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RIO DE JANEIRO, March 18, 2024 (AFP) – A heat wave stifling Brazil set new records on Sunday, with Rio de Janeiro’s heat index hitting 62.3 degrees Celsius, the highest in a decade, weather authorities said. The heat index measures what a temperature feels like, taking into account humidity. The actual maximum temperature in the city was 42 ºC on Monday, the Alerta Rio weather system said. The 62.3C record was notched in western Rio […]
Suspected paramilitary militia members torched 35 buses and a train drivers’ cabin in Rio de Janeiro Monday, paralyzing parts of the scenic Brazilian city after one of their leaders was killed in a police operation, officials said. The chaotic scenes erupted after an operation that state Governor Claudio Castro said killed the nephew and right-hand-man of a militia boss known as “Zinho.” Castro said the police had delivered a “hard blow to one of the […]
by Joshua Howat Berger Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANERIRO, Brazil (AFP) – Cold beer in hand, the sun shining, Edson Rocha seems to have everything for a beautiful day at the beach. In front of him, emerald hills cascade into Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay; to the right is the Brazilian seaside city’s majestic Sugarloaf Mountain; above, the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue outstretches his arms, as if to embrace the perfect beauty of it […]
by Eugenia LOGIURATTO Agence France-Presse ATAFONA, Brazil (AFP) – Vultures roam the sand in the Brazilian resort town of Atafona amid the ruins of the latest houses destroyed by the sea, whose relentless rise has turned the local coastline into an apocalyptic landscape. The Atlantic Ocean advances an average of six meters (nearly 20 feet) a year in this small town north of Rio de Janeiro, which has long been prone to extreme erosion — […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel, a leading opponent of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s calls to relax COVID-19 containment measures, said Tuesday he had tested positive for the new coronavirus. In a video posted to Twitter, Witzel said he had started feeling unwell Friday, with a fever, sore throat and loss of smell, a key symptom of the virus. “Today, the test result came back positive… Now, thank God, […]
By Paula RAMON Agence France-Presse GUARUJA, Brazil (AFP) — Violent rain has killed scores of people and forced thousands from their homes this year in Brazil’s most populous states, a disaster experts blame on climate upheaval but also rampant urbanization. Flash floods, landslides and other havoc wrought by torrential rain have killed at least 29 people in recent days in the states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Another 25 are missing. That comes after […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Rio de Janeiro’s far-right governor Wilson Witzel on Tuesday compared drug dealers to the Shiite movement Hezbollah and warned police would respond like Israel by showing no leniency to “terrorists.” Defending his hardline security strategy that has fueled a surge in police killings this year, Witzel said criminals in Rio’s poorer neighborhoods known as favelas “raped children, killed innocent people and used the areas to sell drugs.” “What […]
by Jorge Svartzman Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Brazil’s President Michel Temer on Friday handed the military full control of security in Rio de Janeiro in an increasingly desperate fight to tame runaway gang violence. Army patrols are already used in Rio’s gang-ruled favelas, but a decree signed by Temer will now give the military full control of security operations in Rio state, which the president said had virtually been seized by organized crime gangs. The […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — A car ploughed into a crowd on Rio de Janeiro’s tourist-packed Copacabana seaside promenade on Thursday, killing a baby and injuring 17 people, authorities said, with the driver telling investigators he suffered a seizure. The black car, its windshield shattered and the front caved in, came to rest on the beach where some of the injured were frantically being treated. The Rio de Janeiro health secretariat told AFP that […]
by John Biers Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) – General Electric’s newly-installed chief executive vowed Friday to do whatever it takes to turn around the industrial giant after weak quarterly results initially sent shares plunging. “It’s clear we need to make some major changes,” John Flannery said. “Our results are unacceptable to say the least.” Flannery, who replaced Jeff Immelt over the summer, faced tough questions from analysts after GE reported lower third-quarter earnings and […]
by Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) – Brazilian Ivonette Balthazar felt jittery ahead of a Rio de Janeiro road race Sunday, but her heart — transplanted from a German Olympian a year ago — spurred her on. In the midst of a long recovery from a transplant operation last year, the three-kilometer (1.9-mile) fun run alongside Rio’s Copacabana Beach seemed like a marathon to 67-year-old Balthazar. That heart, though, wouldn’t let her sit […]
by Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Brazil’s army went into action again Monday to support police in raids on some of Rio de Janeiro’s most violent favelas — but not before a rogue soldier allegedly tipped off the drug gangs. In the third such operation in just over two weeks, about 5,000 marines, army soldiers, air force personnel, police and agents from the elite federal intelligence service launched raids at dawn in seven neighborhoods, […]
