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.

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!"

Tim Vickery: Brazil defends Copa title, but it isn't pretty
The standard explanation of soccer's global popularity is the fact that it's such a simple game. True, but it's also very complex.

Tim Vickery: Who can bust through Brazil-Argentina Copa duopoly?
The Copa Am�rica isn't strictly the Brazil and Argentina Show, though the intrigue surrounding South America's biggest powerhouses certainly suggests otherwise.

World trade talks break down
The future of World Trade Organization's Doha pact is under doubt, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said Thursday, as talks between the United States, European Union, India and Brazil broke down.

The seductive dance
The Carnival drums are reverberating in my ears. What better time to examine the importance of music and rhythm to soccer in Brazil?

Brazilian IPOs: Hot, hot, hot
Brazilian IPOs are on fire this year, but some analysts warn the market may be too hot to handle.

Brazil leading world in effort to boost use of ethanol
In an agroindustrial complex ringed by fields of 12-foot-high sugarcane, a giant mechanical claw dumps stalks by the tons into an even larger crushing machine. Here's where the renewable fuel used to power seven of every 10 new Brazilian cars gets its start.

Letters
Grassing Up . . .

Brazil readies for commercial carnival
Ahead of carnival time, Brazil is abuzz with an optimism that is also reflected in the country's buoyant economy, but can the world's sixth most populous country fulfill its potential as a safe destination for global investment?

HERE COME THE NEW FUELS
Zooming gas prices, plus the usual bad news from the Middle East, naturally raise the question: What else can we do? Quite a lot, actually. And if the price of oil sticks above $40 a barrel, the dy...

Brazil envoy: No shooting cover-up
Brazil's ambassador has said he believes there was no cover-up by British officials in the fatal police shooting of a Brazilian man mistaken for a terrorist on the London Tube.

BRAZIL
In Brazil, a little know-how or "jeito" goes a long way

Viva Brazil!
Growing up, Rich Zirinsky, the co-founder of Adventure Music (adventure-music.com), never played an instrument, but he was passionate about music. To date, he has collected 17,000 albums and 18,000...

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

 

Lost There, Felt Here
America should still lead such efforts as saving the rainforests. But China’s days as a global free-rider should be over.

Officials Search for Answers in Extensive Brazil Blackout
A huge power failure involving the world’s largest operating hydroelectric plant exposed the vulnerability of Brazil’s electricity infrastructure.

Trucks, Trains and Trees
Without a new system for economic development in the timber-rich tropics, the only Amazon your grandchildren will ever know ends in dot-com and sells books.

An Influx of Business Wealth in Rio
Public and private investors are expected to pump billions into Rio over the next three years, according to one study.

Expulsion Over Minidress Is Reversed
A university student expelled for wearing a minidress that caused a near riot and made her an Internet sensation said all she wanted was to go back to school.

Other Voyages in the Shadow of LĂ©vi-Strauss
In 1978 I made my first reporting trip to the Brazilian Amazon, with an orange-and-white Penguin paperback edition of “Tristes Tropiques” as the only book squeezed into my gear.

France to Renew Search for Plane’s Data Recorders
France is preparing to spend as much as 20 million euros next year on a renewed search for the flight recorders and undersea wreckage of the Air France A330 jetliner.

Violence in the Newest Olympic City Rattles Brazil
Weeks after Rio de Janeiro was selected to host the Olympics, drug bandits shot down a police helicopter.

Button Puts the Doubters Aside as He Captures Title
Jenson Button drove the race of his life Sunday, finally putting a lock on the driver's title at the Brazilian Grand Prix after starting from 14th position to finish the race in fifth.

Ins and Outs of Post-Crash Recovery for Formula One Drivers
With Felipe Massa out of the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday and not returning until the end of the season, the question around the paddock is whether injured drivers can return to their previous levels of performance.

Musician Changes Tone of Impoverished Village
One of Brazil’s best-known artists founded a music school and a civic association that transformed his poverty-stricken native village.

Banco Santander's Brazil Unit Raises $8 Billion in I.P.O.
The sale was a record initial public offering in Brazil and the largest I.P.O. on a U.S. exchange in 18 months.

Giants in Cattle Industry Agree to Help Fight Deforestation
Environmental groups hailed a decision by four of the world’s largest meat producers to ban the purchase of cattle from newly deforested areas of Brazil’s Amazon rain forest.

Dancing Into the Evening, Brazil Celebrates Arrival on World Stage
The International Olympic Committee’s decision to entrust the games to Rio de Janerio was a defining moment that promised many Brazilians even greater prosperity in the decade to come.

Rio Wins 2016 Olympics in a First for South America
Tens of thousands of people celebrated in Rio de Janeiro after the Brazilian city beat Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago in the International Olympic Committee’s vote.

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

 

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.

20% of land deforested in the Brazilian Amazon is regrowing forest
At least 20 percent land deforested in the Brazilian Amazon is regrowing forest, reports Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

Amazon deforestation to fall 30% in 2009

Deforestation is the Brazilian Amazon is likely to fall between 8,500 square kilometers (3,088 square miles) and 9,000 sq km (3,474 sq mi) for the 12 months ended July 31, 2009, a reduction of 29-37 percent from last year, reports Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc. If the estimate is confirmed by high resolution satellite data to be published later this year, the rate of forest loss for 2008-2009 would be the lowest since annual record-keeping began in the 1980s.

Brazil's 'Obama' weighs presidential bid
Marina Silva, the charismatic rubber tapper who went on to become senator and Environment Minister, is weighing a presidential bid in Brazil's 2010 election, according to multiple reports. Political observers say that while her chances are long, Silva's entrance and focus on the environment could spur interest among Brazilians disenchanted by the Workers' Party, the dominant part which has been tarnished lately by corruption scandals.

Brazilian beef giant announces moratorium on rainforest beef

Brazil's second-largest beef exporter, Bertin, announced it would establish a moratorium on buying cattle from farms involved in Amazon deforestation, reports Greenpeace. The move comes after the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) withdrew a $90 million loan to Bertin following revelations in a Greenpeace report that the company was buying beef produced on illegally deforested lands. The report, which linked some of the world's most prominent brands to rainforest destruction in the Amazon, had an immediate impact, triggering a cascade of events.

Brazil's environment minister Minc to step down
Brazil's environment minister Carlos Minc will step down in March to run for deputy in the Rio de Janeiro state legislature in general elections next October, reports Reuters.

Golden lion tamarins play key role in seed dispersal in Brazil's Mata Atlantica
Golden lion tamarins play an important role in seed dispersal in Brazil's Mata Atlantica, report researchers writing in the the journal Tropical Conservation Science.

Amazon deforestation falls in June
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon during June dropped at least 4.4 percent to the year earlier period, keeping Brazil on pace for the lowest forest loss since annual record-keeping began in 1988.

Indigenous communities threatened by climate change
Indigenous cultures around the world are facing increasing threats with the effects of climate change. In addition to the myriad organisms condemned to extinction by climate change, many indigenous human cultures are also in danger. Entire island populations must relocate as rising ocean levels bring devastating storm surges, food supplies for tropical communities are becoming scarcer, and remote Arctic populations are becoming more isolated as polar ice vanishes.

Emissions from Amazon deforestation to rise as loggers move deeper into the rainforest
Emissions from Amazon deforestation are growing as developers move deeper into old-growth forest areas where carbon density is higher, report scientists writing in Geophysical Research Letters.

Alcoa mine to clear 25,000 acres of rainforest, suck 133,407 gallons of water per hour from the Amazon
A bauxite mine under development by Alcoa, the world’s second-largest primary aluminum producer, will consume 10,500 hectares (25,900 acres) of primary Amazon rainforest and suck 133,407 gallons of water per hour from the Amazon, reports Bloomberg News in an extensive write-up.

Brazil returns massive shipment of waste to the UK
Brazil has charged $419,000 in fines to import companies Stefenon Estrategia e Marketing, Bes Assessoria e Comercio Exterior and Alphatec for their attempted illegal importing of some 1,600 tons of waste. The assorted waste containers arrived in Brazilian ports in 89 shipping containers in November and are filled with rotting food products, diapers, medical waste, cleaning product containers, and computer parts, among other items.

Timberland announces policy to avoid using leather produced by Amazon destruction

Timberland, a maker of hiking boots and other footwear, today announced it would demand a moratorium on leather produced from newly deforested areas in the Amazon. The move is a direct response to pressure from Greenpeace, which last month released Slaughtering the Amazon, a report that linked some of the world's most prominent brands to illegal clearing of the Amazon rainforest. Timberland says it will require its leather suppliers to commit to the moratorium on newly deforested areas in the Amazon. Greenpeace says the policy "makes Timberland the industry leader in environmentally and socially responsible Brazilian leather procurement."

Brazilian soy industry extends moratorium on Amazon deforestation
The Brazilian soy industry has agreed to extend a moratorium on soy production in newly deforested areas in the Amazon rainforest, reports Greenpeace. The moratorium has been in place since 2006.

Nike implements policy to avoid leather produced via Amazon deforestation
Nike is working with Greenpeace to ensure its products don't contribute to destruction of the Amazon rainforest, according to statements from the shoe giant and the environmental activist group. The partnership comes after Greenpeace report accused Nike of using leather derived from cattle raised on illegal deforested Amazon land. The report, "Slaughtering the Amazon", also linked other shoemakers to rainforest destruction, including Adidas, Reebok and Timberland.

Are we on the brink of saving rainforests?

Until now saving rainforests seemed like an impossible mission. But the world is now warming to the idea that a proposed solution to help address climate change could offer a new way to unlock the value of forest without cutting it down.Deep in the Brazilian Amazon, members of the Surui tribe are developing a scheme that will reward them for protecting their rainforest home from encroachment by ranchers and illegal loggers. The project, initiated by the Surui themselves, will bring jobs as park guards and deliver health clinics, computers, and schools that will help youths retain traditional knowledge and cultural ties to the forest. Surprisingly, the states of California, Wisconsin and Illinois may finance the endeavor as part of their climate change mitigation programs.

NASA photos show severe flooding in the Amazon
Photos released by NASA highlight last month's severe flooding of the Amazon River near the Brazilian city of Manaus.

Illegal Amazon timber passed off as eco-certified in massive wood laundering scheme
A Brazilian federal prosecutor is leading an investigation into charges that illegal timber from the state of Pará is being laundered as "eco-certified" wood and exported to markets in the United States, Europe, and Asia, reports Sunday's edition of O Globo.

Tiny monkey species discovered in the Amazon rainforest

A new species of monkey has been discovered in the Brazilian Amazon, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society. The monkey, a type of saddleback tamarin, has been named Mura's saddleback tamarin (Saguinus fuscicollis mura) after the Mura Indians, the Amerindian ethnic group that lives in the Purus and Madeira river basins where the monkey occurs.

Brazil's development bank to require beef-tracking system to avoid illegal Amazon deforestation
Responding to allegations that major Brazilian cattle producers are responsible for illegal forest clearing in the Amazon, Brazil's development bank BNDES will soon require processors to trace the origin of beef back to the ranch where it was produced in order to qualify for loans, reports Brazil's Agencia Estado. The traceability program aims to ensure that cattle products do not come from illegally deforested land.

NASA images show huge drop in Amazon fires in 2008

New NASA research shows a sharp decline in the amount of smoke over the Amazon during the 2008 burning season, coinciding with a drop in deforestation reported last week by Carlos Minc, Brazil's Environment Minister. Analyzing the aerosol concentrations over the Amazon each September from the past four burning seasons using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's Aura satellite, atmospheric scientist Omar Torres of Hampton University and several colleagues found a dramatic decline in airborne particular matter in 2008, indicating reduced incidence of fire in the region. Fire in the Amazon is primarily used by humans for land-clearing to establish cattle pasture, which now accounts for the vast majority of land-use change in the world's largest rainforest.

Brazil's minister of ideas, nemesis of former environmental minister, resigns
Brazil's minister of strategic affairs, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, will resign his post in the next few days and resume his teaching career at Harvard, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Monday.

Tesco responds to allegations of causing Amazon deforestation
Tesco, one of Europe’s largest retailers, has sent a response to the British newspaper The Guardian in light of the paper's coverage of recent allegations that the chain store sells beef and leather products that caused deforestation of the Amazon.

Brazil approves land tenure law that grants 260,000 sq mi of rainforest to settlers, speculators
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last week signed a controversial law granting 67.4 million hectares (166 million acres) of Amazon rainforest land to more than 1 million illegal settlers, reports Reuters.

Brazilian cattle giant declares moratorium on Amazon deforestation

Marfrig, the world's fourth largest beef trader, will no longer buy cattle raised in newly deforested areas within the Brazilian Amazon, reports Greenpeace. The announcement is a direct response to Greenpeace's Slaughtering the Amazon report, which linked illegal Amazon forest clearing to the cattle producers that supply raw materials to some of the world's most prominent consumer products companies. Marfrig was one several cattle firms named in the investigative report.

Brazilian miner Vale signs $500M palm oil deal in the Amazon

Vale, the world's largest miner of iron ore, has signed a $500 million joint venture with Biopalma da Amazonia to produce 160,000 metric tons of palm oil-based biodiesel per year, reports Reuters. Vale says the deal will save $150 million in fuel costs starting in 2014, with palm oil biodiesel replacing up to 20 percent of diesel consumption in the company's northern operations. The biodiesel will be produced from oil palm plantations in the Amazon state of Pará. The move is likely to stir up criticism from environmentalists that fear palm oil production could soon become a major driver of deforestation in the region.

Amazon deforestation in 2009 declines to lowest on record

Annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell below 10,000 square kilometers for the first time since record-keeping began, reported Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc. Yesterday Minc said preliminary data from the country's satellite-based deforestation detection system (DETER) showed that Amazon forest loss between August 2008 and July 2009 would be below 10,000 square kilometers, the lowest level in more than 20 years. Falling commodity prices and government action to crack down on illegal clearing are credited for the decline in deforestation rates.

Brazil to pay farmers $50/month to plant trees in the Amazon
Brazil will pay small farmers to plant trees in deforested parts of the Amazon under a plan unveiled Friday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Cattle giant JBS facing corruption probe
JBS, the world's largest beef processor, is under investigation by Brazil's federal prosecutor's office for corruption, reports Reuters.

Amazon could lose 60% of forest without triggering catastrophic die-off, claims new study

Brazil's setting aside of more than 500,000 square miles (1.25 million square kilometers) of rainforest in protected areas over the past decade may effectively buffer the Amazon from the effects of climate change, preventing Earth's largest rainforest from tipping towards arid savanna in the face of ongoing deforestation and rising temperatures, argues a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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