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 / Brazil
BRAZIL News:
20080603
Brazil
-  Satellite
-  Photographs
-  Global
- Climate
-  Gases
-  Food
-  Animals
-  Farming
-  Illegal
-  Business
"New
satellite photos show Amazon deforestation exploding."
... "New satellite photographs show that the destruction of Brazil's fragile
Amazon rainforest has exploded this year, fueling fears that the government's
efforts to stop deforestation have been fruitless." ... "Brazil's DETER
real-time monitoring system found that more than 430 square miles of forest,
an area a bit smaller than the city of Los Angeles, vanished in the month
of April, while about 2,300 square miles, larger than the state of Delaware,
were destroyed between last August and April." ... "That nine-month total
surpassed the entire acreage in the Amazon that was destroyed over the
previous 12 months, according to DETER data. What's worse, the satellites
couldn't see about half of the forest in April due to cloud cover, suggesting
that actual deforestation likely was much greater." ... "That's raised
red flags among environmentalists, who say that soybean farming, cattle
production and illegal logging are destroying the world's largest rainforest
despite the government's attempts to halt the deforestation." ... "Chopping
down and burning the rainforest releases tons of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change.
Brazil is the world's fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, largely
because of deforestation, according to the U.S.-based World Resources Institute."
... "Worse is yet to come, environmentalists said." ... "The Amazon's dry
season, when farmers do most of their burning and clearing, starts this
month." -By Jack
Chang -McClatchyDC.com
20080121
-
Worldwide
-
 US
-  Britain
-  France
-  Germany
-  Canada
- Brazil
-  Argentina
- "Stock
Markets Plunge Worldwide." ... "Stocks fell sharply
worldwide Monday following declines on Wall Street last week amid investor
pessimism over the U.S. [United States] government's stimulus plan to prevent
a recession." ... "U.S. markets were closed for Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, but the downbeat mood from last week's market declines there circled
through Europe, Asia and the Americas. Britain's benchmark FTSE-100 slumped
5.5 percent to 5,578.20, France's CAC-40 Index tumbled 6.8 percent to 4,744.15,
and Germany's blue-chip DAX 30 plunged 7.2 percent to 6,790.19." ... "In
Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index on the Toronto Stock Exchange fell
4.8 percent. Brazilian stocks plunged 6.6 percent on the main index of
Sao Paulo's Bovespa exchange, and Argentina's benchmark Merval index fell
6.3 percent to close under 1,900 for the first time since August 2006."
-By Toby Anderson with contributions by Cassie Biggs,
Ramola Talwar Badam, Elaine Kurtenbach, and Carl Freire -AP
via -Yahoo
20080116
-
Brazil
- Farms
- Illegal
- Business
-
 History
-  Land
- Plants
- Global
- Weather
-  Science
- "Amazon
deforestation seen surging." ... "[Brazil's National
Institute for Space Research scientist Carlos] Nobre, whose government
agency monitors the Amazon and gathers data, said that 2,300 square miles
of [Brazil's] forest had been lost in the past four months." ... "That
compares with an estimated 3,700 square miles in the 12 months ended July
31, which Brazil officials hailed as the lowest deforestation rate since
the 1970s." ... "Brazil's government has said that policies such as more
controls on illegal logging and better certification of land ownership
were reducing the deforestation that has destroyed about a fifth of the
forest -- an area bigger than France -- since the 1970s." ... "But environmental
groups have warned that rising global commodity prices are likely to fuel
more clearing of land for farms, as occurred in 2004 when Brazil recorded
the highest deforestation rate of more than 10,400 square miles (27,000
square km )." ... "Destruction of forests produces about 20 percent of
man-made carbon dioxide emissions, making conservation of the Amazon crucial
to limiting rises in global temperatures." (1, 2)
-By Stuart Grudgings with contributions by Cynthia
Osterman -Reuters
20070707
-
Global
- Climate
- Earth
-
 Music
-  Politics
-  Australia
- United
States -  Japan
-  China
-  South
Africa - Brazil
- Germany
- "Live
Earth Series Starts in Sydney." ... "The Live Earth
global [music] concert series kicked off Saturday with an aboriginal group
dancing and singing a traditional welcome at the first venue in Sydney
[Australia]." ... "Tribal leaders with white-painted bodies and shaking
eucalyptus fronds were the first of more than 150 performers at the eight
concert, 24-hour series to raise awareness about climate change." ... "The
performance was immediately followed by a video greeting from former [Democratic]
Vice President Al Gore, whose campaign to force global warming onto the
international political agenda inspired the event." ... "The biggest names
will appear at Live Earth concerts in London [UK] and the United States,
with more modest lineups of mostly local and regional acts in Australia,
Japan, China, South Africa, Brazil and Germany."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
20070420
-
 Fuel
- Food
-  Poor
-  People
-  Auto
-  Environment
- Economy
- US
-  Venezuela
-  Mexico
- "Ethanol
policy divides Latin America: US efforts to promote
ethanol have raised food prices in the region." ... "Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez calls the boom in ethanol the equivalent of starving
the poor "to feed automobiles."" ... "Ethanol, which is derived from crops
such as corn or sugar, is seen by some as a green alternative, a rising
star on the path toward reducing independence on foreign petroleum. But
it's not just Mr. Chávez who is questioning whether the benefits
outweigh the unintended consequences." ... "Now poultry industry executives,
who have seen the price of feedstock has gone up; Mexican consumers, facing
a 60 percent jump in the cost of tortillas; and even environmentalists,
who look at the amount of fertilizer that will be needed to grow extra
crops, are wondering aloud whether ethanol will help or hurt Latin American
economies." ... ""I think people worry that rich Americans are trying to
fuel cars at the expense of hungry people in poorer countries," says Janet
Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute in Washington.
"This increased push for ethanol production could be an incredible foreign
policy blunder."" (1, 2)
-By Sara Miller Llana and Daniel Cancels
-CSMonitor
20050719
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- 
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- "Philippines
sending extra 200 troops to Haiti." ... "The Philippines
will send 200 additional troops to Haiti to help United Nations' peacekeeping
forces curb political unrest ahead of elections, the president said on
Tuesday." ... "The Philippines sent up to 150 soldiers to Haiti last November
to join nearly 4,000 Brazilian-led peacekeepers on the Caribbean island,
now run by an interim government charged with organising fresh elections,
scheduled for November." -Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
20050708
-
-
-
-
-
- "Canadian
UN ambassador says no more [Canadian] troops for Haiti."
... "Canada cannot send more troops to Haiti right now, the Canadian ambassador
to the United Nations said Friday, after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
suggested he may call on Ottawa or Paris to send more forces for the mission."
... "In late June, the UN Security Council voted to beef up the Brazilian-led
force in Haiti by about 1,000 troops and police in the runup to elections.
That would bring its force to well over 8,000."
-AP via -CBC.ca
20050517
-
- "Landless
Peasants Head to Brazil's Capital." ... "More than
12,000 landless peasants arrived in Brazil's capital Monday after a 17-day
march to demand agrarian reform, saying the president has failed to keep
his promises to provide jobs and land to the country's poor." ... "The
march, the largest ever sponsored by the Landless Rural Workers Movement,
was also intended to protest the economic policies of President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva's government." -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "In
un-P.C. Brazil, a list of 96 offensive terms causes offense."
... "Throughout Latin America, a person is as likely to be described by
his skin color or girth as someone elsewhere might be called tall or smart
or gregarious. A word that in the US could provoke a fistfight or a court
case is often just a personal identifier here." ... "Now Brazil is making
its first forays into changing this. Last year the government quietly issued
an 87-page document entitled "Political Correctness and Human Rights,"
which listed 96 words and phrases it hopes will eventually become unacceptable."
... "In the US, minorities have waged lengthy battles to take control of
the language used to describe them. Indigenous groups have rejected the
term "Indians." "African-American" has replaced negro and colored." -By
Andrew Downie -CSMonitor
20050516
-
-
- "Rights
group: Amazon Indian tribe threatened." ... "An Amazon
Indian tribe isolated from modern Brazil by hundreds of miles of rain forest
faces annihilation by loggers if nothing is done to protect them, an Indian
rights group warned Monday." ... "In 2001, the bureau [Brazil's Federal
Indian Bureau] banned outsiders from entering 410,186 acres of the rain
forest to allow anthropologists to contact the tribe and demarcate a reservation.
But the protection efforts were curtailed this March when a federal judge
granted an appeal by the Sulmap Sul Amazonia logging company that the decree
protecting the area would cause the company irreversible damages."
-AP via -CNN
-
-
- "Carrier
looking for help: Brazil airline in talks to sell
up to 20% stake." ... "Brazilian flagship airline Varig is negotiating
terms of a rescue plan with Portugal's state-owned airline to prevent the
South American carrier from getting crushed by debt, the companies said
Monday." -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
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- "Countries
circulate resolution to expand U.N. Security Council."
... "Brazil, Germany, India and Japan circulated a draft resolution Monday
that would expand the U.N. Security Council from 15 to 25 members and give
the four countries permanent seats along with two African nations." ...
"The draft says the new permanent members should have "the same responsibilities
and obligations as the current permanent members" — the United States,
Russia, China, Britain and France — which includes veto power over council
resolution." -AP
via -USATODAY
20040304
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-
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- "Brazil
could lead Haiti UN peacekeeping mission." ... "French
President Jacques Chirac and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan want Brazil
to lead a U.N. peacekeeping mission due to go into Haiti in three months,
Brazil said Thursday." ... "The request came in a phone call between Brazilian
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chirac and would represent a major
success for Lula's ambitions of making Brazil a leader in Latin American
affairs." -Reuters
via -Forbes
20031219
-
-
- "UN
wants access to Brazil atomic enrichment plant."
... "The U.N. nuclear watchdog is negotiating with the Brazilian government
to ensure that a new uranium enrichment facility due to begin operating
next year is properly safeguarded, the agency said on Friday. Several Western
diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Brazil was not considered
a problem state and there were no concerns that it was developing nuclear
weapons." ... "Brazil, which has the world's six-largest uranium reserves
and the most sophisticated nuclear programme in Latin America, has said
the new plant will begin enriching uranium next year to produce fuel for
its atomic power plants." -By Louis Charbonneau
-Reuters -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
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