Tom Phillips
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/ 21 August 2006

Bolivian fuel plan gets a ‘reality bath’

Bolivia has suspended its project to reclaim control over its oil and natural gas, throwing the nationalisation programme into chaos. In a statement released last Friday, Bolivia’s Hydrocarbons Ministry announced that the ”full participation” of the state energy company, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, was ”temporarily suspended due to a lack of resources”.

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/ 15 August 2006

Brazil leads plástica revolution

A pair of blood-smudged surgical gloves appears on the giant screen, then a glistening scalpel, which slides with ease into the pale, yellowy skin. “These,” explains the heavily-accented narrator, “are all little tricks to deal with the problem of the dog ears.” It is an overcast morning in Copa-cabana and in a big circus tent.

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/ 31 July 2006

Row over Rio sex museum

Telling your 71-year-old grandmother you plan to construct a gigantic replica of a uterus on her doorstep must be one of the least pleasant tasks for any grandson. That, however, is the bind of Igor de Vetyemy, a young Brazilian architect behind a controversial project to build a museum inspired entirely by sex on one of the world’s most famous beaches.

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/ 19 May 2006

Brazil: Fears of revenge strategy

Police in Sao Paulo have been accused of embarking on a systematic campaign of revenge attacks after at least 29 fellow officers were killed during a weekend of gang-related violence. At least 93 suspects have been killed over the past five days, many in what the authorities have called ”confrontations with the police”.

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/ 28 April 2006

How football recruits for Reverend Moon

It’s training time on a drizzly morning in the impoverished Brazilian suburb of Los Angeles and 18 footballers huddle in circles. But this is no ordinary Brazilian football team. Nor is the team’s owner — the eccentric 86-year-old leader of the Unification Church, Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

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/ 27 January 2006

Brazil’s biofuel success story

Brazilians are choosing to pump ethanol into their cars, reducing the country’s dependency on petrol and setting a worldwide example on how to reduce greenhouse emissions from transport. More than 183 600 ””lexi-fuel” cars, which run on petrol or ethanol made from sugar cane, were sold in December in Brazil.