Soldiers' occupation of 'strategic' Rio favelas shows just how far the state will go to prevent embarrassment during the World Cup Eighty days before the start of the World Cup, the Brazilian government has deployed the army to occupy one of Rio de Janeiro's largest groups of favelas . On Monday it was announced that, following a recent escalation in violence across the city, the army will soon be...
A rise in temperature in the semi-arid region of Brazil has left rivers dry and cattle dying of thirst. The search is on for initiatives to combat desertification The Brazilian semi-arid region has over the last few years experienced the worst drought in decades. According its national agency of water , this drought is increasingly proving to be major challenge for South America's largest nation....
Military deployment is expected after spate of fire-bombings, murders and attacks on police bases in city's favelas Brazil is poised to send the army into the slums of Rio de Janeiro less than three months before the World Cup following a spate of attacks on police has resulted in the most tense standoff for years in the favelas. The Rio state governor, Sérgio Cabral, has requested the reinforcements...
Captain of the Brazilian team that won the 1958 World Cup The footballer Bellini, alias Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini, who has died aged 83, was Brazil's centre-half and captain when they first won the World Cup, in Sweden in 1958. A powerful, resolute and sometimes abrasive central marker, he was one of the key players in the four-in-a-line (or flat-back-four) defence that Brazil introduced at the tournament...
Roy Hodgson has planned his squad's pre-tournament schedule so they are ready for the humid conditions in Manaus, where they play Italy in their first World Cup match on 14 June There was a time, many years ago, when Manaus was awash with England's influence. A decadent period in Amazonian history coincided with a strong English presence – sterling was the common currency at the end of the 19th century...
Ex-England captain makes documentary during expedition in Brazil to tie in with broadcaster's coverage of 2014 World Cup David Beckham has become a rainforest explorer after undertaking a two-week jungle expedition for a BBC1 documentary about Brazil. The former England captain has been cooking, camping and fishing as he and three friends journeyed through the Amazon forest earlier this month for...
Brazilian electricity company developed a new business model to rebuild trust with and provide services to favelas The city of Rio de Janeiro, surrounded by the Atlantic ocean on one side and forested hills on the other, is ranked by many among the most beautiful in the world. Rio is also known for its social and urban contrasts. Over the years, part of Rio's low income population has settled on the...
• Aldo Rebelo says prices of flights and hotel rooms will fall • Thousands set to have flights rerouted due to 'no-fly zones' Brazil's sports minister has promised highly expensive flights and hotel rooms will come down in price before the World Cup and says street protests will be "very small" compared with those that gripped the Confederations Cup last year. But even as Aldo Rebelo attempted to...
Civil service global roundup: Yemeni government pushes to eradicate civil service corruption and troika asks for Greek civil servants to be paid less Scotland: no structural change would be needed after yes vote The former permanent secretary of Scotland, Sir John Elvidge, has said that there will be no need for radical change to existing civil service structures in the country if Scotland votes for...
Hundreds of people march in São Paulo, Brazil, to protest against their poor living conditions in contrast to the cost of their World Cup ...
Battle-scarred diamond provides evidence of 'wet zone' 410km below the surface where water is locked up inside minerals A small, battered diamond found in the gravel strewn along a shallow riverbed in Brazil has provided evidence of a vast "wet zone" deep inside the Earth that could hold as much water as all the world's oceans put together. The water is not sloshing around inside the planet, but is...
(Mais Um Discos) It has taken Orquestra Imperial seven years to release their second album, despite the popularity of their live shows, but they are back at last, with the same easygoing, gently quirky approach. This Brazilian big band was started as a side-project by the 2 trio – the multi-instrumentalist Alexandre Kassin, percussionist Domenico Lancellotti and singer Moreno Veloso – because they...
s work confronts as it cuts away, sentence by sentence, at conventional conceptions of reality. Again and again she and her characters – the latter often against their will – penetrate beyond the everyday into what she describes in one story as "stranger activity". Her vivid and mysterious bibliography is the fascinating record of this process. In Brazil (her family, fleeing anti-Jewish pogroms, emigrated...
s only 100 days until this diverse but unified nation hosts the most important football event on the planet. It will be an unforgettable experience It is only 100 days to the 2014 Fifa World Cup. It is hard to believe it's so close. It seems like only yesterday that Brazil was confirmed as the host nation . I can still remember the excitement I felt once I realised my country was going to stage the...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series ...
s president, Sepp Blatter, claiming he was praying to "God or Allah" that nothing else goes wrong. Stadiums The biggest outstanding concern remains the readiness of four of the 12 stadiums that are scattered throughout the vast country. Despite being awarded the World Cup in 2007, host cities were not decided until two years later amid political wrangling. A series of delays followed, as Valcke and...
Football Federation set to confirm that team’s final match before heading for Brazil will be in Sydney on May 26 ...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series ...
s drainage system also apparently did not work properly as huge puddles formed on the pitch before Cruzeiro...
Brazilian carnival began in earnest yesterday, so our man at the Brazilian record label Mais Um Discos asked some of the country’s best loved musicians which song represents carnaval for them ...