The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro was lit up for Easter on Sunday night, paying tribute to health workers in Brazil and across the world tackling the coronavirus crisis. Images of health workers asking people to remain at home and flags from different countries with the word 'Hope' were also projected during the event
Continue reading...Category Archives: Rio de Janeiro
Birth of wild tapir offers hope for Brazil’s endangered ecosystem
Researchers believe the calf was born in January and a second may be on its way
Hopes for a recovery of Brazil’s most endangered ecosystem have been given a boost by the first birth of a wild tapir in Rio de Janeiro’s Atlantic Forest for more than a century.
Scientists said video clips of the baby tapir proved the initial success of a re-introduction strategy for the threatened mammal, which is often described as “a forest gardener” because it plays a vital role in the dispersal of seeds.
Continue reading...Evangelical Christians in Brazil resolve to ‘bring Jesus’ to carnival revelers
The group played a key role in the election of the country’s far-right president and have become increasingly assertive
With drummers pounding out samba rhythms through the rain, this might almost have been just another one of the hundreds of street parties of Rio’s world-famous carnival.
But nobody at the I’m Full of Love Samba Street Party on Copacabana Beach was drunk or in costume, few bystanders were dancing – and the group on the sound truck was singing about Jesus.
Continue reading...Rio carnival 2020 – in pictures
Brazil’s famed carnival kicked off in earnest on Saturday as millions of revellers poured into the streets, some of whom took aim at the nation’s deeply polarised politics. Most partiers, though, were dressed in distinctly apolitical garb, ranging from mermaid to cowboy costumes, suggesting that during carnival, Brazilians are focused on revelry first, and politics second
Rio’s school for Samba – in pictures
Such is the reputation of the Paraíso de Tuiuti samba school in Rio de Janeiro that dancers travel from as far afield as the UK, Russia and Japan to train in the ways of hip-swivelling and hot-stepping. During Rio’s world-famous carnival, members of the school will dance in front of 70,000 spectators and tens of millions of television viewers
Continue reading...Sun! Samba! Street crime! Red-faced Rio highlights the negative
Instagram post about being robbed in the city is accidentally shared by tourist agency
When marketing Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s national tourism agency typically focuses on the city’s world-class beaches, samba-filled music scene and caipirinha-fueled parties.
Violent crime is rarely listed among the attractions.
Continue reading...Scores dead as heavy rains bring landslides and evacuations in Brazil
Storms have submerged entire neighborhoods and sent homes tumbling down hillsides, causing more than 30,000 to flee
More than 30,000 people have been displaced by heavy rains in south-east Brazil that have killed 54 people and left 18 missing.
The storms have caused floods and landslides, submerging entire neighborhoods and sending homes tumbling down hillsides in the states of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. Rains subsided by Monday, but were expected to resume later this week in some areas.
Continue reading...Brazilians blame Rio governor’s shoot-to-kill policy for death of girl
Hundreds protest over favela killing of Ágatha Félix, eight, allegedly shot in back by police
The photograph shows a smiling eight-year-old girl dressed as Wonder Woman, beaming through gap teeth and crossing her small clenched fists into an X. Shocked Brazilians shared the image of Ágatha Félix online after she was shot in the back in a Rio de Janeiro favela on Friday night by what residents said was a bullet from a police officer’s rifle. She later died in hospital.
She was the fifth young child to be killed in Rio favelas this year. Favela activists, politicians, the public defenders’ office and the president of Rio’s bar association blamed the shoot-to-kill policy of the Rio governor, Wilson Witzel. “He is responsible for the murder,” tweeted Guilherme Boulos, a leftist politician.
Continue reading...‘Caught defenseless in the crossfire’: Rio families cope with deaths by police violence
Rio de Janeiro police have killed a record number of people in the name of Wilson Witzel’s war on drugs, and many say it’s civilian lives being lost
Night has fallen on Rio de Janeiro’s Albert Schweitzer hospital, and in its 11th-floor intensive care unit Enzo Coutinho dozes in his aunt’s lap.
“Sometimes it takes a mountain to trust and believe in you,” Merielle Ventura, a 24-year-old nursery teacher, sings gently into her nephew’s ear.
Continue reading...Brazil gang leader dresses up as teenage daughter in jailbreak attempt
Rio tabloids mock Clauvino da Silva’s botched escape, which also left his daughter, 19, inside
When Mexico’s “Shorty” – the drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – made his cinematic 2015 jail-break it required a mile-long tunnel, a multimillion dollar bribe and even a private plane that whisked him to freedom in the mountains of Sinaloa.
El Chapo’s Brazilian namesake hoped to achieve the same using just a silicone mask, a black bra and wig, and a skin-tight T-shirt emblazoned with three pink doughnuts.
Continue reading...Foiled prison escape for Brazilian gang leader who tried to sneak out dressed as daughter – video
A Brazilian inmate has been caught trying to escape from prison by pretending to be his teenage daughter when she visited him behind bars. Gang leader Clauvino da Silva, also known as 'Shorty', tried to leave the prison in Rio de Janeiro dressed in her clothes and wearing a silicon girl's mask and long dark-haired wig, but his nervousness gave him away, prison officials said. His plan was apparently to leave his 19-year-old daughter inside the jail. Officials released a video in which da Silva can be seen removing the mask and some of the clothes
Continue reading...Brazilian drug gang opens fire on convoy of trucks carrying nuclear fuel
Latest incident raises concerns about Brazil’s nuclear security in a state struggling with violent crime
A convoy of trucks carrying nuclear fuel came under armed attack on a highway in Rio de Janeiro state on Tuesday as it drove past a community controlled by a drug gang. Gang members armed with rifles opened fire on the convoy, Rio’s O Globo newspaper said.
Armed police escorting the convoy exchanged fire with armed gang members as the trucks carrying uranium continued to a nearby nuclear plant. The attack is the latest of several violent incidents in the area where Brazil has two nuclear reactors and has raised concerns about its nuclear security in a state struggling with high levels of violent crime.
Continue reading...Brazil: two ex-police officers arrested over murder of Marielle Franco
Franco, an outspoken critic of police violence against favela residents, was killed in 2018, prompting international outrage
Two former police officers have been arrested over the murder of the Rio de Janeiro councillor Marielle Franco, two days before the first anniversary of her death, which prompted international outrage.
Franco, a groundbreaking politician who was born in one of Rio’s largest favelas and became a voice for disadvantaged people in the city, was killed in a drive-by shooting along with her driver, Anderson Gomes.
Continue reading...Brazilians demand answers for Marielle Franco’s murder at Rio carnival
Revellers used annual carnival to ‘protest’ and pay tribute to the councilwoman nearly a year after the still-unsolved murder
Nearly a year after the still-unsolved murder of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman and LGBT activist Marielle Franco, Brazilian revellers have used their country’s annual carnival to demand answers.
Related: Lights, sequins, samba: Rio carnival at the Sambadrome – in pictures
Continue reading...Lights, sequins, samba: Rio carnival at the Sambadrome in pictures
From giant turtles to Roman centurions, Rio de Janeiro’s two nights of carnival parades at the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí began in a burst of fireworks and continued with the cheers of thousands of tourists and locals who also enjoyed street celebrations all around the city
Continue reading...Rio declares three days of mourning after fire kills 10 teenage footballers
Flamengo president says it is ‘the worst tragedy to happen to the club in its 123 years’
Rio de Janeiro has declared three days of mourning as investigators seek to determine the cause of the fire that killed 10 teenage footballers at the training centre of the city’s Flamengo football club on Friday morning.
Cláudio Castro, the vice governor of Rio de Janeiro state, said authorities were looking at the possibility of a short circuit in an air conditioning unit.
Continue reading...Which is the world’s most LGBT-friendly city?
Even when cities seem progressive on the surface, the lived experience of members of the LGBT community can tell a dramatically different story
Amid a mass of colour and pounding Latin rhythms, revellers at this year’s Bogotá Pride march waved banners stating “not one step back”. They were among tens of thousands who took to the streets to celebrate and support Colombia’s LGBT community.
Many annual Pride marches that were once solemn protests against repression have become celebrations of now-existing rights or progress, reflecting the strength of LGBT communities.
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