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Saturday, October 31, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
TRADE: South Renews Focus on Agriculture
International efforts to liberalise trade have led to a renewed look at the agricultural sector, which for decades has played second to industry, even ideologically.CRIME-BRAZIL: Taskforce Gives ‘Operation Clean Hands’ Bite
Brazil's offensive against organised crime has sharper teeth with the creation of a special taskforce to catch criminals and ensure that "operation clean hands," launched by parliament, stays on target.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Stiffer Fines for Amazon Logging and Burning
Brazil's government launched a new offensive against the destruction of Amazon forests by loggers and ranchers, applying laws that slap violators with steep fines for harming the environment.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Court Pulls Plug on Waterway Mega-Project
Waterways once seemed to be the answer for reducing transportation costs in Brazil, but a recent legal challenge indicates that the mega-projects have lost support due to their social and environmental costs.SPORTS-BRAZIL: Footballers Lie about Age, Dream of Stardom
Four young athletes risk permanent exclusion from Brazilian professional football because they lied about their ages in an attempt to improve their chances at a sports career, an increasingly common occurrence in this football fanatic country.ENVIRONMENT: Brazil’s Arid Northeast to Host Desertification Meet
Brazil's impoverished, arid northeastern region will host a Nov 15-26 international conference on the fight against desertification, a problem threatening nearly one million square kilometres in that area - or close to one- eighth of the national territory.POLITICS-ARGENTINA: President-Elect Greeted by Mercosur Partners
The victory of Fernando de la Rúa in Sunday's elections in Argentina was greeted as a positive development by that country's partners in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trade bloc.activists in Latin America. CELSO FURTADO: Latin America No Longer Exists as a Whole
The world will enter the new century amidst uncertainty and tensions surrounding the new line- up of strength between blocs, powers and currencies, says Brazilian economist Celso Furtado, author of "The Economic Formation of Brazil", a book considered essential to an understanding of the world's eighth largest economy.POLITICS-BRAZIL: Organised Crime Seeping into Government
The level of organised crime's penetration into the police, political and judicial systems of several Brazilian states raises fears that the country is "becoming another Colombia."EDUCATION-BRAZIL: Poorly Trained Professionals Glut the Market
Brazil is a paradox when it comes to medicine. The population lacks access to health services and thousands of people die every year from malaria, diarrhea, tuberculosis, measles and other preventable diseases, but there is an excess of doctors: one for every 673 inhabitants.SOCIETY: NGOs an Economic Factor in Brazil
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the so-called "third sector" of society in Brazil, is now something of an economic powerhouse - employing 1.1 million people and representing 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product.DEVELOPMENT-BRAZIL: Keeping Kids in School and Out of the Dumps
One of the priorities marked by the government of the northern Brazilian city of Belém is to keep around 800 children in school and out of their hazardous jobs as waste pickers in the city dump.ECONOMY-BRAZIL: Intermediaries Take the Biggest Bite
The Central Bank has begun to combat the high interest rates consumers are burdened with in Brazil, where analysts say economic activity is hampered by the high costs charged by intermediaries.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Water, New Factor of Competition in Industry
Scarcity has put a high price tag on water in some parts of Brazil, the country with the greatest abundance of rivers in the world, and made it a new factor of competitiveness for industry.RELIGION-BRAZIL: Catholics Compete Using Popular Media
Celebrations this week reveal that the Catholic Church of Brazil is using popular music to compete with the protestant denominations and other religious sects, which grew quickly after adopting new mass communication methods.SCIENCE: Brazil-China Alliance Disputes Space Technology Market
The space technology alliance between Brazil and China will produce its first strategic result this week - the launch of the CBERS-1 satellite, with which the programme will begin to dispute a market dominated by the industrialised North.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Protesters Take Capital by Storm
Social organisations in Brazil began to virtually occupy the capital Wednesday, with protest marches in defence of public education and against the government's economic policy, as well as the organisation of the so-called Assembly of Grassroots Fighters.ECONOMY-BRAZIL: New Measures to Boost Small, Medium Companies
The Brazilian government has adopted a package of measures to support small and medium companies, with the aim of generating eight million new jobs.EDUCATION-BRAZIL: A Revolution in Secondary Schooling
Brazil's Education Ministry is promoting an in-depth reform of secondary education, to boost enrollment and meet growing demand, and as part of an effort to tackle social ills such as teen pregnancy and high unemployment among the young./ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ TV-BRAZIL: Ambitious Soap Opera Recounts Italian Immigration
A television series that retells the history of Brazil's Italian immigrants is the weapon that Red Globo, the nation's largest television network, wields in an attempt to recover its diminishing soap opera audiences.ECONOMY-BRAZIL: Harsh Blow to Fiscal Adjustment Impacts Market
The jitters returned to Brazil's financial market Friday, with a drop in the stock markets and the local currency, after a Supreme Court ruling dealt a harsh blow to the government's fiscal adjustment plan.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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