Languages
Friday, October 2, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Ozone Linked to Lung Cancer
A scientific team led by Brazil is investigating the effects of a gas emitted by vehicles, revealing a potential new nightmare for mega-cities.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Bugs in the Farm Business
Insects, like viruses and other microorganisms, have turned into merchandise with a growing presence in international trade as they are increasingly used as a means to control agricultural pests.BRAZIL: Peasant Farmers Step Up Efforts to Obtain Land
Land occupations, marches and raids by Brazilian landless peasant farmers and threats of reprisals from large landholders and mayors in the affected areas have deepened the social tension in several of the country's states and placed the land question at the top of the government's agenda.Peasant Farmers Step Up Efforts to Obtain Land
Tension between peasant farmers and large landholders is on the rise in Brazil, where a landless workers’ organization is demanding land for some one million families by 2006. Leftist President Lula is making no concrete promises.ENVIRONMENT-LATAM: Methyl Bromide on Its Way Out in Brazil and Cuba
Although they are major producers of tobacco, Brazil and Cuba are several years ahead of schedule in meeting the goals of curbing the use of methyl bromide, a pesticide commonly used on tobacco fields that damages the earth's ozone layer.AGRICULTURE-BRAZIL: The Battle Over Transgenic Seeds
Besides questions of human health and the environment, the battle over genetically modified (GM) crops involves a global market of seeds that moves around 30 billion dollars a year.BRAZIL: Pensions – An Impossible Dream for Most Workers
The current debate on pensions reform in Brazil cannot get around the fact that a majority of the country's workers depend on the informal economy for their livelihood, and have no labour rights or prospects for retirement.Methyl Bromide on Its Way Out in Brazil and Cuba
Pioneers in Latin America, the two countries have reduced consumption of this ozone-depleting substance by hundreds of thousands of tons.DEVELOPMENT-BRAZIL: Scientists Lead Charge in Favour of GMOs
Scientists in Brazil are on the move to defend continued research of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), enlivening a debate that is already having major impacts on the world agricultural markets.BRAZIL: Growing Criticism of Lula Within Left
The leftist government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil has begun to draw criticism from within the ranks of those who backed the election of the president, a former trade unionist, last year.DEVELOPMENT-BRAZIL: Huge Market for Small Loans
In the poorest regions of Brazil, from the urban favelas or shantytowns to the arid, impoverished northeast, there is a potential demand for billions of dollars in microcredit to set up and expand small businesses, and even the large banks are beginning to take an interest.SOUTH AMERICA: Fortresses, Motorcycle Restrictions to Fight Crime
Motorcycles in Colombia cannot carry a male passenger, because the modus operandi used by many ''sicarios'' or hired killers involves drive-by shootings carried out by the person on the back.HEALTH-BRAZIL: Precarious Sanitation Fuels Concern over SARS
The possibility of a direct correlation between precarious sanitation services and the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has generated fears of a disaster in Brazil if the epidemic were to reach this country.TRADE-MERCOSUR: The Road to Africa, Asia Runs Through Brazil
Brazil's diplomatic initiative in search of key alliances in the developing South, highlighted by Friday's visit by the foreign ministers of India and South Africa, will also promote trade between South America's Mercosur trade bloc and major markets on other continents.LATIN AMERICA: Lula, Fox Vie for Leadership in Visit to G8 Summit
The presidents of Brazil and Mexico will ask, on behalf of Latin America, for more free and just international trade in their visit to the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) richest countries Sunday. But as the two promote their own proposals, they are expected reveal their muted dispute for regional leadership.TRADE-AMERICAS: The FTAA ‘Chess Game’ Begins
The decisive phase of negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is now underway, with the elucidation this week of the differences between Brazil and the United States, the two countries co-chairing the process that is to conclude by January 2005.BRAZIL: To Ukraine, in Search of Technology Refused by Rich
A Brazilian cabinet minister is in the Ukraine as part of the government's mission to seek technology exchange with nations at a similar level of development that are more willing to cooperate than the industrialised North.BRAZIL: Women Activists Call for Broader Social Security Reform
A proposed reform of Brazil's social security system currently under discussion in Congress will not reduce gender inequalities in the labour market, nor will it extend social benefits to informal sector workers, complain women's rights groups.DEVELOPMENT-BRAZIL: Alternative Energy in Castor Beans
In the search for more environmentally friendly fuels, the use of castor oil as "biodiesel" has proven to have technical and ecological benefits, and stands as an opportunity for agricultural development in arid and impoverished areas like northeast Brazil./ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-BRAZIL: Local Heartthrob Goes International
Brazil has a new "international leading man" to compete in foreign film markets, or at the very least to help fight Hollywood's domination of the cinematic markets at home.Energy in a Castor Bean
The castor-oil plant, ricinus communis, is the best source for creating "biodiesel", say Brazilian experts.« Previous Page — Next Page »
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
