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☆ Astrud Gilberto, Who Shot to Fame With ‘The Girl From Ipanema,’ Dies at 83
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Jim Farber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Astrud Gilberto, whose soft and sexy vocal performance on “The Girl From Ipanema,” the first song she ever recorded, helped make the sway of Brazilian bossa nova a hit sound in the United States in the 1960s, died on Monday. Ms. Gilberto enjoyed a four-decade recording career, recording albums with celebrated musicians like James Last and Gil Evans as well as working with George Michael, Chet Baker and others. But her biggest success came with “The Girl From Ipanema,” written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa, with English lyrics by Norman Gimbel. When Ms. Gilberto recorded that song, she was married to João Gilberto, the Brazilian singer and guitarist often referred to as the father of the bossa nova. In 1963, the two of them traveled from Rio de Janeiro to New York City, where he was set to record a joint album with the jazz saxophonist Stan Getz, who had already released three albums that mixed jazz with samba and bossa nova.

Persons: Astrud Gilberto, Paul Ricci, Gilberto’s, Marcelo, “, Gilberto, James Last, Gil Evans, George Michael, Chet Baker, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, Norman Gimbel, Ms, João Gilberto, Stan Getz Organizations: Facebook Locations: United States, Brazilian, Rio de Janeiro, New York City

[1/3] People walk along the Ipanema beach following the death of Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil June 6, 2023. REUTERS/Pilar OlivaresBRASILIA, June 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto, the voice of Bossa Nova whose soft and dreamy version of "The Girl from Ipanema" was an international success in the 1960s, has died at the age of 83, her family said. Astrud performed the vocals in English, including the duet "The Girl from Ipanema" which became the album's major hit. "The Girl from Ipanema" was the first song the 22-year-old Astrud recorded and launched her career almost by accident. She later moved to the United States, where she toured with Getz, singing Bossa Nova and American jazz standards.

Persons: Astrud Gilberto, Pilar Olivares BRASILIA, Gilberto, Sofia Gilberto, Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, Getz, Astrud, " Getz, Weinert, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Steve Van Zandt, Sade, Lana Del Rey, Ivan Lins, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Madonna, Amy Winehouse, Anthony Boadle, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, New York, Thomson Locations: Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Philadelphia, United States, American, Salvador, Bahia, Brazilian

☆ Replanting the Amazon could slow global warming. Here’s why it’s hard
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +24 min

Milton da Costa Junior nosed his pickup through a remote stretch of the western Brazilian Amazon to check on his babies. Local authorities said the September 2021 incident, which Da Costa outlined in a police report that was reviewed by Reuters, is being investigated. Out of dozens of reforestation initiatives in the country, Rioterra and The Black Jaguar Foundation, a Brazilian-European group, are among the largest. Illegal invaders destroy in hours what it takes Rioterra or Black Jaguar a year to plant. In all, Black Jaguar has signed contracts with 26 farms and planted 326 hectares (806 acres) to date.

Persons: Milton da Costa, Da Costa, Carlos Nobre, Alexis Bastos, Rioterra, ”, Nobre, “, Bastos, Jamari, Dejesus Aparecido Ramos, it’s, ” Bastos, Jair Bolsonaro, Germany –, Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Black, Ben Valks, Valks, Leandro Silveira, Silveira, São, ” Valks, aren’t, Cristina Banks, Leite, Marcos Mariani, Araguaia, Mariani, Tânia Irres, ” Irres, Regina Molke, I’ll, Clovis, Black Jaguar, Aquaverde, Renato Franklin, “ Ben, ” Franklin, L’Oreal, da Costa, ” Da Costa, da, Spring, Clare Trainor, Catherine Tai, Lais Morais, Ilan Rubens, Lucy Ha, John Emerson, Marla Dickerson Organizations: Milton da Costa Junior, Toyota, Reuters, Black Jaguar Foundation, National Institute for Space Research, Rioterra, Cultural, Environmental Studies, Petrobras, “, Amazon Fund, Environment Ministry, United, United Arab Emirates, São Paulo, Global, Farmers, Brazil’s Central Bank, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, Imperial College London, Santana, Bolsonaro, United Nations, Space Agency, Copernicus, Sentinel Locations: Machadinho, Rondônia, Brazil, Germany, Brazilian, European, Manhattan, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Bastos, Porto Velho, droves, Rio, Black, Itapuã, Oeste, Norway, United Arab, Pará, Caixa, “, Costa, Syria, Paris, Santana, Araguaia’s, Clovis, Regina, United States, South, Geneva, Rio Preto, da Costa

☆ Podcast: Inside the race to replant the Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Listen to Jake Spring’s special report on replanting the Amazon with host Kim Vinnell. As the climate clock ticks down, it's fallen to non-profits to restore vast portions of Brazil's decimated Amazon Rainforest. But they're battling illegal land grabs, tight budgets, and some botanical mysteries. Further ReadingReplanting the Amazon could help save the world’s climate. Here’s why it’s so hard to doThe Amazon’s little tipping pointsAmazon rainforest: jungle labOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Jake Spring’s, Kim Vinnell, it's Organizations: Apple, Google, Reuters, Amazon, Thomson

☆ Brazil poultry lobby sees little risk of nationwide export ban over bird flu
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Ana Mano | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Slideshow ( 4 images )Ricardo Santin, head of a group representing firms like JBS and BRF, told Reuters the agreements with trade partners should limit any export restrictions to smaller geographic regions. Still, the details of a 2004 bilateral sanitary protocol with China, Brazil’s top chicken buyer last year, could spell some pain for exporters. WOAH outlines best practices for “zoning” and compartmentalizing HPAI infection to specific areas at risk in order to ease nation-wide restrictions, allowing countries to continue to sell and export of poultry. The U.S., which competes with Brazil in poultry export markets, had HPAI outbreaks but continued to ship products. Still, total poultry meat exports rose 3% by volume and 14% by value, as revised trade agreements limited trade restrictions compared with a previous record U.S. bird flu outbreak in 2015.

Persons: Ricardo Santin, Santin, HPAI, WOAH Organizations: SAO PAULO, Reuters, World Organization for Animal Health Locations: China, Beijing, Brasilia, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, U.S

☆ BRICS meet with 'friends' seeking closer ties amid push to expand bloc
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Foreign ministers of BRICS nations pose for a family photo with representatives from Africa and the global South during a summit in Cape Town, South Africa, June 2, 2023. BRICS, which now consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is considering expanding its membership, and a growing number of countries, mostly from the global South, have expressed interest in joining. Developed countries have never met their commitments to the developing world and are trying to shift all responsibility to the global South," Pandor said. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Thursday's talks had included deliberations on the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of what an expanded BRICS bloc would look like. As an ICC member, South Africa would face pressure to arrest Putin were he to travel to the summit.

Persons: Naledi Pandor, Pandor, Mauro Vieira, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Thursday's, Africa's Pandor, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Carien du, Krishn Kaushik, Joe Bavier, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Russian Foreign Ministry, REUTERS, South Africa's, United Arab, Democratic, Cape Town, International Criminal Court, ICC, Thomson Locations: Africa, Cape Town , South Africa, REUTERS CAPE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Argentina, Bangladesh, Guinea, Bissau, Indonesia, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Carien du Plessis

LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) - Even if the U.S. dollar's singular dominance as global currency of choice is in fact ebbing, it may not automatically lead to a weaker dollar exchange rate - and could periodically mean the opposite. The big advantage of large dollar reserve holdings alongside wide commercial usage and trade in dollars overseas was clear. But the issue is typically read in markets as a reason to bet on a weakening dollar exchange rate - or even to pump alternatives such as gold or crypto tokens. Of course, that was a global economy riven with fixed dollar exchange rate pegs that supercharged the transmission of Fed policy, most of which have since been dismantled. That may be a world many countries prefer if they are sure of viable alternatives - but may not mean a weaker dollar.

Persons: chomping, Alan Greenspan's, Janet Yellen, Yellen, Mike Dolan, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Federal, OASIS, Fed, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters, Twitter, Thomson Locations: U.S, United States, Washington, China, Ukraine, Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa, Iran, Venezuela, outflows

☆ Brazil's top court sentences ex-President Collor to prison for corruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Then-Senator Fernando Collor de Mello, also a former Brazilian president, during a vote session on the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, Brazil, May 11, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File PhotoBRASILIA, May 31 (Reuters) - Brazil's supreme court voted on Wednesday to sentence former President Fernando Collor de Mello to 8 years and 10 months in prison on corruption and money laundering charges. The Brazilian prosecutor's office accused Collor, 73, of having received around 30 million reais ($6 million) in bribes from a subsidiary of state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA). The top court convicted the former senator in mid-May, but justices had still to decide on his sentence, which he can appeal. A rakish, dynastic heir with a penchant for expensive sports cars, Collor was one of Brazil's original free-marketeers whoopposed Brazil's entrenched protectionism and sought to privatize state-run firms in his curtailed presidency.

Persons: Fernando Collor de Mello, Dilma Rousseff, Ueslei Marcelino, Collor, Brazil's, Ricardo Brito, Carolina Pulice, Anthony Boadle, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Brazilian, Petrobras, PETR4, Thomson Locations: Brazilian, Brasilia, Brazil, BRASILIA, Alagoas

☆ Earth is 'really quite sick now' and in danger zone in nearly all ecological ways, study says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Earth is in the scientific "danger zone" for all environmental measures by air pollution, according to a new study. If the planet got an annual check-up like a person, scientists say Earth is "really quite sick right now." Only air pollution wasn't quite at the danger point globally. About two-thirds of Earth don't meet the criteria for freshwater safety, scientists said as an example. "We are in a danger zone for most of the Earth system boundaries," said study co-author Kristie Ebi, a professor of climate and public health at the University of Washington.

Persons: U.S . West —, Kristie Ebi, Joyeeta Gupta, It's, Johan Rockstrom, Indy Burke, Rockstrom, Gupta, Chris Field, Lynn Goldman, George Washington Organizations: Service, Earth, U.S, University of Washington, Earth Commission, University of Amsterdam, Potsdam Institute, Climate, Research, Yale School of, Environment, Stanford Locations: guardrails, Eastern Europe, South Asia, East, Southeast Asia, Africa, Brazil, Mexico, China, U.S . West, Germany, Paris

[1/2] Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (not pictured) before a summit with presidents of South America to discuss the re-launching of the regional cooperation bloc UNASUR, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 29, 2023. "We won't decide anything at tomorrow's meeting, it is just about discussing possibilities," Lula told a news conference on Monday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first visit to Brazil in eight years. Lula said the leaders did not have to recreate a new Unasur but could come up with a different sort of organization. Maduro is hoping the South American countries will unite in calling on the United States to lift its sanctions against Venezuela, which he and Lula assailed at their news conference. "The aim of this initiative is to unite all the countries of the region once again," she told reporters on Friday.

☆ Deep in the Amazon, scientists race to find unknown bat viruses
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Some scientific studies have found that deforestation causes stress in bats, and stressed bats carry more viruses and shed more germs in their saliva, urine and feces. It spiked following the highway’s construction, making the Amazon in the early 1980s a rallying cry for the global environmental movement. When examining spillover risk, scientists use the number of bat species in a given area as a key variable. When humans encroach on their habitat, and bat species commingle, the viral cocktail intensifies. “Odds of it being documented are very slim,” said Caio Graco Zeppelini, an ecologist and bat researcher at the Federal University of Bahia.

☆ Bats carry killer viruses. Scientists suggest ways to cope.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

“I have to think on a landscape scale.”Research in Australia also is deepening scientists’ understanding of bats. Flying foxes travel long distances in search of food, dispensing seeds and pollinating trees along the way. As deforestation destroyed habitats and further disrupted the food supply, the bats have increasingly formed year-round roosts near people, they noticed. Native gums flowering around Gympie lured the flying foxes away from horse paddocks and more urban areas. In fact, the most dangerous areas for spillover aren’t rare, pristine habitats absent of humans, scientists say.

[1/2] A logo of Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company is seen at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio MoraesSAO PAULO, May 18 (Reuters) - A decision by Brazil's environmental regulator to block state-owned oil company Petrobras' Amazon oil project has exposed tensions in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's coalition between green advocates and those prioritizing economic development. Ibama, late on Wednesday, said it would block a request by state-run oil giant Petrobras (PETR4.SA) to drill at the Amazon mouth near Amapá, in a much-awaited decision that followed a technical recommendation by Ibama experts to reject the project. The decision by Ibama, which is overseen by Lula's environment minister, the globally recognized environmentalist Marina Silva, has riled some within the governing coalition. "We'll fight against this decision," Rodrigues wrote on Twitter, adding that "the people of Amapa want to have the right to be heard".

☆ IMF's Gopinath sees 'sizeable' upside inflation risks, says markets too optimistic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

2 official said on Wednesday she sees sizeable risks that inflation will remain high or accelerate in many emerging markets and urged central banks to keep monetary policies tight. IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath told a conference hosted by the Central Bank of Brazil that markets were probably "too optimistic" about what it would take to bring down inflation in emerging markets. "Despite encouraging signs, I am worried that price pressures seem entrenched in many economies and that upside inflation risks are sizeable," she said in remarks prepared for the event. That was a lesson learned from the high inflation period of the 1970s and it "very much applies today," Gopinath said. But these countries still faced "considerable downside risks" from monetary policy tightening in advanced economies, and conditions may get "significantly worse," she said.

☆ Brazil's Bolsonaro denies tampering of his vaccination records
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRASILIA, May 16 (Reuters) - Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro rejected on Tuesday accusations of tampering with his COVID-19 vaccination records, a document reviewed by Reuters showed, as local authorities investigate the former far-right leader and some of his allies. In three-hour testimony to the Brazil's federal police, Bolsonaro said was he unaware of false information being included on his vaccination card. Supreme Court documents have shown federal police found evidence of tampering with Bolsonaro's vaccine records in his last weeks as president in late December, before he flew to the United States, where most foreign visitors must be vaccinated. According to transcripts of the former president's testimony, Bolsonaro denied having knowledge of or ordering false information to be inserted into this vaccination records. According to Bolsonaro, Cid may have committed fraud without his knowledge.

☆ Analysis: Jet-setting Lula risks losing focus on Brazil issues, allies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Lisandra Paraguassu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

BRASILIA, May 17 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's focus on foreign policy and a relentless schedule of trips abroad risks distracting him from tackling thorny domestic issues, two senior allies of the leftist president told Reuters. But so far, less than six months into his third term, he has made twice as many foreign trips as he did at the start of his first presidency in 2003. By comparison, fellow leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico, who skipped the coronation, has made five foreign trips since taking office in 2018. "You have to focus on decisive issues," the aide said, citing a need for higher economic growth and job creation. Marco Feliciano, a pro-Bolsonaro lawmaker in the lower house, said "international trips are part of the presidential agenda, but not at the beginning of the government ...

May 16 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said it "strongly supports" Brazil's efforts to improve the country's fiscal position, while also commending the country's "ambitious agenda" to have a sustainable, inclusive, and green economy. "Enhancing Brazil's fiscal framework, broadening the tax base, and tackling spending rigidities would support sustainability and credibility," the leader of an annual mission to the country, Ana Corbacho, said in a statement after the Fund's visit. Brazil's finance ministry in late March unveiled new fiscal rules to balance limits on spending growth under the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has vowed to boost social programs and public investment. The new rules limit spending growth to 70% of Brazil's revenue growth in the prior 12 months. Corbacho also noted Brazil's efforts to "steer a sustainable, inclusive, and green economy" by cracking down on illegal deforestation, for example, and "leveraging competitive advantage in renewable energies."

Companies Brf Sa FollowMay 15 (Reuters) - Brazil, the world's top chicken exporter, has for the first time confirmed Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) cases but only in wild birds, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday. The avian influenza virus can kill entire flocks of birds and cause losses for the farming sector. Epidemiological surveillance services will be intensified to detect potential cases in wild and commercial animals in the area close to where the cases were confirmed, a government source said. The agriculture ministry said that because the cases were detected in wild animals, Brazil's status "as a country free of HPAI" was not affected. The main importers of Brazil's chicken products in April included China, Japan, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

SAO PAULO, May 9 (Reuters) - Renowned Brazilian rock singer and songwriter Rita Lee, an icon of the Tropicalia artistic movement, died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with lung cancer, her family said. Her death brought an outpouring of tributes from artists, politicians and celebrities who cheered her trailblazing role in Brazilian rock. Rita Lee Jones de Carvalho was born on Dec. 31, 1947, in Sao Paulo, to a dentist of U.S. descent and a Brazilian pianist with Italian ancestry. Kicked out of Os Mutantes by Baptista, whom she had been married to, for supposed artistic differences, Lee played with the band Tutti Frutti in the 1970s. Rita Lee was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 and had been undergoing treatment since then.

☆ Brex: 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Fintech startup Brex was already a high flier, growing by 200% last year with more than 200,000 customers from startups to enterprises. Now following the collapse of SVB, Brex has gained billions of dollars in deposits from thousands of ex-SVB clients. With previous experience in founding Pagar.me, one of Brazil's largest payment processors, their idea for Brex was to combine financial products and software in a single platform. The founders conceived Brex in a Y Combinator accelerator program after growing frustrated applying for a credit card to launch and fund their original idea for a VR startup. What has differentiated Brex from the status quo in corporate cards is its focus on fast-growing businesses.

☆ US meatpacker JBS opens cleaning unit after outside firm fined for hiring kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The new company, JBS Sanitation, will "immediately begin the transition" to cleaning 10 JBS USA facilities, which produce beef and pork, according to a statement issued this week. JBS Sanitation will also do in-house cleaning for Pilgrim's Pride Corp (PPC.O) and create "hundreds of union jobs," the statement said. JBS USA is the North American unit of Brazil's JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), which also owns most of Pilgrim's Pride. JBS USA did not immediately respond to questions about the costs of the launch on Thursday. JBS USA previously said it terminated contracts with PSSI at "numerous" facilities, including three plants where alleged child-labor violations occurred.

☆ The ‘Devil Bird’ Lands in New York, With More Likely to Come
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( James Crugnale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For two weeks, a strange bird has perched in Brooklyn over the treetops of one of the Three Sisters Islands in Prospect Park Lake. It shows no signs of heading back to the place it most likely came from in the South. Meet the anhinga, a large water bird with a snaky neck that has joined other high-profile vagrant birds in recent years by making a rare appearance outside of its typical migration range. The Prospect Park anhinga is the first devil bird observed in Kings County, and only the second sighting in New York City since 1992. When Radka Osickova first spotted it with the Brooklyn Bird Club, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

[1/2] Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leaves his home following a search operation, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 3, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano MachadoBRASILIA, May 3 (Reuters) - Brazilian police on Wednesday raided former President Jair Bolsonaro's home and seized his cell phone as part of an investigation into his COVID-19 vaccination records. The investigation may answer questions about how Bolsonaro, a strident coronavirus skeptic who vowed never to get a COVID vaccine, was registered as vaccinated in health records made public in February. Bolsonaro confirmed the raid on his home in Brasilia to journalists and reiterated that he had never taken a COVID vaccine. Police said they were investigating "false data" allegedly added to a national COVID-19 database between November 2021 and December 2022, when Bolsonaro was president.

☆ Brazilian police raid former President Bolsonaro’s home, arrest former aide: CNN Brasil
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Duarte Mendonca | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Brazilian Federal Police arrested one of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s closest aides and two others, in connection to the investigation of a gang that allegedly falsified data on Covid-19 vaccination cards, according to CNN affiliate CNN Brasil. Sixteen search and seizure warrants and six arrest warrants were also served, police said in a statement. Cars of Brazilian federal police are seen in front of the house of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on May 3, 2023. Ueslei Marcelino/ReutersFormer Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leaves his home following a search operation in Brasilia on May 3, 2023. A statement from Brazilian police says they are analyzing material seized during the searches and interviewing people they say might have information related to their investigation.

Companies would also have to pay content providers and copyrights on material posted on their sites. The Brazilian proposal is shaping up to be one of the world's strongest legislations on social media, comparable to the European Union's Digital Services Act enacted last year. They also say it will endanger free posting services for users while allowing censorship as practiced in authoritarian societies. Brazil's Justice Minister Flavio Dino has asked the consumer protection authority to investigate whether the companies engaged in "abusive practices" in campaigning against the bill. The bill was fast tracked in the lower house after a series of fatal attacks in schools which social media allegedly encouraged, and new articles added to the bill have not been debated in Congressional committees before going to the vote.

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