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Source: Unleashed.news If China secures the CopiaPort-E project, it would turbocharge Beijing’s trade in South America—not only enabling CHINAMAX megaships, but allowing all shipping to completely bypass U.S.-controlled chokepoints and dominate hemispheric commerce virtually overnight. A geopolitical storm is brewing on the western edge of South America—and the United States cannot afford to look away. At the heart of it all lies a deep-water mega-port project in Chile’s Atacama Desert: CopiaPort-E, a port so naturally engineered by geography itself that it could become either America’s greatest commercial and strategic opportunity, or China’s most dangerous economic beachhead south of our border....

A Brazilian comedian said a judge took issue with his Wikipedia page when she handed down an eight-year prison sentence. Comedian Leo Lins, whose full name is Leonardo de Lima Borges Lins, was about three years removed from his comedy special when Judge Barbara de Lima Iseppi ruled the comedian made "discriminatory" remarks while on stage. The comments the judge made during her ruling have been perceived as "power-hungry" by other comedians, who expressed shock at their compatriot's conviction. Lins' 2022 special "Disturbing," or "Perturbador" in Portuguese, was ordered to be taken down from the internet by the Brazilian government...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attempted to purchase weapons from Brazil for the Ukrainian military to continue the conflict with Russia, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated, APA reports citing TASS. He added that the Brazilian government will not sell arms to countries that seek to kill Russian citizens. "I remember that [German] Prime Minister Olaf Scholz visited us on January 30, 2023, and tried to buy Brazilian weapons to hand over to Ukraine," Lula da Silva said during a press conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, broadcast on the Brazilian government's YouTube channel. "I will not sell...

A court has sentenced comedian Leo Lins to more than eight years in prison for inciting intolerance through a stand-up performance viewed by over three million people on YouTube. On Tuesday 3 June, Brazilian comedian Leo Lins was sentenced to over eight years in prison for making discriminatory remarks in a stand-up routine that targeted a wide range of minority groups — including black people, obese individuals, elderly people, those living with HIV, homosexuals, evangelicals, Indigenous communities, people from the impoverished northeast of Brazil, Jews, and people with disabilities. The federal court in São Paulo ruled that the right to...

Sacyr Vallehermoso, a Madrid based Spanish construction firm, has expressed interest to lead the construction of the Agua Negra tunnel, a project that aims to build a highway that crosses over the Chile-Argentina border, connecting the San Juan province in Argentina to Coquimbo in Chile. The project’s high profile comes from its ambitiousness. The tunnel in question is planned to go for nearly 8.6 miles and will be built in complicated conditions under the Andean mountains. It comes as part of a Mercosur integration process, and will be part of the highway that traverses the continent, from Coquimbo in Chile...

The Marubo Tribe of Brazil’s Amazon has filed a defamation lawsuit in Los Angeles against The New York Times, alleging its coverage of the tribe’s first internet access portrayed them as tech-addicted and obsessed with pornography, according to the New York Post. The suit, seeking hundreds of millions in damages, also names TMZ and Yahoo for amplifying and sensationalizing the story. The article “portrayed the Marubo people as a community unable to handle basic exposure to the internet, highlighting allegations that their youth had become consumed by pornography.”

An Indigenous tribe from the Brazilian Amazon has sued The New York Times, saying the newspaper’s reporting on the tribe’s first exposure to the internet led to its members being widely portrayed as technology-addled and addicted to pornography. The Marubo Tribe of the Javari Valley, a sovereign community of about 2,000 people in the rainforest, filed the defamation lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages this week in a court in Los Angeles. It also names TMZ and Yahoo as defendants, alleging that their stories amplified and sensationalized the Times’ reporting and smeared the tribe in the process....

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese authorities decided to form the strategic alliance for defense, trade and energy. Russia will deliver oil to China and China will collaborate with Russia in Geopolitical strategic defense of Euresia. Russia's Security Council and the Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo will form a forum and will work closely to make sure both countries can create and maintain the necessary military and political infrastructure as well as coordination. According to some international think tanks, sources close to Russia's Security Council say recommending countermeasures to check the U.S. geopolitical "offensive" in Eurasia...

A South American airline issued a memo to its employees Monday to be on the lookout for a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was resettled in Uruguay after being freed by the U.S. and has since vanished. *snip* The alert about Syrian native Abu Wa’el Dhiab adds to a growing mystery about his whereabouts. The Uruguayan authorities have insisted for weeks that he’s visiting neighboring Brazil and that as a refugee he is entitled to leave Uruguay. However, Brazilian authorities have said there is no record of Dhiab entering the country.

A large electrical failure created a blackout in Argentina and Uruguay on Sunday, leaving both countries without power. Areas of Brazil and Paraguay were also impacted by the outage, which happened just after 7:00 a.m. according to the BBC. A massive failure in the electrical interconnection system left all of Argentina and Uruguay without power," electricity supply company, Edesur said in a tweet. The blackout occurred as people were getting ready to head to the polls for local elections in Argentina. It's not clear how the blackout will impact the voting process. Alejandra Martinez, an Edesur spokeswoman, described the blackout...

Abdala Rada Ramel has close ties to Salman Raouf Salman, who has been also accused of an important role in the AMIA bombing attack The "clans" consist of groups of Lebanese origin who exert control over given territories in South America - and enable Hezbollah All three clans are strategically positioned close to the most important ports of Venezuela, from which they doubtless oversee the trade and handling of goods that in turn allows Hezbollah to profit Assad Ahmad Barakat is accused of having been involved in the AMIA bomb attack and operating call centers and shell companies on behalf...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday spoke to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone and asked him to attend this week's talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, Lula's office said in a statement. Lula "emphasized Brazil's commitment to peace and once again made himself available to collaborate in whatever way necessary in the search for understanding between Russia and Ukraine," the statement said.

Mariangela Hungria, a microbiologist in Brazil, spent decades looking for bacteria in the soil that could act like fertilizer, boosting farmers' harvests. But she faced a lot of skepticism. "When I started my career, everybody was like, 'You're crazy! You will never succeed. This will never be possible,'" she recalls. Today, her work was rewarded with the World Food Prize, which recognizes advances in agriculture and nutrition. Bestowed by the World Food Prize Foundation since 1987, it comes with a cash award of $500,000. Hungria has spent her entire career as a scientist with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA),...

This July, leaders from across the globe will converge on Rio de Janeiro for what may be the most consequential BRICS summit to date. The stakes are high and the implications global. What was once a modest economic club of emerging nations has transformed into a powerful bloc capable of redefining global power structures. And with a growing list of countries formally applying to join BRICS–and even more expressing interest–it’s clear the world is no longer content to revolve around Washington, Brussels, or London.

Leftist theologian attacks late pontiffMUNICH (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Marxist philosopher and dissident ex-priest is denigrating the theological legacy of Pope Benedict XVI. On Tuesday, the German magazine Publik-Forum published an article by Brazilian Liberation Theology proponent Leonardo Boff, who shared his Marxist perception of the late Pontiff. Boff declared that Benedict "proved to be the enemy of the friends of the poor." He berated the pope emeritus for focusing too heavily on traditional theology and not enthusiastically embracing Marxist theory. The laicized Brazilian has a long history of conflicts with Pope Benedict XVI, going back decades to when Benedict was...

Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected pope and will be known as Pope Leo XIV. The 69-year-old is the first American to become a pontiff and will lead members of the Catholic Church's global community of 1.4bn people. Born in Chicago, he is seen as a reformer and worked for many years as a missionary in Peru before being made an archbishop there. He also has Peruvian nationality and is fondly remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities and helped build bridges in the local Church. Why do popes choose different names? One of the first acts of...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies and sweeping tariffs, saying they harm multilateralism as he met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow. -snip- "The latest decisions by the U.S. president to unilaterally put tariffs on trade with all countries in the world undermine the great idea of free trade and strengthening multilateralism," Lula said during a bilateral meeting with Putin. The leftist leader said he intends to strengthen Brazil's strategic partnership with Russia, citing "political, commercial, cultural, scientific and technological interests" as he sees room to increase trade.

A mere three days after he was discharged rom the hospital after a VERY complex surgery because of complications from the knife stabbing he suffered in 2018, Jair Bolsonaro is leading tens of thousands of citizens in a demonstration pro-Amnesty for those falsely accused of a ‘coup d’état’. Socialist President Lula da Silva is in Moscow for the Victory Day Celebration – but even if he was in the country, unpopular Lula could never assemble a crowd like that. ... Bolsonaro may be about to rejoin the presidential race for next year’s election, attempting a historical comeback Donald J. Trump-style....

Zelayistas and journalists are deserting the sinking ship of the Brazilian Embassy. Yesterday, Salvadoran Padre Andrés Tamayo left. Deserters are escorted away by police and, I believe, are examined by doctors prior to release, which seems a wise move so that false accusations of ill effects from death rays, toxic gases, mind control radiation and whatever else they dream up cannot be claimed later. In one photo of a Zelaya follower telling a doctor about his symptoms, a Brazilian blogger notes with humor the skepticism in the face of a journalist (in the blue shirt) standing by watching. The fact...

Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying Honduras' top prosecutor, but neither he nor his bodyguards were harmed, police said Sunday. Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi was riding on a northern highway when assailants opened fire Saturday night. Cerrato said no one was hurt. One car was damaged. He did not give a motive for the attack or say whether it was related to Honduras' four-month political crisis. But he speculated the attack could be an attempt to "provoke unease in the country." After the June coup, it was Rubi who filed criminal charges against ousted President...