BRAZIL - Brazilian authorities are seeking to bring charges against Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who published Edward Snowden’s intelligence agency leaks. Greenwald has been accused of “helping guiding and encouraging” a criminal group that hacked into the phones of Brazilian officials. The journalist had recently published stories describing private messages between public prosecutors. At this point, federal public prosecutors have proposed the charges. However, a judge still needs to decide whether to formally indict him. Six other individuals have also been accused of illegal telephone interceptions and conspiracy among other related crimes. Brazilian prosecutors allege that, during his interactions with the group, Mr Greenwald advised its members to delete messages that they had passed on to him. Greenwald has not yet publicly responded to this particular allegation. Last year, Mr Greenwald and colleagues published a series of ten investigative reports on news site The Intercept, which detailed “a massive trove of previously undisclosed materials” allegedly by Brazilian prosecutors and other officials. They quoted from messages that had been sent via Telegram, a privacy-focused app that claims to be able to keep “messages safe from hacker attacks”.

Five killed in Russian hotel as scalding water floods rooms

MOSCOW (GN): At least five people including a child died in the Russian city of Perm when a broken heating pipe flooded their hotel rooms with scalding water, investigators said. The accident happened on Monday in a small private hotel in the basement of a block of flats in the industrial city in the Urals region. “At least five people died and a further three were taken to hospital with burns,” said the Investigative Committee, which looks into major incidents. Those who died were all staying at the Karamel hotel, which has five single and double rooms, according to its website. The hotel did not have an emergency exit while the water pipe that burst dated to 1962, the building’s managing company said. Hot water is piped under streets at a high temperature to supply homes in Russia and when these pipes burst, the scalding water and steam can cause fatal accidents, with cars sometimes plunging into holes that open up in roads. Investigators have opened a criminal investigation into the alleged provision of dangerous services to consumers.