.

READ MORE Jihadists Move Toward Baghdad

Part of the hesitance for the senators to advocate the American military jump into the fray may have been the dramatic details of their classified briefing, which involved descriptions of the vehicles and weaponry that ISIS is bringing back to Syria and the collapse of the Iraqi Army’s resolve.

“That was a surprise to everybody, to have four major divisions fold as quickly as they did, without even a fight, some of them” Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, said.. That’s a concern, and why we weren’t more apprised of that, or had more knowledge of that.”

If ordered, U.S. airstrikes could start tomorrow

Experts say if Obama reverses course and approves an Iraqi request, the process would be quick.
Why it might backfire

India Hangings: Fourth Woman Dies in Uttar Pradesh

Two stories on this murder.

India Hangings: Fourth Woman Dies in Uttar Pradesh

BBC News, 12 June 2014 – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-27807539

Last month’s gang rape of two girls prompted hundreds to march against violence towards women

A teenager has been found hanging from a tree in a village in northern India, the fourth woman to die in such a way in recent weeks in Uttar Pradesh state. A post-mortem confirmed death by hanging, but did not find she was raped as the 19-year-old’s family alleged.

A day earlier, another woman’s body was found hanging from a tree in the state.

The gang rape and murder of two girls found in similar circumstances last month sparked outrage. Correspondents say more cases are now being reported.

Such attacks have long taken place in Uttar Pradesh, reports the BBC’s Geeta Pandey in Delhi, but recent outrage over sexual violence has meant that many more cases are being reported to police and getting media coverage.

Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with more than 200 million people, is also home to a staggering number of poor people and it is the poor and disadvantaged low-caste women who are most at risk of such crimes, our correspondent adds.

Protesters took to the streets of Uttar Pradesh in fury after last month’s case

The body of the latest victim was found in a village in the state’s Moradabad area on Thursday.

Following the post-mortem examination, police inspector general Amarendra Sengar said “rape is not confirmed, she died due to hanging”.

Police told the BBC they were also investigating whether her death could have been a so-called “honour killing”.

The case follows a spate of killings and reports of rape, many in Uttar Pradesh, including one of a woman who says she was gang raped inside a police station in the state.

“The sub-inspector accused of committing the rape of the woman has been put under arrest while we have launched a manhunt for the three constables accused of being party to the crime,” a spokesman at state police headquarters was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Also on Thursday, it emerged that two girls staying at a hostel run by a church in southern Tamil Nadu state had been raped at knifepoint.

Police in the town of Pollachi near Coimbatore have set up special teams to find the man or men who attacked the girls, both of whom are thought to be under 13.

Outcry: On Wednesday, a 44-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in the Bahraich area.

Police said she had been threatened by locals for selling alcohol in the area and her family allege she was gang raped. Her post-mortem examination proved inconclusive.

But it was the case on 29 May of two teenage girls who were gang raped and hanged in Badaun district that renewed a countrywide outcry over sexual violence.

The teenage girls were found hanging from a tree in the village after being gang raped

Three suspected attackers have been held in that case, along with two policemen accused of dereliction of duty and criminal conspiracy.

India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said protecting women should be a priority.

Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.

The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack.

Why are Women Being Hanged in India?

By Geeta Pandey BBC News – June 12, 2014 – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-27807542

Four women have been found hanging from trees in remote villages in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the last fortnight.

The families of at least three of the dead, two of them teenage cousins, have alleged that they were murdered after being raped.

Is this spate of grisly murders new? Such crimes are not new to Uttar Pradesh, indeed to India.

As a young girl, when I visited my grandparents in my tiny ancestral village in Pratapgarh district in the state during my annual summer vacations, I sometimes heard my mother and our neighbours talk about assaults on women.

The perpetrators were almost always men from my community – high-caste Brahmins. And the victims were almost always lower-caste or Dalit (formerly untouchable) women.

Sometimes the women attacked raised the alarm and managed to escape, at others they were overpowered.

Nobody went to the police because, as my mother said, they were often considered part of the problem.

In 2011, I visited Uttar Pradesh to report on a spate of exceptionally brutal rapes there.One of the victims was 14-year-old Sonam who was found hanging from a tree inside a police station right in front of her house.

More reporting or more rape?

Certainly in the years since my childhood, things have changed – slowly, but surely.

“Earlier we would get to hear about two or three cases of violence against women in a day, now it’s 10-12 incidents daily,” says Roop Rekha Verma of Sajhi Duniya (Shared World), a Lucknow-based organisation which works with women.

Rapes, which are about 20% of all cases, “have become routine now”, she adds.

Most of the victims of gender crimes are from the poor and disadvantaged low castes

Asked whether that’s because there are more cases of sexual assault now or better reporting, Ms Verma says that’s the “million dollar question”.

To curb violent crimes against women after the brutal gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi in December 2012, India rewrote its rape laws, making them tougher, even introducing the death penalty for especially brutal cases.

But it has hardly proved a deterrent as reports of new, ever more brutal rapes are reported daily from across the country.

“Earlier [women] were seen only at homes, in the fields or in the back lane, but now women are everywhere, they are seen much more in public spaces. So the crimes are also taking place in more spheres,” Ms Verma says.

Could stricter rape laws actually be part of the problem?That more and more families are reporting sexual assaults despite the stigma attached to such crimes could actually be a factor.

Some campaigners say it could be making women more vulnerable.

Divya Arya reports on the disturbing scene which met villagers in Uttar Pradesh

“The victims are being killed because the rapists want to finish off the main witness,” Ms Verma says.

“The law is very good now and they know they will be in serious trouble if a woman in her testimony points at them and accuses them of rape, there is little chance for them to escape.”

Why are the women being hanged?

Ms Verma suggests this might appear the easiest way to attackers to get rid of evidence and pass murder off as suicide.

But police and state administration officials disagree and suggest in some cases guilty families are trying to pass “honour killings” off as rape and murder.
The recent hangings have outraged India

“It is not easy to hang someone,” a senior police officer in the state told the BBC. “Wouldn’t it be easier to throw someone in the well or in the river if someone wanted to remove the evidence?”

The head of forensic medicine and toxicology at Delhi’s AIIMS hospital says hanging is “generally a method of suicide” and is “very rarely” used for murder.

“To hang someone is not easy,” Dr Sudhir Kumar Gupta says, but adds, “unless someone is totally defenceless and unconscious.”

I ask him if the group of men who allegedly killed two teenage cousins last month could have beaten them into submission before hanging them?

“Maybe,” he says.

Why Uttar Pradesh?

India’s most populous state with more than 200 million people is also one of the poorest states with more than 40% of its population living below the poverty line.

Last year, India rewrote its rape laws, making them tougher, but it has not been a deterrent
Like much of north India, the state is still largely patriarchal and feudal and women are regarded as inferior to men.

It’s also a society deeply divided along caste, gender and religious lines and these biases are deeply entrenched.

Two weeks ago, when a photograph of the two teenage cousins hanging from the branches of a mango tree appeared on news websites and social media, there was outrage across India.

It brought people out of their homes in the state capital, Lucknow, to protest against government indifference in the face of rigid social hierarchies – and demand justice.

See Ending Global Unworkability by January 1, 2015 at http://goldenageofgaia.com/2014/04/13/ending-global-unworkability-by-january-1-2015/

Mass Protests Across Multiple Cities Mark Brazil World Cup Opening

An anti-World Cup demonstrator in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Stephen: Brazil seems determined to ensure we all realise that the excesses that pass for previously ‘golden’ international world sporting events, simply do not pass muster when ordinary, everyday folk are struggling and living in poverty.

By Jonathan Watts, The Guardian – June 13, 2014 – http://tinyurl.com/mjoerx8

Riot police fired percussion grenades and teargas at anti-World Cup protesters in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on Thursday as the countdown to the kick-off was marred by demonstrations in at least 10 Brazilian cities.

Just hours before the opening ceremony at the Itaquerão stadium, about 100 protesters started fires and threw rocks at police in an apparent attempt to block a road leading to the venue.

The confrontation led to at least one arrest and five injuries, including a suspected broken arm suffered by a CNN producer who was hit by a teargas canister.

Amnesty International accused the police of using excess force. “The Brazilian authorities must, without delay, investigate why excessive force was used against peaceful protesters, bring those responsible to justice and ensure this does not happen again,” said Atila Roque, director of Amnesty International Brazil.

The “Our Cup is on the Street” protests are targeting the high cost of the stadiums, corruption, police brutality and evictions. Similar demonstrations have been organised via social networks in 100 cities, including several that host World Cup games, such as Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre and Recife.

Rio de Janeiro saw clashes after about 600 people marched through the city centre bearing banners declaring “Fifa go home” and “World Cup of corruption”. The ITV studio in São Paulo had its window cracked by stone-throwing demonstrators.

The protesters started in a festive mood, spraying pink glitter on passersby and dressing up as hula-hooping pixies and cupids to mark Brazilian Lovers’ Day, which is also being celebrated today. But their messages were serious. “The World Cup steals money from healthcare, education and the poor. The homeless are being forced from the streets. This is not for Brazil, it’s for the tourists,” said Denize Adriana Ferreira.

The protest turned violent in Lapa after a “Black Block” anarchist kicked a policeman, provoking volleys of teargas and pepper spray that mingled with the celebratory fireworks.

Riot police hide behind shields during the protest in São Paulo. Photograph: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

It was not the only surreal contrast during the preparations. In central Rio, visiting football fans wearing Mexico, Argentina and Colombia shirts looked on bemused as riot police chased Black Block demonstrators through the city streets.

But there was widespread sympathy for the protest. Some Brazilians are switching their support to other teams as a mark of protest. André de Magalhães Gomes said he had always previously backed the Seleção (Brazilian team) but today he joined the demonstration wearing an Argentina shirt. “Brazil shouldn’t be hosting the World Cup. Fifa just like to pick the most corrupt nation.”

A newspaper kiosk worker agreed. “I refuse to support Brazil. This country is imbecilic. I’m backing England instead.”

With a presidential election campaign due to start soon after the World Cup, there was a strong political tone to many of chants such as “Even if we don’t try, this government will fall.”

Union leaders are also targeting the tournament in the belief that the government will offer concessions rather than risk embarrassment at service failures.

The latest group to take industrial action over pay were staff at Rio’s two main airports, Galeao and Santos Dumont. They have launched a go-slow, but promised to maintain 80% of the usual service, raising the risk of delays for the 600,000 foreign fans expected to visit Brazil during the tournament. A small group of airport workers briefly blocked traffic outside the Galeao international airport on Thursday morning, adding to the delays.

Subway workers were also on strike in São Paulo earlier this week, putting extra pressure on the already congested roads of South America’s biggest city. Their industrial action has been temporarily suspended, but further strikes remain possible.