Mario Osava

BRAZIL-BIODIVERSITY: Crackdown on Eco-Pirates

Brazilian environmentalists, fighting to halt the wholesale theft of bio-resources from the Amazon basin, is taking a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to court for illegally stealing the knowledge of indigenous peoples.

BRAZIL: Trade Unionism Hurt By Economic And Labour Trends

By Mario Osava

Brazil's two largest labour unions have put job creation at the top of their national congress agendas at a time when new economic and labour trends are combining to erode union strength.

BRAZIL: Nation Mourns Betinho, the Fighter of Social Ills

By Mario Osava

Brazil has lost Betinho, the great campaigner for the underdog, who fought hunger and the ignorant treatment of AIDS, while defending ethics, solidarity and the street children of the world.

BRAZIL: Plant Pests Join Globalisation Process To Destroy Jobs

By Mario Osava

The free market and tariff reductions mean the Brazil of today can eat French lettuce, US fruit and Chinese garlic, but it is also facing imported pests which threaten agriculture and destroy jobs.

COMMUNICATIONS: Changing At The Speed Of Light

By Mario Osava

If technology-driven change over decades used to move at, say, the speed of a car, today society is being forcibly changed at the speed of light -- matching the pace of modern communications.

SPORT: Footballing Laws Overrule National Sovereignty

By Mario Osava

Football, a sector far more globalised than the economy, has its own laws which overrule national legislation and dominate the organisation of the sport in each country, as became clear in Brazil this week.

SPORT: Footballing Laws Overrule National Sovereignty

By Mario Osava

Football, a sector far more globalised than the economy, has its own laws which overrule national legislation and dominate the organisation of the sport in each country, as became clear in Brazil this week.

BRAZIL: Plant Pests Join Globalisation Process and Destroy Jobs

By Mario Osava

The free market and tariff reductions mean the Brazil of today can eat French lettuce, US fruit and Chinese garlic, but it is also facing imported pests which threaten agriculture and destroy jobs.

MUSIC-LATIN AMERICA: Jingle Of The Cash Register

By Mario Osava

Sales of records and compact discs in Latin America are producing the sweetest sound of all -- the jingle of cash registers as vendors rake in rising profits.

BRAZIL: Football Means Exports and Wealth, but Remains Informal

By Mario Osava

The transferral of Brazilian footballers abroad since last month has cost around 100 million dollars, but the sport is still in the informal sector, overlooked as a specific sector of the economy.

BRAZIL: Consumers NGOs Shape First National Association

By Mario Osava

Brazilian consumers groups are joining forces for the first time, creating a national association to fight parliamentarians trying to neuter the country's powerful consumer rights code.

BRAZIL-POLICE: Shoot-out Pushes Gov’t to Discuss Reforms

By Mario Osava

Another shoot-out between police protesters and soldiers this week finally pushed Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to agree to a restructuring of the police forces, a long-time demand of human rights groups.

BRAZIL-HEALTH: No Longer Toothless

By Mario Osava

The cavity rate among Brazilian children has plunged 30 percent in the past decade thanks to unflagging prevention efforts, according to a study backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

LATAM-ECONOMY: Mercosur Boosts Brazil-Argentine Investment

By Mario Osava

The Southern Common Market (Mercosur) has given an enormous boost to investment between Brazil and Argentina - its two largest members.

BRAZIL-OIL: Joint Ventures to End State Monopoly

By Mario Osava

Joint ventures between the government-owned Petrobras and national and foreign firms will put an end to the government's monopoly over the oil sector.

BRAZIL: New Twist in Spreading Social Unrest

By Mario Osava

With recent fears of a speculative attack in the wake of a chain of Southeast Asian currency collapses apparently quelled, the Brazilian government is turning back to the social unrest spreading throughout the country.

BRAZIL-COMMODITIES: Lifting of Sugar Quotas Stirs Little Interest

By Mario Osava

The Brazilian move lifting quotas on sugar exports caused only a few ripples on the international market and producers here were hopeful of windfall profits without major price swings.

ENVIRONMENT: All Timber Roads Lead to the Amazon

By Mario Osava

The road involving international trade in timber - a 114 billion dollars a year business - now lead to the Amazon, threatening the world with grave environmental consequences.

BRAZIL: A Step Towards Sustainable Amazon Forestry?

By Mario Osava

Brazil opens bidding for private timber concessions in public owned forests Tuesday, as part of their plan to develop a sustainable management model for the Amazon forests.

BRAZIL-ECONOMY: Jitters Over Balance of Payments Jolts Markets.

By Mario Osava

Share prices recovered Thursday from a slump earlier in the week when stocks dropped 12 percent amid concern over the country's 200 billion dollar public debt.