Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil’s High Court of Justice removed Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel from office Friday, as police raided his official residence in a probe into accusations he stole emergency funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The raids also targeted the far-right governor’s wife and inner circle. Among those arrested was Pastor Everaldo, an evangelical preacher and leader of Witzel’s Christian Social Party (PSC).

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A family held hostage by drug traffickers. A violent police shootout on a busy street. A mother killed while shielding her three-year-old daughter from gunfire.

Even for residents accustomed to violence, the last 24 hours have been grim in Rio de Janeiro, as a series of shootouts broke out across the city among warring criminal gangs and police.

NOVO PROGRESSO, Brazil (AP) — A year ago this month, the forest around the town of Novo Progresso erupted into flames — the first major blazes in the Brazilian Amazon’s dry season that ultimately saw more than 100,000 fires and spurred global outrage against the government’s inability or unwillingness to protect the rainforest.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday angrily denied the existence of fires in the Amazon rainforest, calling it a “lie,” despite data produced by his own government showing that thousands of fires are surging across the region.

Bolsonaro last year similarly denied a spike in fires that provoked a global outcry, with the right-wing populist trading barbs with French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders.

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 9 (AP/PTI) Brazil surpassed a grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday night, and five months after the first reported case the country has not shown signs of crushing the disease.

The nation of 210 million people has been reporting an average of more than 1,000 daily deaths from the pandemic since late May and reported 905 for the latest 24-hour period.

BRASILIA, Aug 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s chief of staff, Army General Walter Souza Braga Netto, has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said, becoming the seventh Brazilian minister to have contracted the disease.

Braga Netto is doing well and has no symptoms, the office said in a statement. He will remain in isolation until a new examination and medical evaluation is carried out, and will continue to work remotely.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 1 (NNN-CMA) – Brazil yesterday reported a daily increase of 1,212 COVID-19 deaths, taking the national death toll to 92,475.

Health authorities also detected 52,383 new cases in the past 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 2,662,485.

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populous in the country, is also the most affected, with 542,304 cases and 22,997 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 165,495 infections and 13,477 deaths, and Ceara, with 173,882 positives and 7,668 deaths.

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday took his first trip since recovering from COVID-19, ignoring social distancing recommendations as he worked to chip away support in his political rivals’ stronghold.

Bolsonaro said he intended to travel Brazil after beating the disease, which kept him confined to the presidential residence for more than two weeks.

Brasilia, Jul 27 (AP/PTI) The number of fires in Brazil's Pantanal, the world's biggest tropical wetlands, more than doubled in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year, according to data released by a state institute.

Officials said it was the largest number of fires in a six-month period in the last two decades.

Brasilia, Jul 23 (AP/PTI) Brazil's health ministry has reported a record 67,860 confirmed coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours.

The previous mark for one day was 54,771, set June 19.