Photo: John Evans

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is calling on the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to hold direct talks with Iran on the nuclear weapons issue, after the United States military warned Iran could produce enough highly-enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb in one year.

Lula says he has spoken on the matter to US President Barack Obama, whom he said along with other permanent UN security council seat members, China, France, Russia, France and the United Kingdom has yet to hold substantive discussions with Iran on the matter.

But because Brazil’s constitution forbids the country to have nuclear weapons, Lula said it is important that to show others shouldn’t have them too.

“What Brazil can’t have, Iran shouldn’t want,” Lula told reporters outside a steel conference in Sầo Paulo.

At the same time, Lula said he doesn’t want to see a repeat of the 2003 war in Iraq, where suspected chemical weapons led to the invasion spearheaded by the United States and Britain, but were never found.

US military officials say it would take another three to five years for Iran to produce a “deliverable weapon that is usable.”

The warning comes as Iran says it had produced its first significant batch of more highly-enriched uranium.

Negotiations have resumed at the United Nations on a possible Iran sanctions resolution over its nuclear programme.

Lula, who is keen to promote Iran as a trading partner, has been criticised for holding meetings with controversial Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“As a man of peace I prefer to avoid any type of sanctions to avoid animosity between Iran and the rest of the world further down the road,” the Brazilian president added.

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Photo: Vladimir Platonow, Agencia Brasil

Rescue services say they have almost given up hope of finding any survivors following a landslide in Rio de Janeiro that buried an estimated 200 people on Wednesday night.

“We as firefighters always say that we work thinking that we are going to find people alive,” fire service spokesman Colonel José Paulo Miranda said.

“In this situation, in this type of incident, it’s very difficult. There is not the slightest chance that people get away quickly and there is the problem of being buried. We have very little hope, the difficulty is very great,” he added.

Around 50 makeshift homes are believed to have been washed down a hillside, previously housing a waste dump in the Niterói neighbourhood, which is more known for its affluence. TV pictures showed traumatised residents alongside rescue workers.

Shantytowns known as favelas that have increasingly sprouted on hillsides in Rio de Janeiro and other towns and cities across Brazil since the 1950’s are no stranger to this type of tragedy.

The mixture of heavy rains causing mudslides and flimsy accommodation thrown up without any attempt to sink foundations, in areas often flouting planning laws, has become a recipe for disaster.

“The area is a risk and never should have been inhabited,” said Rio de Janiero state Environment Secretary Marilene Ramos.

Rescuers who have been hauling out bodies have been battling precarious conditions as the ground threatens to give way with periods of sunshine of punctuated by bursts of heavy showers.

Record rainfall began lashing down on Monday causing landslides in the city and greater Rio de Janeiro causing chaos as makeshift housing slid down slopes, underground train stations were flooded and electricity supplies cut off.

More than three thousand people have been left homeless by flooding inside and outside the city, with the confirmed death toll so far reaching 175.

Brazil’s federal government on Thursday released R$200 million ($112 million) to help victims. Authorities in the city are asking for emergency payments of R$370 million ($207 million).

News Favela, Landslide, Rio de Janeiro

Photo: Agencia Brasil

The official death toll from the floods that overwhelmed the city of Rio de Janeiro and its surrounding state this week has reached 131 people.

Record rainfall that began on Monday afternoon led to landslides in the city and greater Rio de Janeiro causing chaos as makeshift housing was washed away from hillsides, underground train stations were flooded and electricity supplies cut off.

Thousands have been left homeless outside and inside the city, where more unusually, affluent areas such as Tijuca were also affected.

In Niterói, one driver whose car was carrying a family of passengers reportedly died in an area noted for its mansion houses when land gave way.

More than a 140 flights to and from Rio’s Santos Dumont airport were cancelled, while many vehicle owners simply abandoned them in the street.

Mopping up operations are underway after flooding left schools, shops and other businesses at a standstill.

Coming during the traditionally slow Easter holiday period when the public heads for the beach, store owners in Rio de Janeiro estimate the cost of lost business at R$ 190 million ($107 million).

Rio de Janeiro state governor Sérgio Cabral and city Mayor Eduardo Paes have presented Brazil’s federal government with a 38-point emergency plan of action to address flood damage. The mayor is asking for around R$370 million ($207 million) for emergency running repairs.

Meantime, authorities say the flooding should not be used as an excuse to increase the price of fruit and vegetables because affected areas are not used for farming.

Though six years away, some say the floods put a question mark over Rio’s capacity to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

News Floods, Rio de Janeiro

Lula's public approval ratings stand at 76%. Photo: Agencia Brasil

Brazil’s government has unveiled a second rapid growth acceleration programme worth $890 billion, aimed at boosting the country’s economy and infrastructure.

The original so-called ‘PAC’ programme to the tune of $280 billion announced in early 2007 targeted 5% growth a year.

Apart from last year when Brazil suffered fallout from the global economic downturn, targets were met,  though the government and opposition dispute how much of the original programme has actually been completed.

The new programme runs between 2011-2014 and beyond. Projects are grouped into in six categories.

Oil and gas exploration projects will get $ 490 billion, two-thirds of the money after 2014, with $76 billion destined for electricity generation and $70 billion going into projects to drill Brazil’s vast untapped oil resources buried deep below the seabed.

Housing initiatives will get $ 154 billion. Last March, the government announced a $15 billion social housing programme, aimed at building one million homes, though it left the timetable open-ended. The new plan envisages the building of another two million homes. Brazil’s housing shortage stretches to seven million.

High stakes game

With Presidential elections in October, there is little doubt that ‘the son of PAC’ as it has been dubbed will be the flagship policy of the ruling Workers Party (PT) and its official candidate, Dilma Rouseff, who is aiming to become Brazil’s first woman president.

She takes on Sầo Paulo state governor José Serra, whose colleagues immediately attacked the new proposals.

The leader of the main opposition party (PSDB) João Almeida said the government should be re-evaluating the original programme, which he said is weak in management terms, with a low rate of projects being carried out.

“The launch of PAC 2 was an act of campaigning complete with crying and emotion,” he said.

But the government hit back saying the opposition is divorced from the Brazilian people and the interests of the country.

“The opposition only speaks about the election, denunciation, criticism, because they have no other plan,” said Cândido Vaccarezza, the ruling party’s leader in Brazil’s lower congress chamber.

The government says 40% of the original programme has been finished, insisting two-thirds of work on housing and sanitation has been completed, though this falls to 28% in the energy and logistics sectors. Opposition parties banding together say only 11% of work has been done, with the number falling to 4% in the northeast of the country, where it is most needed.

But so far any such talk has had little effect.

Recent reports that the president and his preferred candidate had toured the country together inaugurating unfinished infrastructure projects and that he made comments appearing to back Cuba’s oppressive stance towards dissidents have not dented his standing with the Brazilian public.

As the election approaches Dilma will be hoping to be swept along on a tide of approval from the new programme, as much as for outgoing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who continues to notch up astonishingly high poll ratings for a second-term president with only nine months left in office.

Dilma may have her work cut out though. A Datafolha poll published at the weekend showed Lula’s stardust has yet to rub off on her, with the vote between the main presidential candidates tied among those who would normally vote for the president.

Since declaring his candidacy recently, Serra has opened up a nine point lead over Dilma, having received an expected ‘bounce’ from the announcement.

Economy, News, Politics Dilma, Growth, Housing, Lula, PAC, PT, Serra

José Serra: Is the presidency still his to lose? Photo: Janine Moraes, flickr

The race for the Brazilian presidency is heating up with just four points now separating the two main candidates and a north-south divide opening up between voters, latest data from polling company Datafolha shows.

While the election is being billed as a battle between two less than charismatic but competent centre-left administrators, lately the race itself has become anything but dull in statistical terms.

Starting from a long way back, Dilma Rousseff, now said to be clear of lymph cancer, is suddenly breathing down the neck of the former health minister José Serra, the long-time frontrunner from the PSDB party.

In two separate Datafolha polls featuring the four candidates expected to feature in the first round of elections and a second round run off the gap between Sấo Paulo state governor Serra and Dilma, who officially declared her candicacy last weekend has narrowed to four points.

The poll puts Serra on 45 points and Dilma on 41 points, should no one get more than half the votes in the first round, meaning the race has to go to a deciding vote on October 31. The last time the pollster thrust the metaphorical thermometre into the mouth of the electorate in mid-December, the difference stood at 11 points.

Former Lula government Integration Minister Ciro Gomes and environtmentalist Senator Marina Silva, who left the president’s Workers Party (PT) over policy disagreements are the two candidates expected to line up with the best-placed contenders in the first round four weeks earlier.

In Brazil’s northeast from where much of the president’s popularity stems, Dilma is on 36 points with Serra on 22, but in the more affluent south and southeast regions Serra scored 38 points in contrast to Dilma’s 24 points.

Serra also scores higher among wealthier, better-educated citizens. Dilma holds sway with those who earn and study less.

Political stardust

Photo: Janine Moraes, flickr

Dilma’s recent surge may have been helped not only by the President Lula’s still astonishingly high 73% poll numbers for a politician in their final year of a second term in office, but also by the fact that he has been banging the drum for her at every opportunity at public appearances, hoping some of his stardust will rub off.

The president, who is not allowed to run for a third consecutive term recently ruled out making a comeback in 2014, saying that Dilma’s bid for office would be made on the basis of trying to achieve two-terms for herself.

While president Lula and Dilma, bidding to become Brazil’s first female president, have been hogging the headlines recently, Serra has yet to officially declare himself a candidate.

Some commentators say it’s about time Serra — defeated by Lula in 2002 — got out on the stump and that when he does his poll ratings should get the benefit of a ‘bounce’, as long as he doesn’t leave it too late.

News, Politics Dilma, Election, PSDB, PT, Serra

Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro is known around the world. But cities throughout Brazil stage their own often very different version. Here women in Salvador are decked out in traditional African costumes. Photo: Agencia Brasil

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Carnaval-goers in the northeast city are renowned for their stamina. Officially Carnaval ends on Wednesday. Unofficially, the party could last for the rest of this month! Photo: Agencia Brasil

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The thunderous sound of drums can be heard everywhere. Here one of the smaller bands on display goes through their paces. Photo: Agencia Brasil

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Tourists and locals mingle in the parade in Olinda. Photo: Agencia Brasil

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Large doll-like figures are a feature of Carnaval in Olinda in Brazil's northeast. Photo: Agencia Brasil.

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In the capital city Brasilia, singer Paulo Hora stands before revellers, some of whom have based their costumes around a long-running political bribery scandal. Photo: Agencia Brasil

Culture, Life, Pictures Brasilia, Carnaval, Olinda, Salvador

Image reproduced from TV Globo

Seventeen bodies have so far been pulled from rubble close to the site of an exclusive hillside hotel in Rio de Janeiro state, after heavy rains caused landslides, media reports say.

Twelve tourists are reportedly among the dead at the Ilha Grande island beach resort near Angra dos Reis.

Authorities say around forty guests were staying at the $275-a-night Sankay hotel-guest house at Praia do Bananal, though many of the deceased are believed to be local residents.

Around 100 fire-fighters, police and other rescue workers are said to be involved in frantic rescue efforts, though it’s not known how many people may be buried under debris.

At least 10 survivors were taken to hospitals in Rio de Janeiro and Sấo Paulo states on New Year’s day, while the death toll from landslides in the last three days in the Angra dos Reis region is put at as high as 46.

Landslides are an all-too-frequent occurence in Brazil, particularly in poorer areas, where shantytowns or slums are often built on slopes.

News Favela, Landslide

The announcement of a $3.5 billion investment by Volkswagen on Thursday is the just the latest in a string of recent moves by foreign companies in Brazil.

VW intends to spend the money by 2014, when it will also sponsor the country’s national football team as it hosts the FIFA World Cup for the second time.

VW’s investment comes hot on the heels of Ford, which last week said it will plough $2.3 billion into an expansion programme until 2015.

Brazil’s car makers are expecting record sales this year after temporary cuts in taxes paid by producers were passed onto buyers

Michelin too is getting in on the act, investing ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ in a new factory in Rio de Janeiro state, aimed at doubling its tyre making capacity in Brazil.

If that were not enough, October saw foreigners line up to invest $17.1 billion into Brazil’s financial markets - a record since the country’s Central Bank began calculating figures in 1947.

Whereas Brazil’s economy would have been devastated by such a global economic downturn downturn in the past, the relative lack of exposure of its banks to toxic US mortgage debts that fuelled the crisis have helped the country pull through largely unscathed.

Having been one of the last countries around the world into recession, Brazil was one of the first out, after economy returned to growth in the second quarter of this year.

While his precedessor Fernando Henrique Cardoso can quite rightly claim much of the credit for the groundwork laid for Brazil’s current stability, those who previously mocked Brazilian President Inácio Lula da Silva’s comments that the crisis would prove to be a small wave rather a tsunami, may be entitled to feel just a little foolish.

Business, Economy, News Ford, global downturn, Lula, Michelin, VW

Photo: karimii,flickr

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to raise human rights issues with Iranian leader Mahmoud, Ahmadinejad, while outlining his continued support for Iran’s nuclear programme, which has sent alarm bells ringing among western nations.

Ahmadinejad makes a stopover in Brazil on Monday, as part of a five-nation trip, including: Bolivia, Venezuela, Senegal and Gambia, aimed at boosting economic ties.

Last week, Iran appeared to reject plans to send most of its stocks of low-enriched uranium abroad, delivering a heavy blow to UN-brokered efforts to ease Western fears it could use the material to make a nuclear bomb.

So far, Brazil has far backed the Islamic state saying it has the right to peaceful nuclear power. President Lula is opposed to international sanctions on Iran.

On a visit to Brazil two weeks ago, Israeli President Shimon Peres called on Brazil to use its influence to challenge Iranian threats against his country.

Though Iran insists its nuclear energy programme is for peaceful purposes, Ahmadinejad’s previous questioning of neighbouring Israel’s right to exist has provoked understandable nervousness.

For the Brazilian government, the visit is seen as an opportunity to boost trade links, while developing an independent foreign policy, including relations with increasingly influential countries.

In May, Ahmadinejad cancelled a visit to Brazil scheduled, staying at home to concentrate on elections, the results of which later sparked widespread protests by opposition groups, amid allegations of fraud.

Ahmadinejad’s new visit, like first one has angered Jewish and human rights groups, leading to protests in Brazil.

Opponents of the visit argue Brazil should not be rolling out the red carpet to a leader who has repeatedly questioned whether the holocaust took place and openly supports the oppression of women and the persecution of homosexuals.

Protestors, waving placards in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, compared Ahmadinejad’s denial of the holocaust with denying the shipment of three million slaves from Africa to Brazil from the 16th to the end of the 19th century.

The treatment of women´s rights and the persecution of gays are seen as other reasons why Brazil should not get involved with Iran.

Opponents also say Lula  — a symbol of Brazil´s struggle to free itself from military dictatorship — should not be rolling out the red carpet to a leader who openly promotes oppression.

News, Politics Ahmadinejad, Iran, Lula

Getting their heads together. Lula with Dilma. Photo: Agencia Brasil

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finds himself having to shield his preferred candidate to replace him from criticism, after late night power cuts hit 18 states across Brazil earlier this week.

Before she became Lula’s chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, who is being treated for lymph cancer, was energy minister, but the president says he won’t be ready to apportion blame until the facts are known.

With Brazil, hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2012 and having last month been awarded the 2016 Olympic Games, the government will be keen to head off any suggestion the country’s ability to do so is in any way compromised by the events of Tuesday night.

Well before the Olympic announcement, the issue of power cuts was a politically sensitive one.

Instances during the previous government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was in office for eight years until the end of 2002, prompted finger pointing and accusations of a lack of planning.

‘Rationing is bungling’

“Today we have an inter-connected Brazilian electricity system,” President Lula said. “In this last seven years we have put in place approximately 30% of what was done in 123 years.”

Claims of progress appeared to be backed by ABDIB, the body representing the infrastructure building sector, which like many others is calling for a far-reaching investigation.

Presidential elections will be held at the end of next year, with Dilma trailing in the polls behind frontrunner José Serra, in a race that has been billed by observers as a contest between two competent administrators lacking in charisma.

Though the government insists the problems do not stem from her watch, Dilma was notified in July of the potential for a blackout.

“A blackout is a thing that no one can say won’t happen. What I promised is that there will not be rationing. Rationing is bungling,” said Dilma, who is aiming to become Brazil’s first female head of state.

Dilma, like others, is citing lightning strikes as the most likely cause, something dismissed by the National Airspace Research Institute, which provides satellite data to meteorologists.

Photo: Agencia Brasil

Until more is known about the incident, Serra, from the PSDB party, was careful not to blame the government, but with close to half the national electricity capacity affected, he said it is vital to get to the bottom of the matter quickly.

“We have to know what happened so measures can be taken,”  Serra, the governor of Sấo Paulo state (pictured right) told reporters.

Political stress

The incident, which left 60 million people without light and also fed through to water supplies, has put increased strains on the relationship between Lula’s Workers Party PT and rival PMDB with which it has forged an often shaky alliance.

Should Dilma win power, her party is expected to remain dependent on PMDB to get legislation through the Senate – a source of anger for her party and those in Brazil, who see PMDB as opportunists from a bygone age doing little promote development and prevent corruption.

The president was heavily criticised from all sides for sticking with the alliance through a corruption scandal, which for a time this year threatened to topple Senate President José Sarney, before charges against him were dropped.

As part of earlier efforts to smooth relations with Sarney and his PMDB party, Edison Lobấo was installed as energy minister, when seats in government were handed out.

How Lula now deals with Lobấo could have a significant impact on that alliance.

News, Politics Dilma, Lula, Power cut, Serra