Rio de Janeiro, One sailor died and two suffered burns in a fire Wednesday aboard the aircraft carrier Sao Paulo, the only warship of its type in Brazil's navy, officials said. The fire was of "small proportions" and broke out at 3 a.m. in one of the sailors' sleeping rooms in the vessel's stern, the navy said. The blaze surprised the sailors who were sleeping nearby. The vessel was anchored at the Navy Arsenal at Ilha de Cobras, a base in central Rio de Janeiro on Guanabara Bay. "Two of the sailors did not manage to get out of the room in the initial moments of the fire and were only removed from the room later. Unfortunately, one of them died about 5 a.m.," the navy said. The other sailor was taken to the Marcilio Dias Naval Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, where doctors pronounced him in stable condition. A third sailor suffered slight injuries on his feet and was treated at the Arsenal naval base hospital and released. The Sao Paulo has room to carry 1,300 ...
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Washington, The number of applications for US visas that were processed in China and Brazil in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2012 increased more than 50 percent from the same period last year, the US State Department said Thursday. In China, US consular officers adjudicated nearly 260,000 visas in China in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, which lasted from October to December 2011, compared to 175,000 in the same period in fiscal 2011, an increase of 48 percent, reported Xinhua. In Brazil, nearly 280,000 visas were processed in the period, compared to 171,000 in fiscal 2011, an increase of 63 percent, the department said in a statement. The sharp increase in visa processing resulted from the initiatives taken by the State Department to greatly reduce the wait time for visa interview in China and Brazil, two of the fast-growing economies in the world. In China, visa interview wait times have been reduced to only two days at any of five US visa-processing posts. In Brazil, wait times have been reduced to 15 days in Rio de Janeiro and six days in Brasilia, the capital city. As visitors from China and Brazil represent a growing market for travel and ...
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RIO DE JANEIRO : The death toll as a result of a mudslide in the southeastern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro has reached at least 13, officials said on Tuesday. Around 20 others remain missing. The incident happened on Monday in the town of Sapucaia and followed days of continuous rains. The bodies of five people, aged between 22 and 72, were recovered on early Tuesday morning, raising the death toll to at least 13. Among the other casualties are at least two children, although three victims had not yet been identified by Tuesday evening. At least 20 people are believed to remain missing as heavy rain continues to hamper rescue efforts. At least 100 people have been evacuated from the area following the mudslide, which buried eight homes. Authorities in the region have warned residents to be on alert for further mudslides as the severe weather continues. A second landslide in the area was also reported on Monday, but there were no reports of casualties. The region has been affected by floods and mudslides since the beginning of the rainy season in October. In January 2011, about 900 people were killed as a result of severe floods and landslides in the southeastern ...
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Sao Paulo, The Brazilian subsidiaries of Mexican telecom giant America Movil are planning 10 billion reais (USD 5.4 billion) worth of new investment in 2012, a media report said Tuesday. America Movil, owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, operates in Brazil via wireless operator Claro, fixed-line telephone company Embratel and cable television firm Net. Next year's scheduled spending includes 1 billion reais ($540 million) to build an undersea cable linking Brazil and the US, Claro Brasil president Carlos Zenteno told Folha de São Paulo. Claro and its corporate siblings will also focus on extending high-speed Internet coverage for 3G mobile subscribers, expanding their fiber-optic network and bidding on 4G frequencies in an auction set for April. While a merger of Claro, Embratel and Net is not on the cards for 2012, the firms will offer bundled services, Zenteno said. Embratel controls 18.2 of the Brazilian fixed-line telephone market and enjoys a monopoly on international calls in that segment. Claro, with around 25 percent of the market, is Brazil's No. 3 wireless company. Net, which is partly held by Brazilian media powerhouse Globo, is the country's leading ...
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian federal prosecutors are seeking 20 billion reais (some USD 10 billion) in damages from US oil supermajor Chevron and Swiss-based Transocean for an oil spill that began in early November. The prosecutor's office in the southeastern city of Campos, Rio de Janeiro state, filed a civil suit Wednesday in which it also requested a court injunction to halt the companies' operations and a daily fine of 500 million reais ($266.8 million) in case of non-compliance, the official Agencia Brasil news agency said. In a statement, federal prosecutor Eduardo Santos Oliveira said Chevron and Transocean, the drilling contractor at the offshore well where the accident occurred, were unable to contain the spill and reduce its impact and used an "inefficient" technique in their clean-up efforts. Separately, a court granted a request by the Fishermen's Federation of Rio de Janeiro for an independent expert evaluation of the oil spill's potential damage to fishing production in the region, where some 10,000 people ply that trade. The spill began Nov 8 at an appraisal well in the offshore Campos basin due to an "unexpected pressure spike or 'kick'" during "drilling ...
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Rio de Janeiro, Cumulative foreign direct investment in Brazil expanded fourfold between 2005 and last year, from USD 162.8 billion to USD 660.5 billion, the country's central bank said Thursday. Even with the exclusion of multinationals' transfers to their Brazilian subsidiaries, estimated by the central bank at $80.9 billion, FDI rose by 256 percent over the period. The leading foreign investors in Latin America's biggest economy are the US, with $104.7 billion; Spain, $85.3 billion; and Belgium, with $50.4 billion. Just over $98 billion, or 16.9 percent of total FDI during the period studied, went to Brazil's financial sector, while 9 percent - $52.2 billion - was captured by the beverage industry. The oil and gas sector received $49.5 billion in FDI, 8.5 percent of the total, and $40.6 billion flowed into telecoms. Brazil will post around $60 billion in additional FDI for 2011, according to the latest projections by the central ...
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New Delhi, Brazilian Minister of External Relations Antonio Patriota met External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna here on Monday, where the duo discussed issues concerning trade, politics and regional developments between the two nations. The two leaders agreed on minutes of the Fifth India-Brazil Joint Commission Meeting during the meeting. They also exchanged views on various other international issues of common interest. Brazil and India are both members of the BRICS grouping that also includes China and Russia and the meeting between the two foreign ministers was part of the fifth India-Brazil Joint Commission. Patriota was accompanied by a 20-member delegation that aims to coordinate economic and trade policies between the two countries as well as boost cooperation in the fields of science and technology, defence and agriculture. India and Brazil have together closed ranks on various issues of international concern as part of the rising economies. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had met President of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on the margins of the IBSA Summit in Pretoria in October. Brazil is India''s largest trading partners in Latin America ...
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Sao Paulo, Eight people were killed when an out-of-control truck ploughed into a religious procession in the northeastern Brazilian town of Feira Grande, authorities said. The truck's brakes failed as it was going downhill toward the town, media outlets said, citing reports from firefighters and Alagoas state police. After cutting a swath through the procession, the truck crashed into a building, bursting into flames on impact. The driver was trapped inside the cab and burned to death. ...
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Rio de Janeiro, The Brazilian economy stalled in the third quarter after eight consecutive quarters of growth, a sudden halt that the government both expected and considers "temporary" since it was caused by restrictive measures that have now been eliminated. Brazil's gross domestic product did not expand between the second and third quarters, though GDP in the July-September period was up by 2.1 percent over the same three months in 2010, the IBGE statistics agency said. The accumulated growth of the Brazilian economy was 3.2 percent in the first nine months of the year, and 3.7 percent in the twelve months up to September. Both Finance Manager Guido Mantega and private economists consider that, besides the discouraging global outlook, the slowdown in the third quarter was caused by restrictive measures the government adopted at the beginning of the year to halt inflation, such as higher interest rates and cuts in government spending. "The government has been executing a policy of contraction with high interest rates and budget austerity, so that even a drop in GDP might have been expected in the third quarter," Andre Prefeito, economist of the Gradual Investimentos ...
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Mexico City, Mexico's Coca-Cola Femsa, the world's largest bottler of Coca-Cola Co. products, said it broke ground on a USD 140 million plant in Brazil's Minas Gerais state. The company, a unit of conglomerate Fomento Economico Mexicano, or FEMSA, said in a filing with securities regulators that 800 direct and indirect jobs would be created during the 18-month construction phase. The 300,000 sq. meter bottling plant will have the capacity to produce 2.1 million liters annually of soft drinks. The plant will incorporate "the highest environmental standards" both in construction and operations, Coca-Cola Femsa said. All production will be concentrated at the new bottling plant, with the existing facility in Belo Horizonte being converted into the company's biggest distribution facility in Minas Gerais, Coca-Cola Femsa Brasil chief Ricardo Botelho said. Coca-Cola Femsa has 34 bottling plants across Latin America and provides its products to 1.6 million retailers in the ...
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, said Wednesday it has temporarily barred Chevron Corp. from drilling new wells after an oil spill two weeks ago. The ban will last "until the causes and those responsible for the oil spill are identified and safe conditions are re-established" at the offshore Frade field where the accident occurred, the regulator said in a statement. The measure will not hinder well-abandonment activities, according to the ANP, which accused the company of not adhering to high industry standards and of negligence in both its drilling and development and execution of a safety plan. The environment secretary of Rio de Janeiro state, Carlos Minc, said the ANP is considering preventing Chevron from participating in new auctions for oil-drilling rights over the next five years, although the regulator has not confirmed that information. Minc also said at a press conference that Brazil's Federal Police may file criminal charges against seven company executives, who could even face prison time if found guilty of violating environmental laws. The spill began Nov 8 at an appraisal well in the offshore Campos basin due to an ...
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Rio de Janerio, Corinthians were able to hold onto first place in the Brazilian Football Championship after 36 rounds. With their 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Atletico-MG, Corinthians improve to 67 points and enjoy a two-point lead over second place Vasco da Gama here Sunday. Adriano was the hero for Corinthians, scoring the game-winning goal and his first with Corinthians, Xinhua reported. Corinthians will next travel to face Figueirense on Nov 27 in the penultimate round of the running-point tournament. Vasco da Gama remains close behind in second place with 65 points after its 2-0 win over a visiting Avai. Fluminense keeps third place with 62 points due to its 4-0 win over Figueirense. Fred produced another hat-trick and has scored 7 goals in his last two matches. Vasco da Gama and Fluminense will face-off in the penultimate round in a must-win situation for both teams in order to remain in contention to win this year's championship. Fluminense is the reigning champion and hopes to repeat. Internacional's 2-1 win over Botafogo propels the team into fourth place with 57 points, carrying the tie-breaking advantage due to its over-all ...
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Rio de Janeiro, Private firms that invest in gold mining in Brazil will allocate about USD 2.4 billion over the next four years to their activities, the O Globo newspaper reported Sunday, citing official figures. This volume of investments is three times the earlier forecasts for the period and could be a major factor in doubling the country's production of the precious metal, which currently stands at 62 tonnes per year. The figure places Brazil in 13th place among gold mining countries, a good bit below the top-ranked countries, which are China (341 tonnes per year), Australia (259 tonnes), the US (240 tonnes) and South Africa (192 tonnes). The National Department of Mineral Production has just granted 1,270 permits to mining companies to prospect for gold and is analyzing another 1,173 applications of this kind, the newspaper said, adding that the increase in permit requests is like "a new gold race". Brazil currently has 2,819 legal and active gold mines, according to O Globo, although most of the production is concentrated in just a few mines operated by foreign mining firms. The largest gold mine in the country is located in Paracatu, a town in the central ...
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