Category Archives: Brazil

Hundreds feared dead as Brazil dam collapse releases mud tide

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Officials warn few survivors are expected after mining workers in canteen and on a bus are caught in a wave of iron ore waste

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a dam operated by the mining company Vale collapsed in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, releasing a wave of red iron ore waste and causing the worst environmental catastrophe in the country’s recent history.

Authorities say that 40 people have died, and more than 300 people remain missing according to the company. The disaster comes only three years after a similar failure of the Fundão tailings dam near Mariana – co-owned by Vale – which killed 19 people.

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Brazil dam collapse: seven bodies found and scores still missing

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Burst of tailings dam at iron ore mine releases wave of red sludge, with chance of finding survivors ‘minimal’

Seven bodies have been found and more than a hundred people remain missing after a dam operated by the mining giant Vale collapsed in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, releasing a wave of red iron ore waste and raising fears of widespread contamination.

Fire chief Col Edgar Estevão said there were seven dead, nine wounded and 100 people had been rescued from the sea of mud released by the dam, according to the G1 news site. The fire brigade believe around 150 are missing, he said.

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Aftermath of deadly dam collapse in Brazil – video report

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At least 58 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds remain missing after Friday’s dam collapse and mudslide in Minas Gerais state. The search was paused because of concerns that another dam operated by the same firm, Vale, was also at risk of rupturing, and authorities began evacuating several neighbourhoods in the city of Brumadinho

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Brazil’s sole openly gay congressman leaves country after death threats

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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.

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Brazil’s government reveals plans to privatize key shipping route

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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.

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Jair Bolsonaro says he will ‘open up’ Brazil’s economy in pro-business speech at Davos – video

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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’

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How can we take power away from criminal gangs? Legalise drugs | Martin Drewry

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Prohibition makes our world a more dangerous place, trapping people in poverty

I have spoken out on many issues during my career, but there is one that leaders in poorer countries passionately lobby me to campaign on: the prohibition of drugs.

The “war on drugs” is harming the most vulnerable and criminalising poverty. It is not a war on drugs – despite decades of prohibition, drug production and consumption is on the increase globally – it is a war on the poor. Prohibition damages people and the planet.

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Brazil environment chief accused of ‘war on NGOs’ as partnerships paused

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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.

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‘Climate of panic’: bombings in Brazil reveal growing power of gangs | Jo Griffin

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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.”

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Cesare Battisti arrest highlights rightwing alliance of Italy and Brazil

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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.

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‘Raining spiders’: airborne arachnids appear over south-east Brazil

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Soaring temperatures bring tales of eight-legged invaders as huge numbers of communal species spin invisible webs in the sky

Summer in south-east Brazil has brought soaring temperatures and some disconcerting eight-legged visitors.

Residents in a rural area of southern Minas Gerais state have reported skies “raining spiders”, a phenomenon which experts say is typical in the region during hot, humid weather.

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‘It’s complete chaos’: Brazilian state overwhelmed by rash of gang violence

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Attacks in Ceará are an early challenge for new president Jair Bolsonaro, who swept to power with tough-on-crime proposals

Carlos Robério and his colleagues were expecting an attack on their minibus co-op in Fortaleza, north-eastern Brazil. Over the previous few nights, gang members had already destroyed one of their vehicles, and torched dozens of city buses.

But when the assault came, there was little Robério could do but watch the CCTV feed as a group of youths doused one of the co-op’s kiosks and set it on fire.

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Rio governor confirms plans for shoot-to-kill policing policy

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Brazilian activists and experts expressed outrage after Wilson Witzel said security forces were authorized to use lethal force

Human rights activists and public security experts have expressed outrage after the newly elected governor of Rio de Janeiro state confirmed plans to implement shoot-to-kill policing tactics in the crime-ridden region.

Related: Jair Bolsonaro launches assault on Amazon rainforest protections

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Jair Bolsonaro launches assault on Amazon rainforest protections

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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

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Bolsonaro sworn in as Brazil’s president on wave of conservative enthusiasm

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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.

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Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration: the day progressive Brazil has dreaded

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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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Brazil on the cusp of sharp move right with Bolsonaro

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Brazilians appear on the cusp of handing the presidency to a brash former army captain who has reminisced fondly about dictatorship, pledged to jail corrupt politicians and promised an all-out war on the drugs and crime that plague South America's largest nation. Far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro just missed outright victory in Sunday's vote, and will face former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad of the leftist Workers' Party in an Oct. 28 runoff.

Brazil’s next president to struggle for base in Congress

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Whoever wins Brazil's presidential race this month will inherit a fiscal straight jacket and a drifting economy in urgent need of repair - but will have no governing coalition in Congress to pass reforms. BRASILIA: Whoever wins Brazil's presidential race this month will inherit a fiscal straight jacket and a drifting economy in urgent need of repair: but will have no governing coalition in Congress to pass reforms.

How Russian Spies Infiltrated Hotel Wi-Fi to Hack Their Victims Up Close

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Kremlin's increasingly aggressive hackers have reached across the globe to hit targets with everything from simple phishing schemes to worms built from leaked NSA zero day vulnerabilities. Now, law enforcement agencies in the US and Europe have detailed another, far more hands-on tactic: Snooping on Wi-Fi from a vehicle parked a few feet away from a target office-or even from a laptop inside their hotel.