Football: Brazil challenger Lula says Neymar supports Bolsonaro over debt woes

Brazilian presidential candidate Lula da Silva criticized football star Neymar's support of far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, accusing the player of being motivated by a debt "pardon". 

Last month, Neymar endorsed hardline conservative Bolsonaro as he fights to win reelection in his October 30 runoff battle against leftist ex-leader Lula.

"Neymar has the right to choose whoever he wants to be president. I think he is afraid that if I win the election I will find out what Bolsonaro pardoned from his income tax debt," Lula said in a YouTube interview on Tuesday.

"I think that's why he's afraid of me," Lula added, laughing, when asked about Neymar's support for the president.

Expectations of a close contest have pushed both sides to intensify their attacks before the runoff, with Lula the frontrunner after the first-round election on October 2.

"Obviously, Bolsonaro made a deal with (Neymar's) father. He now has an income tax problem in Spain," Lula said, alluding to a favorable ruling the player obtained in a tax evasion trial in Brazil, as well as the charges he faces in Barcelona for alleged irregularities in his 2013 club transfer. 

Lula added that it was ultimately a problem for the country's tax collection agency, and not him.

This week, Lula secured the backing of another football legend. 

Former Brazilian player and Paris Saint-Germain star Rai gave Lula a silent shout-out at a gala awards ceremony in Paris, mentioning his country's elections before flashing an "L" sign with his right hand.

Lula has 53 percent of the vote heading into the October 30 runoff, to 47 percent for Bolsonaro, according to a poll released Friday by the Datafolha institute.

Agence France-Presse

Brazil's COVID response cost thousands of lives, says humanitarian group

RIO DE JANEIRO—The Brazilian government's "failed response" to the pandemic led to thousands of otherwise avoidable deaths and created a humanitarian catastrophe that is still playing out, aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Thursday.

Brazil's COVID-19 outbreak is the deadliest in the world after the United States and is currently leading in average daily mortalities. Last week more than a quarter of all global deaths were in Brazil.

For the interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus, click here. 

A brutal second wave has hospitals saying they are running short of crucial drugs for intubating patients and most Brazilian states report that intensive care units are at or near capacity.

Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has opposed lockdowns, and has held large events in which he often does not wear a mask. He has only recently embraced vaccines as a possible solution.

"More than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the failed response in Brazil has caused a humanitarian catastrophe," said Christos Christou, a medical doctor and president of MSF, sometimes called Doctors Without Borders in English.

"Each week there is a grim new record of deaths and infections - the hospitals are overflowing and yet there is still no coordinated centralized response," Christou said in a briefing with reporters, adding the situation was expected to become even worse in the weeks ahead.

Bolsonaro has openly fought against state and local governments seeking to institute lockdowns, saying Brazilians need to get on with normal life and that job losses are more dangerous than the virus.

MSF Director-General Meinie Nicolai said the surge in cases cannot be blamed only on the contagious Brazilian COVID-19 variant, known as P.1.

"The P.1 variant is certainly a problem, but this doesn't explain the situation in Brazil," she said. (Reporting by Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro Writing by Jake Spring Editing by Matthew Lewis)

-reuters-

For 1st time, Brazil records over 3,000 COVID deaths in one day

BRASILIA - Brazil's daily Covid-19 death toll soared past 3,000 for the first time Tuesday as the hard-hit country struggled to contain a surge of cases that has pushed many hospitals to breaking point.

The health ministry registered a record 3,251 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing Brazil's overall death toll to nearly 299,000 -- second only to the United States.

Supplies of medical oxygen for Covid-19 patients have fallen to "worrying" levels in six of Brazil's 27 states, officials said Tuesday amid a deadly explosion of cases.

The prosecutor general's office said the health ministry had warned about oxygen levels in the six states during a crisis response meeting with suppliers.

One of Brazil's main oxygen suppliers, the company White Martins, said it was racing to keep up with an "exponential increase" in demand of up to 300 percent in some regions, prosecutors said in a statement.

The situation has raised fears of a repeat of horrific scenes in the northern city of Manaus in January, when oxygen shortages left dozens of Covid-19 patients to suffocate to death when hospitals ran out.

Other states are now showing warning signs.

Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous state and industrial hub, said Monday it would set up an emergency oxygen plant within 10 days with brewing company Ambev to supply overstretched hospitals.

The state, population 46 million, has been hit hard by the new wave of Covid-19.

Globo TV reported last week that at least 135 people had died in Sao Paulo waiting in line for intensive care beds with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus.

In Brasilia, more than 400 people are currently waiting in line for ICU beds. Videos circulating online show bodies piled in hospital corridors awaiting transfer to the capital's overflowing morgues.

The six states whose oxygen supplies are the most critical are Acre and Rondonia in the northwest, Mato Grosso in the center-west, Amapa in the north, and Ceara and Rio Grande do Norte in the northeast, prosecutors said.

Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has defied expert advice on containing the virus, is facing mounting pressure to revamp his response to the crisis.

Brazil's average daily Covid-19 death toll has more than tripled since the start of the year, to 2,306, currently the highest worldwide.

Experts say the surge is being fueled by a local variant of the virus that is suspected to be more contagious.

Agence France-Presse

Brazil sets daily record of new coronavirus cases

BRASILIA - Brazil recorded a new daily record of coronavirus cases Wednesday with nearly 68,000 infections, a sign COVID-19 is still far from being brought under control in the hard-hit country.

The health ministry said 67,860 new infections and 1,284 deaths had been reported in the past 24 hours in Brazil, which has the second-biggest outbreak in the world, after the United States.

The South American country of 212 million people has recorded 2.2 million infections and 82,771 deaths from the new coronavirus.

It has struggled to set a strategy for responding to the pandemic.

President Jair Bolsonaro faces criticism for downplaying the virus and attacking social distancing measures adopted by state and local authorities.

The far-right leader, who has regularly flouted such measures, has been in quarantine at the presidential palace since July 7 after contracting the virus himself.

His office announced Wednesday he had again tested positive, saying he would continue his quarantine and suspend his upcoming travel plans.

Bolsonaro, 65, argues the economic fallout from stay-at-home measures could be worse than the virus itself, and is instead pushing the unproven malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as remedies, following in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump.

Agence France-Presse

Brazil's Bolsonaro says lungs 'clean' after coronavirus test

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday he had undergone another test for the novel coronavirus and his lungs were "clean," after local media reported he had symptoms associated with the COVID-19 respiratory disease.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down the impact of the virus, even as Brazil has suffered one of the world's worst outbreaks, with more than 1.6 million confirmed cases and 65,000 related deaths, according to official data on Monday.

CNN Brasil and newspaper Estado de S.Paulo reported that he had symptoms of the disease, such as a fever.

Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace that he had just visited the hospital and been tested.

"I can't get very close," he said in comments recorded by Foco do Brasil, a pro-government YouTube channel. "I came from the hospital. I underwent a lung scan. The lung's clean."

The president's office said in a statement that the president is at his home and is "in good health."

The right-wing populist has often defied local guidelines to wear a mask in public, even after a judge ordered him to do so in late June.

Over the weekend, Bolsonaro attended several events and was in close contact with the US ambassador to Brazil during July 4 celebrations. The US embassy in Brasilia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bolsonaro tested negative for the coronavirus after several aides were diagnosed following a visit to US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate in March.

CNN Brasil reported that Bolsonaro has begun taking the drugs hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, which he touts as a COVID-19 treatment despite little proof of their effectiveness.

Bolsonaro's official events on Tuesday have been canceled, according to CNN Brasil.

-reuters-

US facing 'critical' coronavirus surge

WASHINGTON, United States - Coronavirus infections are surging across large parts of the United States, the top US infectious disease expert has warned, as the death toll in Latin America passed 100,000.

The developments highlighted how far away the world remains from ending the pandemic, six months into a crisis that has claimed nearly 500,000 lives and devastated the global economy.

Even in Europe, which has been loosening travel restrictions following a brutal few months when it was the epicenter of the pandemic, there have been major setbacks.

Germany on Tuesday reimposed lockdowns on more than 600,000 people following a cluster of infections at a slaughterhouse, while world men's tennis number one Novak Djokovic tested positive after hosting an exhibition tournament in the Balkans.

In the United States, White House advisor Anthony Fauci warned the next two weeks would be "critical to our ability to address... surgings" in Florida, Texas and other states.

The United States has already recorded more deaths than any other nation, with nearly 800 more fatalities on Tuesday taking its toll past 121,000.

However President Donald Trump, whose handling of the crisis has been widely criticized as erratic, is determined to fast-track efforts to restore normality.

He continued to stoke controversy on Tuesday, doubling down on weekend comments he wanted to slow testing because so many confirmed infections made the United States look bad.

"I don't kid," Trump said, after a White House official described his initial comments as just a joke. 

With the parts of the United States unable to contain the pandemic, the European Union was considering blocking US travelers as it reopens its borders to tourism, the New York Times reported.

Reflecting the sentiments of many around the world, New York food shop manager Ian Joskowitz said he was determined not to think about the dangers of the virus as he tried to continue running his business. 

"If I thought about it too much, I probably may have a problem doing this. So I put it out of my mind," Joskowitz told AFP.

"With my employees, I have an agreement with them. They keep coming in. I'll continue to do everything humanly possible to keep them safe."

'LITTLE FLU'

Latin America has been one of the world's worst hotspots for weeks, and the number of deaths there and the Caribbean surpassed 100,000 on Tuesday, according to an AFP tally.

Brazil, where President Jair Bolsonaro has flouted containment measures and described the virus as a "little flu", is officially the worst-hit country after the United States.

More than 1,300 people were confirmed to have died of the virus in Brazil on Tuesday, after a federal judge ordered Bolsonaro to wear a face mask in public.

"The president has a constitutional obligation to follow the laws in force in the country, as well as to promote the general welfare of the people," the judge wrote.

GERMAN SETBACK 

Germany was the first major EU nation to begin easing lockdown measures about seven weeks ago, but two districts in the west of the country were forced to apply the brakes once again.

An outbreak at a slaughterhouse that has infected more than 1,500 workers prompted authorities to impose fresh restrictions on nearly 640,000 people.

Portugal also imposed new restrictions in and around its capital Lisbon on Tuesday. 

And the future of sporting events suffered a major blow when Djokovic, who had organized a series of exhibition events in the Balkans at which social distancing was minimal, tested positive for the virus.

Tennis was hoping to follow team sports like football back into arenas and stadiums, but the positive tests of Djokovic and three others have dampened its prospects. 

"I am so deeply sorry our tournament has caused harm," the 17-time Grand Slam champion wrote on Twitter, adding, "It was too soon."

Agence France-Presse

Brazil records nearly 50,000 coronavirus deaths as crisis deepens

RIO DE JANEIRO - Nearly 50,000 people have died from the coronavirus in Brazil, the world No. 2 hotspot, with 1,022 fatalities in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

A total of 49,976 people have officially died from COVID-19 in Brazil, according to the ministry, with a total of 1,067,579 confirmed cases. Only the United States has recorded more deaths and cases.

Brazil confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus on Feb. 26 and passed 1 million cases on Friday. Experts say the true numbers are likely far higher due to a lack of widespread testing.

Since first arriving in the continent-size country, the virus has spread relentlessly, eroding support for right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and raising fears of economic collapse after years of anemic growth.

Bolsonaro, sometimes called the "Tropical Trump," has been widely criticized for his handling of the crisis. The country still has no permanent health minister after losing two since April, following clashes with the president.

Bolsonaro has shunned social distancing, calling it a job-killing measure more dangerous than the virus itself. He has also promoted two anti-malarial drugs as remedies, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, despite little evidence they work.

Brazil is not the only country in Latin America to have been hit hard by the outbreak. On Saturday, the region passed 2 million cases, with 2,004,019 registered according to a Reuters tally. 

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Sandra Maler)

-reuters-

Brazil jumps to world No. 2 in coronavirus cases, behind the US

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil became the world No. 2 hotspot for coronavirus cases on Friday, second only to the United States, after it confirmed that 330,890 people had been infected by the virus, overtaking Russia, the Health Ministry said.

Brazil registered 1,001 daily coronavirus deaths on Friday, taking total deaths to 21,048, according to the Health Ministry.

In Sao Paulo, the worst hit city, aerial video showed rows of open plots at the Formosa Cemetery as it rushed to keep up with demand.

Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has been widely criticized for his handling of the outbreak and is at the center too of a deepening political crisis.

The former army captain has seen his poll ratings drop, hurt by his opposition to social distancing measures, support of the unproven remedy chloroquine, and tussles with experienced public health officials.

The true number of cases and deaths is likely higher than the figures suggest, as Latin America's top economy has been slow to ramp up testing.

The outbreak is accelerating. On Monday, Brazil overtook Britain to become the country with the third highest number of infections. It surpassed Russia on Friday, but is unlikely to pass the United States soon. The world's No 1 economy has more than 1.5 million cases.

Since the outbreak began, Bolsonaro has lost two health ministers, after pressuring them to promote the early use of anti-malarial drugs like chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. Several high-profile public health experts have also left. Many have been replaced by soldiers.

On Wednesday, Interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello, an active-duty army general, authorized new guidelines for the wider use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in mild cases.

-reuters-

Brazil's new health minister resigns as Bolsonaro grabs reins in coronavirus crisis

BRASILIA - Brazil lost its second health minister in a month on Friday after President Jair Bolsonaro demanded wider use of unproven anti-malarial drugs to fight the coronavirus outbreak, adding to turmoil in one of the pandemic's worst global hotspots.

Brazilians banged pots from windows and health experts reacted with outrage at the resignation of Nelson Teich, the second doctor to leave the top Health Ministry job as the outbreak explodes. Brazil's confirmed cases climbed past Germany and France this week, growing at a daily pace second only to the United States.

Bolsonaro had demanded on Thursday that Teich issue federal guidelines for the early use of hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients, despite studies that cast doubt on the effectiveness of the malaria drug for COVID-19 and raised concerns it may cause heart problems.

"I was elected to make decisions. And the decision about chloroquine goes through me," Bolsonaro told business leaders in a video conference on Thursday, adding that his call to end state orders on social distancing should also be the last word.

"Just like a commander in battle: He has to decide. Are people going to die? Unfortunately, people are going to die," he said.

Teich, an oncologist and health care entrepreneur, gave no reason for quitting in brief comments to journalists on Friday. He had also become out of step with Bolsonaro's push to reopen the economy, expressing surprise at a news conference on Monday when he learned of a presidential decree allowing gyms, beauty parlors and hairdressers to open.

Military members of the Brazilian cabinet are pushing for interim health minister Eduardo Pazuello, an active-duty army general, to take over full-time, a government official told Reuters, requesting anonymity to discuss confidential talks.

The presidential press office did not respond to a request for comment.

Bolsonaro's chief of staff, Walter Braga Netto, told journalists that Teich had left for "personal reasons" after a friendly conversation with Bolsonaro on Friday. The president "had a different vision about which protocol to follow," Braga Netto said, without elaborating.

Late on Friday, the Health Ministry said it was finalizing new guidelines for early treatment of coronavirus patients, including proposed medications. Asked about the statement, a ministry representative told Reuters that hydroxychloroquine would be one of the medications cited.

Teich's predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, a former lawmaker and military medic, was fired on April 16 for resisting Bolsonaro's demands to promote hydroxychloroquine and fight against state governments' isolation orders.

OUTBREAK ACCELERATING

Growth of the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil has set daily records in each of the past three days. The Health Ministry confirmed more than 15,000 new cases of the virus on Friday.

Brazil has confirmed more than 218,000 cases so far, on pace to pass Italy's nearly 224,000 cases this weekend as it closes in quickly on Spain and the United Kingdom despite rolling out far fewer tests.

Brazil's death toll has risen by more than 800 per day to nearly 15,000 on Friday, as the crisis overwhelms hospitals in several cities and public cemeteries resort to mass graves.

"Let us pray," Mandetta, the former health minister, said on Twitter after Teich's resignation, calling for faith in science and support for Brazil's public health system.

Opposition and allied politicians criticized Bolsonaro's intransigence on Friday. Lawmaker Marcelo Ramos of the centrist Liberal Party said the president would only accept a minister without regard for science-based public health policy.

Congressional opposition leader Alessandro Molon warned that Brazil was heading toward a public health catastrophe and said the president should be impeached.

"Bolsonaro does not want a technical minister, he wants someone who agrees with his ideological insanity, like ending social distancing and using chloroquine," Molon, of the Brazilian Socialist Party, said in a statement.

Bolsonaro's handling of the coronavirus has been widely criticized globally as he has shrugged off the severity of the disease and told Brazilians to ignore quarantine restrictions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month cautioned against the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus, warning it could cause heart problems. President Donald Trump, another world leader who has played down the pandemic's dangers, at one point touted the drug as a "game changer."

Two new studies published on Thursday found that patients on hydroxychloroquine did not get better significantly faster than those not treated with the drug.

-reuters-

Brazil's president accuses Leonardo DiCaprio of financing Amazon fires

SAO PAULO - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro claimed on Friday that Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio financed fires being set in the Amazon rainforest, without presenting any evidence, the right-wing leader's latest broadside in casting blame over forest fires that have generated international concern.

"This Leonardo DiCaprio is a cool guy, right? Giving money to torch the Amazon," Bolsonaro said on Friday during brief remarks in front of the presidential residence.

Bolsonaro appeared to be commenting on social media postings claiming that the environmental organization the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) had paid for images taken by volunteer firefighters that it then supposedly used to solicit donations, including a $500,000 contribution from DiCaprio.

The Brazilian leader talked about DiCaprio on Thursday during a live webcast. The president said the WWF paid the firefighting NGO to take pictures of forest fires in the Amazon.

"So what did the NGO do? What is the easiest thing? Set fire to the forest. Take pictures, make a video," the president said. "(WWF) makes a campaign against Brazil, it contacts Leonardo DiCaprio, he donates $500,000."

"A part of that went to the people that were setting fires. Leonardo DiCaprio, you are contributing to the fire in the Amazon, that won't do," Bolsonaro said.

The WWF has denied receiving a donation from DiCaprio or obtaining photos from the firefighters.

DiCaprio denied having donated to the WWF. In a statement, the actor lauded "the people of Brazil working to save their natural and cultural heritage." But, he said, "While worthy of support, we did not fund the organizations targeted."

DiCaprio has been an outspoken advocate on behalf of combating climate change, speaking frequently about environmental issues including the Amazon forest fires. His Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which is focused on projects that "protect vulnerable wildlife from extinction," is part of the Earth Alliance.

Four members of the nongovernmental organization Alter do Chão Fire Brigade were arrested on Tuesday with police accusing them of purposefully setting fires in order to document them and drum up more donations. They were released on Thursday on a judge's order.

Politicians and other NGOs fiercely criticized the arrest, saying it was part of a concerted attempt by Bolsonaro's government to harass environmental groups.

Scientists and activists blame land speculators, farmers and ranchers for setting the fires to clear land for agricultural use, saying that deforesters are being emboldened by Bolsonaro's rhetoric of promoting development and farming over preservation.

The Amazon rainforest is considered a bulwark against global climate change.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly lashed out at various factions in casting blame for the forest fires.

In a Facebook live post on Aug. 21, he said, "everything indicates" that NGOs were going to the Amazon to "set fire" to the forest. When asked then if he had evidence to back up his claims, Bolsonaro said he had "no written plan," adding, "that's not how it's done."

One day later he admitted that farmers could be illegally setting the rainforest ablaze, but roughly a month later he attacked the "lying media" for saying that the rainforest was being devastated by the fires.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Mystery oil spills blot more than 130 Brazilian beaches

RIO DE JANEIRO - The source of large blots of oil staining more than 130 beaches in northeastern Brazil remained a mystery Tuesday despite President Jair Bolsonaro's assertions they came from outside the country and were possibly the work of criminals.

Tamar, a group dedicated to the protection of sea turtles, said the oil spills were "the worst environmental tragedy" it has encountered since its formation in 1980.

The patches of oil began appearing in early September and have now turned up along a 2,000 kilometer (1,200 mile) stretch of Atlantic coastline.

"We are not in the presence of a constant leak. If it is the result of a shipwrecked oil tanker, the leaks will continue for the moment," Bolsonaro told a news conference in Brasilia.

"It appears to be criminal. This oil could have been dumped at sea."

Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, appearing alongside Bolsonaro, said the government's priority is "to act quickly to remove what is on land and to deepen the investigation to find the origin."

On Monday, Salles said after visiting the affected areas that more than 100 tonnes of oil has been removed from the beaches in the northeast.

State oil company Petrobras, which is taking part in the cleanup, said its analysis determined that the oil was neither produced nor marketed by the company.

The patches of oil have been detected in all nine states of northeastern Brazil, a poor region known for the beauty of its beaches and whose economy depends on tourism.

"The coastal ecosystem of northeastern Brazil is very fragile, with mangroves, rocky coves and coral reefs," Maria Christina Araujo, an oceanographer at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, told AFP.

"In the mangrove, an environment with exceptional biodiversity, it is virtually impossible to remove oil. The damage could be irreparable and the ecosystems will take years to recover."

She also warned that the spills could harm the region's economy.

"We can already see that tourists no longer want to go to the beaches," Araujo said.

- Ecosystems at risk -

On Saturday, Bolsonaro ordered a swift investigation to "establish the causes and determine the responsibilities" for the spilled oil. The federal police announced last week that they were investigating the spills as an "environmental crime."

On Monday evening, Bolsonaro said Brazilian authorities had identified a country that the oil could have come from, but he did not name it.

Citing a confidential report, the daily Folha de Sao Paulo revealed that analysis by Petrobras showed the oil could have come from Venezuela.

But Bolsonaro refrained from singling out Brazil's South American neighbor.

Bolsonaro has been a vocal critic of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and relations between the two countries are strained.

Bolsonaro has also lashed out at international critics who blamed him for massive forest fires in the Amazon basin in August and a broader failure to protect the world's largest tropical forest.

Regardless of the source of the oil pollution, the government did not respond to the situation until last week.

"The government took too much time in reacting," said biologist Mario Moscatelli, who said coastal ecosystems -- the beaches, mangroves and coral reefs -- are particularly vulnerable to oil spills.

"It's fundamental that those responsible be identified and that they pay for the damage, environmental as well as economic," he said.

"Without a firm reaction, this kind of episode could happen again," he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Brazil bans burning for 2 months to defuse Amazon crisis

PORTO VELHO, Brazil- Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree Wednesday to ban burning throughout the country for 2 months, government sources cited in local media said, as authorities scramble to defuse the Amazon fires which have triggered a global outcry.

The blazes that have engulfed parts of the world's largest rainforest -- which is crucial for maintaining a stable global climate -- have also sparked a diplomatic spat between Brazil and Europe that threatens to torpedo a major trade deal.

The decree, which will be officially published on Thursday, prohibits any burning for the next 60 days, barring some exceptions in cases of approved agricultural and forestry practices, media reports said.

It comes as Bolsonaro's renewed demand that French leader Emmanuel Macron withdraw "insults" against him cast doubt on whether Brazil would accept the G7's offer of $20 million to help combat the fires.


Bolsonaro initially rejected the G7's offer, saying on Tuesday that he would be willing to accept it only if Macron withdrew his "insults," before appearing to change his mind to say Brazil would accept foreign aid on the condition that it controlled the money.

But later on Wednesday, the South American leader fired a fresh salvo.

"Only after he withdraws what he said... we can talk again," Bolsonaro told reporters Wednesday, referring to Macron.

He also accused France and Germany of "buying" the Latin American country's sovereignty with Amazon fire aid.

"It seems that $20 million is our price. Brazil doesn't have a price of 20 million or 20 trillion -- it's the same thing for us," he said.

Macron has accused Bolsonaro of lying to him about his commitments on climate change and vowed to block the EU-Mercosur trade deal involving Brazil that took decades to negotiate.

An aide to President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US was ready to assist with the Amazon crisis, but only if it involved the Brazilian government.

"We didn't agree to a G7 initiative that failed to include consultations w/ @jairbolsonaro . The most constructive way to assist w/ Brazil's ongoing efforts is in coordination w/ the Brazilian Gov," National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis tweeted late Wednesday.

Bolsonaro's latest remarks make him and his government appear "increasingly unhinged," said Robert Muggah, from a Rio de Janeiro think tank, the Igarape Institute.

"There don't appear to be any adults left in the room with the ability or inclination to restrain his worst impulses," Muggah said. 

NO LIARS

On Monday, Macron rebuked the "extraordinarily rude" Bolsonaro after the Brazilian leader personally expressed approval for a supporter's Facebook post implying that Brigitte Macron was not as attractive as his own wife, Michelle Bolsonaro.

The Brazilian leader has since removed the comment from social media to avoid misinterpretation, his spokesman Otavio Rego Barros told reporters Wednesday.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao -- widely considered to be a moderate voice in Bolsonaro's government -- also weighed in publicly for the first time.

In an opinion piece published in the conservative Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, Mourao criticized an "international campaign" against Brazil and said the country "does not lie and nor does its president, its government and its institutions."

Bolsonaro said Brazil would accept bilateral aid to fight the fires, saying yes to Chile's offer of four aircraft. 

"We all love the Amazon, but the nine Amazon countries... have sovereignty" over it, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera said.

The outcry over the fires has alarmed industries in Latin America's largest economy. They fear potential boycotts of their products.

Global brands have threatened to suspend leather purchases from Brazil over the country's environmental policies, according to a document sent by the Brazil Tanneries Industry Center to the government.

Fires are also ravaging neighboring Bolivia where President Evo Morales and his rival in upcoming elections have suspended campaigning to deal with the blazes.

Bolsonaro on Wednesday supported Peru and Colombia's proposal for an emergency Amazon summit in September so regional countries could coordinate a strategy to protect the vast rainforest.

The latest official figures show 1,044 new fires were started Monday and Tuesday, taking the total this year to 83,329 -- the highest since 2010 -- even as military aircraft and troops help battle the blazes.

More than half of the fires are in the massive Amazon basin.

In the hard-hit northwestern state of Rondonia, thick smoke has choked the capital Porto Velho as fires blacken swaths of the rainforest. 

But the defense ministry insists the fires are under control. It has published satellite data it says show a reduction in the number of blazes in the nine states spanning the Amazon.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Brazilian women must be ashamed of Bolsonaro for mocking my wife, says Macron

BIARRITZ, France - Brazilian women are probably ashamed of President Jair Bolsonaro, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, hitting back after the Brazilian leader mocked Macron's wife on Facebook.

The leaders have been feuding in recent weeks, with Macron blaming Bolsonaro for fires in the Amazon and accusing him of lying about climate change policy.

Bolsonaro responded on Sunday to a Facebook post that compared the looks of his wife Michelle, 37, with Macron's 66-year-old wife Brigitte.

"Do not humiliate the man hahahah," Bolsonaro wrote, in a comment widely criticized as sexist.

Asked about the incident at a news conference in Biarritz where G7 leaders are gathered for a summit, Macron said the comments were "extremely disrespectful" to his wife.

"It's sad, it's sad first of all for him and for Brazilians," Macron said. "Brazilian women are probably feeling ashamed of their president."

"Since I have a lot of esteem and respect for the people of Brazil, I hope they will very soon have a president who is up to the job," Macron added.

Later on Monday, Bolsonaro denounced Macron's plan for an international alliance to protect the Amazon, saying on Twitter that it would treat Brazil like a colony.

Brazil was angered after Macron, in the run up to the G7 summit, tweeted a photo of the burning Amazon forest, writing: "Our house is burning. Literally." Macron said he had been lied to by Bolsonaro over his commitments to fighting climate change.

In July, Bolsonaro cancelled a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian - getting a haircut instead.

Since taking office in January, Bolsonaro has railed against the enforcement of environmental regulations in Brazil and announced intentions to develop the Amazon region, where deforestation of the world's largest rainforest by loggers, ranchers and speculators has surged this year. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Amazon burning: Brazil reports record forest fires

BRASILIA - Wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest have hit a record number this year, with 72,843 fires detected so far by Brazil's space research center INPE, as concerns grow over right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro's environmental policy.

The surge marks an 83 percent increase over the same period of 2018, the agency said on Tuesday, and is the highest since records began in 2013.

Since Thursday, INPE said satellite images spotted 9,507 new forest fires in the country, mostly in the Amazon basin, home to the world's largest tropical forest seen as vital to countering global warming.

Images show the northernmost state of Roraima covered in dark smoke. Amazonas declared an emergency in the south of the state and in its capital Manaus on Aug. 9. Acre, on the border with Peru, has been on environmental alert since Friday due to the fires.

Wildfires have increased in Mato Grosso and Para, two states where Brazil's agricultural frontier has pushed into the Amazon basin and spurred deforestation. Wildfires are common in the dry season, but are also deliberately set by farmers illegally deforesting land for cattle ranching.

The unprecedented surge in wildfires has occurred since Bolsonaro took office in January vowing to develop the Amazon region for farming and mining, ignoring international concern over increased deforestation.

Asked about the spread of uncontrolled fires, Bolsonaro brushed off criticism, saying it was the time of the year of the "queimada" or burn, when farmers use fire to clear land.

"I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame. But it is the season of the queimada," he told reporters.

Space agency INPE, however, said the large number of wildfires could not be attributed to the dry season or natural phenomena alone.

"There is nothing abnormal about the climate this year or the rainfall in the Amazon region, which is just a little below average," said INPE researcher Alberto Setzer.

People frequently blame the dry season for the wildfires in the Amazon, but that is not quite accurate, he said.

"The dry season creates the favorable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident," Setzer said.

Bolsonaro recently fired the director of INPE after he criticized agency statistics showing an increase in deforestation in Brazil, saying they were inaccurate.

"I am waiting for the next set of numbers, that will not be made up numbers. If they are alarming, I will take notice of them in front of you," he told reporters.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Brazil president shocked by high number of penis amputations

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday expressed horror over the 1,000 penis amputations that occur each year in the country including those due to a lack of basic hygiene, a figure he called “ridiculous and sad.”

Speaking with reporters in Brasilia after visiting the Education Ministry, the former army captain despaired at the number and said his government must work with vulnerable men to make them more aware of the dangers of unhygienic behavior.

“In Brazil, we have 1,000 penis amputations a year due to a lack of water and soap,” he said. “We have to find a way to get out of the bottom of this hole.”

Bolsonaro did not specify the source of the number. A spokeswoman for the Brazilian urology society said the figure is based on official data for penis amputations.

The society said the amputations were necessitated by untreatable infections along with cancers and complications from HIV.

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Brazil president suffers suspected pneumonia: doctors

SAO PAULO - Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro had a fever and possible pneumonia, his doctors said Thursday, 10 days after the far-right leader underwent surgery on the stomach wound he suffered when stabbed last year.

The 63-year-old remains in semi-intensive care in Sao Paulo following a procedure to remove his colostomy bag and reconnect the bowel.

"Last night he had a fever (and) was subjected to a CT scan of the chest and abdomen that showed good intestinal evolution" as well as "an image consistent with pneumonia," Bolsonaro's doctors said in their daily medical bulletin.

The president's spokesman, Otavio do Rego Barros, said the image "confirmed the possibility of pneumonia" but added that doctors "didn't seem more worried" than before.

"Beware of sensationalism," said Bolsonaro in a tweet, while he held up his thumb in a picture also posted to Twitter.

The former army captain is a prolific user of social media, where he conducted large portions of his successful presidential campaign last year.

"We're very calm, well and we're staying the course," he wrote.

Bolsonaro's sons have also been active on social media, posting positive updates on their father's health.

The president was due to leave hospital this week but still hasn't resumed eating normally and continues to be fed intravenously.

He underwent an operation on January 28, his third since the knife attack, to reconnect his bowel so he could resume natural waste evacuation.

It took twice as long as the three to four hours expected due to a number of complications.

Since then he's had several fevers as well as suffered from nausea and vomiting, and has been fitted with a nasogastric tube, a drain and has been given antibiotics.

Officially, Bolsonaro has continued to run the country from his hospital bed.

pt/bc/ft

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Brazil dam collapses: 200 missing, deaths feared

A dam collapse in southeast Brazil unleashed a torrent of mud on a riverside town and surrounding farmland Friday, destroying houses, leaving 200 people missing and raising fears of a number of deaths, according to officials.

President Jair Bolsonaro was to visit the affected zone, around the town of Brumadinho which is located near the city of Belo Horizonte, on Saturday, a government spokesman said.

His government, facing its first big emergency since taking office in the new year, set up urgent coordination between the defense, environment and mining ministries to bolster operations by the state of Minas Gerais.

Access to Brumaldinho -- population 39,000 -- was difficult after the mud cut across roads, hampering officials' ability to determine the scope and gravity of the disaster.

A fire service official told AFP initial accounts received indicated "there were several deaths."

In the statement, the fire service said it confirmed "the disappearance of approximately 200 people."

- People stuck in mud -

Television images showed helicopters being used to rescue people stuck in mud, and a wide swath of destruction carved through vegetation and farmland, in which damaged and destroyed houses were dotted.

Four people were taken to hospital and were in a stable condition.

A separate statement by the environment ministry said that "the initial preoccupation of the federal government is the rescue of victims, giving support to the region, and protecting water-catchment areas."

The dam belonged to Brazil's giant mining company Vale, which confirmed its collapse and said "the total priority is to protect the lives of employees and inhabitants."

It did not say what caused the collapse.

Shares in Vale fell around 10 percent in New York trading. The Sao Paulo stock market was closed Friday for a holiday.

Bolsonaro, in an interview with Brumadinho's Radio Regional FM, said he "deeply regretted" the dam collapse, which "is possibly more serious than thought" because it might have swept away Vale workers.

Friday's disaster recalled trauma from a 2015 dam break in a different part of the same state of Minas Gerais, in Mariana, in which 19 people died. 

That accident three years ago released millions of tons of toxic iron waste along hundreds of kilometers (miles), causing what is considered the country's worst environmental disaster. Vale was joint operator of that dam, along with the Anglo-Australian group BHP.

- Evacuations -

An emergency team from the Ibama environmental protection agency had been dispatched to the zone impacted by Friday's dam collapse to determine the damage, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles told the G1 news website. He was to visit Brumaldinho late Friday.

Ibama estimated that the collapse had released a million tons of water and mud, according to the Estadao newspaper.

An AFP photographer said police had blocked access roads to Brumadinho.

Civil defense officials said people living in low-lying areas in the town had been evacuated.

Brumadinho's municipality issued an alert on social media warning residents to move away from the Paraopeba river that the dam had been holding back.

The town is best known to tourists for Inhotim, an outdoor contemporary art museum, which was evacuated as a precaution. The venue receives 35,000 visitors a month.

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Far-right Bolsonaro wins Brazil presidential race

BRASILIA - Far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, riding a wave of frustration over corruption and crime that brought a dramatic swing to the right in the world's fourth-largest democracy.

With 94 percent of ballots counted, Bolsonaro had 56 percent of the votes in the run-off election against left-wing hopeful Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT), who had 44 percent, according to the electoral authority TSE.

"We cannot continue flirting with communism ... We are going to change the destiny of Brazil," Bolsonaro said in an acceptance address in which he vowed to carry out his campaign promises to stamp out corruption after years of leftist rule.

The former army captain's rise has been propelled by rejection of the leftist PT that ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and was ousted two years ago in the midst of a deep recession and political graft scandal.

Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters cheered and set off fireworks outside his home in Rio de Janeiro's Barra de Tijuca beachfront neighborhood as his victory was announced. In Brazil's commercial capital of Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro's win was greeted with fireworks and the honking of car horns.

"Brazil is partying. Brazil's good people are celebrating," said Carmen Flores, local president of Bolsonaro's PSL party.

The vote had been calm and orderly across the country, said Laura Chinchilla, the former president of Costa Rica who is head of the Organization of American States' Electoral Observation Mission. Brazil has suffered a spate of partisan violence during the polarized campaign.

Many Brazilians are concerned that Bolsonaro, an admirer of Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship and a defender of its use of torture on leftist opponents, will trample on human rights, curtail civil liberties and muzzle freedom of speech.

The 63-year-old seven-term congressman has vowed to crack down on crime in Brazil's cities and farm belt by granting police more autonomy to shoot at criminals. He also wants to let more Brazilians buy weapons to fight crime.

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Brazil presidential candidate in serious condition after stabbing

BRASILIA - Brazil's front-running far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen while campaigning on Thursday, and is in serious condition and undergoing surgery, his son and a hospital spokeswoman said.

Flavio Bolsonaro, the candidate's son, wrote on his verified Twitter account that "sadly, it was more serious that we had hoped for."

"The perforation reached part of his liver, lung and intestine," Flavio Bolsonaro wrote. "He lost a lot of blood, arrived at the hospital ... almost dead. He appears to have stabilized now. Please pray!"

A hospital spokeswoman in the city of Juiz de Fora in Minas Gerais state, where the attack took place, confirmed to Reuters that Bolsonaro was undergoing surgery but provided no details on his state nor his wounds.

The attack on Bolsonaro is a dramatic twist in what is already Brazil's most unpredictable election since the country's return to democracy three decades ago. Corruption investigations have jailed scores of powerful businessmen and politicians, and alienated infuriated voters.

The Federal Police said in a statement that it had officers escorting Bolsonaro at the time of the knife attack and the "aggressor" was caught in the act. It said the circumstances were being investigated.

Local police in Juiz de Fora confirmed to Reuters that a suspect was in custody, but they did not identify him.

"We do not know if it was politically motivated," Corporal Vitor Albuquerque, a spokesman for the local police, said by telephone.

TV images show Bolsonaro being carried on someone's shoulders in the middle of a crushing crowd of cheering supporters on one of the city's main streets when a knife was seen raised above heads just before it plunged into the candidate's body.

The pictures show Bolsonaro appearing to scream in pain, then falling backward into the arms of those around him. It took a few moments for the crowd to realize what occurred, but they quickly rushed the candidate out of the street.

Bolsonaro, who has spent nearly three decades in Congress, is a law-and-order candidate who routinely says that Brazilian police should kill suspected drug traffickers and other criminals at will. He has openly praised Brazil's military dictatorship and in the past said it should have killed more people.

Bolsonaro faces trial before the Supreme Court for speech that prosecutors said incited hate and rape. He has called the charges politically motivated.

Fernando Haddad, who will likely be the leftist Workers Party presidential candidate, said the stabbing was a "shame" and a "horror."

President Michel Temer and Bolsonaro's electoral rivals Ciro Gomes, Marina Silva, and Geraldo Alckim all expressed outrage at the attack.

Brazil's stocks and currency extended gains after the stabbing as traders bet the incident could boost support for Bolsonaro, who has tapped a University of Chicago-trained banker as his main economic adviser.

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