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Tag: Brazil

  • David Luiz gives condition to cut his hair

    David Luiz gives condition to cut his hair

    Arsenal defender, David Luiz, has said he will only cut his hair if he becomes a manager.

    At 33 years, Luiz is already looking forward to life after playing.

    The Brazil international has committed to another year with the Gunners, despite a shaky stint since his arrival from Chelsea.

    Luiz has also expressed a desire to go for a second spell at Portuguese giants Benfica before heading into retirement.

    When asked by Esquire what he would do if he went into management, he said: “I’d put a suit on and cut my hair.

    “I can’t be a coach with this hair, nobody’s going to respect me!”

  • Brazilian president again tests positive for COVID-19

    Brazilian president again tests positive for COVID-19

    Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has again tested positive for COVID-19, the country’s Communications Ministry said on Wednesday.

    The 65-year-old is in good health, the ministry told dpa by email.

    “Bolsonaro has no fever and his breathing, heartbeat and blood pressure are normal,’’ CNN Brazil reported.

    The positive test result was at least the third for the far-right populist president, who for months downplayed the severity of the pandemic and still advocates keeping the economy open.

    Bolsonaro is currently working from his residence. Several of his ministers have also been diagnosed with COVID-19.

    Brazil recorded 41,008 new coronavirus cases and 1,367 deaths in the last 24-hour count, bringing the total to nearly 2.2 million infections and 81,487 deaths.

    The real figures are believed to be far higher due to insufficient testing.

    Brazil is the country most affected by COVID-19, after the U. S.

    “However, the infections no longer appear to be increasing as rapidly as before,’’ the World Health Organisation (WHO) said recently.

  • Brazil suspends WhatsApp’s new payments system

    The Central Bank of Brazil has effectively suspended a newly-launched system allowing users of Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service to send money via chats, ordering Visa and Mastercard to halt payments and transfers via the system.

    The central bank said in a statement that rolling out the service without previous analysis by the monetary authority could damage the Brazilian payments system in the areas of competition, efficiency and data privacy.

    If Visa and Mastercard do not comply with the order, they would be subject to fines and administrative sanctions, the statement said.

    The system, launched last week in a nationwide rollout, allowed users to transfer funds to individuals or local businesses within a chat, attaching payments as they would a photo or video.

    The central bank’s move is the latest setback in payments for owner Facebook, which pared back its plans for a global payments system called Libra after meeting stiff resistance from regulators.

    Earlier on Tuesday, before Visa and Mastercard operations with WhatsApp were suspended, the central bank issued regulation saying it could require market participants to receive previous approval to operate in payments.

    WhatsApp launched its Brazil services without requesting central bank authorisation, as it was operating as an intermediary between consumers and financial institutions.

    The central bank’s move comes as the regulator prepared to launch its own instant payments system in November, called Pix, joining more than 980 participants.

    The WhatsApp spokesperson said it was committed to working with the central bank to integrate systems once Pix became available.

    Mastercard said it would comply with the central bank ruling and continue to develop an innovative payment environment.

    Facebook and Visa did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Cielo declined to comment.

  • Juve agree £72.5m deal for Barca midfielder

    Juve agree £72.5m deal for Barca midfielder

    Serie A giant Juventus have struck an agreement with Barcelona to sign Brazil international Arthur, according to Sky Sports.

    The Catalans accepted a bid worth £72.5 million ($91m) for the midfielder, while talks continue over Juve star Miralem Pjanic, who is wanted at Camp Nou.

  • Brazilian state records more COVID-19 deaths than China

    Brazilian state records more COVID-19 deaths than China

    The Brazilian state of Sao Paulo has overtaken China when it comes to the number of deaths from the novel coronavirus.

    According to data released by Brazil’s health ministry on Saturday, there have been 4,688 coronavirus-related deaths in the country’s most populous state, which is home to more than 40 million people.

    Official figures from China, which has a population of more than a billion, show the country has had 4,637 deaths.

    In the country as a whole, Brazil had recorded 15,633 deaths and 233,142 cases of infection as of Saturday.

    Data from the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University puts Brazil in sixth place worldwide in terms of deaths from the coronavirus.

    Tensions over the virus response are growing in the country, as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to push for the country’s economy to reopen.

    On Friday, his health minister Nelson Teich resigned after less than a month in the job.

  • Two governors test positive for coronavirus

    Two governors test positive for coronavirus

    Two Brazilian state governors tested positive for the new coronavirus on Tuesday.

    They are Governor Wilson Witzel of the tourist hotspot of Rio de Janeiro and Wilson Lima, the Amazon rainforest state of Pará.

    They became the latest leaders to get the disease as it spreads across the country.

    In a video posted on Twitter, Rio Governor Wilson Witzel said that after not feeling well in recent days, with a fever and sore throat, he requested a test and received the positive result on Tuesday.

    Witzel visited a hospital later on Tuesday, where he was undergoing tests to see if he needed to be hospitalized, staffers in his office said.

    Pará Governor Helder Barbalho, in a social media post, said he had also tested positive after members of his staff came down with the virus, although he had no symptoms.

    Both governors called for people of their states to obey home shelter guidelines to avoid spreading the virus.

    “I ask you once again to stay at home. As everyone can tell, the disease doesn’t make exceptions for anyone and the contagion is fast,” Witzel said.

    Brazil had a record 204 deaths on Tuesday from COVID-19, the severe respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.

    It was the highest death toll for a single day since the outbreak began.

    More than 1,500 people have died of COVID-19 in Brazil, with more than 25,000 confirmed cases of the disease.

    Governors have played a critical role in curbing the spread of the virus by ordering people to stay inside and most businesses to close.

    Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has criticised lockdowns at the local level, saying the outbreak has been blown out of proportion, even though several of his cabinet ministers and closest aides have been infected.

  • Hundreds escape prison in Brazil ahead of coronavirus lockdown

    Hundreds escape prison in Brazil ahead of coronavirus lockdown

    Hundreds of prisoners broke out of four Brazilian jails on Monday, the day before their day-release privileges were due to be suspended over the coronavirus outbreak, Sao Paulo state prison authorities and local media reported.

    The Sao Paulo state prison authority said it could not say how many inmates had escaped as it was “still tallying the exact number of fugitives.” Local media reported that as many as 1,000 had fled from four jails – Mongaguá, Tremembé, Porto Feliz and Mirandópolis – ahead of the lockdown.

    A video on social media showed a long stream of prisoners purportedly fleeing a prison. Reuters was unable to verify the veracity or location of the video.

    The Sao Paulo state prison authority said “acts of insubordination” had taken place at the jails ahead of the suspension of the day-release program.

    The suspension was necessary, it added, because 34,000 convicts would be returning to jail and “would have a high potential to install and propagate the coronavirus in a vulnerable population, generating health risks for servers and custodians.”

    It said law enforcement were “taking care of the situation.”

    Sao Paulo state is home to the First Capital Command, Brazil’s most powerful prison gang, which is expanding quickly across the country and in neighboring nations. It traffics guns, drugs and other contraband.

    Brazil’s overstuffed prisons often see deadly prison riots between rival gangs.

  • BREAKING: Brazilian President tests positive for Coronavirus

    BREAKING: Brazilian President tests positive for Coronavirus

    Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian President has tested positive for coronavirus, the country’s Journal O Dia, reported.

    Bolsonaro’s aide Fabio Wajngarten tested positive for it on Wednesday.

    Recall that both men dined with President Donald Trump at his Florida’s Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night and shook hands with him. Wajngarten even took a photograph, in which he stood next to Trump.

    So far, the Brazilian leader has not shown any symptoms. The results of a second test are expected to be known on Friday, Mail Online reported.

    On Thursday, Trump brushed aside concerns about the encounter – the latest in a series of brushes the president has had with the highly-contagious disease.

    Trump and the first family have resisted going into self-quarantine despite other lawmakers who came into contact with those testing positive for the disease going into voluntary isolation.

    Other world leaders, too, are self-quarantining. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in a voluntary 14-day quarantine after his wife, Sophie, tested positive for the disease.

  • Ronaldinho avoids charge for fake passport

    Ronaldinho avoids charge for fake passport

    Former Brazil forward Ronaldinho will not be charged for using a fake passport to enter Paraguay, says the lead official in the case.

    The 39-year-old and his brother were both questioned by law enforcement on Thursday having shown false documents.

    Prosecutor Federico Delfino said the brothers were aware they had committed a crime but said they did so unwittingly.

    The pair have agreed to face an alternative punishment.

    “We are looking for a different way out of this that doesn’t result in a formal accusation and that recognises that these people were, we can say, taken by surprise,” Delfino told reporters in Asuncion, Paraguay’s capital.

    Another man who travelled with the brothers – 45-year-old Wilmondes Sousa Lira – was held.

    A judge will decide whether to accept Delfino’s recommendation on Friday. An alternative punishment could be a fine payable to a local charity.

    Reuters report that Ronaldinho’s lawyer Adolfo Marin could not be reached for comment.

    The brothers left Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo on Wednesday with Brazilian passports and were given Paraguayan ones “as soon as they got off the plane” in Asuncion.

    According to Delfino, the pair said the passports were a gift. An investigation indicated the numbers on the passports corresponded to other people.

    The twice World Player Of The Year had travelled to the South American country to promote a book and a campaign for underprivileged children.

    Ronaldinho was the 2004 and 2005 World Player of the Year and enjoyed the prime of his career at Spanish giants Barcelona. He won the World Cup in 2002 alongside fellow superstar forwards Ronaldo and Rivaldo.

  • Brazil confirms first coronavirus case in South America

    Brazil confirms first coronavirus case in South America

    A Sao Paulo resident who recently travelled to Italy has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Brazil’s Health Ministry said, in the first confirmed case in South America on Wednesday.

    “The case of coronavirus has been confirmed.

    “The test carried out by the Instituto Adolfo Lutz came back with a positive result

    “ Thus, Brazil has its first confirmed case of the disease,’’ Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a news conference.

    The 61-year-old coronavirus patient is currently under quarantine in his home and 30 of his family members have been placed under observation, the ministry said.

    In addition to the confirmed case, there are 20 other suspected cases under investigation.

    Fifty-nine suspected cases have already been ruled out.