All posts tagged: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Brazil authorities scramble to get aid to flooded south amid forecasts of more rain

Brazil authorities scramble to get aid to flooded south amid forecasts of more rain

Published by Sam

[ad_1] Teams in flood-ravaged southern Brazil scrambled Tuesday to deliver humanitarian aid to Porto Alegre and other inundated municipalities, where queues formed for drinking water as forecasters warned of more downpours. Issued on: 08/05/2024 – 03:00 3 min The worst natural calamity ever to hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul has claimed at least 95 lives, with 372 people reported injured and 131 still missing, according to the civil defense force that handles disaster relief. “The tolls continue to rise and unfortunately we anticipate that they are still very inaccurate because the emergency is continuing to develop,” said Governor Eduardo Leite. Nearly 400 municipalities have been hit, including state capital Porto Alegre, with more than 160,000 people forced to leave their homes as streets have transformed into rivers after days of record-breaking rain. Porto Alegre is home to some 1.4 million people and the larger metropolitan area has more than double that number. The state’s Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, remained at historic high levels Tuesday, and officials said five dams …

Brazil mounts frantic rescue effort as flooding kills more than 60, displaces 80,000

Brazil mounts frantic rescue effort as flooding kills more than 60, displaces 80,000

Published by Sam

[ad_1] Authorities in southern Brazil raced against the clock Sunday to rescue people from raging floods and mudslides that have killed at least 66 and forced more than 80,000 to flee their homes. Issued on: 05/05/2024 – 11:47Modified: 05/05/2024 – 16:17 4 min All over the city of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, people stood on rooftops hoping to be rescued as others in canoes or small boats navigated streets that have turned into rivers. Civil defense officials said at least 101 people were missing in the latest of a string of catastrophic weather events in the South American giant. Viewed from the air, Porto Alegre was completely flooded, with streets under water and the roofs of some houses barely visible. The Guaiba River, which flows through the city of 1.4 million people, reached a record high level of 5.3 meters (17.4 feet), according to the local municipality, well above the historic peak of 4.76 meters that had stood as a record since devastating 1941 floods. The water was still advancing …

Macron and Lula show unity on global issues despite differences on Ukraine

Macron and Lula show unity on global issues despite differences on Ukraine

Published by Sam

[ad_1] French President Emmanuel Macron and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday displayed their unity on major global issues, while skirting differences on the war in Ukraine. Issued on: 29/03/2024 – 02:19 3 min Macron wrapped up his three-day tour of the Latin American giant with a solemn, but warm, trip to the presidential palace in the modernist capital Brasilia. The French leader paid tribute to “the spirit of resistance” of Lula’s government for “restoring democracy” after a crowd of extreme-right supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the seats of power in the city in January 2023. Lula hailed a relationship between the two countries as one that created “a bridge between the global South and the developed world.” While the two men firmly reset the frosty ties of the Bolsonaro years, they retain deep differences over the war in Ukraine, a subject which only briefly reared its head. While France and the West support Kyiv wholeheartedly, Lula has in the past said that Ukraine and Russia share responsibility over …

Macron charms Brazil’s Lula with non-alignment pitch and submarines – POLITICO

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[ad_1] The Tonelero is the third of four conventionally-propelled submarines agreed in a $10 billion deal signed by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Lula in 2008. That pact also included building a nuclear-powered submarine, the Álvaro Alberto, which has seen delays and disagreements over the transfer of nuclear technology. Macron said he wanted to open “a new chapter” in the project, adding: “You want it, France will be at your side.” “We have never shared our so much of our know-how as we did with Brazil, and we are proud to have done so,” Macron said. Lula said: “Brazil wants the know-how, wants nuclear technology, not to go to war.” Brazilian authorities have signaled that France is now more willing to collaborate on the nuclear submarine. “Perhaps there was resistance in the past,” Maria Luisa Escorel de Moraes, secretary for Europe and North America at the Brazilian foreign ministry, told reporters last week. [ad_2] Source link

France will help Brazil develop nuclear-powered submarines, Macron says

France will help Brazil develop nuclear-powered submarines, Macron says

Published by Sam

[ad_1] President Emmanuel Macron and counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday celebrated the launch of Brazil’s third French-designed submarine, which will help secure the country’s immense coastline, dubbed the “Blue Amazon.” Issued on: 27/03/2024 – 18:03Modified: 27/03/2024 – 18:10 3 min The two men highlighted the importance of their countries’ defense partnership during a time of major global unrest, at a ceremony at Brazil’s ultra-modern naval base in Itaguai near Rio de Janeiro. It is here that Brazil built the Tonelero, the third of four planned conventional diesel attack submarines, with training, equipment, and technical assistance from France. Under cloudy skies, the submarine was christened by First Lady Rosangela da Silva, nicknamed “Janja.” France and Brazil’s defense ties “will allow two important countries, each on a continent, to prepare so that we can face this adversity, without worrying about any type of war, because we are defenders of peace,” said Lula. Despite differences, notably on the Ukraine war, Macron said “the great peaceful powers of Brazil and France” had “the same vision of …

EU’s pretending to be an honest trade cop – POLITICO

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[ad_1] Given these power dynamics, the protests resulted in two key concessions: First, the EU put its trade talks with Mercosur nations Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on hold. Second, it carved out a rule that would have forced farmers to leave part of their land untouched, resting the soil and hopefully allowing biodiversity to flourish. “Its good for nature but not for me,” said Amoury, a young Belgian farmer standing near the Parliament. Overall, these concessions prove European farmers are a group Brussels can’t ignore. They demonstrate that countries negotiating FTAs will have to prepare for European negotiators driving a hard bargain on food products. But most of all, they expose just how quickly the EU ducked under pressure at home, while continuing to play climate savior elsewhere. In June 2022, the EU inked a deal with New Zealand that, for the first time, included a provision for trade sanctions in case of noncompliance with international labor and environment standards. “Our trade agreements give us clout on the world stage and support economic growth …

Brazil's Lula urges world to act 'rapidly' on crisis-torn Haiti at Caribbean summit

Brazil’s Lula urges world to act ‘rapidly’ on crisis-torn Haiti at Caribbean summit

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[ad_1] Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday urged the world to “act rapidly” on Haiti, at a Caribbean summit where political agreements were announced on a possible way forward for the crisis-torn nation. Issued on: 28/02/2024 – 23:40 2 min Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, has been in turmoil for years with armed gangs taking over parts of the country and unleashing brutal violence that has left its economy and public health system in tatters. In recent weeks, the country has also been engulfed in widespread unrest as thousands of people took to the streets to demand Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down in line with a political agreement forged in December 2022. “In Haiti we need to act quickly to alleviate the suffering of a population torn apart by tragedy,” Lula said in an address to a summit of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Georgetown, Guyana. On Tuesday, the UN launched an appeal for $674 million for humanitarian projects in Haiti, where 45 percent of the population is …

Thousands of Brazilians protest coup probe, election ban of ex-president Bolsonaro

Thousands of Brazilians protest coup probe, election ban of ex-president Bolsonaro

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[ad_1] Thousands of Brazilians poured into the streets of Sao Paulo on Sunday as ex-president Jair Bolsonaro flexed his political muscle and hit out at an election ban that has seen him barred from seeking office for eight years. Issued on: 25/02/2024 – 20:59 3 min Addressing a massive crowd of supporters in the economic capital, Bolsonaro again denied charges he plotted a coup to stay in power after losing an election in October 2022. “What is a coup? Tanks in the streets, weapons, conspiracy. None of that happened in Brazil,” said Bolsonaro, who has had his passport seized by police as he and his inner circle are investigated. “We cannot accept that an authority can eliminate whoever it may be from the political scene, unless it is for a fair reason,” he said. In June, the electoral tribunal barred Bolsonaro from running for office until 2030 over his attacks on the election system. Bolsonaro also called for “an amnesty for those poor wretched souls who are imprisoned in Brasilia” after the invasion of the …

Blinken and Lavrov to attend G20 talks with Ukraine, Gaza on the agenda

Blinken and Lavrov to attend G20 talks with Ukraine, Gaza on the agenda

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[ad_1] G20 foreign ministers open a two-day meeting Wednesday in Brazil, with the outlook bleak for progress on a thorny agenda of conflicts and crises, from the Gaza and Ukraine wars to growing polarization. Issued on: 21/02/2024 – 02:33Modified: 21/02/2024 – 02:31 3 min US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are both expected in Rio de Janeiro for the first high-level G20 meeting of the year — though not China’s Wang Yi. In a world torn by conflicts and divisions, Brazil, which took over the rotating G20 presidency from India in December, has voiced hopes for what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva calls “the forum with the greatest capacity to positively influence the international agenda.” But Lula’s bid to make the G20 a space for finding common ground suffered Sunday when the veteran leftist ignited a diplomatic firestorm by accusing Israel of “genocide,” comparing its military campaign in the Gaza Strip to the Holocaust. The comments drew outrage in Israel, which declared him “persona non grata,” and could …

Israel pounds Gaza, formally rejects ‘unilateral recognition’ of Palestinian statehood – POLITICO

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[ad_1] “Both yesterday and the day before, the WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners,” he said. He estimated that there are still “about 200 patients” in the hospital with 20 in urgent need of referral to other hospitals to receive health care. The Israeli strikes come amid growing fears of a regional escalation of the Israel-Hamas war and growing international calls for a cease-fire.  Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday likened the war to the Holocaust, telling reporters during an African Union summit in Addis Ababa: “What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the remarks as “disgraceful and grave.” The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said it would summon the Brazilian ambassador for a reprimand. Israel on Sunday also formalized …