Tag Archives: Brazil

Popular March for Reforms in Sao Paulo, Brazil Draws 15,000

Thousands of activists gathered today in São Paulo in another march for more rights and against the Right. The Red Forró [a type of dance], at the Gardens, left its message: the people are on the streets, ready to face any attempts to push back [against popular struggle], wherever they may come from.

Read more » Revolution News
http://revolution-news.com/popular-march-reforms-sao-paulo-brazil-draws-15000/

Brics nations to create $100bn development bank

The leaders of the five Brics countries have signed a deal to create a new $100bn (£58.3bn) development bank and emergency reserve fund.

The Brics group is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The capital for the bank will be split equally among the five participating countries.

The bank will have a headquarters in Shanghai, China and the first president for the bank will come from India.

Brazil’s President, Dilma Rousseff, announced the creation of the bank at a Brics summit meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil on Tuesday.

A new player

At first, the bank will start off with $50bn in initial capital.

The emergency reserve fund – which was announced as a “Contingency Reserve Arrangement” – will also have $100bn, and will help developing nations avoid “short-term liquidity pressures, promote further Brics cooperation, strengthen the global financial safety net and complement existing international arrangements”.

The creation of the Brics bank will almost surely create competition for both the World Bank and other similar regional funds.

Brics nations have criticised the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for not giving developing nations enough voting rights.

One of the goals for the bank – whose creation has been discussed for some time – would be to increase the amount of money loaned to developing countries to help with infrastructure projects.

Courtesy: BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28317555

Neymar unlikely to play in Brazil’s semifinal vs. Germany

Neymar out of the World Cup
By 

Scolari said that Neymar was in tears from the pain when he left the stadium and repeatedly cast doubt upon his star’s ability to play in the semifinal.

Neymar was injured late in the quarterfinal when Juan Zuniga came barreling through him on a ball in the air. Zuniga’s knee hit Neymar in the lower back and the Brazilian crumbled to the ground. Play continued on and at the next whistle, Neymar was lying face down on the ground. Trainers looked at him before stretchering him off of the field with the player in obvious pain.

Read more » SB♦NATION
http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2014/7/4/5871743/neymar-injury-brazil-germany-semifinal-world-cup-2014

BBC – Brazil police strike ends in Bahia amid troop deployment

Police in the state of Bahia in north-eastern Brazil say they have voted to end a two-day strike over pay after accepting an improved government offer.

They said they accepted salary increases ranging from 25% to 60%, according to Brazil’s G1 news portal.

On Wednesday, elite police units and armed soldiers were deployed to the state to restore order amid a hike in the number of murders and other crimes.

Shops were also looted in the capital, Salvador, following the walkout.

Brazil’s third-largest city is due to host six matches during the football World Cup, which begins in June.

Following their vote to end the walkout, the protesting officers were seen on local TV celebrating what they said was a “victory”.

Their decision came a day after a federal judge ruled the dispute illegal and ordered the striking officers to return to work or their union would face fines.

‘Unacceptable’

State officials said 39 people have been killed in and around Salvador since the strike was announced, a much higher figure than normal.

The labour dispute also prompted car robberies and looters to pillage supermarkets, electronics stores and other shops, as police stayed away in defiance of the court order.

Many shops, schools and universities remained closed, and fewer buses circulated in Salvador after drivers refused to go to work for fear of being attacked.

Read more » BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27074277

Brazil: Rio protest over transport fare rise ends in violence

The BBC’s Wyre Davies was reporting from Rio’s Central Station as the violence unfolded

Hundreds of people in Brazil have clashed with police during a protest against increased fares for public transport. Commuters were caught up in the violence at Rio de Janeiro’s Central Station during rush hour. Riot police fired tear gas and tried to disperse the crowd, while activists hurled stones and petrol bombs.

A cameraman is in a serious condition in hospital after suffering a head injury.

The BBC’s Wyre Davies was at the station and was among those who went to the cameraman’s aid.

He tweeted: “A fellow journalist suffered terrible head injuries when hit by explosive device. Did our best to save him.” Six other people were also injured and at least 20 protesters were arrested, O Globo newspaper reported.

Read more » BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-26077374

Brazilian Revolt Claims Second Life as Violence Erupts

By Joshua Goodman, Raymond Colitt & David Biller

Brazil’s swelling street rebellion claimed its second fatality in the largest and most violent protests yet, as 1 million demonstrators rallied for better public services and an end to corruption

Marches took place in hundreds of cities across Brazil last night in what began as a peaceful protest. Violence later erupted with police battling mobs trying to storm the Foreign Ministry in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro’s city hall.

In the northern city of Belem, a 54-year-old street cleaner died today after having a heart attack during the protests there, local health officials said. Yesterday an 18-year-old was killed when a vehicle accelerated into a crowd in the city of Ribeirao Preto, the military police said. The Free Fare Movement that helped organize protests in Sao Paulo said today it wouldn’t call new protests for now.

President Dilma Rousseff, who has been struggling to get in front of the mass movement, met with cabinet members today to discuss emergency measures to help quell violence and prepare proposals on education, health and other demands of protesters, a government official aware of her agenda said.

The movement triggered by an increase in bus fares this month has spread amid a groundswell of discontent among Brazil’s middle class. While faster economic growth helped lift 40 million people out of poverty over the past decade, a recent slowdown and faster inflation threaten to erode social gains.

Read more » Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-21/brazil-protests-persist-after-cities-revoke-fare-increase.html

Brazil erupts in protest over services and World Cup costs

Some of country’s biggest ever rallies sweep major cities as bus fare rise is last straw in spiral of high costs and poor services

By in Rio de Janeiro, guardian.co.uk

Brazil experienced one of its biggest nights of protest in decades on Monday as more than 100,000 people took to the streets nationwide to express their frustration at heavyhanded policing, poor public services and high costs for the World Cup.

The major demonstrations in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasilia, Belem, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and elsewhere started peacefully but several led to clashes with police and arson attacks on cars and buses.

The large turnout and geographic spread marked a rapid escalation after smaller protests last week against bus price increases led to complaints that police responded disproportionately with rubber bullets, tear gas and violent beatings.

Coinciding with the start of the Confederations Cup – a World Cup test event – the rallies brought together a wide coalition of people frustrated with the escalating costs and persistently poor quality of public services, lavish investment on international sporting events, low standards of healthcare and wider unease about inequality and corruption.

In Rio images and video posted online showed vast crowds.

While the vast majority of demonstrations were peaceful, several police were injured in clashes at the city’s legislative assembly, at least one car was overturned and burned and windows were smashed in the offices of banks and notary offices.

The unrest escalated during the night as a large crowd set several fires outside the legislative assembly, smashed the building’s windows and daubed graffiti on the walls proclaiming “Revolution”, “Down with Paes, down with Cabral [the mayor and state governor]” and “Hate police”. Police inside responded with pepper spray and perhaps more – the Guardian saw one protester passed out and bleeding heavily from a wound in the upper arm.

The causes pursued by the protesters varied widely. “We are here because we hate the government. They do nothing for us,” said Oscar José Santos, a 19-year-old who was with a group of hooded youths from the Rocinha favela.

“I’m an architect but I have been unemployed for six months. There must be something wrong with this country,” said Nadia al Husin, holding up a banner calling on the government to do more for education.

At a far smaller rally in Brasilia demonstrators broke through police lines to enter the high-security area of the national congress. Several climbed on to the roof.

In Belo Horizonte police clashed with protesters who tried to break through a cordon around a football stadium hosting a Confederations Cup match between Nigeria and Tahiti.

In Port Alegre demonstrators set fire to a bus and in Curitiba protesters attempted to force their way into the office of the state governor. There were also rallies in Belem, Salvador and elsewhere.

In São Paulo, which had seen the fiercest clashes last week and the main allegations of police violence, large crowds gathered once again but initial reports suggested the marches passed peacefully.

Read more » Guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/18/brazil-protests-erupt-huge-scale

Canada drops out of top 10 most developed countries list

The United Nations human development index now ranks Canada as 11th

By the Canadian Press

Canada has slipped out of the top 10 countries listed in the annual United Nation’s human development index — a far cry from the 1990s when it held the first place for most of the decade.

The 2013 report, which reviews a country’s performance in health, education and income, places Canada in 11th place versus 10th last year.

Continue reading Canada drops out of top 10 most developed countries list

Clinton: U.S. must put economics at center of foreign policy

By CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jill Dougherty

(CNN) — The United States must position itself to lead in a world “where security is shaped in boardrooms and on trading floors — as well as on battlefields,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will say Friday in a major economics and foreign policy speech in New York.

Economic forces, Clinton will say, are transforming foreign policy realities around the globe.

“We have seen governments toppled by economic crisis,” a text of the Secretary’s remarks released by the State Department on the eve of the speech reads. “Revolutions born in a Tunisian marketplace have swept across an entire region. Europe faces its strongest test in a generation, thanks to recession and debt. And everywhere I travel, I see countries gaining influence not because of the size of their armies, but because of the growth of their economies.”

Clinton will say she is updating U.S. foreign policy priorities to include economics “every step of the way,” suggesting the United States should take a cue from the leaders of emerging powers like India and Brazil who put economics at the center of their foreign policies.

“When their leaders approach a foreign policy challenge — just as when they approach a domestic challenge — one of the first questions they ask is, ‘how will this affect our economic growth?'” the text of the speech says. “We need to be asking the same question — not because the answer will dictate our foreign policy choices, but because it must be a significant part of the equation.”

In the address before the Economic Club of New York, the fourth in a series of speeches Secretary Clinton is giving on economics and foreign policy, she will say the world’s “strategic and economic center of gravity is shifting east” and the United States is focusing more on the Asia-Pacific region.

“One of America’s great successes of the past century was to build a strong network of relationships and institutions across the Atlantic,” she says. “One of our great projects in this century will be to do the same across the Pacific.”

The United States should help other countries find economic solutions to strategic challenges, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, she says. “We need a sophisticated effort to integrate the region’s economies, promote investment and assist in economic modernization. The Arab political Awakening must also be an economic awakening.”

Clinton takes aim at Americans who would turn inward, arguing “you can’t call ‘time out’ in the global economy. Our competitors aren’t taking a time out, and neither can we.”

Increasingly, the United States is focusing on “tracking and thwarting” the financiers of terrorism, using sanctions and other economic tools to cut repressive regimes off from insurance, banking and shipping, Clinton says.

Finally, Clinton says, the United States is “modernizing (its) agenda on trade, investment and commercial diplomacy to deliver jobs and growth for the American people.”

But the United States cannot compete, she says, if it is frozen in domestic political fights.

“Washington has to end the culture of political brinksmanship — which, I can tell you, is raising questions around the world about our leadership.”

Courtesy: CNN

Ecuador: Firmly Left

By John Cherian

Courtesy: Frontline,  Rodrigo Buendia/AFP

Rafael Correa’s emphatic victory makes him the first Ecuadorian President since 1972 to win a re-election.

THE leftward swing in Latin America is being further consolidated. The avowedly socialist President Rafael Correa of Ecuador again won an emphatic victory at the polls in the last week of April. The other Latin American countries to have elected leftist governments are El Salvador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Argentina, Honduras, Guatemala and Brazil. It is the first time in many decades that a President has been re-elected for a second consecutive term in office in Ecuador.

For full story, please click here

Continue reading Ecuador: Firmly Left