Episode five: the fightback
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Lula and Putin discuss peace in Ukraine before US summit
BRASILIA, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Saturday for about 40 minutes, the Brazilian presidential palace said, adding that Putin shared information about his discussions with the United States and "recent peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine." The leaders also discussed their cooperation in the BRICS group of emerging countries and "discussed the current international political and economic scenario," according to the statement. The conversation with Lula is the latest of a flurry of calls between Putin and foreign leaders in recent days ahead of the Russian president's expected meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump next week. Putin spoke to the leaders of China and India, both also part of the BRICS group of developing nations, and other presidents from Central Asia and Europe on Friday to brief them on his contacts with the United States about the war in Ukraine. Lula has been in a public spat with Trump since the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on the imports of Brazilian goods, which Trump linked to an alleged "witch hunt" against his ally and Brazil's former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. U.S. imports of some Brazilian products, such as orange juice and aircraft, received a lower rate. Lula told Reuters on Wednesday he planned to call the leaders of the BRICS countries, which also include South Africa, to discuss a joint response to Trump's tariffs on U.S. imports. The Brazilian leader spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. Trump has threatened BRICS nations with additional 10% tariffs last month, as the group gathered in a summit in Rio de Janeiro in July.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Bolsonaro supporters pray for Trump rescue as coup plot trial verdict nears
Each morning, Edite Costa steps out of her bungalow on Brasília's sun-baked savannah, stands beneath a mango tree and lifts her hands to the sky in prayer. 'I ask God to work so that not just Trump but all Americans come to help us rip out the evil that has taken hold of the country I love,' said the 66-year-old Baptist, who is a fervent supporter of Brazil's far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro could face decades in jail for allegedly leading a murderous conspiracy to seize power after his leftwing rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat him in the 2022 presidential election. But Costa believes her populist leader can still be saved – if her prayers are answered and Donald Trump intervenes. 'I believe in God and I believe God will touch Donald Trump's heart and that he will help us,' Costa proclaimed as she stood in her garden clutching the American flag she waves at pro-Bolsonaro rallies. 'I'm convinced God has chosen him as a liberator,' she says of the US president. 'And I believe God will empower him – and all Americans – so they come to love and liberate my land.' Costa is far from the only Bolsonarista pinning her hopes on a Trumpian intercession as the end of Bolsonaro's trial nears. In the coming weeks, Brazil's supreme court is widely expected to find Bolsonaro guilty of masterminding a coup plot, which would leave the 70-year-old looking at up to 43 years behind bars. Friends and foes of the ex-president, who governed from 2019 to the end of 2022, are convinced the outcome is a foregone conclusion. 'We're almost certain the sentence has already been written [and] Bolsonaro will be jailed,' said Patrícia de Carvalho, 50, a pro-Bolsonaro businesswoman from Brazil's capital who insists her leader is innocent. Guilherme Boulos, a leftwing congressman and close Lula ally, also believes Bolsonaro's conviction and imprisonment is assured. 'I've read the chief prosecutor's 300-page report … the evidence is extremely robust,' Boulos said, pointing to a slew of incriminating material unearthed by federal police investigators. The evidence includes the discovery that an alleged plan to assassinate Lula and Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court judge presiding over the trial, was printed out in Bolsonaro's presidential palace. 'Any fair trial that considers this evidence will lead to Bolsonaro's conviction for an attempted coup,' Boulos predicted. Costa, Carvalho and millions of other devotees now see only one possible lifeline for their movement's leader: Trump heaping pressure on the supreme court and Lula's government in an attempt to force judges to absolve him. In recent weeks the US president has started answering their calls, first by imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports in retaliation against a supposed anti-Bolsonaro 'witch-hunt', then by stripping eight supreme court judges of their US visas, and finally by hitting Moraes with sanctions and accusing him of turning South America's biggest democracy into 'a judicial dictatorship'. At the centre of Trump's pressure campaign is Bolsonaro's third son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a congressman who has close ties to the Maga movement. Eduardo, 41, moved to the US in February claiming he was a victim of political persecution and has busied himself trying to persuade Trump officials to target Brazil. '[I visit the White House] almost every week,' he told the Brazilian newspaper O Globo this week, admitting he was lobbying the Trump administration to impose further sanctions after his father was placed under house arrest on Monday. He said he hoped for a reaction from the US. 'What they'll do, I don't know,' added the hard-right politician, who named some of his US contacts as the Republican congresspeople María Elvira Salazar, Richard McCormick and Chris Smith, and Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon. With Bolsonaro's day of judgment expected in September, his disciples are urging Trump's administration to impose sanctions on other members of the 11-member supreme court in order to secure an acquittal. Last Sunday, Carvalho joined thousands of protesters outside Brasília's central bank, carrying a banner urging Trump to make Brazil great again. Many marchers carried US flags or wore red Maga caps stamped with Trump's name. Carvalho voiced confidence that the court would buckle under US pressure and drop the case. Experts disagree. They believe Trump's sanctions and tariffs do not have a prayer of swaying the five judges who will decide Bolsonaro's fate. What could Trump do to save Bolsonaro's skin? 'Invade Brazil,' quipped Thomas Traumann, a political pundit and the author of a book about his politically divided country called Biography of the Abyss. 'There's no chance at all of it happening.' Traumann said Trump's pressure campaign had been Bolsonaro's 'last card' but it had failed, serving only to turn many of Brazil's conservative elites against the ex-president for putting his own personal interests above those of his country. This week one industry federation warned that Trump's tariffs could cost Brazil's economy £3.5bn over the next two years. Traumann believed the chances of another member of the Bolsonaro clan winning next year's presidential election and offering their patriarch a get-out-of-jail-free card had also taken a hit. Boulos also thought Trump's ploy – which he called 'a shameful, arrogant, imperialist affront' – had backfired on Bolsonarismo. 'Even people on the right are looking at this and saying this can't be possible … Brazil isn't the US's back yard, it isn't a little banana republic where he can intervene and do whatever he wants.' Bolsonaro and his politician sons have long portrayed themselves as flag-waving patriots, encouraging followers to wear Brazil's yellow-and-green football jersey and adopt the national anthem as their song. 'But they have revealed themselves to be traitors to the nation who are being used by Trump to attack Brazilian sovereignty, Brazilian jobs and the Brazilian economy,' Boulos claimed. 'If the objective was to save Bolsonaro, they've completely shot themselves in the foot.' Yet the Bolsonaristas have vowed to fight on. This week after Bolsonaro was confined to his mansion, fleets of cars and motorbikes honked their way through the streets of the capital in protest at his treatment. Pro-Bolsonaro congresspeople staged a 30-hour occupation of the lower house to demand an amnesty for the former president and for the rightwing activists who ransacked the same building during their 8 January 2023 rampage through Brasília. At one street protest, Costa, who admitted climbing on to the roof of congress during those pro-Bolsonaro riots, hoisted her stars-and-stripes flag into an azure sky and begged the US president to act. 'Trumpy! Trumpy! Trumpy! Trumpy!' the throng around her chanted joyfully, using the Brazilian pronunciation of his name. 'Trumpy! Come here to Brazil, Trumpy!' Costa bellowed back in English, imploring him to encircle Brazil with US military bases and colonise her homeland. 'We love you!'
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Revealed: Notorious Hellbanianz gangsters who peddled cocaine onto Britain's streets and drove military vehicles with machine guns onto high-rise Barking estate set up new stronghold... and it's NOT in London
It was from a rundown council estate in east London that the Hellbanianz made their name. The notorious Albanian cartel, who flaunt their lavish lifestyle filled with fancy cars, diamond-encrusted Rolexes and half-naked girls in music videos, are feared across the streets of London. From the high rise towers of the Gascoigne Estate in Barking, the Hellbanianz terrorised residents as they peddled cocaine across the capital and recruited young Albanians to join their gang. And while other gangs may attempt to keep a low profile, the brazen group deliberately share images of themselves brandishing weapons and posing with large wads of cash across social media, and have engaged in open warfare on London's streets. A few years ago they went as far as driving military vehicles fitted with heavy machine guns through the Gascoigne Estate for a rap video entitled Poppin Smoke. But a regeneration scheme by Barking and Dagenham council has seen almost all the flats - which the group 'had taken control of' - knocked to the ground, and with it came crashing down the base from which they ran their campaign of terror. MailOnline can exclusively reveal that the gang's top dogs have now found themselves a new base, and it is not in the UK. The said 'leader' of the group, Ervin Selita, known by the nickname 'Vinz', is understood to have relocated to Dubai, taking some of his most trusted lieutenants with him. Having earned large amounts peddling cocaine in the UK, the gang's leaders can afford to live a life of luxury in Dubai, with its members posting snaps and videos of themselves driving Rolls-Royces and dining with views of the Burj Khalifa. In one image, the group - who are the street dealers and enforcers of the Albanian mafia Shqiptare - are posing on a buggy in the desert, with all but Selita's identities covered with the use of a keffiyeh. In another, Selita and his crony known by the name 'Diablo', pose topless with a view of skyscrapers behind them. Glimpses of their 'Dubai lifestyle' have been posted on TikTok through the countless accounts associated with the group and its members. The glamorous posts are accompanied with captions and hashtags 'life style like Arab' and '#dubaisettings'. The group have grown a large following of young Albanians on the platform. It is not known exactly when the group relocated to the Middle East, but it is thought to be towards the latter half of 2023, after Selita was released from prison in Albania. The Hellbanianz 'head', who is in his 30s, was arrested over the attempted murder of a hotel owner in Tirana in February 2022. The incident kicked off after the receptionist refused to allow Selita and his girlfriend entry into the hotel without an ID card. When hotel owner Zeni Xhindi got involved, Selita pulled out a gun and tried to kill him. The feared gang leader was released from prison in July 2023 following a Court of Appeal decision which ruled he should 'maintain contact' with the probation service. An expert with knowledge of the Albanian gang told MailOnline that Selita then, after a brief return to the UK, made his move to Dubai. Since moving to the Middle East, Selita and others have performed several gigs in Albania and across Europe to their large follower base. Selita often performs with top Hellbanianz member Stealth - real name Fation Dibra - but it is unclear where he is based. Meanwhile, some of the group's other members are serving lengthy sentences in UK jails while others continue to roam the streets of Barking. Popular members known by the street names 'Skilla' and 'Gucci' are among those who were put behind bars. Our source told MailOnline: 'The head of the Hellbanianz and his trusted soldiers have moved to Dubai. At least five of them are known to be there. 'Vinz and his top people are living in Dubai while their foot soldiers are serving sentences in the UK.' Much of the group's top dogs including Selita originate from the Burrel area of North Albania, and had moved here as asylum seekers with their families at a young age. The group - whose motto is 'we are God of the streets' - was formed as a rap group in 2000 in East London, but formed as a criminal gang in 2002. Growing up on estates across Barking and Dagenham, the group are not entirely different to the model of other London gangs. Members of the Hellbanianz at the time were children but very soon adopted a life of crime and became involved in pumping in class A drugs for big Albanian bosses. In 2011, the notorious gang shocked the capital when a 90-minute knife war broke out in Trafalgar Square with rival Albanian gang OTR- On Top of the Rest. It was said thugs as young as 13 were involved. 'The group use music as their criminal PR to recruit people, they glorify crime. They are very popular among young Albanians, especially in the north of Albania. They see them driving flashy cars and think we could have that too,' the source told MailOnline. In 2020, members Azen 'Ziro' Dajci, Fabion Kuci - who goes by the street name 'Gucci', and Ardi Sheta were sentenced to a combined 15 years in prison for their involvement in an armed robbery. Another member of the gang, Tristen Asllani, was jailed for 25 years for firearms and drugs offences in June 2016. The gang are so brazen that they pose for pictures taken inside prison on illegal phones that have been smuggled in. One popular member 'Skilla' - real name Sabajet Shuti - is in prison for the murder of 27-year-old Lumturi Zeqja in Leytonstone. He had fled the UK but was sentenced to life after being extradited from Sweden. TikTok is flooded with posts by members and supporters demanding 'Go Get Skrilla'. In one video, Skilla writes: 'Albanian even locked up surrounded by high walls are lions.' In the background of the video a song plays: 'We are God of streets. In prison we are having all conditions, only what is missing are prostitutes.' A writer with expertise of crime groups in the northwest told MailOnline: 'The move to Dubai would be because they became rich and did well financially from selling cocaine. 'They can now afford to buy a house in Dubai with the money they have from selling drugs. 'The more money they have there the better. If you have a house worth more than £400,000 in Dubai you can get access to a 'golden visa'. 'So if you buy a villa say over four or five hundred thousand in pounds or euros, you can get a five-year visa there. 'There's also the big factor that all the issues they were facing with rival gangs and with the police in the UK disappears as soon as they move. 'It's the perfect move to make if they are being looked into by local police, HMRC etc. 'It is likely their criminal activity will continue but they'll have their underlings doing the work for them. 'So the boss moves to Dubai and the middle manager sort of just becomes boss. The boss will say to him "look you will get the promotion and more money but if police come, they're coming for you now, it'll be you in the Crown Court". 'It's a natural progression that a lot of gangs do. British drug dealers started moving to Dubai about 12 years ago. A lot of Irish and Russian gangs have gone there too, so the Albanians are just following suit. 'It just makes sense. They disappear off the radar, and it just makes it harder in terms of extradition. 'And the underlings who do well get rewarded with trips to Dubai, flights, week at a fancy hotel, elite day passes etc.' Our source also told of how gangs often move to Dubai to go 'progress' in their careers. He said: 'There is a community in Dubai of upper tier drug dealers. So if the gang are moving into these upper tier circles and making connections they get access to information on ports, which shipping links they're using and all sorts. 'That's the big boy level. 'Say they're operating at a six out of ten level from the UK, in Dubai they'll go to the next step. If they're invited to a dinner say with top level dealers, the person will say to them "we've got access to these ports, do you want a slice of the pie?" 'So it makes sense for them. Dubai is also the dirty money scene. It's been known for a long time that criminals fly to Dubai with lots of cash and buy gold. 'It's also good for setting up businesses. There are certain sectors, like if you were to set up a sector in beauty, they will recruit young women from the UK. 'It'll be nail treatments, salons, that sort of thing during the day, and then they'll also be asked to attend parties at night as eye candy. 'And that sort of thing can very easily lead to prostitution too. 'You've also got a huge market out there for very blingy cars, so they often tend to set up cleaning or valeting businesses there for supercars. 'Some people with a bit of technical knowledge will do type replacements, replacing parts for Ferraris and Lambourghinis. 'The whole sector is linked to drug dealing.' Skilla's brother Emirlion Shuti, known by the name 'OneMili' also received a 20-month sentence, suspended for two years, for his role in his brother's murder. The member is understood to still be hanging about the Barking area, along with other lower-level members. He, and others, have been seen on TikTok donning large gold chains made in the shape of the Gascoigne Estate with the words 'Go Get Skrilla' - a differing spelling also referring to Skilla. Fans of the gang also comment 'Free Skilla' on posts. In a post as recent as April this year, OneMili and other Hellbanianz members posed at a Shell petrol station in Barking in front of a Mercedes Benz with the number plate '3 SKILLA'. Barking and Dagenham Council said: 'The regeneration of the Gascoigne Estate has been underway since 2011 through a phased programme that has so far removed 18 high-rise blocks. 'These blocks were identified as providing poor-quality housing that could not be cost-effectively repaired. 'The decision to regenerate the estate was based on the condition of the housing stock and the opportunity to deliver better-quality homes and public spaces for residents. 'The regeneration has enabled the delivery of modern, energy-efficient homes with private outdoor space, alongside new public parks, play areas, and a substantial new secondary school. The layout of the estate has been redesigned to improve visibility and access through public spaces, contributing to a safer environment.
