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Mexican military officials said they rescued 189 undocumented immigrants from a Reynosa stash house during a Sunday night raid. An anonymous tip reportedly led authorities to a home off Calles Doctor Plata and Rio Purificacion in the Colonia Doctores. Mexico's El Universal newspaper reported that officials found 157 men and 32 women inside the house around 11 p.m. Sunday. The newspaper said the immigrants were all from Brazil and Central America. Many of the immigrants told investigators reported that had paid as much of $1,500 to be smuggled into the United States. El Universal reported that it took some of...

Brazlian oil giant Petrobras expects to expand its investment in 2009 despite postponing the evaluation of its business plan due to the plunge in oil prices, which has raised doubts about the viability of some projects, CEO Jose Sergio Gabrielli said here Monday. "All the new projects are under review. We decided to not approve the plan because of the uncertainty created by the gigantic drop in the price of petroleum in recent months, and because the supply chain is slower to adjust its prices," Gabrielli said during a breakfast with reporters. Despite the volatility on the oil market, Petrobras...

Latin America: Barack Obama hasn't even assumed the presidency, but already he's getting his marching orders from a slew of hostile leftist regimes to our south. This is a sign of trouble.In principle, a consortium of 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries trying to solve the region's problems without the U.S. is a fine idea. But at a new summit in Brazil, participants couldn't get the U.S. off their minds. The financial crisis, the falling price of oil and the pickle in which the worst-managed economies in the region now find themselves blurred distinctions between democratic and authoritarian regimes, all...

The Brazilian government likely will cancel the suspended eighth-round auction of oil and natural concessions, the O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper reported in Tuesday's edition. According to the report, the government likely will transfer the blocks up for bids in the eighth-round auction to a new regulatory model currently under discussion. Possible changes to Brazil's oil law likely will give the government a direct stake in exploration and production blocks. An unnamed source close to the situation told the newspaper that the government has no interest in restarting the auction under the current concession rules. The government wants to...

General Motors to Invest $1 Billion in Brazil Operations -- Money to Come from U.S. Rescue Program By Russ DallenLatin American Herald Tribune staff General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker. According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012." "It wouldn't be...

Diede Silva dos Santos, 24, is a worker trained for 7 different skills in the Ford Camacari plant. When I read this story, it occurred to me if I were CEO of Ford, I would be tempted to tell Washington to keep their money.  I would just phase out North American operations, move to Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro and operate Ford as an international automaker without a presence in the USA.  My life and the profitability and health of the comany would be stronger and simpler.  Life is not that easy, but surely it has crossed the minds of senior management at Ford. As...

Catholic Archbishop Denounces Tactics of the Homosexual Movement Written by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo    Friday, September 26 2008 In an articulate and courageous September 19 statement, the Catholic archbishop of Paraiba, Brazil reiterated the perennial doctrine of the Church against homosexual practice and same-sex "marriage." Archbishop Aldo di Cillo Pagotto denounced what he called the "missionaries of the homosexual cause," who seek to impose ostensible homosexual practice on society by creating a "crime of homophobia that must be penalized as discrimination."[1] Homosexual Union Against the Nature of Marriage Archbishop Pagotto begins his statement by showing how neither Brazilian civil...

This is the Tale of Two Fords: One saddled with an anti-capitalist, industry-killing, bailout-needing union; the other in a capitalist free market. Video More . . .

Rio de Janeiro - More than 180 miles off Brazil's coast, trapped under a few miles of water, rock, and salt, lie billions of barrels of light, sweet crude – the largest discovery of oil in the Western Hemisphere in a generation. Accessing it will require some of the most advanced technology on the planet. But Brazil, once a heavy importer that celebrated its "oil independence" only two years ago, is uniquely positioned to extract reserves trapped millions of years ago when South America and Africa began to separate. The state-controlled oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), says it will begin...

We got dozens of emails yesterday to Nealz Nuze saying that I must see this video about a Ford plant. Okay you are probably thinking "big deal, Boortz." But if you watch the video it explains how Ford has created a new, innovative manufacturing plant that streamlines production and makes operations much more efficient. They can make 5 different types of vehicles at this plant. It does this by allowing Ford suppliers to be integrated into the assembly line process. So the suppliers making the seats, the dashboards, the fuel systems ... they have assembly lines right inside the Ford...

<p>General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker.</p> <p>According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012."</p>

Ford production off shore.

Three US governors join forces with Indonesia and Brazil to keep carbon locked up in endangered tropical forests Though it didn't seems to make an enormous splash in the press, the deal reached this week between three US states, Indonesia and Brazil seems like a fairly big deal in terms of rainforest protection. The agreement was brokered at the climate summit convened by California's ecosavvy governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Along with fellow governors from Illinois and Wisconsin, Schwarzenegger signed an agreement that could see carbon credits earned from forest protection in Indonesia or Brazil incorporated into US emissions trading schemes. Partly,...

GM to invest $1B [of your money] in Brazil Sao Paulo – General Motors Brazil wants to invest $1 billion in the country to avoid the same problems that plague its parent company in the United States because of the financial crisis, according to press reports [in South America]. According to Jaime Ardila, president of GM Brasil-Mercosur, the resources will come with the financial bailout package that the manufacturer will receive from the United States government, and will be used to “complete the renovation of the product line until 2012”. “It would be illogical to remove investments where there is...

It is suspected that the man had traded heavily in stocks that had plummeted on the Brazilian Stock Exchange and this may have been the trigger for the shooting.

Only an amateur or unethical competition would embedd malicious links at the Embassy of Brazil in India's site, referencing their online community. With the chances of an Embassy involvement into the fake antivirus software industry close to zero, let's assess the attack Posted by at Thursday, November 13, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC, November 12, 2008 (ENS) - When the leaders of the G20 countries gather in Washington this weekend for a special summit on the global financial crisis, pressure will be on to seek solutions in the growth of a new green economy. Today in Washington, Gary Gardner and Michael Renner, senior researchers with the environmental research organization Worldwatch Institute, issued a detailed proposal that they hope will focus the attention of the G20 leaders on what they are calling a "Global Green Deal." "The challenge for global political leadership, including U.S. President-elect [Barack] Obama, is not merely to kickstart...

A Brazilian woman has died after being struck by her husband's coffin when the hearse they were travelling in was involved in a car crash. The 67-year-old woman was on the way to the cemetery to bury her husband, who had died the day before. The hearse was struck from behind by an Alfa Romeo car, police said. The coffin slammed into the head of the woman, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the hearse, killing her instantly, according to officers. ........................ Following the accident, the driver of the Alfa Romeo was trapped for around 50 minutes in...

Brazil's President and former labor union leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, called on the world to put an end to the current dominance of United States in the world financial system. He wants the world to adopt a new system that will be run by the G20 nations, and discard the G7 all together. The Brazilian Finance Minister, Guido Mantega, said "We refuse to take part in the G7 merely to drink coffee and we have to have a more important role in discussions". Ultimately, Brazil envisions, "a pact between governments to build a new financial architecture for the...

America seems to be asleep at the wheel once again: Brazil and Iran agree to take relationship to a new level. Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, "Iran affords South America major priority in its foreign policy and Brazil enjoys a special position in this respect.” While Brazil's counterpart, Mr. Amorim, said their meeting was a "turning point" that would lead to a new level of cooperation when the two President's meet in Tehran. Brazil's "special position" is in two areas: oil, and uranium. Brazil's decision to turn down an OPEC invitation in September was good. But with the price...

The Brazilian Central Bank is negotiating possible loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve with the intention of using the money to help stabilize the local foreign exchange market, local newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported Thursday. The newspaper did not reveal its sources. Contacted by Dow Jones Newswires, central bank officials were not immediately available for comment. According to the newspaper, the intention of the central bank is to use loan dollars provided by the Fed in order to inject dollars into the local forex market, and thereby preserve Brazil's foreign currency reserves. Brazil's foreign currency reserves totaled $201.5 billion...

In September, the average oil production of Petrobras' fields in Brazil set the monthly record of 1,897,563 barrels/day, surpassing the volume extracted in the previous month by 12.400 barrels, or 1%. Compared to a year ago, the increase was 7.26%. The natural gas production in Brazil was up 24% over last year, and remained at the same level as in August 2008. Adding the volumes produced in the domestic fields and the company's performance in the nine countries where it has production operations, the total average volume of oil and gas extracted by Petrobras in September topped-out at 2,450,610 barrels...

EDINBURG -- A judge is scheduled to arraign two illegal immigrants accused of killing a Mission man earlier this month. Enedelia Canalies, 19, and Julissa Gonzalez, 23, both of Mexico, are accused of killing Juan Antonio Morales. They'll appear before a justice of the peace at 3 p.m., according to a release from the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff's deputies are also seeking to question Eduardo Leme de Oliveira, a 37-year-old Brazilian national, in connection with the killing. Morales was discovered dead outside his vehicle parked near Mile 3 North and Schuerbach roads earlier this month. He was shot several...

The leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa have criticized rich countries for failing to act quickly to prevent the global financial meltdown. At a summit in New Delhi, they urged Western nations to manage the crisis in a manner that will not hurt their developing economies. Anjana Pasricha has a report from the Indian capital. After the leaders of India, South Africa and Brazil wrapped up a summit in New Delhi Wednesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed fears that developing countries will not escape if the West is hit by a deep recession triggered by the...

Recent photos of an "uncontacted tribe" of Indians near the Brazil-Peru border have sparked media reports of a hoax, but the organization that released the images defends its claims and actions. The photographs, which showed men painted red and black and aiming arrows skyward, were released in late May by Survival International, a London-based organization that advocates for tribal people worldwide. The release stated that "members of one of the world's last uncontacted tribes have been spotted and photographed from the air,"

Four miles under the ocean's surface off Brazil's lush coast lie billions of barrels of recently discovered light crude — a treasure that could transform the country into an oil superpower. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called it "a gift from God" and pledged to end chronic poverty and narrow the country's broad gap between the rich and the poor.

Brazil bans Chinese food products 10/08/2008 | 02:56 AM BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil says it is indefinitely banning all Chinese food imports due to safety concerns. Brazil's food safety officials say Tuesday they are acting in light of the four Chinese children killed and 54,000 sickened by contaminated milk products. The milk crisis is China has led nations around the globe to ban or recall Chinese products. The ban will have little effect on the food supply in Brazil, which imported just US$120 million in food products from China last year.

Russia and Brazil crumble as commodity prices crash The entire complex of commodities and emerging market stocks, bonds, and currencies is now in free-fall as the economic crisis spreads like brushfire, threatening to draw every corner of the globe into the vortex of recession. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Last Updated: 7:00AM BST 07 Oct 2008 Oil, grains, and industrial metals all crumbled as the week began despite the passage of the Paulson bail-out plan in Washington and dramatic moves by European governments to shore up their banking systems, compounding the steepest commodity crash in over half a century. The big exception...

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Maybe they should have tried "John McCain." At least eight "Barack Obamas" who borrowed the Democratic presidential candidate's name to run in Brazilian local elections lost.

US encourages Brazil to buy F-18 fighter jets By ALAN CLENDENNING – 8 hours ago SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — The U.S. Embassy said Thursday that it is encouraging Brazil to buy Boeing-built F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets — one of three models selected by Latin America's largest nation as finalists for a fleet revamp. The embassy declined comment on whether a deal would include technology transfer — a key demand by Brazil's government as it upgrades its armed forces. But its statement said the "U.S. regards Brazil as a key strategic partner and supports Brazil's program to modernize its...

A series of oil finds reported to Brazil's National Petroleum Agency on Tuesday demonstrated once again the immense promise the country holds for global oil companies. In a series of filings to the ANP, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro separately said they found oil off the coast of South America's largest country. Details about the latest discoveries were limited because of the nature of the routine filings, but the finds continued a recent string of positive discoveries offshore Brazil. Oil companies operating in Brazil are required to inform the ANP within 24 to 48 hours...

Japanese firms—including traders and car manufacturers as well as oil and gas companies—are fast stepping up their interest in Brazil's bioethanol industry. But the increased interest in, and development of, Brazil's bioethanol industry already is beginning to saturate the country's transport and export infrastructure, with more bottlenecks likely on the way. Itochu Corp. is the latest Japanese firm to enter the market, announcing plans to produce bioethanol in Brazil through an alliance with major US grain processor Bunge Ltd. The Japanese trading house has agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Agroindustrial Santa Juliana SA, a Brazilian bioethanol production firm...

Brazil is in mourning after former Vasco de Gama player Thiago da Silva was brutally tortured and murdered, allegedly by hired assassins on the orders of his ex-girlfriend. Da Silva, 25, who had been playing for second-division team Estacio de Sa Soccer Club, died in a Rio de Janeiro hospital Wednesday night, six days after being mortally shot in an attack by three men on a soccer field. According to reports from the local police, the instigator of the crime is da Silva's former girlfriend. Before he passed away, da Silva was able to tell the police that he had...

Skin painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the aircraft buzzing overhead. The gesture is unmistakable: Stay Away. Behind the two men stands another figure, possibly a woman, her stance also seemingly defiant. Her skin painted dark, nearly black. The apparent aggression shown by these people is quite understandable. For they are members of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes, who live in the Envira region in the thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian frontier. Thought never to have had any contact with the outside world, everything about these people is, and...

One of South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru. The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land. The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows. More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says. Stephen Corry, the director of the group - which supports tribal people around the world - said such tribes would "soon be made extinct" if their land was not protected. 'Monumental...

Dramatic photographs ofpreviously unfound Amazon Indians have highlighted theprecariousness of the few remaining "lost" tribes and thedangers they face from contact with outsiders. The bow-and-arrow wielding Indians in the pictures releasedon Thursday are likely the remnants of a larger tribe who wereforced deeper into the forest by encroaching settlement,experts said. Rather than being "lost", they have likely had plenty ofcontact with other indigenous groups over the years, saidThomas Lovejoy, an Amazon expert who is president of The HeinzCenter in Washington. "I think there is an ethical question whether you can inthe end keep them from any contact and I think...

<p>Welcome to Obama-mania, Brazil-style. Few countries have embraced the idea of the US's first black president as enthusiastically as Brazil, a country with one of the largest Afro-descendant populations on Earth yet where black faces remain a minority in politics. Obama T-shirts are everywhere while chat shows and newspaper columns are filled with talk of the 47-year-old Illinois senator.</p>

Barack Obama is running for mayor in Belford Roxo, a little town close to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is also trying to become a mayor and a city council member in at least five other towns around Brazil, in the Brazilian October municipal elections. Not that Barack Obama though. Thanks to the Brazilian electoral legislation, which allows candidates to choose whatever name they want to appear on the ballot, Brazilian politicians are using the high name recognition and popularity of US senator Barack Obama to advance their own political career. The Rio Obama calls himself Obama of Belford Roxo....

Petrobras' domestic monthly oil output rose to a record high in August after production was raised at two wells and another platform entered into service, Brazil's state-run energy firm said on Tuesday. Petrobras, which accounts for nearly all crude production and refining in Latin America's largest country, said it pumped an average of 1.89 million barrels per day last month, up 1 percent from 1.87 million bpd in July and above the average of 1.79 million bpd for all of 2007. Petrobras said August's output made it a record month. The firm's crude output has risen more or less steadily...

Marcelo Bordon is a powerful bear of a man. In football, people like Bordon are known as towering defenders. He is sitting in the club restaurant owned by Schalke 04, the Bundesliga (German football league) team he plays for. With his slicked-back hair, muscular upper body and tattoos, he could easily pass for a prison guard in New Jersey. Yet he speaks softly, talking about the love that helps him when he is in distress, and about the one who has always been there for him, ever since he came into his life. Bordon is referring to the Holy Spirit....

Petrobras’ Downstream Director, Paulo Roberto Costa, stated on Monday that the Company does not intend to be a major oil exporter, rather, to export derivatives of higher market value. While participating in the "Integrating Oil Refining and Petrochemicals" panel, during the 14th edition of the Rio Oil & Gas, Costa guaranteed that in 2015 the company will produce, in Brazil and abroad, more than 3,000,000 barrels per day, 50% more than the 2,000,000 it currently produces. According to the director, the refining capacity will be increased with the new units that are being built in Brazil. In the upcoming years,...

President of Chile Michelle Bachelet is trying to reconcile the positions adopted by the Presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, and Brazil, Lula da Silva, regarding the political crisis in Bolivia, according to official sources quoted on Monday by Chilean newspaper El Mercurio. Based on the report, the proposal that will be discussed by the leaders of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) will be not to intervene in the internal affairs of Bolivia and not to mention the United States.

BRASILIA (AFP) - Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg announced Tuesday that Oslo will donate up to a billion dollars to a government fund here devoted to rescuing the Amazon rain forest. < > Brazil is considered the fourth biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, 75 percent of which come from deforestation.

Excerpt - MOSCOW. Sept 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers have patrolled the eastern coast of South America, aide to Russian Air Force commander Col. Lieut. Vladimir Drik told Interfax-AVN. "The aircraft took off from the Libertador military airfield in Venezuela at 4.30 p.m. Moscow time [on September 15]. They flew over neutral waters along the eastern coast of South America in the direction of Brazil. They landed at an airfield in Venezuela at 10 p.m.," Drik said. The Alexander Molodchy and Vasily Senko bombers were in air for about six hours. The crewmembers practiced synchronization and...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao announced Friday Brazil plans to build 50 to 60 nuclear power plants in half a century, with each having capacity of 1,000 megawatts. "The general idea is to build one plant per year," he said during a visit to the construction site of Brazil's third nuclear power plant, Angra 3. The ambitious plan, a priority for the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has yet to be approved by Brazil's National Council of Energy Policy, he added. The construction of Angra 3 started in 1984,...

Brazil and Argentina are ready to stop using U.S. dollars to trade goods between them. Brazil's president tells the Buenos Aires-based Clarin newspaper that exports and imports between the two nations will be bought and sold in local currency — reals and pesos. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva did not say when the measure would take effect. Silva says the move will boost bilateral trade, which reached $US17.6 billion so far this year through July. During that time, Brazil sold more to Argentina than it bought, building a US$3 billion trade surplus.

Brazil is considering a formal invitation from Iran to join the OPEC group of oil producing nations following its recent discovery of huge offshore reserves, Energy Minister Edison Lobao said on Wednesday. Lobao said Brazil had not yet responded to the invitation that came from Iran's ambassador two weeks ago, but that he saw no obstacles to Brazil becoming a member even though it is not yet a major oil exporter. "He came to make a formal invitation. We are still evaluating," Lobao told reporters.

Brazil will spend 160 million US dollars by the end of next year on the development of a nuclear-powered submersible to protect the oil reserves found recently off its coast, said Defence minister Nelson Jobim on Friday. The vessel, which officials hope to be complete by 2020, would be the first nuclear-powered submarine in Latin America and is being developed with Brazilian technology and lately French assistance. Speaking in Rio de Janeiro Defence Minister Jobim said the upgrade includes provisions for a massive technology transfer from France, essential if Brazil hopes to have a nuclear submarine. In February, French President...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A vast region of the Amazon forest in Brazil was home to a complex of ancient towns in which about 50,000 people lived, according to scientists assisted by satellite images of the region. The scientists, whose findings were published on Thursday in the journal Science, described clusters of towns and smaller villages connected by complex road networks and housing a society doomed by the arrival of Europeans five centuries ago. < > The existence of the ancient settlements in the Upper Xingu region of the Amazon in north-central Brazil means what many experts had considered virgin tropical...

Homeschooling Showdown in Brazil: Children to be Tested by Court in Battle Over Educational Rights of Parents By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL, August 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two homeschooled children face a battery of tests this week in a showdown between the Brazilian government and a Christian family over the educational rights of parents in the South American nation. The children of Cleber and Bernadeth Nunes have already passed the entrance exams for law school at the ages of 13 and 14, but that doesn't satisfy the Brazilian government, which has been trying to force them into its...