SAO PAULO, May 13 (Reuters) - Brazilian mining giant Vale said on Tuesday a group of landless peasants and mine workers blocked a major railroad transporting iron ore from its Carajas project in northern Para state.

RIO DE JANEIRO, 13 May (AP) – Renowned rain forest defender Marina Silva resigned as Brazil’s environment minister on Tuesday, saying she lacked the necessary political support to protect the Amazon.

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 9 (Reuters) - Stretched out on a beach framed by the sparkling Atlantic Ocean and a violence-plagued slum in the background, Pedro Mena Barreto speaks of crime with a sense of hopelessness that is common in Brazil.

SAO PAULO (Economic Times) – Armed guards protecting a farmer’s rice fields on Monday shot and wounded 10 Indians who were building their homes on a reservation in northern Brazil, police and an indigenous rights group said.

SAO PAULO (BBC) - Police in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro are to investigate claims that tourists visiting some of the city’s shanty towns are being offered a chance to meet armed drug dealers.

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 4 (NY Times) – In a city famed for sexual tolerance, the men who shine on the soccer field are held to a different, more macho standard. Fans cringed on Monday when the Brazilian soccer icon Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima – known simply as Ronaldo in the soccer world – [...]

Slashdot – mjasay writes "Ever wonder why open source is so popular in Brazil and other BRIC nations? As one study suggests, one big reason may well be Microsoft’s punitive pricing.”

SAO PAULO, April 30 (Washington Post) – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Wednesday raised Brazil’s debt rating to investment grade, a key benchmark in the nation’s economic transformation. The news sent domestic stocks soaring.

April 29 (Bloomberg) – An expedition of scientists to wooded grasslands in Brazil uncovered 14 possible new species of animals, including a legless lizard and a woodpecker, in an area adjacent to farming and housing developments.

BRASILIA, April 30 (Reuters) - Brazil’s primary budget surplus more than doubled in March from a year earlier, buoyed by record tax revenue and slower government spending, central bank data showed on Wednesday.