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Monday, September 7, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
THEATRE-BRAZIL: Bringing Dreams to Life in the Favela
In La Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Romeo and Juliet’s love story is impossible because they live on hills controlled by rival gangs of drug traffickers.BRAZIL: Ban on Alcohol Sales in Roadside Businesses
As of Friday, the first day of Carnival, a government ban will go into effect on the sale of alcohol at all restaurants and service stations located along highways or freeways in Brazil, as part of a programme aimed at bringing down the high number of fatal traffic accidents.WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Brazilian Youth Raise Their Voices
Brazil, the cradle of the World Social Forum (WSF), is hosting events in 19 cities Saturday for the Global Day of Action. The main participants will be young people, as they have always been at every meeting of the Forum.HEALTH-BRAZIL: Yellow Fever – Epidemic or False Alarm?
The Brazilian Health Ministry is fighting a war on two fronts. It is taking measures to prevent an outbreak of sylvatic (or jungle) yellow fever while countering speculation in the press about an imminent epidemic of the disease. There have been no cases of urban yellow fever in the country since 1942.LATIN AMERICA: Young People on the Fringes of Society
Seven million young Brazilians and nearly 800,000 youngsters in Argentina swell the ranks of a veritable army of Latin American youths who neither work nor study - a phenomenon that threatens to continue reproducing poverty unless effective measures are urgently taken to integrate them in society, say experts.ECONOMY- BRAZIL: Tightening the Belt in Election Year
Local and regional elections are due in Brazil this year, just when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is being forced to increase taxes and cut spending. His challenge is to maintain his political footing and avoid losing votes.AGRICULTURE-BRAZIL: Still Waiting For Promised Land
In their mud and clay tile house in a camp set up by the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST), Eliana and her husband Eleidimar started the new year with a sense of trepidation. They know that at any moment an order can be issued to evict them from the land they have occupied for almost a decade.BRAZIL: Films, Music as Damage Control in Prisons
Cultural activities in Brazilian jails these days include film screenings, live bands and libraries with shelves packed with books - part of an attempt to combat the consequences of the appalling living conditions in prison.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Catholic Hierarchy Backs Bishop’s Hunger Strike
The upper echelons of the Brazilian Catholic Church have decided to lend their support to Bishop Luiz Cappio, who is on hunger strike against the diversion of water from the Sao Francisco river, after the government confirmed it would go ahead with the project.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Bishop Fasts Again for Sao Francisco River
Brazilian Catholic Bishop Luiz Cappio has entered the third week of his hunger strike against the diversion of water from the Sao Francisco river, in the arid northeast of the country, amid expressions of support.BRAZIL: Modelling Change in the Favelas
When police in Brazil discovered an enormous detailed scale model of the Pereirão favela, they were going to destroy it because they thought it was part of a drug trafficking gang’s plan to invade a nearby neighbourhood. Ten years later, portions of the miniature reproduction built by children have travelled around the world to art exhibits and festivals.BRAZIL: Refugee Policies Improving, Despite Continued Challenges
As Brazil’s asylum policy reaches its 10th anniversary, local officials and the United Nations are applauding the progress the country has made, having become one of the most generous recipients of refugees in Latin America. But there are still many hurdles standing in the way of integration in society for refugees.BRAZIL: Sanitation for All…in 115 Years
Just 47 percent of the population of Brazil is hooked up to the main sewage system, and at the current rate of public spending on sanitation, universal coverage will be reached when the country celebrates its 300th anniversary of independence, in the year 2122.BRAZIL: Gang-Raped Girl in Men’s Jail Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The case of a 15-year-old girl who was held for a month in a jail cell with 20 men in the northern Brazilian state of Pará is just an extreme example of the problems plaguing a prison system in crisis.BRAZIL: Auction of Oil Blocks in the Crossfire
Foreign and national companies bid Tuesday for oil exploration rights in Brazil in an auction opposed by social movements, which are demanding the reinstatement of the state-run Petrobras’s monopoly over the country’s oil and natural gas reserves.
ENERGY-BRAZIL: Pray, Cheer, and Do the Rain Dance to Stave Off Crisis
An energy crisis will hit Brazil in 2009 or 2010, and not even the discovery of vast undersea oil and gas reserves with "enormous potential yields," as announced by the government, can stave it off, warn experts.LATIN AMERICA: New ‘Cyber Paradise’ for Paedophiles and Racists?
The crackdown in eastern Europe and the United States on websites posting racist content or child pornography could expose Latin America to the risk of becoming a new "cyber paradise" for on-line paedophilia and racism, experts say.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Activists Complain to UN Rapporteur of Police Killings
The police follow a policy of "extermination" in the favelas or shantytowns of this Brazilian city, human rights groups told U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston on Wednesday.BRAZIL: Swiss Firm Denies Responsibility in Killing of Rural Activist
An attack by armed guards on a group of rural activists occupying a Swiss-owned research farm in Brazil was the latest incident in what pro-land reform movements call the struggle against large landed estates wedded with multinational agribusiness.BRAZIL: Stiff Sentence for Killer of US-Born Nun Upheld
The 27-year sentence handed down to the hired killer who murdered U.S.-born nun and activist Dorothy Stang in 2005 was upheld by a court in Brazil.BRAZIL: Green-Friendly Image Yields Dividends for Business
One company is offering reforestation services for areas damaged by soil erosion, another advises factories on how to become carbon neutral, and a third offers environmental laboratory services to assess ecological damage. This new generation of business values the "eco-efficient lifestyle."« Previous Page — Next Page »
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