News stories by Fabiana Frayssinet, page 23

While the Brazilian authorities tally the death toll and the economic losses caused by recent torrential rains in the northeast, activists warn that a legislative bill to modify the Forestry Code will only worsen the effects of extreme weather, which is increasingly frequent in the context of climate change.

They are no longer simply the girlfriends of gang members. Women have increasingly become members themselves of Brazil's youth gangs over the past decade -- though they have yet to reach the leadership positions of their male colleagues.

Long known as 'the football nation,' Brazil today is seeking a new title: recognition as a global economic and political power -- though without denying the sport that made it famous.

In a country where many poor children dream of 'making it big' through football or modeling, Brazilian football stars Leonardo and Raí could have simply basked in their fame. But they decided instead to combine sport with education, art and skills training.

They fight against a crazy world, armed only with dramatic improvisation. A programme of urban inverventions from a university in Río de Janeiro is battling 'the mad world' based on the archetype of the anti-hero.

Not the leftists, not the social democrats, not the greens. Ideological differences aside, the three leading candidates for the Brazilian presidency are singing the same tune on the economy: no surprises, no market shake-ups.

The decriminalisation of abortion has been dropped from a Brazilian government human rights action plan, a move that observers attribute to the need of the ruling Workers Party to negotiate support from right-wing parties to ensure the passage of bills in Congress.

Behind every initiative to form an association of nations, there are 'strong economic and commercial interests,' said Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

The people who live in the favela of Guararapes are probably unaware that the heavy rains that forced them to flee their homes were caused by a phenomenon that is affecting the whole planet: global warming.

Experts from around the world are trying to attract attention to deadly but little-known illnesses, such as Chagas disease, visceral leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness, that have been neglected by the pharmaceutical industry.