New York State

The Sindh government has declared a public holiday on February 19, 2025, to commemorate the annual Urs of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. This decision was made through a notification by the Services, General Administration, and Coordination Department. As a result, all government and semi-government offices, along with educational institutions across Sindh, will remain closed on that day. …

The post Sindh govt announces public holiday on Feb 19 for 771st annual Urs of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar appeared first on Oyeyeah.

A significant number of Jewish leaders and activists in the United States have publicly condemned President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove Palestinians from Gaza. This condemnation was expressed through a full-page advertisement in The New York Times, signed by more than 350 rabbis and dozens of prominent Jewish figures, including Tony Kushner, Ilana Glazer, Naomi …

The post Rabbis Unite Against Trump’s Gaza Plan, Over 350 Sign Denouncing ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ appeared first on Oyeyeah.

Hamas on Saturday released three Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip as part of the sixth prisoner exchange under a fragile ceasefire agreement with Israel. The hostages, identified as Sagui Dekel-Chen (Israeli-American), Sasha Trupanov (Israeli-Russian), and Yair Horn (Israeli-Argentinian), were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. …

The post Hamas releases 3 Israeli hostages in truce’s 6th swap appeared first on Oyeyeah.

A recent deadly collision between an SUV and a car on the Indus Highway has resulted in the loss of five lives, including Zain Turabi, the son of Allama Turabi. On Friday, a head-on collision between an SUV and a car occurred on the Indus Highway near Manjhand in Jamshoro district. Witnesses reported that the …

The post Deadly car collision on the Indus Highway claims 5 lives including Allama Turabi’s son appeared first on Oyeyeah.

Game sharing is one of the best Xbox features as it allows you to share your library with a friend. Here’s exactly how game share works.

While you wait for 1923 Season 2 to arrive, Netflix has the perfect Western series you can binge in one day.

ASPIRING homeowners have more and more ways to get on the ladder with very small deposits or without any savings at all.

Despite record house prices, the number of first-time buyers last year jumped by almost 20% from 2023, according to the latest data from Halifax.

Getty

First-time buyers can get on the ladder without saving a deposit worth thousands[/caption]

The average first-time buyer is now 33 years old, and forking out a whopping deposit of £61,090 for a home worth an average £311,034, the data showed.

Mortgage lenders typically require borrowers to have a deposit of at least 5% of the property price and for some the minimum is 10%.

This means you usually need to save a deposit worth tens of thousands of pounds.

The average house price is £299,138 in January – a 5% deposit works out at £14,956 or 10% is £29,913.

But the good news is that more lenders are offering options where you can buy a home without having to scrape together a small fortune.

Some lenders even have options where you don’t have to pay any deposit at all.

Nicholas Mendes, technical manager at broker John Charcol said: “In today’s evolving property market, there are more opportunities than ever for buyers without a large deposit to take their first step onto the property ladder.

“Innovative mortgage products are opening doors, with lenders offering low-deposit options that make homeownership more accessible.

“There has never been a more exciting time to explore the possibilities for aspiring homeowners looking to make their move sooner rather than later.”

A good independent mortgage broker can help you decide what is available to you including how much can you can borrow.

Lenders work out the size of the loan and repayments you can afford based on the income of applicants, as well as any regular payments such as loans and credit cards that you are committed too.

Regular outgoings such as childcare costs and bills are also taken into consideration.

The main issue to take into consideration with a smaller deposit is that you will typically pay higher mortgage rates, as the lender is taking on more risk.

The bigger the mortgage, the more affordable the rates are on offer.

A mortgage broker should be able to help guide you as to whether it’s worth your while trying to save a bigger deposit.

You can also use a mortgage calculator to get a quick idea of what’s available in your circumstances, giving you a rough figure on the maximum you’re likely to be offered.

You can find calculators at MoneySuperMarket.com, Which? and most of the big mortgage lenders such as Barclays and HSBC also have tools on their websites.

Here’s a breakdown of what is available…

Skipton Building Society – 0% deposit

You can by a home with no savings at all through Skipton Building Society providing you can prove that you have a solid track record of paying rent for a year or more.

Rates start at 5.29% for a no fee five-year track record mortgage.

It’s a great option for those who know they can afford mortgage repayments but are finding lump sum deposits too much of a hurdle.

You will need to meet affordability requirements

The amount you can borrow is capped as your monthly repayment can’t be more than you currently pay in rent.

As well as first-time buyers, renters who owned a property more than three years ago can also apply for the deal.

Barclays – 0% deposit

Many first-time buyers get help with a deposit from parents and other family members.

But if your family aren’t in a position to gift cash, Barclays provides another option.

Borrowers can buy without a deposit under the bank’s Family Springboard scheme as long as a parent keeps 10% of the purchase price in a linked savings account.

The cash still belongs to the parent and earns interest, but could be at risk if you fall behind on repayments and the property is repossessed and sold for less than the mortgage.

Buckinghamshire Building Society offers a similar deal, giving 100% if 20% of the purchase price can be secured against the parental home.

A good deal of trust is needed as their house could be at risk if you failed to repay your mortgage.

Nicholas explains: “This structure offers a win-win: buyers can get onto the property ladder sooner without the pressure of saving a large deposit, and family members know their money is secure and even earning interest.

“It’s particularly appealing for parents or relatives who want to help but aren’t in a position to gift large sums outright. Additionally, with rates starting from 5.32% and no arrangement fee, it’s a cost-effective solution for many first-time buyers looking for flexible support.”

Yorkshire Building Society – 1% deposit

Most mortgage deals require a percentage of the property value as a deposit.

However, Yorkshire instead asks for a flat £5,000 deposit which would translate a deposit of less than 1% on properties worth £100,00 or more.

Rates start from 5.79% for a five year fixed rate with no fee.

“Another lender who is thinking outside the box and is looking to support more first-time buyers with less than a 5% deposit,” says Richard Fernandes, a mortgage advice manager at Habito. 

Vida – 3% deposit

Specialist mortgage provider Vida Homeloans’ ‘3 and easy’ range is available to buyers with a deposit of only 3%.

The major benefit of this range is that – unlike many high street mortgages – it’s available to those with an adverse credit history, complex or second job income, as well as self-employed or contract workers.

However, the downside is that the deals don’t come cheap.

Rates start from a pricey 7.4% for a five-year fixed rate deal.

Nicholas Mendes​​​​ added: “This initiative addresses a crucial gap in the market.

“Historically, individuals with adverse credit have faced significant barriers, such as the need for larger deposits, effectively locking them out of homeownership opportunities.”

However, if you don’t really need a specialist mortgage it could make more financial sense to access lower rates elsewhere.

Nationwide – 5% deposit

Although a number of lenders offer 5% deposit options for first-time buyers, Nationwide‘s Helping Hand option means you could borrow up to six times your income.

Lenders typically cap their loans at 4.5- or 5-times income. Someone earning £36,000 could therefore borrow up to £180,000.

But with Nationwide, the same person could borrow up to £216,000, giving you more property options and greater borrowing power.

Rates start from 5.29% for a 5-year fix.

Halifax has also increased how much it will allow first-time buyers borrow with the upper limit now at 5.5 and there are other specialist providers offering similar.

Nicholas from John Charcol added: “Borrowing power is receiving a significant boost thanks to income-enhancing mortgage solutions from the likes of April Mortgages and Generation Home.”

Other options

Alongside low deposit mortgages, there are other schemes to help first-time buyers move into ownership.

• Shared Ownership

Instead of buying the whole property, through shared ownership schemes you can instead buy a portion from as little 10% and pay rent to a landlord on the rest.

Buying just a share of the home means the deposit and mortgage payments are much smaller.

• Joint borrower, sole proprietor

These mortgages take into account the income of another person to help boost affordability. The additional applicant – typically a family member – is liable for the mortgage, but they do not own the home.

As with other family help options, there needs to be a large degree of trust. It is a good idea to work out a plan of what would happen in the event that you were struggling to repay the mortgage as all parties will be liable. 

A mortgage broker can help you to find lenders offering these deals.

• First Homes scheme

If you live in England, the First Homes scheme allows you to buy a property up to 50% below its market price.

The discount stays with the property, so is available to any future buyer too.

To use the scheme, you must be a first-time buyer and aged 18 or older.

You must earn less than £80,000 a year before tax or £90,000 if the property is in London.

LOCALS fear their streets are being overrun by an “army of rats” and their stinking bins left to rot under a “bonkers” new council plan.

Disgruntled residents in Bristol claim their city is already swimming in rubbish and the new policy, which is on the brink of approval, will make matters even worse.

Jon Rowley

Bristol locals say there bins are already overflowing[/caption]

Jon Rowley

Ellie, 43, said the idea was ‘bonkers’[/caption]

If waved through, it will see the frequency of bin collections decreased to just once every four weeks.

Almost 10,000 of the city’s 760,000 inhabitants have come together to sign a petition against the switch – with some even considering taking matters into their own hands.

One local, university worker Ellie, 42, told The Sun: “It’s always like this, even though we currently have fortnightly, not monthly, collections, so what the heck is it going to be like when they’ve been left out for another two weeks.

“We’ve already got a rat problem here, but with the rubbish left lying around – whether it’s in the home or out on the street – it’s going to horrendous.

“There will be rats everywhere and that will bring infestation and disease, potentially.

“We’ve had rats in our home. I can hear them beneath the floorboards and the other day I saw one in our lounge. The neighbours have rats too.

“I’ve signed the petition and I urge the council to think again about this bonkers idea.”

Ellie, who works in the marketing and communications and department at Bristol University, added: “I used to live in London and we had one bin for recycling and another for general waste, so it was fairly quick and easy to sort it, and we could just leave it out for the collection team to sort through and separate the waste on the street.

“Then when I moved here eight years ago, it was three different recycling bins and we have to sort it ourselves, which takes quite a bit of time. Now they want us to not only sort through every piece of waste, but also to then leave it all hanging around for four weeks.”

Abstract artist Ronnie, 69, says he plans to buy a £125 digital compactor to reduce the volume of rubbish stored at his home if the policy is implemented.

He said: “It’s a lot of money for people to find, but I don’t see any other solution.

“Maybe the council should provide us all with a compactor with all the money they say they’ll be saving on collections.”

The once-a-month collections would aim to “to boost recycling” and cut costs of around £2.3m, the council has said.

Ronnie added: “A month between collections is just too long. I can remember it being once a week and that was as it should be.

“I’m happy to recycle, but I don’t want waste lying around for four weeks. We already have a rat problem here and this is going to cause a massive rodent issue.

“I recycle everything I can and put it out but often they don’t collect it all.

“Last week they left the cardboard I’d carefully recycled. What’s the point, if they can’t even be bothered to collect it. There’s always plenty they leave behind.”

Retired business analyst Kevin, 64, said that because he lives alone, he does not expect to be too affected by the switch to monthly collections, but has sympathy for larger households.

He said: “There’s a family next door to me with six in the house so what the heck are they going to do with all the waste that will be generated over the course of a month?

Jon Rowley

Piled-up rubbish in Bristol[/caption]

Jon Rowley

Bins are currently collected every two weeks in the city[/caption]

Jon Rowley

Ronnie, 69, said the policy would cause a ‘massive rodent issue’[/caption]

“It will be overflowing everywhere and that presents a potential health hazard.”

Another resident, teacher Geoff, 58, said he fears the waste will attract “an army of rats”.

He said: “If we aren’t having it collected for a month, rubbish will be piled up in the street because there’ll be no room in the bins for more. That will attract even more rats.

“It’s a bonkers idea and it needs to be abandoned.”

Others fear an explosion of fly-tipping, where people dump rubbish in public areas because they no longer have room to store their waste.

One, retired hospital worker Connie, 60, said: “People are just going to illegally dump their rubbish wherever they can.

“Once a month is crazy. It’s another sign of the UK going downhill, I’m afraid. It’s going to create a mess in this beautiful city.”

Student Eli, 18, described the plans as “ridiculous”, even though he is always happy to recycle.

He said: “I recognise it’s essential that we all recycle all our waste. It’s what my generation have grown up with so it’s almost automatic, but the council has a responsibility to collect it before it starts piling up.

“Four weeks between collections is way too long. It’s just gross.

Jon Rowley

10,000 locals have signed a petition against the policy[/caption]

Jon Rowley

Eli, 18, described monthly collections as ‘gross’[/caption]

Jon Rowley

It would aim to ‘boost recycling’[/caption]

“We’ll be overrun with rats and that will cause horrific problems.”

Culver, 27, who works at Bristol Law Centre, said: “I can understand the need to make a financial saving, but if it creates a rat epidemic, it will cost more in the long run.

“Four weeks is just too long. The bins at the block of flats where I live are always overflowing by the end of the fortnight, so I dread to think what it will be like after a month.”

Opposition councillors have demanded a focus on improving the existing bin collection service, rather than implementing monthly collections.

In their justification for the plans, the ruling Greens on Bristol City Council pointed to the looming imposition of a carbon tax on the disposal of waste.

They say moving to a monthly bin collection would avoid nearly £1.5m of future carbon tax costs, while a collection every three weeks would save nearly £1m.

An increasing number of councils across Britain have already moved to three-weekly collections for general waste, with many citing the need to cut carbon emissions.

If Bristol City Council pushes ahead with its four-weekly plan, it will spark fears that other cash-strapped local authorities might also be encouraged to implement monthly waste collections.

The council’s deputy leader, Green Party councillor Heather Mack, said: “There’s due to be a tax on the residual waste we send to be processed, for the carbon in that.

“So we really need to consider how much we’re sending and where else could it go.

“We would also offer larger bins for larger households, and an extra collection for people with sanitary products or nappies, so we don’t want people to unduly struggle with this.”

The public consultation on the potential changes will run until March 10.

The council said the city currently recycles around 45 per cent of household waste, but warned the rate is dropping.

The proposed changes would “put us on a path to meet a national target of recycling 65 per cent of our city’s waste by 2035″, the council added.

Tom Renhard, leader of the Labour group on Bristol City Council, said: “There needs to be a focus on sorting out the existing service.

“I’m getting an increasing number of complaints from local residents across the city that recycling isn’t being collected and black bins aren’t being collected on [the current] two-weekly basis.

“Some of my residents haven’t had a recycling collection this side of Christmas.

“You’re also starting to see that if residents’ recycling isn’t getting collected and it’s piling up, they’re going to put it in the bin, which isn’t going to help recycling rates.”

The Sun has contacted Bristol City Council for comment.

Jon Rowley

The council has said the switch would save £2.3m in costs[/caption]

Jon Rowley

Some residents are considering purchasing their own compactors[/caption]

Jon Rowley

A public consultation on the potential changes will run until March 10[/caption]

THE EE Bafta Film Awards are already shaping up to be one of the biggest nights of the year.

Ariana Grande, Demi Moore, Timothee Chalamet and Ralph Fiennes are all attending the ceremony this Sunday.

PA

David Tennant will host the EE Bafta Film Awards in 2025[/caption]

The Sun also exclusively revealed that Take That have been booked to perform and that Hollywood favourite Jeff Goldblum will give a special performance for the In Memoriam section of the show.

Hosted by David Tennant at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Star Wars and Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis will receive the Bafta Fellowship award.

It’s all so very exciting! But we will have to wait to view the winners and losers and everything in between – for who knows what might happen on the night!

In the meantime, travel back in time with us as The Sun Online takes a look at the show’s most shocking moments – so pour your champers and let’s delve in.

Rebel Wilson Being A Rebel

Rex

The BBC were forced to issue an apology after viewers were left offended by Rebel Wilson‘s opening monologue at the 2022 BAFTAs.

Rebel is known for her – to put it simply – rebellious nature so it was no surprise when the actress poked fun at Prince Andrew and dished out some controversial jibes during her hilarious speech.

“Good evening distinguished guests and those who don’t identify as that. It is really great to be here at the Royal Andrew… Royal Harry… Royal Phillip… this royal palace place” she said.

She went on: “Sam Mendes, Martin Scorsese, Todd Phillips, Quentin Tarantino and Bong Joon-ho.

“I look at the exceptional talent nominated in this category and I don’t think I could do what they do, honestly… I just don’t have the b****s.”

One joke dubbed too crude for broadcast came at the expense of Daniel Craig as Rebel declared she’d like to ‘sit on’ the James Bond star.

John Hurt Throwing A Punch In The Seventies

Getty - Contributor

John Hurt throw a punch at a camera man but missed and fell onto the floor[/caption]

John Hurt travelled in a circle of wild living and hard drinking actor friends – his main partners in crime being Peter O’Toole, Oliver Reed and Lucian Freud.

However, John insisted he and his friends drank within a culture that “encouraged louche, creative people” and were never binge drinkers.

But, after he won Best Supporting Actor for Midnight Express in 1979, he took a swing at a photographer, missed and ended up sprawled on the floor.

Not the most dignified situation to find yourself in, especially with a glass in your hand.

Babe The Pig In The Audience

BBC

Babe the pig makes an appearance at the Baftas[/caption]

In 1996, despite huge stars like Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson, the most talked about guest was Babe the pig.

The gorgeous little thing was even given their very own seat at the show and sat patiently throughout the very long ceremony.

Sadly the little piglet didn’t get its moment on the stage as Babe didn’t win any of the four awards it had been nominated for.

Jennifer Lawrence vs Joanna Lumley

Rex Features

In 2018, Jennifer Lawrence shocked viewers as she seemed to snub our national treasure Joanna Lumley.

Joanna announced: “Right let’s start giving out some of those beautiful BAFTAs shall we and we start with the award for Outstanding British Film.

“And who better to kick the whole evening off than the hottest actress on the planet.”

“Soon to be seen in Red Sparrow, it’s the ravishing Jennifer Lawrence.”

Jennifer pipped back: “Hi, that was a bit much but thank you Joanna.”

Later, Jennifer explained that it was only an inside joke but later apologised for ‘offending the whole of England‘.

Foaming Red Carpet

Richfoto Ltd

Kate Winslet at the BAFTA Awards 2002 on the foaming red carpet[/caption]

Soapy trouble hit our screen stars in 2002 when someone seemed to get carried away in their endeavour to ensure the carpet was shining bright.

After a torrential rain storm turned the red carpet into a treacherous mess of soap suds, stars were forced to walk through an unexpected thick layer of foam. 

Kevin Spacey while presenting an award joked that Dame Judi Dench had ruined her shoes and was holding BAFTA organisers personally responsible.  

Host Stephen Fry joked: “I think it’s the years of greasy flattery given to actors which is finally bubbling up.”

Stephen Fry Fashion Faux Pas

Rex Features

Speaking of Stephen, the BAFTA host came under a torrent of fire at the 2016 BAFTAs when he mocked costume designer Jenny Beavan.

Jenny won for her costume design on Mad Max: Fury Road and collected her award in a leather jacket a baggy top and trousers.

“Only one of the great cinematic costume designers would come to an awards ceremony dressed as a bag lady,” Fry joked.

Despite Stephen revealing that the pair were friends, and Jenny insisting that she wasn’t offended, the backlash was so great that Stephen ended up deleting his Twitter account.

Bafta Blackout And Diversity Rage

Alamy Live News

Protestors demonstrated about the lack of diversity among the show’s nominees.[/caption]

Controversy in 2016 overshadowed the ceremony after protestors demonstrated outside Royal Opera House over a perceived lack of diversity among nominees.

Beasts Of No Nation star Idris Elba, who was nominated for best supporting actor, and Star Wars actor John Boyega, who won Rising Star, were shockingly the only black actors on the 2016 shortlist.

‘Creatives of Colour Network’ demonstrated at London’s Royal Opera House, with placards and banners and made their voices heard.

The BAFTAS air at 7pm on BBC1 on Sunday February 16 2025.

MOTHERS find their children shot dead on the streets by cops and suspects are chucked off bridges instead of arrest.

This is the tormenting reality of life under a rogue police force and a trigger-happy chief in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Getty

The rate of death at the hands of police in Sao Paulo has shot up recently[/caption]

EPA

The police force became significantly more deadly after a new governor took power in 2023[/caption]

Beatriz da Silva Rosa, a dinner lady, had her world shattered when her four-year-old son and husband were killed by police bullets in separate incidents months apart.

Ryan, her toddler, tried to escape when gunfire cracked through his street – but then Beatriz found him on the ground, purple, with a hole in his stomach in November.

Ryan’s dad, Leonel, was also shot dead in February last year by cops who ordered him to drop the two crutches he used and run away – before mowing him down, according to Deutsche Welle Brasil.

The only good bandit is a dead bandit.

Guilherme Muraro Derrite, Public Security Secretary

The alarming spike in killings at the hands of police has rocked Sao Paulo, with fears the state is slipping back into its old ways.

Many residents – including Camila Asano, director of Sao Paulo human rights group Conectas – blame the governor Tarcísio de Freitas, who took power in January 2023.

Since his arrival, cops have unleashed brazen violence on the streets – which were already riddled with social issues.

Camila told The Sun: “When de Freitas was elected, he began vocally defending a very violent police force. He disregarded measures to control police lethality, like the use of body cams.”

CAUGHT RED-HANDED

Another appalling incident – this time caught on camera – saw an off-duty cop fired 11 fatal rounds into the back of Gabriel Renan da Silva Soares as he tried to make off with some stolen soap.

Gabriel slipped on a piece of cardboard as he ran out of the OXXO store – and the cop decided that he should die.

CCTV footage of the cold-blooded murder was released to social media weeks later, leading to the policeman’s arrest.

Brasil de Fato

Gabriel Soares slipped on cardboard as he tried to run out of the shop with some stolen soap[/caption]

Brasil de Fato

An off-duty cop paying at the till pulled out his gun and fired 8 rounds into his back, killing Gabriel[/caption]

Social Media

Gabriel Renan da Silva Soares[/caption]

The world watched again, open-mouthed, as a Sao Paulo cop casually tossed a man off a bridge in December.

Video emerged of Marcelo Amaral, 25, a delivery driver, being stopped on his motorbike and marched to the edge of a bridge.

For no obvious reason, the policeman scooped up Marcelo by his legs and chucked him over the edge into a shallow, polluted river.

Marcelo thankfully survived the plunge after treatment in hospital.

The military cop who lobbed him off, 29-year-old Luan Pereira, was removed from duty after the incident gained global attention.

CNN Brasil

CNN Brasil

Another appalling incident saw a 22-year-old medical student, Marco Aurélio Cardenas Acosta, blasted point-black in the chest by a policeman with a pistol.

Two cops had Marco after he apparently slapped the rear-view mirror of their car, and shot him after a short struggle.

Marco slumped in his hotel lobby and was rushed to hospital where he died hours later, on November 20.

Globo

Globo

Instagram

Marco was training to be a doctor when he was killed[/caption]

ORDERS FROM THE TOP

Tarcísio de Freitas is the hard-line, populist ex-soldier elected as Sao Paulo’s governor in January 2023 – and widely touted as a presidential candidate for 2026.

His election campaign boiled with violent rhetoric, and he took a strong stance against the use of police body cams.

Camila said body cams reduced police killings by two thirds between 2019 and 2022, before de Freitas defunded them.

The human rights activist also points to one very dangerous appointment de Frietas made.

The attacks come precisely from those who should defend the people.

Father Julio Lancellotti

He promoted a man called Guilherme Derrite to the head of Public Security.

Camila said: “When Derrite was a police officer, he gave an interview – and you can watch it. He said that a good cop had to have at least three murders on his CV.”

Derrite has a fearsome reputation, and used to be part of ROTA – a military police battalion in the city infamous for its trail of death.

He was previously investigated for 16 deaths during ROTA operations he was involved in, according to the magazine Piauí.

And he also once bragged to a podcaster that he was booted out of the force for “killing too many bandits”.

Camila explained that the language spewed by the leaders would have been “understood as an order” by officers on the ground – even if they were not directly instructed to shoot on sight.

She said: “There’s a lot of interviews of police officers, who don’t want to be identified, saying: ‘Yes, we understood that as an order.’ It’s really about the leaders and the authorities that are in charge at the moment.”

Getty

Guilherme Derrite (L) is the hard-line Secretary of Public Security appointed by governor Tarcísio de Freitas (R)[/caption]

Reuters

A woman is detained by riot police during a protest in Sao Paulo[/caption]

BACKWARDS STEP

From 2019 to 2022, Sao Paulo seemed to have turned a corner as the number of people killed by police was slashed by two thirds.

So for Camila, who is committed to protecting Sao Paulo’s downtrodden, the regression to blood-bath streets is unbearable.

She said: “This is my state. I was finally seeing Sao Paulo deal with its lethal police force. To see all that work thrown into the garbage by the new governor is really desperate.”

And she doesn’t believe that the words of leaders promising to change are genuine – but rather driven by a need to protect their public image.

So far we have got just empty words and empty promises – because nothing changed.

Camila Asano, Connectas

On the arrest of the cop who threw Marcelo off the bridge, Camila said: “This case was very visible, and the governor and the secretary said: ‘There’s going to be an example of punishment and holding this officer accountable.’

“But we’re not talking about only the officer who did the throwing. That kind of action would have come down as an order. If you really want to solve this case, you have to go up the whole chain of command.

“There are so many other cases that don’t get visibility,” she said.

She also said that the killing is not random: “We are operating here in Brazil in a very racist context. For every three people that are killed, two of them are black.

“The people dying are black people in poor areas.”

Sao Paulo is important because the attitude there has the potential to spread nationwide, she said.

EPA

A bloodied demonstrator is detained by police[/caption]

WIKIMEDIA

Sao Paulo cops armed with batons[/caption]

THE STATS

Between January and September 2024, police killed 496 people in São Paulo, according to data from the State Department of Public Security (SSP).

That’s 75 per cent up on the same period the previous year.

Some 130 of those victims died in the state’s capital, Sao Paulo city, and 109 in the Baixada Santista coastal area – staggeringly high for a population of just 1.7million.

For comparison, just one person was killed by police in London during that time.

The run of eye-catching violence late last year grabbed the world’s attention – but did not appear out of the blue.

It came in the wake of two of Sao Paulo’s most lethal ever police operations – dubbed Escudo [Shield] and Verão [Summer] – that killed 28 and 56 civilians respectively between July 2023 and March 2024.

Both of these were as “revenge” for ROTA cops being killed.

And there is no mystery surrounding why more people are dying.

Camila said: “Not only did de Frietas say in public that body cams were useless, but there was a 37% reduction in investment in them in 2023.”

These “useless” cameras – alongside other measures – had overseen a 63 per cent reduction in police killings between 2019 and 2022.

Alamy

Police clashes are concentrated in the poverty-stricken favelas of Sao Paulo[/caption]

AP

Police guarding a gated community in Sao Paulo state in 2024[/caption]

EMPTY PROMISES

The above cases were reported across the globe, and piled serious pressure on de Frietas to promise change.

Camila said: “After the cases of the medical student, the bridge and the little boy – he had to give a response to Sao Paulo’s society.

“It was really damaging his image, so he was forced to recognise some mistakes, but so far we have got just empty words and empty promises – because nothing changed.”

One step Camila and others want to see is the scrapping of a dud police regulator de Freitas set up.

The original regulator was doing too good a job of holding police abuses to account, so “de Frietas decided to set up another one”, Camila said.

She continued: “He created a parallel ombudsman for the police, linked directly to Derrite, without any kind of independence. This reassures police they will not be held accountable over abuses and illegal killings.

“But even after all the pressure, even after he recognised there were mistakes, he hasn’t revoked that yet.”

Camila also says that, if de Freitas was serious about changing Sao Paulo’s path, he would sack trigger-happy Derrite and commit to properly enforcing body cams.

But instead, de Frietas is reaffirmed his support for the brutal secretary, and is replacing all the body cams with new ones that do not run all the time.

Reuters

Military police in Sao Paulo[/caption]

EPA

Sao Paulo cops sweep through the Crackolandia area[/caption]

FIGHT BACK

Organisations like Conectas are committed to shining a light onto the streets and chasing up on promise of change.

The group took the case for mandatory police body cams to the Supreme Court in December and won, meaning cops must wear one.

In December, over 80 NGOs signed a letter to the Organization of American States to sound the alarm about the growing brutality under de Freitas.

The church joined the chorus – and warned that police were adopting a motto that has lurked within Brazilian politics for years: “The only good bandit is a dead bandit.”

Father Julio Lancellotti said: “There’s an institutionalised kind of violence against the poor, against those who don’t have any protection.”

He added that the attacks “come precisely from those who should defend the people.

“It looks like that form of managing violence is planned, justified and deliberately implanted.”

Franciscan Father David Santos, an activist in Sao Paulo, told Catholic news site Crux: “Derrite and Tarcisio have been winning elections with the support of uninformed people. 

“The inhumane solution is to kill the Blacks and the poor, who disturb the rich. That’s a strong cause of the rise in police lethality.”

Dan Charity - The Sun

Street scenes in Sao Paulo’s Crackolandia[/caption]