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Saturday, September 19, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Energy Debate in Turbulent Waters
To confront Brazil's growing energy demand, the government has called for the construction of more hydroelectric dams, which in the past have sparked protests by environmentalists and civil society groups.EDUCATION: Teachers of the World – United and Underpaid
Education is facing a paradox today: students are not learning, despite the enormous accumulation of educational theories and the technology available to many schools and teachers.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Energy Debate in Turbulent Waters
To confront Brazil's growing energy demand, the government has called for the construction of more hydroelectric dams, which in the past have sparked protests by environmentalists and civil society groups.
Bricks and Cement Can Be Friends of the Environment
Creativity is the key to making construction an environmentally sustainable enterprise. This industry consumes more than half of the natural resources extracted in Latin America. There is more construction and demolition rubble than other kinds of urban waste, say experts.ENVIRONMENT: Mega-Amazon Research Project Holds Surprises, Both Good and Bad
"There will be many surprises, both good and bad" emerging from the studies carried out as part of the Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), predicted one of the project's coordinators, researcher Flavio Luizao.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Women Demand Action on Gender and Race
The Brazilian government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is facing heavy pressure from Brazilian women activists to draft a comprehensive action plan in favour of women within the next two months, based on recommendations that include the legalisation of abortion and recognition of the rights of lesbians.TRADE: Mercosur Needs Productive Integration to Leave Behind Recurrent Crises
Palliative measures are not enough to overcome the trade disputes that break out within South America's Mercosur trade bloc with damaging frequency, and economic and productive integration must follow trade, say analysts in Brazil./ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-BRAZIL: Cazuza’s Music Doesn’t Stop
More than a million Brazilians flocked to the cinemas over the past month and have been moved by the film ''Cazuza, o tempo nao pára'' (Cazuza: Time Doesn't Stop), reviving the late poetic rock-and-roll rebel of the 1980s, with his excesses of sex and drugs, and his intense but undefined nostalgia.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Biodiesel Fuels Family Agriculture
Environmentalists and the Brazilian government agree that biodiesel should be incorporated into the country's range of energy options in a sustainable manner that would benefit small farmers while protecting the environment from an expansion of monoculture crops.
Energy Debate in Turbulent Waters
Brazil is once again putting priority on hydroelectric dams, a strategy ecologists criticize because of its potentially high environmental and social costs. But officials promise strict prior evaluations.TECHNOLOGY: Latin America Lags in R&D, Despite a Few Success Stories
Captopril is a hypertension medication that brings in billions of dollars a year for the pharmaceutical industry. Bristol-Myers Squibb holds the patent, but it was Brazilian doctor Mauricio Rocha e Silva who in 1948 isolated its basic ingredient, bradicinine, from the venom of the Bothrops jararaca snake.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Women – Not a Mere ‘Family Appendage’
''Breaking with the traditional logic of the State, which treats women as a family appendage'' is the ambition that moves Brazil's special secretary of policies for women, Nilcea Freire, who is leading a national conference in Brasilia this week.HEALTH-BRAZIL: Abortion of Anencephalic Fetuses Fires Debate
The abortion of anencephalic fetuses -which have no brain - is legal in Brazil since Jul. 1 as the result of a preliminary court ruling that the Catholic Church is eager to quash, and the question has fuelled the national debate on abortion.HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: Participation the Best Anti-AIDS Weapon
Jacqueline Rocha Cortes symbolises the fight against AIDS in many regards, particularly the important role played by civil society in controlling the epidemic in Brazil and in other Latin American countries.
Low Scores for Technological Development
Latin America's development looks gloomy if countries fail to increase investment in science and technology, an area where the region spends an average of just 0.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).TRADE: Mexico ‘Political’ in Approach to South American Bloc
Mexican President Vicente Fox mad a splash in the South American media Wednesday when he announced his country's intention to join the Mercosur trade bloc as an associate member as ''a first step'', but his objective could have more to do with politics than trade, say experts.HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: HIV/AIDS an Unequal Epidemic
There are 1.6 million people in Latin America living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the AIDS epidemic is growing, and although it is under some control, it continues to hit certain countries and certain groups very hard.BRAZIL: Warning – Violating Air Space Could Be Fatal
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is getting ready to sign into law a bill that would allow the air force to shoot down planes that enter the country's air space without permission. But critics say the law would be unconstitutional, because it would introduce the death penalty./ARTS WEEKLY/ BRAZIL: Age Hasn’t Slowed the Multi-Talented Chico Buarque
Composer, novelist, playwright, singer- songwriter and amateur footballer at 60, Francisco Buarque de Hollanda, or simply ''Chico'', is the image of ''national unanimity'' for the Brazilian people.BRAZIL: A Cup of Decaf Coffee? Naturally
Coffee plants that naturally produce a bean with almost no caffeine could be a new niche where Brazil can expand its leadership role in the international coffee markets.BRAZIL: ‘Labourist’ Brizola Made His Mark Defending Democracy
The death of Leonel de Moura Brizola means the last of Brazil's ''labourist'' leaders is gone. He was considered a bold defender of this national movement which gave rise to the country's industrialisation and to labour rights in the early 20th century.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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