SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 / 8:31 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Ireland must respect U.S. president's office when Trump visits: PM
DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Irish government must treat the U.S. president’s office with the respect it deserves when Donald Trump visits in November despite disagreeing with many of his policies, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said ahead of planned protests.
Trump will travel to Ireland for the first time as president during a trip to Europe to attend a Nov. 11 commemoration in Paris of the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War One, the White House said on Friday.
The president’s decision to take up an open invitation to Ireland in November “came a little bit out of the blue”, said Varadkar, who as a minister was against extending an invitation to Trump before changing his mind when he became prime minister.
A number of smaller opposition parties have begun organizing protests to coincide with the visit.
“I know a lot of people dislike him, a lot of people object to him, a lot of people disagree with a lot of his policies, just as I do in fact,” Varadkar said in an interview with national broadcaster RTE late on Sunday.
“But he is the president of America and the relationship between Ireland and the United States is much more important than any Irish government or any U.S. administration and I think we have to treat his office with the respect that it deserves.”
Low tax Ireland is also a major beneficiary of investment by U.S. firms with almost 800 U.S.-based companies including major employers such as Google, Apple and Pfizer accounting for around 7 percent of the country’s workforce.
Trump will visit his golf resort in the west coast village of Doonbeg as well as Dublin during the brief trip, Varadkar said.
The Irish Prime Minister will use an expected meeting with Trump to raise issues including trade, migration, human rights and Britain’s exit from the European Union which is set to hit Ireland harder than any other remaining EU member.
“As you know, he’s very supportive of Brexit and I once again want to explain to him why that’s not the right position either for America or for Europe,” said Varadkar, who met Trump in the White House in March.
Reporting by Padraic Halpin, editing by Ed Osmond
Monday, September 3, 2018
JD.com CEO Returns Home After U.S. Sexual Misconduct Arrest - Bloomberg
JD.com CEO Returns Home After U.S. Sexual Misconduct Arrest
Bloomberg News
September 3, 2018, 9:01 PM GMT+10
Police haven’t charged Liu, who’s now back at work in China
Minneapolis police say their investigation is still ongoing
JD.com Inc.’s billionaire founder has returned to China after his weekend arrest for alleged sexual misconduct in Minnesota, with local police beginning an investigation into the chief executive officer of one of the Asian country’s largest internet corporations.
Liu Qiangdong, who uses the English name Richard, was brought in at 11:32 p.m. Friday on an accusation of “criminal sexual conduct” and released just over 16 hours later, according to arrest records. Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder declined to provide any further details about the reasons for the arrest, but said authorities decided not to keep Liu in custody and haven’t imposed any travel restrictions on him while conducting their investigation.
JD.com is the country’s largest e-commerce company after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., backed by investors from social media titan Tencent Holdings Ltd. to American names Walmart Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Liu, 45, has led the $45 billion business since its founding and controls the business through special voting rights.
“We are very much in the infancy of this investigation,” Elder said. Authorities may decide not to charge Liu at all, he added. “There are no travel restrictions on him at the moment and he’s not charged with a crime at this time.”
The billionaire has since flown back to China, his company said. JD earlier said on its official Weibo social media account that U.S. police found no misconduct in their probe against Liu. It didn’t elaborate nor explain how that assertion squared with the police’s own statement of an ongoing investigation. In the Weibo post, the company had said he will continue a scheduled business trip.
Police haven’t outlined specific accusations against Liu, said Joseph Friedberg, who JD confirmed as representing the billionaire. His team was now awaiting details from the authorities before deciding on next steps, and Friedberg wouldn’t elaborate further.
“No one has told him or us what the accusations are,” he said in a phone interview. “If he were to be charged -- and I don’t think there is any possibility of that -- he would certainly come back to face charges.”
Liu is registered as a student at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in its Doctor of Business Administration program, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported, citing a spokesman. Participants were in town from Aug. 26 through Saturday as part of their residency, the newspaper reported. The university didn’t respond to calls and emails from Bloomberg News outside normal business hours.
“Investors may treat the stock cautiously for the next short while as they wait to see how this issue is resolved,” said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting. “But I suspect it will likely not come to much and that it won’t have any major long-term impact on the stock.”
JD’s ADRs won’t trade in the U.S. until Tuesday because of the Labor Day holiday Monday. Spreads on the company’s dollar bonds widened at least three basis points, according to Asia-based traders.
Earlier this year, a guest at a party Liu hosted in downtown Sydney was convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow guest after the event. There was no accusation of any misconduct by Liu. The billionaire lost a legal attempt to keep his name out of the records. Over the weekend, JD said it will take legal action against the publishing of untrue reports or rumors.
Liu became one of China’s best-known self-made billionaires by turning a chain of electronics goods stores into an online powerhouse selling everything from mobile gadgets to fresh seafood. It’s Walmart’s partner in the country and its largest shareholder is WeChat operator and games giant Tencent. The CEO has amassed a fortune of about $7.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index.
JD.com Bond Spreads Recover After Widening Earlier on CEO Arrest
His wife Zhang Zetian is famous in China in her own right with 1.5 million followers on Weibo. She was dubbed “Sister Milk Tea” after a photo of her holding the drink went viral on social media in the country.
Liu’s JD has started pushing into physical stores and the billionaire speaks openly about his longer term goal of expanding internationally, though its incursions overseas have so far mostly been limited to Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Liu has his eyes on the affluent consumers of Europe and the U.S. as he makes substantial investments in the infrastructure needed to supply millions of customers around the world.
His high-spending strategy has drawn criticism from investors who would prefer it remain focused at home. JD’s share price hit a record high in January only to tumble since then after failing to deliver the full-year profit many analysts had expected. In the June quarter alone, the company had a net loss of 2.2 billion yuan ($322 million).
“The arrest of JD.com’s chairman and CEO in the U.S. should not immediately impact the company’s operations,” Vey-sern Ling and Tiffany Tam, analysts for Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a report Monday.
— With assistance by David Ramli, Jing Jin, Shuping Niu, Edvard Pettersson, Michael B Marois, and Carrie Hong
Bloomberg News
September 3, 2018, 9:01 PM GMT+10
Police haven’t charged Liu, who’s now back at work in China
Minneapolis police say their investigation is still ongoing
JD.com Inc.’s billionaire founder has returned to China after his weekend arrest for alleged sexual misconduct in Minnesota, with local police beginning an investigation into the chief executive officer of one of the Asian country’s largest internet corporations.
Liu Qiangdong, who uses the English name Richard, was brought in at 11:32 p.m. Friday on an accusation of “criminal sexual conduct” and released just over 16 hours later, according to arrest records. Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder declined to provide any further details about the reasons for the arrest, but said authorities decided not to keep Liu in custody and haven’t imposed any travel restrictions on him while conducting their investigation.
JD.com is the country’s largest e-commerce company after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., backed by investors from social media titan Tencent Holdings Ltd. to American names Walmart Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Liu, 45, has led the $45 billion business since its founding and controls the business through special voting rights.
“We are very much in the infancy of this investigation,” Elder said. Authorities may decide not to charge Liu at all, he added. “There are no travel restrictions on him at the moment and he’s not charged with a crime at this time.”
The billionaire has since flown back to China, his company said. JD earlier said on its official Weibo social media account that U.S. police found no misconduct in their probe against Liu. It didn’t elaborate nor explain how that assertion squared with the police’s own statement of an ongoing investigation. In the Weibo post, the company had said he will continue a scheduled business trip.
Police haven’t outlined specific accusations against Liu, said Joseph Friedberg, who JD confirmed as representing the billionaire. His team was now awaiting details from the authorities before deciding on next steps, and Friedberg wouldn’t elaborate further.
“No one has told him or us what the accusations are,” he said in a phone interview. “If he were to be charged -- and I don’t think there is any possibility of that -- he would certainly come back to face charges.”
Liu is registered as a student at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in its Doctor of Business Administration program, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported, citing a spokesman. Participants were in town from Aug. 26 through Saturday as part of their residency, the newspaper reported. The university didn’t respond to calls and emails from Bloomberg News outside normal business hours.
“Investors may treat the stock cautiously for the next short while as they wait to see how this issue is resolved,” said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting. “But I suspect it will likely not come to much and that it won’t have any major long-term impact on the stock.”
JD’s ADRs won’t trade in the U.S. until Tuesday because of the Labor Day holiday Monday. Spreads on the company’s dollar bonds widened at least three basis points, according to Asia-based traders.
Earlier this year, a guest at a party Liu hosted in downtown Sydney was convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow guest after the event. There was no accusation of any misconduct by Liu. The billionaire lost a legal attempt to keep his name out of the records. Over the weekend, JD said it will take legal action against the publishing of untrue reports or rumors.
Liu became one of China’s best-known self-made billionaires by turning a chain of electronics goods stores into an online powerhouse selling everything from mobile gadgets to fresh seafood. It’s Walmart’s partner in the country and its largest shareholder is WeChat operator and games giant Tencent. The CEO has amassed a fortune of about $7.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index.
JD.com Bond Spreads Recover After Widening Earlier on CEO Arrest
His wife Zhang Zetian is famous in China in her own right with 1.5 million followers on Weibo. She was dubbed “Sister Milk Tea” after a photo of her holding the drink went viral on social media in the country.
Liu’s JD has started pushing into physical stores and the billionaire speaks openly about his longer term goal of expanding internationally, though its incursions overseas have so far mostly been limited to Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Liu has his eyes on the affluent consumers of Europe and the U.S. as he makes substantial investments in the infrastructure needed to supply millions of customers around the world.
His high-spending strategy has drawn criticism from investors who would prefer it remain focused at home. JD’s share price hit a record high in January only to tumble since then after failing to deliver the full-year profit many analysts had expected. In the June quarter alone, the company had a net loss of 2.2 billion yuan ($322 million).
“The arrest of JD.com’s chairman and CEO in the U.S. should not immediately impact the company’s operations,” Vey-sern Ling and Tiffany Tam, analysts for Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a report Monday.
— With assistance by David Ramli, Jing Jin, Shuping Niu, Edvard Pettersson, Michael B Marois, and Carrie Hong
Turkey braced for further turmoil amid signs of corporate distress - Financial Times
Sept. 3, 2018.
Turkey braced for further turmoil amid signs of corporate distress
Soaring inflation and fears over bank debt add to Ankara’s problems
Inflation is expected to top 17% in August © Reuters
Laura Pitel in Marmaris
Turkish markets are braced for greater turmoil on Monday amid growing signs of corporate distress and the release of data expected to show runaway inflation.
Soaring prices have fuelled the lira’s depreciation, triggering announcements by companies about cash flow problems and missed debt payments.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted that annual inflation would top 17 per cent in August — higher than the previous month’s figure of 15.85 per cent and far above the central bank’s official 5 per cent target.
The forthcoming inflation data are the “next major flashpoint” for the currency, said Jason Tuvey, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. “This will provide the first hard evidence of the impact of the lira’s collapse this month on the wider economy,” he wrote in a note to clients.
The lira, which has lost about 40 per cent of its value this year, has suffered extreme swings in recent weeks. Investors, already unnerved by inflationary pressure and the wide current account deficit, took further fright after the eruption of a dispute between presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The US president imposed sanctions on two Turkish ministers and raised tariffs on imports of Turkish steel and aluminium in an attempt to pressure Ankara to release a detained American pastor.
Mr Erdogan has refused to back down in the face of what he has called a US economic war against Turkey. He has repeated his opposition to high interest rates, which he has termed “the mother and father of all evil” and argued are a cause of high inflation rather than a potential cure.
Turkey’s central bank stunned investors by refusing to raise rates even as the lira lost nearly a quarter of its value against the dollar in August alone.
Erdogan’s conspiracy claims strike chord in Turkey
The spiralling currency has turned the screws on Turkish companies. Some are laden with debt in dollars or euros that are becoming ever more expensive to service. Others are struggling with the rising costs of imported materials and energy or rent payments that are indexed to the dollar.
On Saturday, a Turkish shoe retailer announced that it was having cash flow problems because of exchange rate pressures. Hotic, which has 150 branches across Turkey and employs close to 900 people, said a commercial court would oversee an agreement with its creditors while debt restructuring takes place.
The previous day, Derindere, a vehicle rental company, announced that it had failed to redeem a TL50m ($7m) corporate bond that was set to mature on that day. It cited cash flow problems caused by “economic developments”.
The company, which had a fleet of 36,000 vehicles and a market share of 10 per cent at the end of 2017, said discussions with the banks were continuing to “ensure that our cash flow is returned to a healthy structure”.
Derindere was downgraded by the rating agency Fitch last month. Fitch warned that the company’s business model — with foreign currency borrowing but assets denominated and reported in lira — had “very high sensitivity” to exchange rate risk.
On Friday, the energy company Bis Enerji said it was unable to meet its payment obligations on a TL30m corporate bond. The company, which missed the TL3m principal repayment and interest, said its power station in the western city of Bursa was offline. It was expected to resume generation in October after negotiations with banks, creditors and bondholders, said Bis Enerji.
US-Turkey crisis explained
The sector underwent a big overhaul after a severe crisis in 2000 and 2001 and the banks are often described as the jewel in the crown of the economy. But their capital adequacy ratios have been eroded by the falling lira. Low domestic savings rates mean that banks are heavily reliant on foreign funding.
Last week, Moody’s rating agency downgraded 18 banks because of concerns about their continued ability to refinance.
Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s newly appointed finance minister, will visit London on Monday to meet his British counterpart, Philip Hammond.
Mr Albayrak, who is the son-in-law of Mr Erdogan, has sought the help of international allies to fend off the crisis. So far only Qatar has offered concrete support, with the promise of a $15bn investment package. Mr Albayrak has said that Turkey has no plan to seek a bailout from the IMF.
* This article has been amended since original publication to change an incorrect use of the term devaluation.
Turkey braced for further turmoil amid signs of corporate distress
Soaring inflation and fears over bank debt add to Ankara’s problems
Inflation is expected to top 17% in August © Reuters
Laura Pitel in Marmaris
Turkish markets are braced for greater turmoil on Monday amid growing signs of corporate distress and the release of data expected to show runaway inflation.
Soaring prices have fuelled the lira’s depreciation, triggering announcements by companies about cash flow problems and missed debt payments.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted that annual inflation would top 17 per cent in August — higher than the previous month’s figure of 15.85 per cent and far above the central bank’s official 5 per cent target.
The forthcoming inflation data are the “next major flashpoint” for the currency, said Jason Tuvey, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. “This will provide the first hard evidence of the impact of the lira’s collapse this month on the wider economy,” he wrote in a note to clients.
The lira, which has lost about 40 per cent of its value this year, has suffered extreme swings in recent weeks. Investors, already unnerved by inflationary pressure and the wide current account deficit, took further fright after the eruption of a dispute between presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The US president imposed sanctions on two Turkish ministers and raised tariffs on imports of Turkish steel and aluminium in an attempt to pressure Ankara to release a detained American pastor.
Mr Erdogan has refused to back down in the face of what he has called a US economic war against Turkey. He has repeated his opposition to high interest rates, which he has termed “the mother and father of all evil” and argued are a cause of high inflation rather than a potential cure.
Turkey’s central bank stunned investors by refusing to raise rates even as the lira lost nearly a quarter of its value against the dollar in August alone.
Erdogan’s conspiracy claims strike chord in Turkey
The spiralling currency has turned the screws on Turkish companies. Some are laden with debt in dollars or euros that are becoming ever more expensive to service. Others are struggling with the rising costs of imported materials and energy or rent payments that are indexed to the dollar.
On Saturday, a Turkish shoe retailer announced that it was having cash flow problems because of exchange rate pressures. Hotic, which has 150 branches across Turkey and employs close to 900 people, said a commercial court would oversee an agreement with its creditors while debt restructuring takes place.
The previous day, Derindere, a vehicle rental company, announced that it had failed to redeem a TL50m ($7m) corporate bond that was set to mature on that day. It cited cash flow problems caused by “economic developments”.
The company, which had a fleet of 36,000 vehicles and a market share of 10 per cent at the end of 2017, said discussions with the banks were continuing to “ensure that our cash flow is returned to a healthy structure”.
Derindere was downgraded by the rating agency Fitch last month. Fitch warned that the company’s business model — with foreign currency borrowing but assets denominated and reported in lira — had “very high sensitivity” to exchange rate risk.
On Friday, the energy company Bis Enerji said it was unable to meet its payment obligations on a TL30m corporate bond. The company, which missed the TL3m principal repayment and interest, said its power station in the western city of Bursa was offline. It was expected to resume generation in October after negotiations with banks, creditors and bondholders, said Bis Enerji.
US-Turkey crisis explained
The sector underwent a big overhaul after a severe crisis in 2000 and 2001 and the banks are often described as the jewel in the crown of the economy. But their capital adequacy ratios have been eroded by the falling lira. Low domestic savings rates mean that banks are heavily reliant on foreign funding.
Last week, Moody’s rating agency downgraded 18 banks because of concerns about their continued ability to refinance.
Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s newly appointed finance minister, will visit London on Monday to meet his British counterpart, Philip Hammond.
Mr Albayrak, who is the son-in-law of Mr Erdogan, has sought the help of international allies to fend off the crisis. So far only Qatar has offered concrete support, with the promise of a $15bn investment package. Mr Albayrak has said that Turkey has no plan to seek a bailout from the IMF.
* This article has been amended since original publication to change an incorrect use of the term devaluation.
Brazil museum fire: Funding cuts blamed as icon nearly destroyed - BBC News
Sept. 3, 2018.
Brazil museum fire: Funding cuts blamed as icon nearly destroyed
Footage shows the huge scale of the blaze
Officials in Brazil have blamed lack of funding for a huge fire that has ravaged the country's National Museum.
One of the largest anthropology and natural history collections in the Americas was almost totally destroyed in Sunday's fire in Rio de Janeiro.
There had been complaints about the dilapidated state of the museum. "We never had adequate support," its deputy director said after the fire.
Presidential candidate Marina Silva also criticised lack of investment.
"Given the financial straits of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and all the other public universities the last three years, this was a tragedy that could be seen coming," Ms Silva, a left-wing politician standing in next month's election, tweeted.
The fire started on Sunday evening, after the building - a 19th-Century former royal palace - had closed for the day. The cause is not known.
No injuries have been reported, but most of the 20 million items the museum contained, including the oldest human remains ever found in the Americas, went up in flames.
In pictures: Brazil national museum in flames
Treasure-trove museum - from a meteorite to a 12,000-year-old skeleton
Brazil's President Michel Temer said in a tweet that it was a "sad day for all Brazilians" as "200 years of work, research and knowledge were lost".
Culture Minister Sergio Sa Leitao said it was a "tragedy that could have been avoided" but a reconstruction effort would begin.
What are employees saying?
Staff, who have complained about funding cuts, are distraught
A deputy director at the museum, Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte, expressed "immense anger", and accused Brazilian authorities of a "lack of attention".
"We fought years ago, in different governments, to obtain resources to adequately preserve everything that was destroyed today."
A third of the 30 exhibition halls were closed because of budget cuts, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper says.
A major dinosaur exhibition, which was forced to shut following a termite attack five months ago, recently reopened only thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, the report adds.
Museum librarian Edson Vargas da Silva told local media that the building had wooden floors and contained "a lot of things that burn very fast", such as paper documents.
Why the lack of funds?
The museum, Brazil's oldest, is managed by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the federal government has been struggling with huge budget imbalances in recent years.
The deficit was about 8% of GDP in 2017, only slightly down from a record 10% two years earlier.
But Rio de Janeiro state is also facing a budget crisis.
Firefighters were able to retrieve a number of items from the burning building
Roberto Robadey, a spokesman for the Rio fire department, is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that the hydrants closest to the museum were not working and that firefighters had to get water from a nearby lake.
A stark metaphor for a city in crisis
By Katy Watson, BBC South America correspondent
This isn't just Brazilian history that's gone up in flames. Many see this as a metaphor for the city - and the country as a whole.
Rio de Janeiro is in crisis. Growing violence, a deep economic decline and political corruption have combined to make the city a shadow of what it once was. It was only in 2016 that it was hosting the Olympic Games - an event into which Brazil poured billions of dollars.
But the hangover from the sporting event has hit Rio hard. Add to that the fact that federal spending has been slashed, and with violence on the rise, tourism numbers have also declined.
This was a museum that many saw as long ignored and underfunded - now, with devastating consequences for Brazil's heritage.
What did the museum contain?
Its 20m artefacts included fossils, dinosaur bones and a 12,000-year-old skeleton of a woman known as "Luzia", the oldest ever discovered in the Americas.
A highlight for many was the Bendegó meteorite, weighing more than five tonnes and discovered in Minas Gerais region in the 18th Century.
The building was also home to items covering the centuries from the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1500s to the declaration of a republic in 1889.
The ethnology collection had unique pieces from the pre-Columbian era and artifacts from indigenous cultures.
Pieces from Greco-Roman times and Egypt were also on display at the museum.
Portugal's royal family transferred the court to the building in 1808, when the country faced the threat of invasion from Napoleon.
The museum was established in 1818, with the aim of promoting scientific research by making its collection available to specialists.
Brazil museum fire: Funding cuts blamed as icon nearly destroyed
Footage shows the huge scale of the blaze
Officials in Brazil have blamed lack of funding for a huge fire that has ravaged the country's National Museum.
One of the largest anthropology and natural history collections in the Americas was almost totally destroyed in Sunday's fire in Rio de Janeiro.
There had been complaints about the dilapidated state of the museum. "We never had adequate support," its deputy director said after the fire.
Presidential candidate Marina Silva also criticised lack of investment.
"Given the financial straits of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and all the other public universities the last three years, this was a tragedy that could be seen coming," Ms Silva, a left-wing politician standing in next month's election, tweeted.
The fire started on Sunday evening, after the building - a 19th-Century former royal palace - had closed for the day. The cause is not known.
No injuries have been reported, but most of the 20 million items the museum contained, including the oldest human remains ever found in the Americas, went up in flames.
In pictures: Brazil national museum in flames
Treasure-trove museum - from a meteorite to a 12,000-year-old skeleton
Brazil's President Michel Temer said in a tweet that it was a "sad day for all Brazilians" as "200 years of work, research and knowledge were lost".
Culture Minister Sergio Sa Leitao said it was a "tragedy that could have been avoided" but a reconstruction effort would begin.
What are employees saying?
Staff, who have complained about funding cuts, are distraught
A deputy director at the museum, Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte, expressed "immense anger", and accused Brazilian authorities of a "lack of attention".
"We fought years ago, in different governments, to obtain resources to adequately preserve everything that was destroyed today."
A third of the 30 exhibition halls were closed because of budget cuts, the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper says.
A major dinosaur exhibition, which was forced to shut following a termite attack five months ago, recently reopened only thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, the report adds.
Museum librarian Edson Vargas da Silva told local media that the building had wooden floors and contained "a lot of things that burn very fast", such as paper documents.
Why the lack of funds?
The museum, Brazil's oldest, is managed by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the federal government has been struggling with huge budget imbalances in recent years.
The deficit was about 8% of GDP in 2017, only slightly down from a record 10% two years earlier.
But Rio de Janeiro state is also facing a budget crisis.
Firefighters were able to retrieve a number of items from the burning building
Roberto Robadey, a spokesman for the Rio fire department, is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that the hydrants closest to the museum were not working and that firefighters had to get water from a nearby lake.
A stark metaphor for a city in crisis
By Katy Watson, BBC South America correspondent
This isn't just Brazilian history that's gone up in flames. Many see this as a metaphor for the city - and the country as a whole.
Rio de Janeiro is in crisis. Growing violence, a deep economic decline and political corruption have combined to make the city a shadow of what it once was. It was only in 2016 that it was hosting the Olympic Games - an event into which Brazil poured billions of dollars.
But the hangover from the sporting event has hit Rio hard. Add to that the fact that federal spending has been slashed, and with violence on the rise, tourism numbers have also declined.
This was a museum that many saw as long ignored and underfunded - now, with devastating consequences for Brazil's heritage.
What did the museum contain?
Its 20m artefacts included fossils, dinosaur bones and a 12,000-year-old skeleton of a woman known as "Luzia", the oldest ever discovered in the Americas.
A highlight for many was the Bendegó meteorite, weighing more than five tonnes and discovered in Minas Gerais region in the 18th Century.
The building was also home to items covering the centuries from the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1500s to the declaration of a republic in 1889.
The ethnology collection had unique pieces from the pre-Columbian era and artifacts from indigenous cultures.
Pieces from Greco-Roman times and Egypt were also on display at the museum.
Portugal's royal family transferred the court to the building in 1808, when the country faced the threat of invasion from Napoleon.
The museum was established in 1818, with the aim of promoting scientific research by making its collection available to specialists.
Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar over secrets act - BBC News
Sept.3, 2018.
Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar over secrets act
"We didn't commit any crime"
A court in Myanmar has sentenced two Reuters journalists to seven years in prison for violating a state secrets act while investigating violence against the Rohingya minority.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, nationals of Myanmar, were arrested while carrying official documents which had just been given to them by police officers.
They have maintained their innocence, saying they were set up by police.
The case has been widely seen as a test of press freedom in Myanmar.
"I have no fear," Wa Lone said after the verdict. "I have not done anything wrong. I believe in justice, democracy and freedom."
Kyaw Soe Oo's wife, Chit Suu Win, broke down in tears on hearing the verdict
The two men, who both have families with young children, have been in prison since their arrest in December 2017.
What were they investigating?
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, are Myanmar citizens who were working for the international news agency.
They had been collecting evidence about the murders of 10 Rohingya men by the army in the village of Inn Din in northern Rakhine in September 2017.
They were arrested before the report's publication, after being handed some documents by two policemen who they met at the restaurant for the first time.
A police witness testified during the trial that the restaurant meeting was a set-up to entrap the journalists.
These are the men whose deaths the Reuters journalists were investigating
The final report - a collaboration with other colleagues - was considered extraordinary, because it gathered testimonies from a range of participants, including Buddhist villagers who confessed to killing Rohingya Muslims and torching their homes. Accounts from paramilitary police also directly implicated the military.
The military had previously released its own investigation into allegations of abuse in Rakhine, and exonerated itself of all wrongdoing.
Authorities later launched their own probe into the Inn Din killings, confirming the massacre took place and promising to take action against those who had taken part.
What is happening to the Rohingya?
At least 700,000 Rohingya have fled violence in the country in the past year.
The crisis erupted when a brutal crackdown was launched in response to a Rohingya militant group attacking several police posts.
The United Nations has called the army's response - including murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, persecution and enslavement - "grossly disproportionate to actual security threats".
Rohingya girls in danger: The stories of three young women
A UN report - released last week - called for military leaders to face genocide charges for their actions.
Myanmar rejected the report. It sees the Rohingya - who have their own culture and language - as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
What did the judge say?
Judge Ye Lwin told the court in Yangon the pair had "intended to harm the interests of the state".
"And so they have been found guilty under the state secrets act," he said.
The verdict had been delayed once because of the judge's ill health.
A crushing blow to freedom'
Nick Beake, BBC Myanmar correspondent, Yangon
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo bowed their heads as the verdict was delivered, while their families broke down in tears in court.
The reporters have always insisted they were framed. Wa Lone - who missed the birth of his first child while being detained - protested his innocence once again as he was led away.
Many will see this verdict as a crushing blow to freedom of the press in Myanmar and another setback for democracy, three years after Aung San Suu Kyi's party triumphed in free elections.
Last week, UN inspectors called for Myanmar's top generals to stand trial for genocide for the crimes committed against the Rohingya - the very subject these reporters were investigating.
What is the reaction to the jailing?
"Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and press freedom anywhere," Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler said.
Read their report 'Massacre in Myanmar'
The story behind the journalists' arrest
Blow by blow: How a 'genocide' was investigated
The verdict has been widely criticised by observers and human rights groups.
Ahead of the verdict, people marched to show solidarity
"We are extremely disappointed by this verdict," Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, Dan Chugg, said according to Reuters.
US ambassador Scot Marciel echoed the same criticism, saying the court's decision was "deeply troubling for everybody who has struggled so hard here for media freedom".
The UN's resident and humanitarian co-ordinator in Myanmar, Knut Ostby, said the UN had "consistently called for the release" of the journalists and that "a free press is essential for peace, justice and human rights for all. We are disappointed by today's court decision".
"The outrageous convictions show Myanmar courts' willingness to muzzle those reporting on military atrocities," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said.
"These sentences mark a new low for press freedom and further backsliding on rights under Aung San Suu Kyi's government."
Media access to Rakhine is strictly controlled by the government so it is difficult to get reliable news from the region.
Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar over secrets act
"We didn't commit any crime"
A court in Myanmar has sentenced two Reuters journalists to seven years in prison for violating a state secrets act while investigating violence against the Rohingya minority.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, nationals of Myanmar, were arrested while carrying official documents which had just been given to them by police officers.
They have maintained their innocence, saying they were set up by police.
The case has been widely seen as a test of press freedom in Myanmar.
"I have no fear," Wa Lone said after the verdict. "I have not done anything wrong. I believe in justice, democracy and freedom."
Kyaw Soe Oo's wife, Chit Suu Win, broke down in tears on hearing the verdict
The two men, who both have families with young children, have been in prison since their arrest in December 2017.
What were they investigating?
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, are Myanmar citizens who were working for the international news agency.
They had been collecting evidence about the murders of 10 Rohingya men by the army in the village of Inn Din in northern Rakhine in September 2017.
They were arrested before the report's publication, after being handed some documents by two policemen who they met at the restaurant for the first time.
A police witness testified during the trial that the restaurant meeting was a set-up to entrap the journalists.
These are the men whose deaths the Reuters journalists were investigating
The final report - a collaboration with other colleagues - was considered extraordinary, because it gathered testimonies from a range of participants, including Buddhist villagers who confessed to killing Rohingya Muslims and torching their homes. Accounts from paramilitary police also directly implicated the military.
The military had previously released its own investigation into allegations of abuse in Rakhine, and exonerated itself of all wrongdoing.
Authorities later launched their own probe into the Inn Din killings, confirming the massacre took place and promising to take action against those who had taken part.
What is happening to the Rohingya?
At least 700,000 Rohingya have fled violence in the country in the past year.
The crisis erupted when a brutal crackdown was launched in response to a Rohingya militant group attacking several police posts.
The United Nations has called the army's response - including murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, persecution and enslavement - "grossly disproportionate to actual security threats".
Rohingya girls in danger: The stories of three young women
A UN report - released last week - called for military leaders to face genocide charges for their actions.
Myanmar rejected the report. It sees the Rohingya - who have their own culture and language - as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
What did the judge say?
Judge Ye Lwin told the court in Yangon the pair had "intended to harm the interests of the state".
"And so they have been found guilty under the state secrets act," he said.
The verdict had been delayed once because of the judge's ill health.
A crushing blow to freedom'
Nick Beake, BBC Myanmar correspondent, Yangon
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo bowed their heads as the verdict was delivered, while their families broke down in tears in court.
The reporters have always insisted they were framed. Wa Lone - who missed the birth of his first child while being detained - protested his innocence once again as he was led away.
Many will see this verdict as a crushing blow to freedom of the press in Myanmar and another setback for democracy, three years after Aung San Suu Kyi's party triumphed in free elections.
Last week, UN inspectors called for Myanmar's top generals to stand trial for genocide for the crimes committed against the Rohingya - the very subject these reporters were investigating.
What is the reaction to the jailing?
"Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and press freedom anywhere," Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler said.
Read their report 'Massacre in Myanmar'
The story behind the journalists' arrest
Blow by blow: How a 'genocide' was investigated
The verdict has been widely criticised by observers and human rights groups.
Ahead of the verdict, people marched to show solidarity
"We are extremely disappointed by this verdict," Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, Dan Chugg, said according to Reuters.
US ambassador Scot Marciel echoed the same criticism, saying the court's decision was "deeply troubling for everybody who has struggled so hard here for media freedom".
The UN's resident and humanitarian co-ordinator in Myanmar, Knut Ostby, said the UN had "consistently called for the release" of the journalists and that "a free press is essential for peace, justice and human rights for all. We are disappointed by today's court decision".
"The outrageous convictions show Myanmar courts' willingness to muzzle those reporting on military atrocities," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said.
"These sentences mark a new low for press freedom and further backsliding on rights under Aung San Suu Kyi's government."
Media access to Rakhine is strictly controlled by the government so it is difficult to get reliable news from the region.
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