Tag: brasil

China cancels flights, classes over new outbreak as India deaths soar

by Jing Xuan Teng and Laurie Chen, with AFP Bureaus Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China closed schools in Beijing and restricted air travel from the capital on Wednesday to prevent a second wave of coronavirus infections, as India’s death toll spiked. The new Chinese cluster and surging infections in Latin America and South Asia have raised fresh doubts about how soon the world can control the pandemic, which has seen more than 8.1 […]

Brazilian Amazon mayor pleads for world help on virus

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The mayor of Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon rainforest region, asked world leaders Tuesday for help fighting the novel coronavirus, which has brought his city’s health system to the brink of collapse. Manaus is the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, which has been devastated by the pandemic. Mayor Arthur Virgilio sent video messages and letters pleading for funds and medical equipment to 21 world leaders, […]

Coronavirus adds to struggles in City of God favela

PICTURES BY MAURO PIMENTEL. Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — There are no good options these days in City of God. Venture out in this densely populated Rio de Janeiro favela, and residents risk exposing themselves to coronavirus. Stay in, and many have nothing to eat. The Brazilian slum rose to fame in 2002, when an acclaimed film of the same name chronicled the violence, crime and stark choices facing young people growing up […]

World must ready for global microcephaly ‘epidemic’: study

by Mariëtte Le Roux PARIS, France (AFP) — The world should prepare for a “global epidemic” of microcephaly, a condition which restricts head growth in foetuses, as the Zika virus takes root in new countries, researchers said Friday. Scientists from Brazil and Britain said they had found additional evidence that Zika is what causes the often debilitating disorder, a link already widely accepted in medical circles. In a study conducted among newborns in Brazil — […]

Brazil Senate debates opening impeachment end game

BRASILIA, BRAZIL (AFP) – by Damian WROCLAVSKY Brazil’s Senate on Tuesday debated before voting on whether to send suspended president Dilma Rousseff to an impeachment trial, bringing the Olympic host country’s political crisis to a climax. At the start of the marathon session, Supreme Court President Ricardo Lewandowski reminded senators that they were about to “exercise one of the most serious tasks under the constitution.” The Senate speaker, Renan Calheiros, also underlined the seriousness of […]