Brazil leader proposes bold changes to system

President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil proposed a series of bold changes to the country’s political system on Monday,including convening a constituent assembly apparently aimed at overhauling Congress and campaign-finance methods,in an effort to assuage the concerns of protesters who have stunned the nation this month with their anti-establishment demonstrations.

Rousseff expanded upon proposals she unveiled on Friday in a nationally televised address. She said Monday that the government would allocate more than $22 billion to upgrading public transit systems,largely by building subways,and emphasized that hiring foreign doctors to work at beleaguered public hospitals — an unpopular plan among Brazilian doctor groups — would be an “emergency step.”