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Tuesday, October 13, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
POLITICS-BRAZIL: Public Heat on Politicians to Fight Corruption
The fight against corruption in Brazil, driven by increasing public pressure, has closed in on Jader Barbalho, president of the Senate, and is threatening two state governors.COMMUNICATION: Brazil Key in Global Digital TV Competition
Brazil has turned into a powerful judge in the global digital television business by delaying its decision to opt from among the three technologies that are competing for the international market.TRADE: EU Lifts Tariffs on Brazilian Soluble Coffee
Pascal Lamy, the European Union's trade commissioner, announced Wednesday in Brasilia that a portion of Brazilian instant coffee will be exonerated from tariffs, an indication of Europe's interest in closer ties with the South American nation.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: The Face of Poverty is Black and Female
Afro-Brazilian women are the victims of social inequalities much more than any other group in Brazil, suffering the impacts of both race and gender discrimination.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: A New Drought Cycle Strikes Northeast
The approximately 21 million Brazilians who live in the country's arid and impoverished Northeast are already feeling the effects of a new drought cycle, which is expected to grow even worse in September, causing widespread hunger and prompting many to abandon their lands.TRADE-MERCOSUR: Economic Crisis Feeds New Disputes
The economic crisis in Argentina is causing a sustained decline in Brazil's currency, and the two countries - the largest partners of Mercosur (Southern Common Market) - have once again entangled themselves in trade row.ENERGY-BRAZIL: Gov’t Plan Aims to Surmount Electricity Shortage
Brazil's government has a new plan for overcoming the nation's energy crisis by boosting electricity supplies 25 percent by 2003, possible through imports from Argentina and the construction of 36 electricity generating plants, announced President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Thursday.ENERGY-BRAZIL: Gov’t Plan Aims to Surmount Electricity Shortage
Brazil's government has a new plan for overcoming the nation's energy crisis by boosting electricity supplies 25 percent by 2003, possible through imports from Argentina and the construction of 36 electricity generating plants, announced President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Thursday.CULTURE-BRAZIL: ‘Slow Food’ Movement Defends Culinary Diversity
Preserving and promoting gastronomic diversity - threatened by the rushed pace of modern society - are the goals of Slow Food, an international movement, based in Italy, that began 15 years ago and continues to win followers worldwide./ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/TELEVISION-BRAZIL: Soap Operas Defy Criticisms from Church Leaders
The Brazilian television network 'O Globo' launched a new soap opera "A Padroeira" (The Patroness) in mid-June that has proven to be another in a series of such programmes with heavy religious content in an overt challenge to various faiths.TRADE: US Drops Brazil Patents Case, Paves Way for Low-Cost Drugs
The United States has withdrawn the patent complaint against Brazil it filed with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body, a move that could open the way for other developing countries to legally copy and manufacture certain patented medications.TRADE/POLITICS-LATAM: Mercosur Partners’ Crises Check Integration
Presidents and cabinet ministers of South America's Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trade bloc are meeting Thursday and Friday in Asuncion to undertake a nearly impossible task - moving forward on integration amidst a spate of crises.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Justice on Trial in Sao Paulo Massacre Case
The trial of military police Colonel Ubiratán Guimaraes, accused in Brazil of ordering a 1992 prison massacre in which 111 inmates were killed, opens Wednesday in Sao Paulo in a major test for this South American country's justice system.ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Photosynthesis Will Move the World
The energy of the future will be obtained from photosynthesis, the mechanism by which plants get energy from sunlight - which is the great wealth of tropical countries that also have abundant land and water, like Brazil.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Smart Buildings Save Energy
Buildings with external walls made of dark glass are an environmental offence, especially in cities in the tropics, says Brazilian architect Louise Bittencourt Lomardo. They act as greenhouses and require higher energy consumption to cool their interiorsand the current electricity shortage in Brazil only accentuates their anti-economic nature.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Capital’s Water Supply Threatened
The abundance of water in Brazil's geographical centre was one of the reasons the new national capital was established there 41 years ago. But no one predicted the rapid increase in the local population, which already surpasses two million, or four times the number forecast for 2000, says José Eloi Campos, geologist from the University of Brasilia.ENERGY-BRAZIL: Sugarcane, Source of ‘Sweetness and Light’
The energy crisis plaguing Brazil is paving the way for alternative sources of electricity that have well known advantages but have never been extensively implemented. Sugar cane waste pulp stands out as an option that has largely been ignoreduntil now.DEVELOPMENT-BRAZIL: A Multi-Pronged Approach to Urban Poverty
Santo André will be the only Brazilian city represented at this week's United Nations conference on urban development in New York, where it will showcase an outstanding project that has combined action on many fronts to tackle the problem of urban poverty.HEALTH: Tobacco Smokers Feel Increasingly like Pariahs
The enormous contraband in cigarettes and the growing number of areas in which smoking is prohibited are making smokers feel more and more like the users of some illegal drug, said observers on Thursday, World No Tobacco Day.ENERGY-BRAZIL: ‘Democratisation’ of Hot Shower Now in Danger
Government-imposed reductions in energy consumption threaten the hot shower, a custom that is widespread in Brazil, even among the poorer sectors of the populations, thanks to the low-cost 'chuveiro elétrico' (electric showerhead)./ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-BRAZIL: Psychiatric Dungeons a Persistent Reality
A film that reveals the truth behind psychiatric hospitalisation in Brazil has turned into a powerful weapon for the movement working to abolish the supposed mental health centres which they say are truly dungeons.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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