A Brazilian psychic who set officials in Indonesia scrambling after he predicted a huge quake would hit Sumatra island next month reaffirmed on Wednesday that the disaster is indeed coming. "The danger of this earthquake exists, there is no doubt," Jucelino Nobrega da Luz (45) said by telephone from his home in south-east Brazil.
The mayor of a small Brazilian town has begun handing out free Viagra, spicing up the sex lives of dozens of elderly men and their partners. "Since we started the free distribution of sexual stimulants, our elderly population changed. They're much happier," said Joao de Souza Luz.
Brazil, the world's largest ethanol exporter, and Britain want to develop the production of ethanol from sugar cane in Southern Africa, officials from both governments said on Tuesday. The move is intended to diversify cheap ethanol production globally to meet fast-growing international demand.
The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa met on Wednesday to discuss a trade agreement between three of the world's most vibrant emerging economies. The meeting is the first summit of the India, Brazil and South Africa Group, or IBSA, formed in 2003, as an informal group for political consultations between the three countries.
People around the world are preparing for floods, droughts and other natural disasters in ways largely dictated by wealth and poverty as evidence of climate change mounts, a United Nations report said on Tuesday. Even if countries took steps to cut greenhouse gases, temperatures would continue to rise until 2050 due to accumulated carbon emissions.
The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa solidified their ties Wednesday at a summit that highlighted the regional powers' role as reprasentatives for the developing world. The leaders pressed for United Nations reform, urged richer nations to yield on heated trade talks and agreed to boost their cooperation on energy.
At least 33 people have died in two weeks of flooding in north-east Brazil, and more than 77 000 people have been left homeless, with officials warning on Wednesday that the heavy rain would continue. The state of Paraiba was the worst-hit, according to the national Civil Defence service. Twenty-six of the fatalities occurred there, and 76 towns are under water.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday launched a massive, $3-billion initiative to tackle high levels of violence in a country that records more than 40 000 homicides per year. The Citizens' National Security Programme is a five-year plan that primarily targets juvenile delinquents.
A lever to control engine speed was in the wrong position and probably a major case of a Brazil's worst air accident last month, according to flight-recorder data cited by a newspaper on Wednesday. An Airbus A320 operated by Brazilian carrier TAM Linhas Aereas barrelled off the wet runway upon landing at Congonhas airport in São Paulo on July 17.
Brazil, home to the world's largest rainforest, will ask rich nations to back a plan to help it slow deforestation at global climate talks this week, a senior environmental official said. The plan marks a first step toward including deforestation in global climate agreements to cut emissions of carbon.
Celebrating a landslide re-election, Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vowed on Sunday to fight for social justice while spurring economic growth. "The poor will take precedence," the self-styled defender of the downtrodden told several thousand jubilant supporters after garnering almost 61% of the vote.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to clinch victory in a run-off election on Sunday but will have to forge national reconciliation after an acrimonious campaign. Lula is expected to win over former São Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin with about 61% of the vote, with 39% going to Alckmin two polls showed on Saturday.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was battling to secure the votes needed to clinch an outright victory in Sunday's presidential election after public disgust over corrupt politics eroded his support in the final days of campaigning. Failure by Lula to win more than 50% of the vote would mean he faces a run-off against his closest rival on October 29.
Military searchers parachuted down on Saturday to the wreckage of a Brazilian passenger plane that crashed a day earlier in remote Amazon jungle with 155 people on board. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said there was no sign of survivors. The brand-new Boeing 737-800 probably plunged into the ground nose, the head of Brazil's airport authority Infraero said.
Rescue teams on Saturday searched for a Brazilian GOL airline Boeing 737-800 with 155 people aboard that went missing during a flight from the Amazon jungle to Brasilia, officials said. Authorities were trying to establish whether the airliner had collided with a Legacy executive jet whose pilot made an emergency landing on Friday in Cachimbo, near the area of northern Brazil where the Boeing was reported missing.
The leader of a militant Brazilian peasant organisation says it will take to the streets to force President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva toward more social and land reform if he wins re-election in October. Joao Pedro Stedile, chief of the Landless Rural Workers Movement, said that if Lula stuck with the fiscally conservative policies he would lose his grass-roots political base.
Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday accepted his nomination by the leftist Worker's Party (PT) to run for a second term in October elections. "I'm here today to tell you that the dream has not ended and that hope has not died," Lula (60) said at a national PT convention in Brasilia.
A corruption scandal centred on Brazil's governing Workers Party has been gathering momentum on a daily basis since it broke two months ago. But the great paradox of the situation is that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas's grip on power seems undiminished.
