Page 11 - Brazil

Oops! Elon Musk's X sends pending fines to wrong bank, Brazil ban continues

X's legal team said that the fine payments were made correctly as pending dues are the only obstacle for the platform to be reinstated in Brazil

Drought has dried Amazon river tributary to lowest level in over 122 years

One of the Amazon river's main tributaries has dropped to its lowest level ever recorded, Brazil's geological service said on Friday, reflecting a severe drought that has devastated the Amazon rainforest and other parts of the country. The level of the Negro river at the port of Manaus was at 12.66 metres on Friday, as compared with a normal level of about 21 metres. It is the lowest since measurements started 122 years ago. The previous record low level was recorded last year, but toward the end of October. The Negro river's water level might drop even more in coming weeks based on forecasts for low rainfall in upstream regions, according to the geological service's predictions. Andre Martinelli, the agency's hydrology manager in Manaus, was quoted as saying the river was expected to continue receding until the end of the month. Water levels in Brazil's Amazon always rise and fall with its rainy and dry seasons, but the dry portion of this year has been much worse than usual. All o

Plane carrying Brazil President returns to Mexico due to technical problem

Brazil's air force said on Tuesday that an aeroplane carrying President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva experienced a technical problem after leaving Mexico City and will return to the country's capital so he can board another flight to return home. The aircraft, an Airbus A319, was still flying over the Mexican capital on Tuesday afternoon, the Brazilian air force said in a statement. The aeroplane had been in the air for two hours, according to plane tracking site FlightAware. The Brazilian air force added that "security procedures for the problem" were performed successfully but pilots must "wait for the necessary fuel consumption so the aeroplane returns to the same airport it took off from". Earlier, Lula attended the inauguration of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. He arrived in Mexico on Monday and had a meeting with outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The plane was circling the Felipe Angeles airport, about an hour's drive north of Mexico City. The commercial airp

Brazil court says Elon Musk must pay $1.9 million to lift ban on X

The penalty was ordered by top court Justice Alexandre de Moraes as punishment for X having become accessible after the ban order

Elon Musk's X seeks Brazil comeback, retreats on 'censorship' feud

A decision from the court on X's return is still pending, but people close to Musk in Brazil believe service could be restored in a matter of days

India, Brazil, South Africa push for efforts to counter Al-Qaeda, ISIS, LeT

During the meeting, the ministers urged collective action against all terrorist individuals and entities designated by the United Nations

G4 nations stress comprehensive UNSC reform essential for UN's future

They gathered to evaluate the current state of the multilateral system and discuss potential reforms to UNSC

COP hosts aim for 33% increase in combined oil and gas production by 2035

Azerbaijan, the UAE, and Brazil -- the past, current, and next hosts of the UN climate conference -- are set to increase their combined oil and gas production by 33 per cent by 2035, contradicting their commitments to lead global efforts for stronger climate action, according to a new analysis. The analysis, compiled by the US-based research and advocacy group Oil Change International using industry data, shows that the UAE and Brazil are on track to increase production by 37 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively, by 2035. Azerbaijan, which will host COP29 in Baku in November, is projected to see a four per cent rise in production. At the last UN climate summit in Dubai in November-December 2023, leaders made a historic commitment to transition away from fossil fuels, triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. Oil Change International said that the ongoing expansion of oil and gas investments undermines these commitments. Earlier this week, the ...

Brazil slaps Rs 7.7 cr fine on Elon Musk after X's brief return despite ban

The platform's services were briefly re-enabled on Wednesday (September 18) after X updated its servers in Brazil. During this brief period, a large number of Brazilian users accessed the site

India in discussion to raise oil imports from Brazil: Hardeep Singh Puri

India and Brazil deepen energy ties as Petrobras meets with the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri in Brasilia

X skirts Brazil ban and returns to some users with change to server access

Some Brazilian users reconnected with X on Wednesday despite the Supreme Court's recent nationwide ban, the result of the social network apparently changing the way its servers are accessed. The reunion may be short-lived, however. Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X blocked nationwide on Aug 30 after months of tension with billionaire Elon Musk surrounding orders to take down accounts and the limits of free speech in Brazil. He also established fines on anyone using virtual private networks (VPN) to access the platform. That rendered X effectively inaccessible in the country until Wednesday, with AP journalists among those who had access. Experts examining X's IP addresses said there are indications that the company has begun routing users through the servers of Cloudflare, a content delivery network, en route to its own. "The service that Elon Musk's social network has started using works like a digital shield that protects the company's servers," said Pedro Diogenes, Latin ...

Hundreds march in Brazil for religious freedom as cases of intolerance rise

Practitioners of different religious traditions marched down Rio de Janeiro's iconic Copacabana Beach on Sunday to support religious freedom in Brazil, where cases of intolerance have doubled over the past six years. Hundreds of men, women and children from more than a dozen faiths participated in the event, known as the March for the Defense of Religious Freedom. Many of the participants were practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions that have recently faced attacks from members of Christian groups. Brazil's recently appointed Minister for Human Rights Maca Evaristo also joined the march, which was held for the 17th consecutive year. The great challenge today in our country is to reduce inequality," Evaristo told the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency. "So for me it is very important to be present in this march, because the people here are also struggling for many things like decent work and a life free from hunger." In Rio de Janeiro state, which is home to a quarter of the ...

Brazil's court unfreezes accounts of X, Starlink following $3 mn transfer

Brazilian government collected 7.2 million Brazilian reais ($1.3m) from an X bank account and over 11 million Brazilian reais ($1.9m) from a Starlink account

India, Brazil discuss mutual interests, ways to enhance defence cooperation

Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, met Commander of the Brazilian Air Force, Lieutenant Brigadier Marcelo Kanitz Damasceno

Amid drought in Brazil, wildfires rage, Amazon level falls to record low

Brazil is enduring its worst drought since nationwide measurements began over seven decades ago, with 59% of the country under stress an area roughly half the size of the U.S. Major Amazon basin rivers are registering historic lows, and uncontrolled manmade wildfires have ravaged protected areas and spread smoke over a vast expanse, plummeting air quality. This is the first time that a drought has covered all the way from the North to the country's Southeast, Ana Paula Cunha, a researcher at the National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters, said in a statement Thursday. It is the most intense and widespread drought in history. Smoke on Monday afternoon caused Sao Paulo, a metropolitan area of 21 million people, to breathe the second most polluted air in the world after Lahore, Pakistan, according to data gathered by IQAir, a Swiss air technology company. About 1,100 kilometers (683 miles) to the north, a wildfire is sweeping through Chapada dos Veadeiros .

What will be India's position at G20 on proposal of 'billionaire tax': Cong

The Congress on Monday asked the government to spell out what will be India's position on Brazil's proposal of a two per cent wealth tax on dollar billionaires when it is debated at the November G20 Summit. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said India has been conspicuously silent on the matter which is not irrelevant for it since according to one new report, the country has 334 dollar billionaires worth over USD one billion. "Exactly a year ago, the annual G20 Summit began in New Delhi. The Presidency of the G20 rotates among its member countries every year. Two months from now the next G20 Summit will take place in Brazil, which has chosen to not create the hype and self-glorifying publicity like the non-biological PM did," Ramesh said in a post on X. "And what a difference a year has made. In September 2023 He was riding super high. Now he is still reeling from his personal, political, and moral defeat of June 4 2024," the Congress leader said. Fo

Brazil's X ban drives Bolsonaro supporters to rally for 'free speech'

Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began flooding Sao Paulo's main boulevard for an Independence Day rally on Saturday, buoyed by the government's blocking of tech billionaire Elon Musk's X platform, a ban they say is proof of their political persecution. A few thousand demonstrators, clad in the yellow-and-green colours of Brazil's flag, poured onto Av. Paulista. References to the ban on X and images of Musk abounded. Thank you for defending our freedom, read one banner praising the tech entrepreneur. Saturday's march is a test of Bolsonaro's capacity to mobilize turnout ahead of the October municipal elections, even though Brazil's electoral court has barred him from running for office until 2030. It's also something of a referendum on X, whose suspension has raised eyebrows even among some of Bolsonaro's opponents all the while stoking the flames of Brazil's deep-seated political polarisation. A country without liberty can't celebrate anything this day, ...

Elon Musk dares the world to take on X as he scoffs at Brazil's ban

Musk's feud with controversial Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes over the order barring X intensified an ideological war

Trial for free speech: Wikipedia, Telegram, X controversies reshape debate

Since they are ongoing in large democracies, they will be taken more seriously by everyone than blanket bans in autocracies

Why 'lonely' Brazilian men are turning to plastic surgery for six-pack abs

In Brazil, more men are seeking six-pack abs through plastic surgery due to social media, isolation, and advanced techniques. Men now make up one-third of surgery patients, a report reveals