The lawmaker son of Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has changed his Twitter profile picture to one of Donald Trump to protest the platform’s decision to ban the US president. Accusing Twitter of “authoritarianism”, Eduardo Bolsonaro said Sunday he was “permanently” using Trump’s picture. Twitter booted Trump on Friday, two days after a violent mob […]
The United States reported a daily record of Covid-19 deaths and Brazil’s toll passed the bleak milestone of 200,000 Thursday as new surges of the coronavirus dimmed hopes for respite from the pandemic anytime soon. Sharp rises in cases around the world have led authorities to impose a slew of new lockdowns and other restrictions, […]
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has launched an attack on coronavirus vaccines, even suggesting that the one developed by Pfizer-BioNTech could turn people into crocodiles or bearded ladies. The far-right leader has been skeptical of the coronavirus since it first emerged late last year, branding it “a little flu.” This week he insisted he would not […]
The spread of the new coronavirus is “completely out of control” on the Yanomami indigenous reservation in Brazil, where cases have nearly quadrupled in three months, according to a report published Thursday. The Yanomami, like all indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest, have little historic exposure to outside diseases, and have a tragic history of […]
Shaken by the world’s second deadliest coronavirus outbreak and deep economic crisis, Brazilians voted on Sunday for experienced politicians from traditional parties in local elections, a move that may damage reelection hopes for President Jair Bolsonaro. Candidates backed by the far-right populist president, who presents himself as an outsider, were knocked out of the running […]
President Jair Bolsonaro drew criticism Tuesday for telling Brazilians not to deal with Covid-19 like “a country of fags,” the far-right leader’s latest controversial outburst on the pandemic. Bolsonaro, who has consistently downplayed the virus even as it has killed 163,000 people in Brazil — the second-highest death toll worldwide, after the United States — […]
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a major international ally of President Donald Trump, seems to already be looking at the president in the rearview mirror. Brazilian publication Estado reports that Bolsonaro indicated on Friday that the Brazilian government will continue pursuing its own aims even without a sympathetic Trump in the White House. “Trump’s not the […]
A volunteer participating in clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University has died in Brazil, officials said Wednesday, though it was unclear whether he received the vaccine or a placebo. It is the first death reported in the various coronavirus vaccine trials taking place worldwide. However, organizers of the study said an […]
Brazil’s health minister said Tuesday the country would add the Chinese-made CoronaVac vaccine against Covid-19 to its national immunization program, despite a political and diplomatic row over whether to use it. Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said the federal government had reached a deal with Sao Paulo state, which is helping test and produce the vaccine, […]
The World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus infections on Thursday, with 338,779 new cases registered in the past 24 hours. According to Reuters, the record single-day surge is largely driven by 96,996 new cases in Europe, which is now reporting more new cases than the United States, India, and Brazil—the […]
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro lashed out Wednesday at US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden after he criticized the destruction of the Amazon rainforest in his first debate with Donald Trump. “As the head of state who has brought Brazil-US relations closer than ever before, after decades of governments that were unfriendly towards the US, it […]
The United States isn’t the only country debating Confederate symbols. The Confederate flag can be seen flying in Ireland, Germany, Brazil and beyond. Sometimes, the red-white-and-blue-crossed flag is seemingly displayed as kitsch, a kind of Americana. Other times, its display conveys a political meaning more reflective of the flag’s origins in the slave-holding, Southern American […]
India crossed 1 million coronavirus cases on Friday, third only to the United States and Brazil, prompting concerns about its readiness to confront an inevitable surge that could overwhelm hospitals and test the country’s feeble health care system. A surge of 34.956 new cases in the past 24 hours took the national total to 1,003,832. The Health […]
Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for coronavirus again, CNN Brazil said on Wednesday, quoting the far right leader, who underwent a new test on Tuesday. Bolsonaro, who at 65 is in a high risk group, said he would remain in quarantine at his official residence in Brasilia from where he would continue to work […]
Some of Rio’s biggest samba schools say they will not participate in next year’s Carnival unless a coronavirus vaccine is widely available, Brazilian media reported Tuesday. Five of the 12 top samba schools, including Mangueira and Beija Flor, told Brazil’s O Globo newspaper they would vote to postpone the parades at a meeting set for […]
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested positive for Covid-19 after months of downplaying the virus’ severity. Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in capital Brasilia. “I’m well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can’t due to medical recommendations,” Bolsonaro said. The […]
Researchers in Brazil began administering an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University to volunteers, the Federal University of Sao Paulo said Wednesday. The vaccine, developed together with pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca, is one of the most promising of the dozens that researchers worldwide are racing to test and bring to market. Known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, […]
The World Health Organization warned Friday of a “new and dangerous phase” of the coronavirus pandemic, as infections continued to surge in the Americas, with Brazil registering more than one million cases. Colombia and Mexico also passed bleak milestones, as their death tolls topped 2,000 and 20,000, respectively, showing how the virus continues ravaging the […]
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is facing a rampant coronavirus outbreak, investigations targeting him and his inner circle and calls for his impeachment, leading him to turn more than ever to a favorite ally: the military. The far-right president and top generals have repeatedly evoked the threat of a “coup” in recent days — not against […]
One of the most iconic defenders of the Amazon rainforest, indigenous chief Paulinho Paiakan, died after contracting the new coronavirus, activists said Wednesday. Paiakan, who rose to fame leading the fight against the Belo Monte hydroelectric project in the 1980s, died Tuesday at a hospital in the city of Redencao, in northern Brazil, said Gert-Peter […]
“This is the worst public health crisis we’ve faced—and it has come at a time when we have the worst government in the world.” Brazil is now second only to the United States in terms of both Covid-19 cases and deaths, and its daily death toll is the highest in the world—conditions that public health officials within […]
A retirement home in Brazil has come up with a creative solution to allow friends and families to enjoy personal contact with aging residents particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus: a “hugging curtain.” The large plastic curtain, installed in a retirement home in the city of Sao Paulo, allows residents on one side and visitors on […]
Fifty years ago this month, modern football was born at the World Cup in Mexico, kicking and yelling, and live in vibrant color for a global audience. This weekend marks the anniversary of the quarter-finals of that tournament as a star-studded cast played a thrilling series of knock-out games which built to a dazzling final, […]
Brazilian officials on Thursday announced an agreement with China’s Sinovac Biotech to produce its coronavirus vaccine in the state of Sao Paulo, where tests involving 9,000 volunteers are to begin next month. Brazil has the world’s second-highest coronavirus caseload after the United States, with more than 770,000 confirmed infections and nearly 40,000 deaths. Sao Paulo […]
Critics are accusing President Jair Bolsonaro of manipulating the figures showing the spiralling coronavirus death toll in Brazil, after his government first stopped reporting the total number of fatalities and infections, and then released contradictory data. Even as the situation has gotten worse in Brazil, the latest epicenter in the pandemic, the health ministry has […]
The global death toll from the coronavirus neared 400,000 on Sunday with fatalities accelerating in Latin America, as oil-producing countries agreed to extend output cuts to offset a collapse in prices caused by the pandemic. Brazil now has the world’s third-highest death toll from the virus, but President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to leave the […]
Brazil and Mexico reported record daily coronavirus death tolls as governments in Latin America battled to fortify defenses against the accelerating pandemic with fresh lockdown orders and curfews. European nations are emerging from months of devastation with some borders re-opening, but South and Central America have become the new hotspots in a crisis that has […]
Brazil’s Yanomami indigenous people on Tuesday demanded the government of President Jair Bolsonaro expel illegal goldminers from its territory to protect their communities from the spread of the coronavirus. Three Yanomami people have died so far of COVID-19 and there are growing fears the pandemic could wipe out thousands of Brazil’s 27,000 Yanomamis if they […]
Vast tracts of pristine rainforest on three continents went up in smoke last year, with an area roughly the size of Switzerland cut down or burned to make way for cattle and commercial crops, researchers said Tuesday. Brazil accounted for more than a third of the loss, with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia […]
The United States has delivered two million doses of the antimalarial medicine hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to Brazil to fight COVID-19, the White House said Sunday, though the drug has not been proven effective against the coronavirus. “HCQ will be used as a prophylactic to help defend Brazil’s nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals against the virus. It […]