Monthly Archives: June 2014

Brazil elections take shape as final parties register

Anadolu Agency

SÃO PAULO – With just over three months to go to general elections, four final political parties are holding conferences across Brazil on Monday to announce their preferred presidential candidates and official party alliances.

According to Brazilian election laws, parties must officially register their intention to participate in this year’s general elections between 10 and 30 June.

The first round of elections will take place on 5 October and 141.8 million people are eligible to vote.

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Brazil’s City of God in local currency drive to boost trade

Anadolu Agency – By Steffen Stubager, Asger Mow & Ben Tavener

CIDADE DE DEUS, RIO DE JANEIRO – Businesses in the Rio de Janeiro favela (shanty town) community of Cidade de Deus aim to reinvigorate the use of a local currency, first brought in three years ago, in a bid to boost trade and prevent money from leaving the area.

In 2011, Cidade de Deus became one of the first communities in Rio to offer locals the option to use their own currency, known as the CDD.

Those using CDDs, instead of the country’s official currency, the Brazilian real, are given discounts and other perks. The project is one of hundreds used around Brazil.

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Brazil scientists devise sunglasses UV protection checkpoint – BBC TV report

BBC World News – Health Check

SÃO CARLOS – Scientists at the University of São Paulo have devised a new easy-to-use kiosk checkpoint that allows passers-by to check the UV (ultraviolet) protection of their sunglasses.

The team, headed by Professor Liliane Ventura, found that most sunglasses do match the protection advertised, and are now studying whether sunglasses lose their UV protection over time.

Report for BBC World News from USP’s São Carlos campus.

Brazil wind energy set for major boost

Anadolu Agency

SÃO PAULO – Brazil’s northeast region is set to receive a major boost to its growing wind energy sector from private and public funds, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Around R$43 billion (US$19.3bn) will be invested in Brazil’s wind energy industry between now and 2017, funded by the country’s National Development Bank (BNDES).

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World Cup fans opt for beach over sky-high hotel prices

Anadolu Agency – by Steffen Stubager & Asger Mow, additional reporting and editing by Ben Tavener

RIO DE JANEIRO – Hundreds of football fans in Brazil for the World Cup are refusing to pay sky-high accommodation prices and instead are opting to sleep rough during the key sporting event.

In Rio de Janeiro, football fans from all over the world can be seen sleeping in the main bus station and on the city’s famous beaches, where temperatures have tumbled to 15°C at night and rain has been a regular feature.

Fans, including many from Argentina, Colombia and Chile, have come to Brazil for weeks in some cases without booking any accommodation and, for most, the risk is directly linked to hotels inflating prices during the World Cup.

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Vandalism mars Brazil anniversary march

Anadolu Agency

SÃO PAULO – Damage of over US$1 million was wrought by acts of vandalism by Black Bloc elements during an anniversary march led by the MPL (Free Fare Movement) in the streets of São Paulo on Thursday evening.

As a major World Cup tie between England and Uruguay got underway on the other side of the city, the MPL-coordinated march gathered around 1,300 people in the city centre, according to military police figures.

Although it began peacefully, it ended in a major damage to at least 10 bank branches and a luxury car showroom.

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Brazil’s football frenzy drowns out World Cup critics

Anadolu Agency

SÃO PAULO – Exactly who brought football to Brazil and precisely when they did it is still a moot point.

Some say it was Charles Miller, the son of a British railway worker who was building train lines in São Paulo, and others point to Thomas Donohue, a dye worker from Busby in Scotland, who sowed the soccer seed in Rio de Janeiro – both sometime around the late 1890s.

However the sport made the 9,000km leap from Britain, some 120 years later Brazil has earned the title of O País do Futebol – the Land of Football – and deservedly so.

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