Hubris Behind Brazil's Ties With Iran
Andres Oppenheimer

Brazil's key diplomatic support of Iran's increasingly isolated regime is baffling the international community. There are several theories about Brazil's behavior, some of them quite troubling.

Brazil Election to Offer Definite Contrast
Andres Oppenheimer

With Brazil's government-backed presidential hopeful Dilma Roussef rising in the polls, some of her most prominent critics are raising the specter that South America's biggest country will move closer to the radical left if she wins the October elections

Latin America's Honeymoon With Obama May Be Over
Andres Oppenheimer

Only a few months ago, Latin American leaders hailed the Obama administration as a new beginning in hemispheric relations. But now, the honeymoon is over as Brazil is leading criticism of U.S. foreign policy

Brazil, United States, OAS Flunked Honduras Test
Andres Oppenheimer

Brazil, the United States and the Organization of American States deserve a gold medal each for their awful handling of recent presidential elections in Honduras. Let's examine how the main international players behaved ...

Latin American Economy Will Do Well, but Not Great
Latin American Current Events, News & Affairs - Andres Oppenheimer

The news that Brazil and Mexico have come out of the recession and are poised for solid growth in 2010 should be celebrated, and both countries' leaders should be given credit for their sound economic management. But in the global economic context, the two Latin American giants' recovery will be modest.

Brazil a Nuclear Power? Probably Not
Latin American Current Events, News & Affairs - Andres Oppenheimer

Brazil's Vice President Jose Alencar made big headlines recently when he stated that Brazil should have the right to have nuclear weapons, which he said would give his country a greater 'dissuasive' power and more 'respectability' in world affairs.

Working Together, Brazil, Russia, China and India Increase Leverage
Ian Bremmer

In 2003, a report authored by Goldman Sachs economists popularized the term BRICs -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- to describe a whole new category of emerging-market powerhouse. The report argued that with sound political leadership and relative international stability, the BRIC economies would together outpace the original G6 industrialized nations in dollar terms by 2040 -- a fundamental shift in the global balance of power. Since then, these four countries have assumed ever-greater importance in the international investment community's collective imagination.

Growth With Equity: Brazil's Path to Economic Recovery
by Patrus Ananias

The financial crisis has left few corners of the global economy unscathed, but many of the loudest cries reflecting the deepest pain are largely ignored. These are the cries of the world's poorest citizens whose suffering is not measured in battered portfolios and retirement plans but in their daily survival

Brazil Deserves Criticism for Awful Foreign Policy
by Andres Oppenheimer

Brazil, Latin America's biggest country, has received well-deserved praise in recent years for its responsible economic policies. There is hardly a dictator -- or repressive government -- that Brazil doesn't like, human rights groups say.

Brazil Stretching Clout to Central America
Andres Oppenheimer

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's largely unnoticed trip to Central America last week underscored an interesting phenomenon: Brazil is making big inroads into a region that was traditionally seen as Mexico's backyard

Brazil, China & India Can Mitigate Global Crisis
Global Economic Viewpoint

Brazil, India and even China will not be able, by themselves, to correct the dysfunctions that produced the global crisis. But it is true that the economic power of these three countries can mitigate its negative consequences. ...

Latin America Foreign Investment Outlook Grim
Andres Oppenheimer

A new United Nations report predicts a 40 percent drop in foreign investments in Latin America this year. I hope I'm wrong about this, but the fall in foreign funds may be even steeper.

Bruce Martin: IndyCar racing rules the roost in Brazil
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- If the IZOD IndyCar Series' first trip to Brazil was meant to be an adventure, it certainly exceeded those expectations.

Brazil announces near-record harvest
Brazil will have its second-best harvest in the nation's history this year, the government said.

Oil-rich countries demand a bigger cut of profits
Two of the world's oil-rich countries may make it harder for oil companies to do business with them.

Tim Vickery: Brazil hurt by its power structure
We don't yet know where the World Cups of 2018 and 2022 will be played. But some of the bidding countries have already worked out which cities they will use to stage matches if the circus does come to town.

Gregory Sica: LuĂ­s Fabiano talks about World Cup pressures on Brazil
When people name their favorites for the World Cup, Brazil comes up every time. The Seleção conjures up images of excitement and artful soccer. With a record five World Cup titles, it's the most successful team as well, and is the favorite to add a sixth crown in South Africa in July.

Death toll in Brazil rains hits 60
The death toll on Brazil's southeast coast rose to 60 on Saturday as rescuers combed through mounds of debris after three days of pounding rain unleashed deadly mudslides, state officials said.

Mountain falls onto Brazil resort; 22 killed
A stationary front continued for a third day Friday to pound Brazil's southeast coast with rain, turning Rio de Janeiro's picturesque hills into nightmarish scenes and raising the death toll to 45, state officials said.

Brazil flooding leaves 19 dead, government says
At least 19 people have died in Brazil after flooding caused by heavy rain, the government-run news agency Agencia Brasil reported Thursday.

Brazil high court lifts stay, allowing boy to return to U.S.
The chief justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of an American father in an international custody battle.

Tim Vickery: Brazil looks to England to clean up soccer fan culture
The most exciting climax the Brazilian Championship has seen in years was marred by two incidents of crowd trouble. One was in the line to buy tickets for Flamengo's crunch game against GrĂŞmio earlier this month, where the police used tear gas, batons and rubber bullets to maintain order. The other came after Coritiba had been relegated to the second division, and some of its fans staged a full-scale riot on the pitch.

Air France crash report set for release
Investigators probing the June crash of an Air France flight off Brazil will release their second interim report Thursday with a press briefing, officials said.

Search for Flight 447 data recorders to resume
Air accident investigators are to resume the search for the flight data recorders from an Air France airliner that mysteriously crashed off Brazil six months ago, according to media reports Sunday.

Power restored in Brazil after blackouts
Electricity returned early Wednesday to a large swath of central and southern Brazil that was plunged into darkness when power from a major hydroelectric dam was lost.

Dam failure triggers huge blackout in Brazil
An important hydroelectric dam shared by Brazil and Paraguay failed Tuesday night, pushing a large swath of central and southern Brazil into darkness, said the country's minister of mines and energy, Edison Lobao.

Brazil's soap operas linked to dramatic drop in birth rates
The love-triangles, family feuds and paternity mysteries of Brazil's telenovelas have commandeered the nation's airwaves for decades and generated a fortune for Globo -- the powerful TV network that produces many of the genre's most popular shows.

Brazil says it has most swine flu deaths in world
Brazil has confirmed 657 fatalities caused by the H1N1 flu, the highest number of deaths in the world, the nation's Health Ministry said.

Brazil tops worldwide H1N1 deaths, officials say
Brazil has confirmed 557 deaths caused by H1N1 flu, the highest total in the world, the nation's Health Ministry says.

Unraveling the mystery of Brazil's 'twin town'
For generations the residents of Sao Pedro, Brazil and neighboring Candido Godoi have known their isolated hamlet in southern Brazil was special.

Brazil faces fresh HIV/AIDS fight
Sonia, a single mother with HIV in Brazil, travels four hours to reach a government-run health facility that provides her with free drug treatment.

Tim Vickery: Brazilian clubs' failings can be traced back to maturity
I'm never a big fan of sports being reduced to soap opera. There's much more going on than the emotional drama and the athlete's state of mind. We can talk about "focus" and "concentration'' all we want -- at times they're used like magic words that explain everything about the outcome.

Tim Vickery: Much of Brazil still cannot adopt the Copa Libertadores
So it's Argentina against Brazil in the finals of the 50th Copa Libertadores. Estudiantes de La Plata and Cruzeiro meet each other over two legs to decide the destiny of South America's premier club title.

Gabriele Marcotti: Brazil shows why it's Brazil
JOHANNESBURG -- Pedigree matters. If it didn't, we might not have witnessed what happened at Ellis Park on Sunday, an unstoppable rally that gave Brazil the Confederations Cup title in a 3-2 win over the U.S. (RECAP). Heck, when was the last time you saw a team come back from two goals down at halftime in a major final? (Apart from the 2005 Champions League final, that is.)

Tim Vickery: Blue-collar Brazil is efficient, but it's still Kaká's team
Like many fans, my editor used the word "impressive" when he asked me to write about Brazil at the Confederations Cup. And it's hard to argue with the results. The Seleção won their three group-stage games by a combined 10-3.

Soccer America: The weak links who doomed the U.S. against Brazil
He went with his veterans against two of the best teams in the world and they let him, and the country, down with a crashing thud.

12 similar flights deepen Air France 447 mystery
At least 12 airplanes shared the trans-Atlantic sky with doomed Air France Flight 447, but none reported any problems, deepening the mystery surrounding the cause of the plane's disappearance.

U.S. dad's custody case returns to Brazilian appeals court
Brazil's highest court said Wednesday it does not have jurisdiction over who should have custody of a U.S.-born 9-year-old boy -- his Brazilian stepfather or his father in the United States.

Tim Vickery: Brazil chases off the ghosts of 1982 with efficient soccer
They say people only ever remember the winners. They can say it all they like -- it doesn't make it true, especially when it comes to soccer.

American father still hopes for custody of son in Brazil
A New Jersey man whose son is at the center of a five-year international custody fight that has attracted attention from high-level U.S. and Brazilian authorities expressed hope Wednesday that he will get his boy back.

American couple on Flight 447 loved life, relatives say
Anne and Michael Harris were an "extraordinary" couple with a zest for life, their niece said.

No survivors found in wreckage of Air France jet, official says
Debris located early Tuesday in the Atlantic Ocean off the northeast coast of Brazil is wreckage from the Air France jet that disappeared Monday, Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said.

Former royal, Riverdance star among plane's missing
Friends and relatives of the 216 passengers and 12 crew members on Air France Flight 447 are coming to terms with the news that wreckage from the flight was found in the Atlantic Ocean.

Air France: Missing plane probably crashed into Atlantic
The jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that disappeared overnight as it entered an area of strong turbulence probably crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, the CEO of Air France said Monday.

Dam bursts after more rain in northern Brazil
A dam burst in the northeastern village of Cocal left a 12-year-old girl dead and three people missing, fire department officials said Thursday, according to Brazil's state news agency.

Plane crash in Brazil kills 15
A prominent businessman and his family were among the 15 people killed when a plane crashed on Friday in a northeastern resort area of Brazil, CNN affiliate Rede Globo and other Brazilian media reported Saturday.

As deaths mount in Brazil flooding, more rain is forecast
The death toll from flooding that has covered large parts of Brazil continued to rise Friday, with the government reporting seven new fatalities, bringing the total to 38.

At least 31 dead, 50,000 homeless in Brazil flooding
Rain-induced flooding over large parts of Brazil have killed at least 31 people and left another 500,000 homeless, the government's civil defense agency said Thursday.

Deadly floods strike northern Brazil
At least 18 people have died in heavy flooding across 11 states in northern and northeastern Brazil, according to a statement Tuesday from Brazil's national civil defense service.

Brazil's high-tech hub grows in Sao Paulo's Brooklin
As the "B" in BRIC (one of the world's fastest-growing economies alongside Russia, India and China), Brazil may very well owe its force to an emerging business and technology district in the heart of Sao Paulo, centered around an upscale avenue called Luis Carlos Berrini in the neighborhood of Brooklin.

Josh Gross: MMA's musical chairs: who sits where in the latest rankings?
Ranking mixed martial artists is, to be fair, an inexact science. Rules across the sport are dissimilar, weight classes don't always conform and fighters have been known to jump from division to division. And all such factors played into SI.com's latest MMA rankings.

World Soccer: State tourneys are hindering growth of Brazilian game
For the big clubs in São Paulo, Brazil, Christmas shopping and the January sales mean cherry-picking time in Rio de Janeiro. In the biggest coup of the festive period, Corinthians took Ronaldo from under the nose of Flamengo while also snapping up midfielder Túlio and striker Jorge Henrique from Botafogo, which also lost playmaker Lúcio Flávio and left back Triguinho to Santos.

Ex-presidents of Latin America urge legal marijuana
Former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil called Wednesday for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use and a change in tactics on the war on drugs, a Spanish news agency said.

Survivors recall escape from Brazil plane crash
A woman who survived a weekend plane crash in Brazil that killed 24 told Monday of struggling to reach a square of light in the submerged plane, while another said she had no doubt she owed her survival to God.

24 dead in Brazil plane crash, officials say
Twenty-four people died in a plane crash in Brazil's Amazon basin, civil defense authorities in western Brazil said Sunday.

Josh Gross: Who's No. 1, who's closing in? Here are your updated rankings
One month down, 11 more to go. If they're all as busy as January, we're in trouble. Of course, an active schedule means plenty of fights between ranked competitors, and as we pause to see how the world's best mixed martial artists stack up, a sense of stability seems to be setting in.

Tim Vickery: Brazil finally has made the Libertadores a national priority
The 50th version of South America's premier club competition is getting underway, and there's little doubt that it has been Argentina's show so far. Of the 49 versions of the Copa Libertadores, Uruguayan clubs have won eight (though none since 1988), Brazil has 13 and Argentina 21. Indeed, between '63 and '79, there was always an Argentine club in the final.

Brazil president defends decision to grant asylum to fugitive
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defended his country's decision to free an Italian fugitive condemned to life in prison for murders he denies committing in the 1970s while a member of an extremist left-wing group.

Government fights slave labor in Brazil
Slavery may seem like a quaint notion in a 21st century world, but that distinction is lost on up to 40,000 Brazilians who find themselves toiling for no real wages and can't leave the distant work camps where they live.

Tim Vickery: Isolated Brazil is finally starting to let down its borders
It's just a few hours until the decisive match in the Argentine championship playoffs. Will Boca Juniors add to their 22 titles? Or will Tigre win its first?

Brazil flooding subsides after stranding motorists
Traffic returned to normal Tuesday in the industrial city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, a day after flooding from a strong rainstorm stranded hundreds of motorists.

Brazil to get nuclear sub technology from France
The presidents of France and Brazil are set to sign several bilateral agreements, including a defense accord that would make Brazil the first Latin American nation to possess a nuclear-powered submarine.

Gregory Sica: Inter deserved Sudamericana, but tourney needs help
After 210 minutes of nail-biting action, Sport Clube Internacional lifted the Copa Sudamericana for the first time on Wednesday, an achievement that cements its status as one of the leading clubs in South American soccer history.

Brazil officials track disease from flood-tainted water
The death toll in flood-ravaged southern Brazil has reached 116 and the first cases of a water-borne, potentially fatal disease are being investigated, the nation's Civil Defense agency reported.

Brazil flooding death toll rises
The death toll from historic floods in southern Brazil continued to creep upward Monday, with 112 reported dead, the state news agency said.

More flood victims found in Brazil
Search and rescue officials found nine bodies Saturday, bringing the death toll from flooding in southern Brazil to 109, the state news agency said.

Death toll climbs in Brazil flooding
The death toll from flooding in southern Brazil on Thursday climbed to 97, the state news agency said.

Brazil flooding leaves at least 86 dead
The death toll from flooding in southern Brazil continued to climb Wednesday, with officials reporting at least 86 dead, the state news agency said.

Brazil flooding blamed for 84 deaths
The number of deaths attributed to floods in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina rose Tuesday to 84, the state news agency reported.

At least 50 dead in Brazil flooding
Flooding in Brazil's Santa Catarina state has left at least 50 dead and more than 20,000 homeless, the state news agency reported Monday.

Penguins Ride Air Force Jet to South Atlantic
More than 370 penguins that mysteriously washed up on Brazil's equatorial beaches were flown south on a huge air force cargo plane and released closer to the frigid waters they call home

Lula, In His Own Words
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva discusses his country's achievements and challenges with TIME's Tim Padgett and Andrew Downie

Gregory Sica: Five things we've learned from South America qualifying
We're nearly halfway through the marathon campaign of South American qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, and the past week of action has been one of the more wild and unpredictable so far. Here are five things we've learned after seeing all 10 countries in action:

Amazon Deforestation on the Rise
Amazon deforestation jumped 69% in the past 12 months -- the first such increase in three years -- as rising demand for soy and cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees

US Beats Brazil 1-0 for Gold Medal
The defending champion United States has won the gold medal in women's soccer for the third time in four Olympics, beating Brazil 1-0 in overtime Thursday

Grant Wahl: The greatest on-field feat?
BEIJING -- If the U.S. women's soccer team can upset Brazil in Thursday's gold-medal game (USA, 9 a.m. ET), would it be the greatest on-field accomplishment in the history of the storied U.S. program?

Oil Exploration Threatens Amazon
Oil exploration in the Amazon rain forest represents the latest, perhaps greatest, threat to preserving what remains of the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness, scientists said Wednesday

Brazil revives nuclear power plant
A government-controlled firm is forging ahead with plans to resume expansion of Brazil's nuclear power program.

Tim Vickery: Proposal to call in home-based Brazilians is lunacy
The Brazilian national team has gone three games without a goal and is currently in fifth place in South America's World Cup campaign -- outside the automatic qualification slots. The country's well-respected sports daily Lance! believes that the time has come to take a stand.

Dead Penguins Washing up in Brazil
More than 400 dead penguins, most of them young, have been washing up on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches

Baby Penguins Showing Up Dead in Brazil
Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday

Gregory Sica: Flamengo tries to ditch label as perennial underachievers
"Underachievers" is a label many clubs get saddled with these days as they spend millions in fruitless attempts to chase trophies. But there aren't many clubs who deserve the tag more than Brazilian giants Flamengo.

Brazil Wants its Soccer Team Back
They may be perennial World Cup favorites, but the fact that Brazil's national soccer team is dominated by players based in Europe has created an identity crisis for the country's fans

Making contact: Indigenous tribes' fight to survive
Last month photographs of the discovery of one of the world's last "uncontacted" tribes on the Brazil/Peru border made front covers across the world, vividly illustrating a way of life that is mostly unknown and ignored in the industrialized world.

Tim Vickery: Brazil has no time to dwell on poor U.S. tour results
Before last Friday's meeting in Foxborough, Mass., Brazil's all-time record against Venezuela read as follows: 17 games, 17 wins, 78 goals scored and four conceded.

Leaders clash on biofuels at food summit
Leaders gathered at a summit on the world's food crisis quickly laid out their disagreements on a key issue: how much the rush for environmentally friendly biofuels is contributing to soaring prices that are causing hunger and unrest worldwide.

'Uncontacted tribe' sighted in Amazon
Researchers have produced aerial photos of jungle dwellers who they say are among the few remaining peoples on Earth who have had no contact with the outside world.

Behind the Scenes: Powering the planet
This was, to be honest, simply a different kind of journalism. I've never done anything quite like it.

Plane with 6 aboard missing off northeast Brazil
A small plane carrying four British businessmen and two Brazilian pilots has disappeared off the northeastern Brazil coast, officials said.

Brazil's Counterattack on Biofuels
As food prices soar, the world is looking askance at biofuels. Brazil's President Lula wants to change that

Developers, ranchers encroaching on many of world's forests
The Amazon rainforest is so vast and full of life that even its defenders don't know exactly what it is they are protecting.

Hedging their bets
By its very nature, jatropha is divisive. The poisonous, deep-rooted shrub is traditionally used as hedging to protect food crops from hungry animals.

Brazilian military joins battle against dengue epidemic
Soldiers and firefighters have joined the fight against dengue, a sometimes deadly mosquito-borne disease that has infected at least 55,000 people in Brazil this year.

Tim Vickery: Compared to Brazil, Argentine fan culture is top-notch
Some 15 years ago, an English club chairman -- I'll withhold his name because I'd hate to be remembered for the dumbest thing I ever said -- declared that the soccer fan was fooling himself if he believed that he was paying the players' wages.

Brazil dances with OPEC
OPEC, the 13-nation cartel that has a huge influence over oil prices, may be expanding farther into South America.

The Amazon Gets Less and Less Green
The demands of the global food and energy market may literally be eating away at the world's largest single natural absorber of carbon dioxide

Tim Vickery: Legendary Garrincha probably could've played today
This week marks 25 years since the sad, alcohol-sodden death of Garrincha, the bandy-legged genius rated as second only to Pelé in Brazil's pantheon. Over a period of eight years, while Garrincha and Pelé were both on the field, Brazil never lost a game.

Rare Albino Alligators Stolen in Brazil
Seven rare albino alligators disappeared from a Brazilian university zoo and authorities suspect animal smugglers stole them, officials said Friday

Tim Vickery: Premiership is helping Brazilians to be more Brazilian
I arrived in Brazil in 1994, just after the national team ended that long, 24-year wait for World Cup win No. 4. The style of that team had an enormous influence on the country's domestic soccer.

UN Rep Held Hostage in Brazil
Cinta Larga Indians have taken a U.N. representative and four other people hostage, officials said Monday

Children plan for planet's future
It's not easy to keep a group of 60 elementary school children seated, but when students from Canada and Burkina Faso gathered in a virtual classroom, they all sat, eyes eagerly glued to the computer screen as they listened to stories about the lives of their new peers.

Brazil investigates 15-year-old girl's jail horror story
The Brazilian government is investigating the case of a 15-year-old girl who allegedly was raped and tortured after being put in a prison cell with 20 male inmates, officials said.

Tim Vickery: Even in Cup loss, women move game ahead in Brazil
Last week, for the first time ever, a press conference given by the coach of Brazil's men's team was dominated by the progress of the women.

Mark Bechtel: What we learned in China
SHANGHAI, China -- A few final thoughts from the World Cup:

Mark Bechtel: U.S. readies for a physical semi showdown vs. Brazil
HANGZHOU, China -- If World B. Free had been a soccer player (and a South American woman), he would've fit right in the Brazilian national team. It doesn't really matter where they are on the field or what the situation is -- the Brazilians are going to shoot the ball. And there's a pretty good chance it's going in.

Tim Vickery: Brazil improving as South Africa '10 qualifying begins
Qualifying for the World Cup is no cakewalk, even for Brazil. Luiz Felipe Scolari's side struggled to make it to Japan and South Korea in 2002 -- indeed, without a couple of strokes being pulled, Brazil may well have missed out entirely on the competition it ended up winning.

Union chief: Poor tracks to blame in deadly Brazil rail crash
The president of Rio de Janeiro's train workers union said Friday that poorly maintained tracks and overworked engineers contributed to a collision between two commuter trains that killed eight people and injured 101.

Train crash in Brazil leaves 8 dead, dozens wounded, officials say
A speeding train carrying hundreds of commuters slammed into an empty train near Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, killing eight people and injuring more than 80, officials said.

Chris Mannix: Talented U.S. proves it won't let up
LAS VEGAS -- For a minute there, it looked like the mighty and powerful United States had become mortal.

Tim Vickery: Brazil, Argentina move on with eye on Cup qualifying
It was only just over a month ago that Argentina and Brazil squared off in Venezuela in the final of the Copa América. Brazil won 3-0, but soccer never stops.

Sugar cane ethanol's not-so-sweet future
Imagine a fuel that does not come from the Middle East, is about six times more economical to produce than corn ethanol and has the potential to help the environment because it requires few chemicals to grow.

Tim Vickery: Readers sound off on Brazil's tactics
"Brazil won. End of story!"

Brazil: News & Videos about Brazil - CNN.com
Find stories, videos, and photos about Brazil from CNN.com.

 

Complex Colors in Simple Settings
Gilberto Gil’s trio meticulously sketched the sound of much larger ensembles at the Nokia Theater on Thursday night.

Montpellier Squanders Chances but Still Gains Draw at Bordeaux
Alberto Costa scored in injury time to earn Montpellier a draw against 10-man Bordeaux and keep the teams level on points at the top of the French soccer league.

Brazil Threatens Retaliation in Dispute on Cotton Subsidies
The Brazilian government says it might raise tariffs on some American goods, but adds that the problem could be settled through negotiations.

Soccer Intelligence: All in the Mind, or the Feet?
Theo Walcott was criticized by a former England winger, Chris Waddle, last week for lacking a "football brain," but few really know what goes on in the mind of players.

Robinho and Brazil Sparkle in Warm-Up
An own-goal by Keith Andrews and an impressive strike by Robinho gave Brazil a 2-0 victory over Ireland in friendly played in London.

A Rare Chance for World Cup Rehearsals
With less than 100 days to kickoff in South Africa, there are warm-up matches spread across the globe this week. It is time managers and coaches show their hands.

An American in Brazil
Hillary Clinton's visit recognizes Brazil as the most powerful country in South America and a rising global power.

Quake Overshadows Clinton Tour of Region
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had hoped to use the tour partly to address regional tensions.

The Presentation? That Was the Easy Part
Christopher Lee showed his stadium visions to officials in Brazil after an arduous trip tested his patience.

Brazil’s Navy Defends Its Response to a Capsizing
It took about 19 hours for the navy to deploy a search aircraft after it received a distress signal from the S. V. Concordia on Wednesday, but officials said that was in line with standard procedure.

7-Year-Old Samba Queen Raises Adult Concerns
A child takes what is generally a sexually charged position usually reserved for bombshell actresses and models.

Two Returning Stars Find a Warm Welcome
Robinho and Roberto Carlos both shone as they played again in Brazil. These are significant homecomings Brazilian fans deserve to see their fine performers in the flesh.

Clamping Down on the Kaleidoscope of Rio’s Beaches
The new mayor’s quest for order is making over the city’s famous beaches and trampling on some storied traditions.

Suspect in Killing of American Nun Returns to a Brazil Jail
Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, a rancher, was convicted and then acquitted, before the acquittal was overturned last year.

Debating Sustainability
While most designers would agree that sustainability is important, they're very likely to disagree about everything else to do with it. What exactly is sustainable design? What constitutes success? And failure?

NYT > Brazil
World news about Brazil, including breaking news and archival articles published in The New York Times.

 

Amazon confusion: new research shows forest is resilient to drought, but is this the whole picture?

A drought that happens once in a hundred years had little negative or positive effect on the Amazon rainforest according to a NASA funded study in Geophysical Research Letters. "We found no big differences in the greenness level of these forests between drought and non-drought years, which suggests that these forests may be more tolerant of droughts than we previously thought," said Arindam Samanta, the study's lead author from Boston University.

U.S. and Brazil sign deforestation agreement
Brazil and the United States have signed an agreement to worth together to reduce deforestation as part of an effort to slow climate change.

Humans push half of the world's primates toward extinction, lemurs in particular trouble

Of the known 634 primate species in the world 48 percent are currently threatened with extinction, making mankind's closes relatives one of the most endangered animal groups in the world. In order to bring awareness to the desperate state of primates, a new report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature highlights twenty-five primates in the most need of rapid conservation action. Compiled by 85 experts the report, entitled Primates in Peril: The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates, 2008–2010, includes six primates from Africa, eleven from Asia, three from Central and South America, and five from the island of Madagascar.

Amazon rainforest will bear cost of biofuel policies in Brazil

Business-as-usual agricultural expansion to meet biofuel production targets for 2020 will take a heavy toll on Brazil's Amazon rainforest in coming years, undermining the potential emissions savings of transitioning from fossil fuels to biofuels, warns a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The research suggests that intensification of cattle ranching, combined with efforts to promote high-yielding oil crops like oil palm could lessen forecast greenhouse gas emissions from indirect land use in the region.

Commodity trade and urbanization, rather than rural poverty, drive deforestation

Deforestation is increasingly correlated to urban population growth and trade rather than rural poverty, suggesting that measures proposed to reduce deforestation will be ineffective if they fail to address demand for commodities produced on forest lands, argues a new paper published in Nature GeoScience.

The Amazongate fiasco

A claim published in the Sunday Times over the veracity of a statement published in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report may land the British newspaper in hot water. On Sunday, Jonathan Leake, Science & Environment Editor of the Sunday Times, accused the IPCC of making a "bogus rainforest claim" when it cited a report warning that up to 40 percent of the Amazon could be "drastically" affected by climate change. Climate change skeptics immediately seized on "Amazongate" as further evidence to discredit the IPCC just two weeks after it was found to be using shoddy glacier data in its 2007 climate assessment.

Rainforest expert agrees with IPCC: warns of 'tipping point' for Amazon

Amid questions over the Amazon forests' capacity to survive climate change, a renowned tropical biologist says that in fact the fears are real, reports Tierramerica. Speaking at the Biodiversity Science Policy Conference in Paris, Thomas Lovejoy, biodiversity chair at the Washington DC-based Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, and chief biodiversity adviser to the president of the World Bank, described the Amazon rainforest as "very close to a tipping point".

Environmentalists and indigenous groups decry approval of massive dam in Amazon
The approval of the hydro-electric Belo Monte Dam from the Brazilian environmental agency, IBAMA, has raised condemnations from environmentalists and indigenous groups. The dam will divert the flow of the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon River, which runs through the Amazon in northeast Brazil. According to critics the dam will destroy vast areas of pristine rainforest, disrupt sensitive ecosystems, and relocate 12,000 people.

Farmers drive deforestation in Rondonia, in the Brazilian Amazon

Small-scale farmers who lease land from the Brazilian government are very much responsible for deforestation in the Brazilian state of Rondonia in the Amazon area. In most areas with agrarian projects, more than fifty percent of the land has been cleared of forests, while the Brazilian Forestry Code permits farming concerns in the Amazon to clear only twenty percent of the land.

Forest-bulldozing ranchers win 'Greenwashing Award' for claiming they are creating a 'nature reserve'
Indigenous rights organization, Survival International, has awarded Brazilian cattle company, Yaguarete Porá S.A., its 'Greenwashing Award 2010' for destroying indigenous peoples' forest—including uncontacted natives—and calling it conservation.

Gone: a look at extinction over the past decade

No one can say with any certainty how many species went extinct from 2000-2009. Because no one knows if the world's species number 3 million or 30 million, it is impossible to guess how many known species—let alone unknown—may have vanished recently. Species in tropical forests and the world's oceans are notoriously under-surveyed leaving gaping holes where species can vanish taking all of their secrets—even knowledge of their existence—with them.

Brazil to keep emissions reductions pledge despite failed climate summit
Brazil will honor its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 14-19 percent from 2005 levels despite the failure of this month's climate meeting in Copenhagen to establish binding limits on emissions, reports Reuters.

Rainforest conservation: a year in review

2009 may prove to be an important turning point for tropical forests. Lead by Brazil, which had the lowest extent of deforestation since at least the 1980s, global forest loss likely declined to its lowest level in more than a decade. Critical to the fall in deforestation was the global financial crisis, which dried up credit for forest-destroying activities and contributed to a crash in commodity prices, an underlying driver of deforestation.

Brazil establishes 20,000 sq mi of new indigenous reserves in the Amazon

On Monday, Brazil decreed nine new indigenous reserves covering 51,000 square kilometers (19,700 square miles) of the Amazon rainforest, an areas larger than Denmark or Switzerland, reports the AFP. Five of the reserves are located in the state of Amazonas, two are in Pará, one is in Roraima, and another is in Mato Grosso do Sul. The protected areas house about seven thousand Indians from 29 ethnic groups, according to FUNAI (Fundação Nacional do Índio), Brazil's indigenous affairs agency.

Brazil: king of conservation, deforestation for the 2000s

Brazil set aside more land in protected areas than any other country during the 2000s, accounting for nearly 60 percent of total terrestrial conservation during the decade, according to mongabay.com's analysis of data from the U.N Environment Program and the World Conservation Monitoring Center. Paradoxically, Brazil also lost the most forest of any country during the decade.

Brazil grants deforestation amnesty for farmers and ranchers
A decree issued by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva suspends up to $5.7 billion in fines and gives ranchers and farmers in the Amazon two more years to come into compliance with environmental laws aimed to curtain deforestation, reports the Associated Press.

Amazon cattle ranching accounts for half of Brazil's CO2 emissions
Cattle ranching accounts for half of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions according to a new study led by scientists from Brazil's National Space Institute for Space Research (INPE).

Obama on global warming and forest protection
President of the United States, Barack Obama, was in Oslo, Norway this morning accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, which he won in part for promising to bring the United States to the negotiating table on climate change—something he has recently done.

Google Earth to monitor deforestation

It what could be a critical development in helping tropical countries monitor deforestation, Google has unveiled a partnership with scientists using advanced remote sensing technology to rapidly analyze and map forest cover in extremely high resolution. The effort could help countries detect deforestation shortly after it occurs making it easier to prevent further forest clearing.

Brazil allocates first funds under plan to save the Amazon
Brazil's development bank BNDES has announced the first five recipients of grants under the South American country's ambitious Amazon Fund, which aims to reduce deforestation by 70 percent over the next decade.

Cattle company bulldozing UNESCO site, threatening uncontacted natives

A Brazilian ranching company is bulldozing land within UNESCO Chaco Biosphere Reserve in Paraguay, home to the only uncontacted natives outside of the Amazon in South America. While the UNESCO status provides no legal protections to the area, it is meant as an international marker to protect the tribe of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode and the forest they inhabit.

Changing drivers of deforestation provide new opportunities for conservation

Tropical deforestation claimed roughly 13 million hectares of forest per year during the first half of this decade, about the same rate of loss as the 1990s. But while the overall numbers have remained relatively constant, they mask a transition of great significance: a shift from poverty-driven to industry-driven deforestation and geographic consolidation of where deforestation occurs. These changes have important implications for efforts to protect the world's remaining tropical forests in that environmental lobby groups now have identifiable targets that may be more responsive to pressure on environmental concerns than tens of millions of impoverished rural farmers. In other words, activists have more leverage than ever to impact corporate behavior as it relates to deforestation.

Brazilian tribe owns carbon rights to Amazon rainforest land

A rainforest tribe fighting to save their territory from loggers owns the carbon-trading rights to their land, according to a legal opinion released today by Baker & McKenzie, one of the world’s largest law firms. The opinion, which was commissioned by Forest Trends, a Washington, D.C.-based forest conservation group, could boost the efforts of indigenous groups seeking compensation for preserving forest on their lands, effectively paving the way for large-scale indigenous-led conservation of the Amazon rainforest. Indigenous people control more than a quarter of the Brazilian Amazon.

Destruction of old-growth forests looms over climate talks

Destruction of old-growth or primary forests looms large in discussions in Copenhagen over a scheme to compensate tropical countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). Some environmental groups are pressing for conservation of old-growth forests — the most carbon-dense, and biologically-rich state of forests — to be the centerpiece of REDD, while industry and other actors are pushing for "sustainable forest management" or logging using reduced-impact techniques to be the primary focus of REDD.

Copenhagen and Brazilian Megalomania
When people think about preserving the Amazon rainforest, captivating animals may come to mind such as the jaguar, toucan or manatee. But while wildlife must be safeguarded there are now other urgent reasons to protect the jungle. The seriousness of the problem was recently brought home to me when I visited the Amazonian city of Manaus.

Brazil could halt Amazon deforestation within a decade

Funds generated under a U.S. cap-and-trade or a broader U.N.-supported scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation ("REDD") could play a critical role in bringing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon to a halt, reports a team writing in the journal Science. But the window of opportunity is short — Brazil has a two to three year window to take actions that would end Amazon deforestation within a decade.

Brazil to push for 10% limit on REDD carbon offsets
Brazil will propose limiting the amount of carbon an industrialized country can offset via a proposed forest conservation initiative to ten percent of their emissions, reports Bloomberg.

Ethnographic maps built using cutting-edge technology may help Amazon tribes win forest carbon payments

A new handbook lays out the methodology for cultural mapping, providing indigenous groups with a powerful tool for defending their land and culture, while enabling them to benefit from some 21st century advancements. Cultural mapping may also facilitate indigenous efforts to win recognition and compensation under a proposed scheme to mitigate climate change through forest conservation. The scheme—known as REDD for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation—will be a central topic of discussion at next month's climate talks in Copenhagen, but concerns remain that it could fail to deliver benefits to forest dwellers.

No-shows among South American leaders at Amazon summit
A summit between South American leaders to devise a plan to save the Amazon, failed to come up with a "common stance" on deforestation, as five of the eight invited leaders failed to show up to the meeting, reports Al Jazeera.

Deforestation emissions should be shared between producer and consumer, argues study

Under the Kyoto Protocol the nation that produces carbon emission takes responsibility for them, but what about when the country is producing carbon-intensive goods for consumer demand beyond its borders? For example while China is now the world's highest carbon emitter, 50 percent of its growth over the last year was due to producing goods for wealthy countries like the EU and the United States which have, in a sense, outsourced their manufacturing emissions to China. A new study in Environmental Research Letters presents a possible model for making certain that both producer and consumer share responsibility for emissions in an area so far neglected by studies of this kind: deforestation and land-use change.

Blackout in Brazil: Hydropower and Our Climate Conundrum
It’s everyone’s worst nightmare: being caught in an underground subway in the midst of a power outage. Yet, that is exactly what happened recently when Brazilian commuters in the city of São Paulo were trapped inside trains and literally had to be pulled out of subway cars. In addition to sparking problems in public transport, the blackout or apagão led to hospital emergencies and the shutting down of several airports. In all the power outage darkened approximately half of the South American nation, affecting sixty million people.

Ecological benefits of REDD boosted by inclusion of private landowners, potentially harmed by plantations

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation [REDD] programs that include landowners will conserve more habitat and ensure greater ecosystem services function than programs that focus solely on protected areas, report researchers from the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da AmazĂ´nia (IPAM), and the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG).

Brazil pledges to restrain emissions growth
In a move that some observers say could provide a path forward on a future climate agreement that includes emissions cuts in developing countries, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country will aim to reduce emissions 14 to 19 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

Brazil releases official Amazon deforestation figures for 2009
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell nearly 46 percent to the lowest annual loss on record in 2009, reported the Brazilian government Thursday.

Will Brazil's blackout drive a new push for more rainforest dams?
The power outage that affected nearly a third of Brazil's population Tuesday could be used by development interests to justify a renewed push for hydroelectric dams in the Amazon rainforest.

Google partners with Amazon tribe
The story of an indigenous Amazon tribe that has embraced technology in its fight to protect its homeland and culture is now highlighted as a layer in Google Earth.

Brazil to support REDD in Copenhagen
Brazil will conditionally support a proposed climate change mitigation scheme that will compensate tropical countries for preserving their forests, reports Reuters.

Perfect shot of the rare Iberian wolf wins nature photo contest
It's hard to believe the shot is real: it's that good. But a photo of a rare Iberian wolf—a subspecies of the gray wolf—jumping a fence has won the 45th Veolia Environment Wildlife Photo of the Year award. The photographer, Jose Luis Rodriguez, has said that he hopes the haunting image will inspire the people of Spain to be proud to have this endangered animal still roaming their countryside.

New species of glowing mushrooms named after Mozart's Requiem
Classical musical genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, probably never expected his music to inspire mycologists, but fungi researchers have announced in the journal Mycologia that two new species of glowing mushroom are named after movements in the composer's Requiem: Mycena luxaeterna (eternal light) and Mycena luxperpetua (perpetual light).

Brazilian beef giants agree to moratorium on Amazon deforestation
Four of the world's largest cattle producers and traders have agreed to a moratorium on buying cattle from newly deforested areas in the Amazon rainforest, reports Greenpeace.

Roads are enablers of rainforest destruction

Chainsaws, bulldozers, and fires are tools of rainforest destruction, but roads are enablers. Roads link resources to markets, enabling loggers, farmers, ranchers, miners, and land speculators to convert remote forests into economic opportunities. But the ecological cost is high: 95 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon occurs within 50-kilometers of a road; in Africa, where logging roads are rapidly expanding across the Congo basin, the bulk of bushmeat hunting occurs near roads. In Laos and Sumatra, roads are opening last remnants of intact forests to logging, poaching, and plantation development. But roads also cause subtler impacts, fragmenting habitats, altering microclimates, creating highways for invasive species, blocking movement of wildlife, and claiming animals as roadkill. A new paper, published in Trends in Evolution and Ecology, reviews these and other impacts of roads on rainforests. Its conclusions don't bode well for the future of forests.

Working to save the 'living dead' in the Atlantic Forest, an interview with Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes

The Atlantic Forest may very well be the most imperiled tropical ecosystem in the world: it is estimated that seven percent (or less) of the original forest remains. Lining the coast of Brazil, what is left of the forest is largely patches and fragments that are hemmed in by metropolises and monocultures. Yet, some areas are worse than others, such as the Pernambuco Endemism Centre, a region in the northeast that has largely been ignored by scientists and conservation efforts. Here, 98 percent of the forest is gone, and 70 percent of what remains are patches measuring less than 10 hectares. Due to this fragmentation all large mammals have gone regionally extinct and the small mammals are described by Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes, a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Pernambuco, as the 'living dead'.

Prince Charles making progress in effort to save rainforests, says leading British environmentalist

Prince Charles of Great Britain has emerged as one of the world’s highest-profile promoters of a scheme that could finally put an end to destruction of tropical rainforests. The Prince’s Rainforest Project, launched in 2007, is promoting awareness of the role deforestation plays in climate change—it accounts for nearly a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions. The project also publicizes the multitude of benefits tropical forests provide, including maintenance of rainfall, biodiversity, and sustainable livelihoods for millions of people. But the initiative goes beyond merely raising awareness. Prince Charles is using his considerable influence to bring political and business leaders together to devise and support a plan to provide emergency funding to save rainforests. Tony Juniper, one of Britain’s best-known environmentalists and Special Adviser to the project, spoke about Prince Charles' efforts in an interview with mongabay.com.

Dangers for journalists who expose environmental issues

Guinean journalist Lai Baldé has been threatened. Egyptian blogger Tamer Mabrouk has been sued. Russian journalist Grigory Pasko has just spent four years in prison. His Uzbek colleague, Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov, has just been given a 10-year jail sentence. Mikhail Beketov, another Russian journalist, has lost a leg and several fingers as a result of an assault. Bulgarian reporter Maria Nikolaeva was threatened with having acid thrown in her face. Filipino journalist Joey Estriber has been missing since 2006... What do these journalists and many others have in common? They are or were covering environmental issues in countries where it is dangerous to do so.

Brazil may ban sugarcane plantations from the Amazon, Pantanal
Brazil will restrict sugarcane plantations for ethanol production from the Amazon, the Pantanal, and other ecologically-sensitive areas under a plan announced Thursday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration, reports the Associated Press.

Emissions from cerrado destruction in Brazil equal to emissions from Amazon deforestation
Damage to Brazil's vast cerrado grassland results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by destruction of the Amazon rainforest, said Carlos Minc, the country's Environment Minister.

Social causes of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest
Understanding the web of social groups involved in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is key to containing forest loss, argues a leading Amazon researcher writing in the journal Ecology and Society. Philip Fearnside of the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) reviews nine actors that have had significant roles in deforestation and reports differences in why they deforest, where they are active, and how they interact with each other.

Brazil to step up efforts to save the cerrado grassland
Brazil will try to reduce deforestation of the cerrado, a wooded grassland ecosystem in Brazil that is being destroyed twice as fast as the Amazon rainforest, according to the country's Environment Minister Carlos Minc.

Concerns over deforestation may drive new approach to cattle ranching in the Amazon

While you're browsing the mall for running shoes, the Amazon rainforest is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Perhaps it shouldn't be. The globalization of commodity supply chains has created links between consumer products and distant ecosystems like the Amazon. Shoes sold in downtown Manhattan may have been assembled in Vietnam using leather supplied from a Brazilian processor that subcontracted to a rancher in the Amazon. But while demand for these products is currently driving environmental degradation, this connection may also hold the key to slowing the destruction of Earth's largest rainforest.

Activists target Brazil's largest driver of deforestation: cattle ranching

Perhaps unexpectedly for a group with roots in confrontational activism, Amigos da Terra - AmazĂ´nia Brasileira is calling for a rather pragmatic approach to address to cattle ranching, the largest driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The solution, says Roberto Smeraldi, founder and director of Amigos da Terra, involves improving the productivity of cattle ranching, thereby allowing forest to recover without sacrificing jobs or income; establishing a moratorium on new clearing; and recognizing the economic values of maintaining the ecological functions of Earth's largest rainforest.

brazil news from mongabay.com

 

Brazilian News in Portuguese

 

República Federativa do Brasil (Portuguese) / Federative Republic of Brazil

Ordem e Progresso (Portuguese) / "Order and Progress"

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil or República Federativa do Brasil is a country in South America. It is the fifth-largest country by geographical area, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. The official language is Portuguese. Catholicism is the predominant religion.

Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of over 7,367 kilometres. Brazil borders every nation on the South American continent except Ecuador and Chile: Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the department of French Guiana are to the north, Colombia to the northwest, Bolivia and Peru to the west, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, and Uruguay to the south. Numerous archipelagos are part of the Brazilian territory, such as Penedos de Săo Pedro e Săo Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, Trindade and Martim Vaz and Atol das Rocas.

Brazil is crossed by both the Equator and Tropic of Capricorn, and as such is home to a vast array fauna and flora, natural environments, as well as extensive natural resources. The Brazilian population is concentrated along the coastline and in a few large urban centers in the interior. While Brazil is one of the most populous nations in the world, population density drops dramatically as one moves inland.

Brazil was a colony of Portugal from its discovery by Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until its independence in 1822. Initially independent as the Brazilian Empire, the country has been a republic since 1889, although the bicameral legislature (now called Congress) dates back to 1824, when the first constitution was ratified. Its current Constitution defines Brazil as a Federative Republic. The Federation is formed by the indissoluble association of the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities. There are currently 26 States and 5,564 Municipalities.

Brazil is the world's 8th largest economy in terms of purchasing power and the 10th largest economy at market exchange rates. The country has a diversified middle-income economy with wide variations in development levels and mature manufacturing, mining and agriculture sectors. Technology and services also play an important role and are growing rapidly. Brazil is a net exporter, having gone through free trade and privatization reforms in the 1990s. In spite of important economical achievements, many social issues still hamper development.

 

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil