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/ 23 April 2008

Strong earthquake startles Brazilians

An earthquake measuring 5,2 on the Richter scale shook southern Brazil overnight, scaring many but causing no significant damage or casualties, officials and media said. It was the strongest temblor to hit the region in a century, the news group Globo said. The epicentre was 270km off Brazil’s south-east coast.

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/ 22 October 2007

McLaren plans Formula One appeal

The McLaren Mercedes-Benz Formula One team said on Sunday night they were ready to appeal against a stewards’ decision at the Brazilian Grand Prix, keeping alive Briton Lewis Hamilton’s title dream. The announcement followed the stewards’ decision not to punish the BMW Sauber and Williams teams for using allegedly irregular fuel.

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/ 18 October 2007

Hamilton stays calm as three-way title battle looms

World championship leader Lewis Hamilton this week rested at his hotel ahead of the weekend’s Formula One world title showdown, knowing he will need all his energy and focus to emerge triumphant from a three-way battle for glory. As the sprawling city of São Paulo buzzed with anticipation, the 22-year-old Briton and his main rival, Fernando Alonso, kept a low profile.

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/ 22 March 2007

Brazil ethanol workers ‘badly treated’

São Paulo state prosecutors on Wednesday denounced what they called degrading working conditions at facilities where ethanol is made. Brazil is a global pioneer in the alternative fuel. In a report on five plants in the Marilia region of the state, labour prosecutors found that 40% of sugar-cane cutters were victims of bad treatment.

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/ 14 January 2007

Passenger bus buried in pit in São Paulo

Searchers dug through tonnes of rubble on Saturday in search of as many as eight people believed buried by a construction accident at a commuter rail tunnel in South America’s biggest city, São Paulo. Officials said a passenger bus was buried at the bottom of a 40m-deep pit dug for an underground railway station.

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/ 19 October 2006

One more race for Schumacher

And then there was one. One race, this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the Formula One season to decide the drivers’ title between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher. One race to determine the team crown between Renault and Ferrari. And one last race in Schumacher’s career.

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/ 18 May 2006

Brazilian police in bloody crackdown on gangs

Police shot dead at least 22 people on Wednesday in an iron-fisted crackdown against a powerful criminal gang blamed for lethal attacks in São Paulo as Brazil’s president criticised local authorities for refusing federal assistance. The clashes claimed the lives of 40 police and four members of the public, and 18 prisoners have died in prison riots blamed on the PCC gang.

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/ 27 April 2006

Chávez calls on South America to unite

South American nations will have to choose whether they want continental unity or individual trade agreements with the United States — but not both, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said on Wednesday. ”You either have one or the other … they’re like oil and water,” Chávez said.

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/ 11 October 2005

Disastrous drought hits Amazon towns

Four Brazilian cities in the Amazon jungle state of Amazonas have been declared disaster areas as the worst drought in 60 years dries up rivers that thousands of families depend on to receive food and medicine, authorities said on Monday. In Manaquiri, the hardest hit of the four cities, small rivers have all but disappeared.

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/ 26 September 2005

Schumacher who?

The new champion in formula one wears blue and yellow, not red. He is young, not old. He has one title, not seven. Next year, Alonso’s blue and yellow Renault will wear the number one instead of Michael Schumacher’s red Ferrari, which has owned it for the past five years and two other times with Benetton.