Jean Wyllys said he was currently outside of the country and had no plans to return after a growing number of threats in past year
Brazil’s first and only openly gay congressman has announced that he is leaving his job – and the country – after receiving death threats.
In a newspaper interview on Thursday, Jean Wyllys said he was currently outside of Brazil and had no plans to return after a growing number of threats over the past year.
Continue reading...Jair Bolsonaro plans to overhaul country’s transportation infrastructure despite concerns of increased deforestation on the Trans-Amazonian highway
Brazil’s new government has unveiled plans to privatize the Trans-Amazonian Highway, in a fresh attempt to complete – and fully pave – the dictatorship-era road which has already been blamed for extensive deforestation.
The government also plans to sell to investors a concession to run BR-163, a key northern route for shipping Brazilian grains, adding it along with the Trans-Amazonian to a priority list for privatization at a meeting next month, infrastructure minister Tarcisio Freitas told Reuters in an interview.
Continue reading...Brazil’s rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro causes alarm among environmentalists after stressing that protecting his country’s unique ecosystem has to be consistent with economic growth. His brief speech to the World Economic Forum outlines a tax-cutting, privatisation agenda. Bolsonaro pledges to bring about economic change, saying that by the end of his term, Brazil will be ‘in the ranking of the 50 best countries to do business with’
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the first day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, including appearances from Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Prince William, Sir David Attenborough and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern
I’m delighted to report that Prince William has cracked a joke.
We’re being shown a dramatic clip from Our Planet, of a glacier ‘calving’ -- a massive skyscraper-sized piece of ice, surging upwards and away from the rest of the sheet (making the most almighty din)
Attenborough is now plugging his new TV venture, Our Planet, created with the World Wildlife Fund.
It’ll be shown on Netflix, Attenborough says excitedly, saying that this will give a new audience for his work.
Now, with Netflix, it is possible for a show to be seen by 150 million people overnight.
Continue reading...Civil society groups condemn move by minister, appointed by far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, as illegal attack on environment
Brazil’s new environment minister, Ricardo Salles, has suspended all partnerships and agreements with non-governmental organizations for 90 days, in a move that was described as “a war against NGOs”.
Announcing the move, Salles said the three-month suspension was to allow a re-evaluation of such partnerships, but civil society organizations described the move as a blatant and illegal attack on the environment and those working to protect it.
Continue reading...Wave of attacks in Ceará state exposes how poverty, lack of policies for young people and creaking prison system add up to perfect storm
Antonio Carlos da Silva was returning home to the Lagoa Redonda district of Fortaleza when two armed men drove past in a black car, ordering businesses to shut and residents to go inside and turn off the lights. Da Silva spent the next day indoors with no drinking water as a wave of unrest engulfed the north-eastern Brazilian city.
“There’s a climate of panic and people are terrified to go out. It’s like you’re a prisoner in your home and even then not safe,” says Da Silva. “These attacks are worse than in the past; they’re attacking shopping centres, bridges. No one knows how it will end.”
Continue reading...Matteo Salvini celebrates likely extradition of leftwing militant by Jair Bolsonaro
Cesare Battisti, a former leftwing guerrilla fighter wanted by the Italian authorities over four murders in the late 1970s, has been arrested in Bolivia and has been extradited to Italy.
The prime minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, said a government aircraft was on its way to bring Battisti, 63, back to Rome and Brazilian officials later confirmed his extradition. Conte praised the Bolivian and Brazilian authorities for the overnight capture of Battisti, who has been on the run for almost four decades, in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and said he would begin his life sentences as soon as he lands on Italian soil.
Continue reading...Executive order transfers regulation and creation of indigenous reserves to agriculture ministry controlled by agribusiness lobby
Hours after taking office, Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has launched an assault on environmental and Amazon protections with an executive order transferring the regulation and creation of new indigenous reserves to the agriculture ministry – which is controlled by the powerful agribusiness lobby.
Related: Jair Bolsonaro's inauguration: the day progressive Brazil has dreaded
Continue reading...The inauguration of the Brazilian president took place in Brasilia
Continue reading...Far-right populist invited lawmakers to help country free itself from ‘ideological submission’ in speech
Jair Bolsonaro has been sworn in as the 42nd president of Brazil, to the delight of passionate supporters, many of whom had travelled to its modernist capital for the event, convinced the far-right populist can rescue their troubled country from virulent corruption, rising violent crime and economic doldrums.
The former army captain waved from an open-topped Rolls Royce as he was driven to a ceremony at the city’s futuristic, Oscar Niemeyer-designed cathedral before he and his vice-president, retired army general Hamilton Mourão, were sworn in at Congress.
Continue reading...Brazil’s new president will feel emboldened to roll back rainforest protections and legitimise police’s use of deadly force
It was a softball question at a campaign trail press conference: what would Jair Bolsonaro do on his first day as president?
Brazil’s preeminent provocateur wrestled it straight into a Trumpian whirlpool of bluster and barminess.
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