tagged w/ Brazil
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Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJ, is a popular martial arts form that originated in Japan. Whether you're a competing professional or are interested in learning the basics, you can turn to these 101 resources.Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJ, is a popular martial arts form that originated in Japan.... more
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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CNN) -- Protesters took to the fabled Brazilian beaches of Copacabana on Tuesday to draw attention to the 9,000 people they say have disappeared in Rio de Janeiro since January 2007.
The group ONG Rio de Paz staged a cemetery on the sand, with mannequins representing those who have been slain and secretly buried. Demonstrators also constructed facsimiles of ovens that narcotics traffickers and death squads reportedly use to cremate remains of those they have abducted.
"In general, they are assassinated by police," said Antonio Carlos Costa, president of ONG Rio de Paz, "police acting outside of their regular work hours. They are also assassinated by narco-traffickers. The bodies are disposed of in secret cemeteries in the metropolitan Rio de Janeiro area or incinerated alive by narco-traffickers in what they call 'microwaves.'"
ackeline Munoz, an investigator with the public security department at Candido Mendez University, said the figure of 9,000 disappearances was obtained from official documents published by the Rio de Janeiro governmental Institute of Public Security
- Damn!RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CNN) -- Protesters took to the fabled Brazilian beaches of... more
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The Supreme Court of Brazil is expected to make a landmark judgement later on the rights of indigenous people.
It will rule on whether a reservation in the Amazonian state of Roraima can remain a single unbroken territory.
Indian leaders in Brazil say the case could set a crucial precedent for the protection of their ancestral lands.
But rice farmers say they could be forced to leave the area if the court upholds its status as an official reservation, given in 2005.
There are more than 100 similar cases before the Supreme Court but it is thought this ruling will establish an important legal precedent which touches on a number of sensitive issues.The Supreme Court of Brazil is expected to make a landmark judgement later on the... more
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Coffee consumption might outstrip production worldwide by 8 to 10 million bags next year as projections for Brazil's crop output shrinks, according to the International Coffee Organization director. Brazil, the world's biggest coffee suplier, is facing a drop in output by as much as 22 percent. The biggest factor for this shortage was not lack of water or change in growing temperatures (which I originally suspected), but the high price in fertilizer.
OH NOES!Coffee consumption might outstrip production worldwide by 8 to 10 million bags next... more
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Saving the planet may put some small family businesses out of business if this $175 per cow gas tax is imposed. What is it worth?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/28056014#28056014
If this passes humans may be next to be taxed for the same reasons. Law enforcement may pass on this one as the evidence may be hard to collect, not to mention the containment issues they would face!Saving the planet may put some small family businesses out of business if this $175... more
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"STERKSEL, the Netherlands — The cows and pigs dotting these flat green plains in the southern Netherlands create a bucolic landscape. But looked at through the lens of greenhouse gas accounting, they are living smokestacks, spewing methane emissions into the air."
In the Netherlands and Sweden, the agricultural landscape is changing to account for the emission of methane, a part of the carbon footprint we hear so much about. There is an area that takes the poo produced by the pigs and cows in a large-scale farm and burns it in order to take the gas and put it back into the electrical grid. These conservationist methods become increasingly important as more of the world is able to eat meat, especially as seen in developing countries like China and India, where populations are beginning to feel the benefits of years of industrial revolution.
"But any suggestion to eat less meat may run into resistance in a world with more carnivores and a booming global livestock industry. Meat producers have taken issue with the United Nations’ estimate of livestock-related emissions, saying the figure is inflated because it includes the deforestation in the Amazon, a phenomenon that the Brazilian producers say might have occurred anyway."
The UN and other organizations which examine the effects of increased meat production and consumption defend these numbers and provide a myriad of other options for how we could potentially curb the problems caused by this issue.
As much of a meat lover as I am, this gives some striking arguments for cutting at least beef entirely out of one's diet and is worth considering the ramifications of a world gone omnivore."STERKSEL, the Netherlands — The cows and pigs dotting these flat green... more
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ksol
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3 years ago
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The Brazilian government yesterday announced a 10-year plan to slash rainforest destruction by 70% days after new figures showed Amazon deforestation was again on the rise.
Officials said the targets, which are part of Brazil's Climate Change Plan, were the first time the Brazilian government had set specific goals for deforestation reduction.
The plan outlines a 40% reduction of deforestation until 2009, a 30% reduction between 2010 and 2013 and a further 30% cut between 2014 and 2017.The Brazilian government yesterday announced a 10-year plan to slash rainforest... more
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Monsanto purchased a brazilian sugarcane ethanol company for 290 million dollars. Who the hell is that going to feed?
From the article:
At a time when many people were questioning causes of the recent food crisis, many more were investigating how our food systems can move forward to sustainably feed the increasing world population. Recently, the U.N. Task Force on Trade, Environment and Development released a report touting the noteworthy yields and economic benefits of organic agricu... in Africa. Even recognizing that organic production offers significant hope for increasing food security. Another report released earlier this year by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Scien... noted that a "radical change" was needed for agriculture, and that agricultural biotechnology held little promise. But corporations like Monsanto took a different approach to the problem -- exploiting the food crisis as a means to sell more of their own biotech seeds.
Monsanto-s website is rife with articles discussing how its applications of biotechnology will supposedly solve the food crisis. Back in June, on the cusp of the World Food Summit, Monsanto announced plans to double crop-yields by 2030 with biotechnology. The New York Times covered the story including a quote from a soybean genetics expert at the University of Nebraska who stated, The hype-to-reality ratio of that one is essentially infinity ... seeing an exponential change in the yield curve is unlikely. But while experts were doubting Monsanto-s claims, a Business Week article quoted Hugh Grant, the head of Monsanto, saying, That isn-t a feel-good thing ... Satisfying the demand curve is a great business opportunity. Grant may consider that quote a gaffe, but it was a telling sign regarding where Monsanto-s true interests lie: not with people, but with profits.
Last week Monsanto purchased Aly Participacoes Ltda, a Brazilian company involved in sugarcane breeding and sugarcane ethanol. Monsanto-s press release noted, Global demands for raw sugar and biofuels are beginning to rise at a faster pace than the current production levels in sugarcane, a crop that is essential to meeting these demands, said Carl Casale, executive vice president of global strategy and operations for Monsanto.
Last time I checked, hungry people can-t eat ethanol and probably can-t afford sugar. So why, in the middle of a food crisis, is Monsanto investing in sugarcane ethanol?Monsanto purchased a brazilian sugarcane ethanol company for 290 million dollars. Who... more
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Brazil-s Amazon jungles, known as the lungs of the world, lost almost 12,000 square kilometres (4,800 sq. miles) in just 12 months, a rise of almost 4.0 percent, new figures showed Friday.
The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said the deforestation of the vast jungles due to encroaching farm exploitation, was 3.8 percent higher from August 2007 to July 2008 than in the previous 12 months.
The areas most affected were in northern Para and in the central Mato Grosso region, which is a huge producer of soya beans.
Over the past three years, the Brazilian authorities have succeeded in sharply reducing the loss of the Amazon rainforests, the biggest zone of tropical woodland on the planet.
Brazil is fighting to preserve its five million square kilometers of Amazon forest, a battle which it wants to be recognized as a service against global warming.
It argues that its efforts should be rewarded with financial input from other countries which would go to helping poor Amazon populations that might otherwise turn to cutting down trees.
But the results from 2007-2008 show that a surface equivalent to Solvenia or Israel was lost compared with the previous year.
The government had warned that the figures were likely to rise and has brought in new measures to combat the problem, including a system of fines.
It has also passed a series of agreements with soya, meat, wood and mineral producers that they will not buy illegal products.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc has said that without these measures the deforestation would have been twice as large.Brazil-s Amazon jungles, known as the lungs of the world, lost almost 12,000 square... more
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The death toll from flooding in southern Brazil on Thursday climbed to 97, the state news agency said. Officials said about 19 people remain missing.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew over some of the flooded areas and proclaimed the disaster one of the worst in the country's history.The death toll from flooding in southern Brazil on Thursday climbed to 97, the state... more
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This is the CIA I have read and heard about.
The Agency Lied About a 2001 Plane Downing in Peru That Killed a Woman and Her Daughter, a Report Says.
Former Poquoson resident Gloria Luttig learned this week that her daughter's and granddaughter's deaths were shrouded by a CIA cover-up.
"My daughter was murdered. My granddaughter was murdered," Luttig said during a phone interview from her home in Pace, Fla., outside Pensacola.
Veronica L. "Roni" Bowers, 35, was aboard a small floatplane April 20, 2001, flying with her husband and two children from Brazil to their houseboat on the Amazon River in Iquitos, Peru, where they lived and worked as missionaries.
A U.S. anti-drug surveillance plane alerted Peru's military that the Cessna 185 the Bowers were aboard was operating without a flight plan and in airspace frequented by narcotics traffickers -- two allegations that are disputed.
A Peruvian warplane followed and fired shots at the Cessna.
more@linkThis is the CIA I have read and heard about.
The Agency Lied About a 2001 Plane... more
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Flooding in Brazil has left 50 people dead and over 20,000 homeless. The region is in a state of emergency.Flooding in Brazil has left 50 people dead and over 20,000 homeless. The region is in... more
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Where taxpayer money is going?
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"According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012.""Where taxpayer money is going?
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"According to the president of GM... more
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Brazil's president Lula Dasilva publicly complained on Ecuador's Presidente Rafael Correa (Hugo Chavezs best supporter in South America) the decision of not paying a debt of $ 243 million dollars, regarding a hydroelectric power plant that today represents 12% of Ecuador's electrical power consuming source. built by a big brazilian goverment based Bank. According to official sources Dasilva called Correa yesterday, saying that he found himself surprised with the fact that Ecuador's has officially taken Brazil to the International Court to resolve the issue of the debt, that Ecuador refuses to pay for.After the cold tone of voice from both sides, Correa said if Brazil wants to turn a finacial problem into a diplomatic crises that would be its business. (Original source in Portuguese).Brazil's president Lula Dasilva publicly complained on Ecuador's Presidente... more
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Brazilian police are investigating more than 1,200 women suspected of having had abortions in a clinic in the state of Mato Grosso Do Sul.
Some 150 women have been charged and at least 30 have been sentenced to do community work.
Abortion in Brazil is illegal except in cases of rape or when the life or health of the mother is at risk.
The large-scale investigation has prompted protests from human rights organisations and women's groups.
The family planning clinic at the centre of this controversy operated for more than 20 years in the Brazilian city of Campo Grande before closing in 2007.
At one point, the police were said to be considering several thousand cases of suspected abortions, but many of these fell outside the time limit permitted for legal action.
The authorities only became aware of the clinic following a television interview, which led to a police investigation that could eventually involve more than 1,200 women and some of their partners, as well as medical staff.
To gather evidence, Judge Aluizio Pereira dos Santos is said to have interviewed husbands, ex-boyfriends and relatives of some of the women accused of having abortions.
Human rights and women's organisations have complained that the process has been humiliating for those involved, and has included demands for intimate medical examinations.
At least 30 women have already been sentenced to community work in creches or schools for disabled children.
The judge was reported by the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo as saying that other women who had to work to support their children, or who helped them deal with physical or mental disability, would act as a role model for those found to have had illegal abortions.
The investigation first attracted controversy when for a period the medical records of thousands of women were made available to the public.
The judge was said to have considered this practice to be normal, but the documents were later withdrawn.
Earlier this year, the prosecutor who initiated the legal action said the issue of abortion needed to be addressed by Brazil's Congress and society, but that while the legislation was unchanged he was obliged to act.
The government has said it wants to see a debate over abortion but there is little sign that the law is about to be changed.Brazilian police are investigating more than 1,200 women suspected of having had... more
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I know they are just trying to help, but this is still invasion of privacy and gives me the creeps! What are your thoughts? Is this good or bad....or both?
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The Brazilian authorities are to use a plane equipped with body-heat sensors to monitor uncontacted Indian tribes in the Amazon from a distance.
Brazil has a policy of leaving such isolated indigenous groups in peace unless it is absolutely necessary to make contact.
Officials say the plane will help them to protect remote communities without interrupting their way of life.
Some 39 isolated groups are believed to be living in the Amazon region.
In May this year the authorities released a photograph of members of an uncontacted tribe firing arrows at a passing plane - an image reproduced in newspapers and on websites.
It is thought there may be more than 100 such tribes still in existence worldwide - more than half living in Latin America.
Life for these isolated communities is often precarious.
In Paraguay the campaign group Survival International says land belonging to one such tribe is being destroyed by outside developers. Similar problems have been reported in Peru.
Now the authorities in Brazil are to adopt an innovative solution to monitor uncontacted tribes.
A plane fitted with body-heat sensors and flying at high altitudes will be used to locate them.
The Brazilian agency which oversees the welfare of indigenous people, known as Funai, says it will then be able to ensure that loggers and farmers are kept out of Indian territory.
As well as the threat to their land, diseases brought by outsiders pose a major risk to the health of these remote indigenous groups.
Without the plane, the work of locating the tribes has been enormously difficult and just confirming the existence of some of these communities will be a priority for the new service.
The majority of Brazil's indigenous population has greater contact with outside society, sometimes living in reservations where agencies provide health and other support, but their lives are often blighted by poverty and other social problemsI know they are just trying to help, but this is still invasion of privacy and gives... more
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Cumaru, Brazil - In the arid, impoverished expanse of northeast Brazil, Cumaru is the town no one's ever heard of. And once you get here, Maria Joelma da Silva's house is a 20-minute ride beyond where the paved road ends.
Ms. da Silva gets few guests.
Yet in August, officials from Angola, Ghana, the African Union, and the African Development Bank – here to study Brazil's social programs – stood in da Silva's yard gleaning lessons from the small but productive garden that is flourishing where cacti once dominated.
"Everyone talks about how we can't do anything right in the northeast, but if these people came here from so far away, we have to be doing something important in the countryside," says da Silva, who has used government subsidies and help from a nonprofit to build a cistern and start a small business selling honey and other crops. Today, she is part of a transformation under way among Brazil's underclass.Cumaru, Brazil - In the arid, impoverished expanse of northeast Brazil, Cumaru is the... more
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Planaltino, Brazil - As a young soil scientist, Edson Lobato looked out at the vast savanna of central Brazil and imagined fields of soy, corn, and cotton where most saw an inhospitable mass of red earth and tangled trees.
His friends and family urged him to take his agronomy degree elsewhere, somewhere it would make a difference. But he joined Brazil's agricultural and livestock research agency (Embrapa) and relocated to the country's heartland, called the cerrado, where there was, at the time, little besides wooded plains, termites, and deer.
Embrapa then set out to prove that those soils could produce like the most efficient cropland of Idaho. The agency poured millions into research. It sent teams of scientists like Mr. Lobato to the American Midwest to glean as much know-how as possible.Planaltino, Brazil - As a young soil scientist, Edson Lobato looked out at the vast... more
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A Brazilian woman has died after being struck by her husband's coffin when the hearse they were travelling in was involved in a car crash.
The 67-year-old woman was on the way to the cemetery to bury her husband, who had died the day before.
The hearse was struck from behind by an Alfa Romeo car, police said.
The coffin slammed into the head of the woman, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the hearse, killing her instantly, according to officers.
Marciana Silva Barcelos and her family were on the way to a cemetery in the town of Alvorada in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, for the funeral of her partner, Josi Silveira Coimbra.A Brazilian woman has died after being struck by her husband's coffin when the... more
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Police say a woman has died on the way to a cemetery when a traffic accident hurled her husband's coffin against the back of her neck.Police say a woman has died on the way to a cemetery when a traffic accident hurled... more
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