Brazil’s presidential election runoff has come to life after ruling party candidate Dilma Rousseff slammed her opponent Jose Serra in a televised debate.
She called Serra a “pawn of foreign investors” and accused him of running a smear campaign as she tries to halt Serra’s momentum in the polls ahead of the Oct 31 vote:
“To defend the privatisation of natural resources means to take money out of the country for investment in quality education, science and technology, environment, investment in culture, health and in making policies for Brazil to have a passport for the future,“ she said.
Serra claims she changed her stance on abortion and religion after she started to dip in the polls. Serra claimed that:
“I’ve never defended freedom of abortion; there is no evidence of that. You defended it. I’m not making a value judgement regarding it, you defended it and all of sudden changed, you said the contrary and now claim you are a victim. It’s the same regarding God, first you don’t know if you believe or not, then all of a sudden you are devout.”
Dilma, the candidate of choice of the widely popular President Lula da Silva saw her latest poll rating plummet from 20 per cent to a mere seven per cent.
Many believe the TV debate will have little influence on the outcome as the programme struggled for an audience as it was broadcast at the same time as the weekend’s football matches.
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Brazil hammered Cuba 3-0 to secure their third straight world men’s volleyball championship on Sunday after a highly successful tournament in Italy.
The South Americans, dressed in their traditional yellow and blue and roared on by Brazil and Inter Milan soccer player Lucio in the Rome arena, took the final set 25-22 thanks to a winning shot from the consistently excellent Leandro Vissotto. He fell to the ground in ecstasy after securing victory in a largely one-sided final.
Cuba had beaten Brazil 3-2 in the first round and finished above their rivals in Pool B.
“It was a hard-fought victory,” Brazil coach Bernardinho told Italy’s Rai television. (more…)
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Ruling party candidate Dilma Rousseff holds a lead of 7 percentage points over the opposition’s Jose Serra ahead of Brazil’s Oct. 31 presidential runoff election, a poll released on Saturday showed.
The Datafolha poll indicated that Serra, a former Sao Paulo state governor, had picked up support since the first-round vote last Sunday, but not quite as much as expected.
The poll, published by Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, showed Rousseff, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s former chief of staff and hand-picked successor, with 48 percent support compared to 41 percent for Serra. Eleven percent of respondents said they would vote for neither candidate or were undecided.
Excluding those poll respondents who did not choose either of the two candidates — as will be the case in the election — Rousseff had 54 percent and Serra 46 percent. (more…)
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Developed countries should support their economies with more fiscal stimulus rather than ultra-loose monetary policies in order to prevent an escalating currency war, Brazil’s finance minister says.
Finance Minister Guido Mantega told reporters at the International Monetary Fund that strong developed economies such as Germany acted too fast in removing fiscal stimulus, putting at risk the global economic recovery.
To support their economies, those countries are now resorting to ultra-loose monetary policies to weaken their exchange rates and boost exports, which Mr Mantega said were causing both currency and trade wars.
“We need to bring back to the G20 the discussion about the recovery of advanced economies,” Mr Mantega said, who was in Washington for the semiannual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank. “That recovery should be based on their domestic markets, not on the markets of dynamic emerging economies.”
Mr Mantega said he will take that discussion to the next meeting of the Group of 20 developed and emerging countries in Seoul.
Brazil’s growth rate has been among the world’s strongest, and its economy is expected to grow more than seven per cent this year.
“We were wrong about the global economic recovery,” he said, adding that the recovery is looking more L-shaped than V-shaped now.
The US dollar has weakened steadily since the beginning of September as prospects for further monetary easing by the US Federal Reserve have led investors to seek higher returns elsewhere. (more…)
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Gap year travellers have for years held Brazil as a haven for backpacking adventures and a great place to either begin or end a South American trip.
One of the reasons for this may be that the nation is so huge that it offers a near endless array of activities and sights to be seen.
While Lonely Planet editor Tom Hall suggested that Rio de Janeiro is “unmissable”, he noted that there is so much to see and do beyond its boundaries.
The expert advised travellers to head to Fernando de Noronha national park archipelago, where they will find it easy to relax in the beauty of nature.
He said that this is “a superb place to go for an away-from-it-all beach holiday”.
Those planning on sticking to Rio during their visit could see the Christ the Redeemer statue that towers over the city, or take in a game at the imposing Maracana football stadium.
Further afield, Brits could enjoy the raw power of nature at Foz do Iguazu, where the world-famous waterfalls mark the spot where the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet.
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about Brazil, Paraíba and João Pessoa
