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WORLD NEWSWednesday 18 November

Ex-billionaire testifies to Brazil parliamentary panel LATIN BRIEFS

Former billionaire Eike Batista attends his hearing in connection with charges of insider trading money. However, Batista, Venezuela head:
and market manipulation, at a federal criminal court in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazil’s markets who topped out on the Paris attacks are
regulator banned Batista from managing a publicly traded company for five years. Forbes billionaire list at No. 7 from war in Iraq
and bragged he was about
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File) to oust Mexico’s Carlos Slim CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)
from his then-top spot, has — A Venezuelan citizen
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — meteoric rise and equally He insisted that loans from acknowledged $1 billion in was killed in the attacks in
Brazil’s one-time richest spectacular fall has come the BNDES development debts to other creditors. In Paris, said President Nicolas
man said Tuesday that er- to symbolize the fate of his bank represented only a Tuesday’s testimony he said Maduro, who described
rors including an excess of nation, was testifying be- fraction of the total financ- he would resolve that debt them as fallout for the U.S.
optimism contributed to fore a parliamentary panel ing pumped into his com- within the next 10 days, but invasion of Iraq. Maduro
the downfall of his much- probing the estimated $2.5 panies, much of it foreign didn’t provide details. condemned the Islamic
hyped oil, mining, logistics billion in loans that Bra- investment. He added that He blamed his downfall State attacks while speak-
and ship-making empire. zil’s national development his debt to the bank was on an overly rosy idea of ing on television late Mon-
Eike Batista, the flamboy- bank made to his portfolio “100 percent insured” and how much the oilfields that day and said they were a
ant former billionaire whose of companies. that he doesn’t owe it any served as the jewel in his result of U.S. intervention in
industrial crown would ac- places like Iraq and Libya.
tually produce. “I was opti- He also said that a still-un-
mistic to believe my oilfields named Venezuelan was
would have that oil and killed in the Friday attacks
that it would be necessary and another was injured.
to build my own rigs and Maduro reiterated his sup-
platforms,” Batista said, port for Syrian President
adding “that was my error.” Bashar Assad. He said if
The unravelling of Batista’s Assad falls the world will
empire over the last nearly see a level of terrorism that
three years is widely seen makes the Paris attacks
here as a symbol of the look like a babe in arms.
fate of Brazil’s economy at Maduro frequently accus-
large. After years of being es the U.S. of carrying out
widely regarded as among destabilizing foreign poli-
the world’s most bullish, the cies, with the Iraq war as
Brazilian economy is now his prime example. q
in recession, with inflation
and unemployment on the Two Japanese
rise.q women killed in
Brazil gun fight
Brazil:
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) —
Mining group says other dams at risk near breach Brazilian police say two
Japanese women were
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — news conference that the debris and water that Tuesday in the Estado de killed after driving into a
Two more dams at the work will take up to three practically wiped out the S.Paulo cited a lawmaker gunbattle between police
iron ore mine that suffered months, G1 said. nearby hamlet of Bento who said the accident and armed men attempt-
a dam breach earlier this “We are very sympathetic Rodrigues, contaminated caused an estimated ing a prison break in the
month are at risk of burst- and distraught about what a river that’s the source of $2.6 billion to $3.7 billion in remote Amazonian state
ing and are undergoing happened. We work with water for residents of two damages. Rep. Leonardo of Para. The state police
emergency repairs, min- the best dam monitoring states, and devastated Quintao said he based the department says Etsuko
ing company officials said technicians but we can- aquatic life. Officials have estimate on assessments Saito Noguchi and Emiko
Tuesday not say that this tragedy called the contamination by parliamentary tech- Shiguetomo died in the
Klebber Terra, the director could have been avoid- the worst-ever environ- nical experts, the report crossfire. A man traveling
of operations at the Sa- ed,” Terra said in com- mental disaster in Brazil. said. with them named Hirono-
marco mine in the south- ments carried by O Estado The state fire department Samarco, which is jointly bu Noguchi was injured. It
eastern state of Minas de S.Paulo newspaper. has said that at least seven owned by mining giants was unclear if the victims
Gerais, said blocks of Company officials also people died in the disas- Vale of Brazil and BHP Billi- were visiting or lived in
rocks were being used to said that only one, not ter. There are another four ton of Australia, has signed Brazil. It also wasn’t imme-
reinforce the two dams, two dams as earlier re- bodies awaiting identifica- a deal with state and diately clear whose shots
reported G1, the Internet ported, burst on Nov. 5. tion and 12 more people federal public prosecu- killed the women.q
portal of the Globo televi- That breach unleashed missing. tors to pay $262 million in
sion network. Terra told a a massive wave of mud, A separate report on damages.q