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Tuesday, October 13, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
LABOUR-BRAZIL: Unions Fear Energy Crisis Will Result in Lay-offs
Brazil's central trade unions have begun to mobilise to prevent the lay-offs they expect from an energy rationing plan, to go fully into effect on Jun 4.FILM-BRAZIL: Festivals Fuel Dreams of Major Productions
Lidio Sohn stood out at the fifth Film and Video Festival of Curitiba, in southern Brazil, because of his bald head and his goatee, but especially because of his filmmaking history and his years beyond those of his fellow competitors who, like him, dream of making a living with their art.ENERGY-BRAZIL: Rationing Measures Will Upset Daily Life
The Brazilian government introduced its first energy rationing measures Thursday, including a 35 percent reduction in public lighting and the suspension of nighttime sporting events.COMMODITIES: Coffee Market Chokes Producers in Developing South
Today's bottomed out coffee prices highlight the difficulties, under the current terms of global trade, of promoting the development of poor countries that are dependent on farm exports.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Alarm Sounds on Upsurge in Amazon Destruction
Brazilian environmentalists and scientists are calling on the government to enact an urgent integrated policy to preserve the forests and assist the population of the Amazon region, spurred by new reports of accelerated deforestation.HEALTH/EDUCATION-BRAZIL: Hearing Screening to Curb School Dropout
Efforts to curb the school drop-out rate in Brazil, one of the country's pressing problems, now include a campaign for identifying and treating hearing impairments among schoolchildren.RIGHTS/LABOUR: Fighting Modern-Day Slavery in Northern Brazil
Pureza Lopes Loyola never doubted that her missing son had fallen prey to labour contractors who recruit people to work under slave-like conditions in northeastern Brazil. When her son finally turned up three years later, he himself confirmed her suspicions.HUMAN RIGHTS: Torture – a Growing Blot on Brazil’s Foreign Image
Things have not changed much in Brazil since a graffiti artist referred to South America's giant on a wall in Geneva in 1970 as the "world champion in football and torture", according to human rights activists./REPEAT/DEVELOPMENT-MERCOSUR: Foot-and-Mouth Vanquishes Borders and Armies
Brazil began massive vaccinations of its cattle against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) Monday along its southern borders, where an outbreak of the livestock ailment indicates that the measure comes too late and that, once again, officials have underestimated the proliferation capacity of the virus.POLITICS-BRAZIL: Senate Probe Steals Soap Opera Audience
The crisis shaking the Brazilian Congress, where three senators are facing impeachment and a possible eight-year ban from politics, has won the ratings war over the past few weeks, even enticing diehard viewers away from their soap operas.ENERGY-BRAZIL: Rationing Plan Faces Resistance
Brazil plans to start rationing electricity in June, say authorities, whose plans have run up against resistance by industry.HEALTH-BRAZIL: The Jungle’s Lethal Secrets
Recent outbreaks of yellow fever in Brazil serve as a reminder that jungles are home to microorganisms that can be dangerous to human health, meaning ecological tourism, wild animal smuggling, and the advance of economic activities in the Amazon may contribute to the spread of lethal diseases.LABOUR-BRAZIL: May Day No Holiday for Domestic Employees
"We don't have anything to celebrate on May 1, International Labour Day, because we will all be working that day, and the notion of an eight-hour shift is still a distant dream for most of us," is the lament of domestic workers across Brazil, the vast majority of whom are women.POLITICS-BRAZIL: Internal and External Turmoil Give Left a Boost
An internal political crisis and external pressures on the economy are undermining governability in Brazil, and opening up new possibilities for a triumph by the left in the October 2002 elections.POLITICS-BRAZIL: Key Senate Leaders Face Ban from Politics
Three of the leaders of Brazil's governing coalition are facing the prospect of losing their seats in the Senate and being banned from politics for eight years due to scandals over corruption and violations of parliamentary secrecy norms.
The Jungle's Lethal Secrets
An outbreak of yellow fever in Brazil serves as a reminder of the dangerous microorganisms hidden in the forests that can cause diseases human among humans as we increasingly come into contact with the wilds.TRADE-AMERICAS: Brazil Split on FTAA
Brazil, one of the biggest participants in the Summit of the Americas, which opened Friday in Quebec, Canada, cannot stand on the margins of a projected Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) because half of its total exports and 70 percent of its industrial exports are sold within the Americas.HUMAN RIGHTS-BRAZIL: At Least 2,000 Summary Executions a Year
Although there is no death penalty in Brazil, at least 2,000 people a year are victims of summary executions at the hands of the police or "death squads", according to a report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva Wednesday.RIGHTS-DEVELOPMENT: Day of Farmer Protests, Demands for Agrarian Reform
Demonstrators in dozens of cities throughout Brazil and around the world marked International Day of Farmers' Struggle on Tuesday, protesting police massacres of rural workers, genetically modified seeds, and agricultural trade that jeopardises food security./ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-BRAZIL: Funk, Rap at Opposite Ends of Moral Spectrum
The funk and rap musical genres, both originating from African-American movements in the United States, have found a place in Brazil, but have been altered to fit the reality of this country - and with surprisingly different results.RIGHTS-DEVELOPMENT: A Day of Global Farmers’ Struggle
Demonstrators around the world will protest on Tuesday, International Day of Farmers' Struggle, against current global trade rules and the production of genetically modified seeds, and will pay tribute to the victims of a massacre in rural Brazil.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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