Brazil starts World Cup countdown

16 September 2011 Last updated at 23:46 GMT President Rousseff is confident Brazil can deliver the stadiums on time Brazil has begun its countdown for the 2014 World Cup, 1,000 days before it hosts the football tournament.

President Dilma Rousseff launched the event at a stadium in Belo Horizonte alongside the footballing legend Pele, who is Brazil's World Cup ambassador.

Ms Rousseff promised the new stadiums and other infrastructure required would be ready on time, despite major difficulties and delays.

The tournament will kick off on 12 June 2014.

Before then, Brazil must build or upgrade 12 stadiums.

Many of them are behind schedule and over budget.

At some, construction workers have been on strike - including the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro where the final will be played and the Mineirao ground in Belo Horizonte where President Rousseff started the countdown.

Building work on the new Itaquerao stadium in Sao Paulo - which is hoping to host the opening game - only began in May.

Construction workers refurbishing the famous Maracana stadium in Rio are on strike Confidence

Brazil must also deliver huge infrastructure developments such as roads and airport terminals so that fans can move between the 12 venues spread across the huge country.

Much of that transport infrastructure is anyway badly needed to meet the demands of Brazil's booming economy and expanding middle class.

"Investing in infrastructure is a way of saying no to the international crisis affecting countries in the Eurozone and the US," Ms Rousseff said.

The 2014 World Cup will be the first in South America since Argentina hosted the tournament in 1978, and the first in Brazil since 1950.

Correspondents say most Brazilians are confident they will make a success of hosting the tournament - after all, they have already won it World Cup five times.

Rio de Janeiro is also due to host the Olympic Games in 2016.

The two tournaments are being seen as statements of Brazil's emergence as a rising global economic power of the 21st Century, much as the 2008 Beijing Olympics served as a calling card for China's confident new role on the global stage.

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Brazil tourism minister resigns

14 September 2011 Last updated at 23:59 GMT Mr Novais denies wrongdoing Brazilian Tourism Minister Pedro Novais has resigned over allegations that he misused public funds.

Mr Novais quit after newspaper reports accused him of using public money to employ a maid and a driver for his wife while he was a congressman.

He denies wrongdoing, and says he stepped down to prepare his defence.

He is the fourth minister to resign or be sacked over corruption allegations since President Dilma Rousseff took office in January.

Opposition groups say the resignations show that Ms Rousseff's government is tainted by corruption, the BBC's Paulo Cabral in Sao Paulo says.

But the government says corruption has always existed in Brazil - the difference now is that cases are being made public and action is being taken, our correspondent adds.

The resignations have strained Ms Rousseff's governing coalition, which is made up of more than a dozen parties.

Mr Novais, 81, is a member of her largest coalition partner, the Democratic Movement Party of Brazil (PMDB).

The latest accusations against him follow other allegations of corruption at Brazil's ministry of tourism.

Last month more than 30 ministry officials were arrested on charges of misusing public money.

President Rousseff's chief minister, Antonio Palocci, resigned in June after media reports questioned his rapid accumulation of wealth.

Since then, the ministers of agriculture and transport have resigned over corruption allegations. They deny wrongdoing, as does Mr Palocci.

Another minister, Nelson Jobim at defence, also left, after allegedly making disparaging remarks to the media about colleagues.

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Shamcey Supsup, 4 Others Named Operation Smile Ambassadors in Brazil

Miss Philippines Shamcey Supsup and 3 other delegates were selected to join reigning Miss Universe, Ximena Navarette, in visiting Sao Luiz Hospital in Brazil.

Joining Ximena (middle) and Shamcey (2nd from left) are Miss China Zilin Luo (leftmost), Miss Venezuela Vanessa Goncalves (2nd from right) and Miss Brazil Priscila Machado (rightmost). The five beauties meet some children that will become beneficiaries of the surgeries being provided by Operation Smile. They were named ambassadors for the cause.

The visit is part of the Miss Universe Organization’s charity program and activity for this year’s pageant.

The Miss Universe Organization did not disclose the criteria for choosing the 5 delegates.

Photo courtesy of Fernando Borges/Terra

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Zara acts over Brazil sweatshop

18 August 2011 Last updated at 14:43 GMT The raid took place in the city of Sao Paulo The owners of Spanish fashion chain Zara say they are strengthening the oversight of their production system after workers were found toiling in a Brazilian sweatshop.

A raid in Sao Paulo found mostly Bolivian immigrants working for a pittance in unsafe conditions.

Inditex, the parent company of Zara, said it had zero tolerance for such infringements.

The workers were employed illegally by a subcontractor, Inditex said.

A raid in Sao Paulo found people working in cramped, unsanitary conditions, for long hours.

Electrical wires dangled dangerously from the walls above piles of fabric, says the BBC's Paulo Cabral, who accompanied officials on their raid.

The people were being paid between 12 and 20 cents a piece - the equivalent of 7-12 US cents (4p-7p), Brazilian media reported.

Best practice

Inditex, the world's biggest clothes retailer, said 15 people had been found working in a factory for a subcontractor without their knowledge.

Upon learning of the case, Inditex acted immediately, a company statement said.

"The supplier has accepted full responsibility and is paying financial compensation to the workers as required by Brazilian law and the Inditex Code of Conduct," the statement said.

The supplier was also going to improve the subcontractors' working conditions to bring them in line with those at facilities audited and approved by Inditex inspectors, it went on.

Inditex has approximately 50 suppliers in Brazil, which employ more than 7,000 workers.

The company said it wanted to "foster the best conditions possible in the Brazilian textile industry".

There are hundreds of factories in Sao Paulo state, producing garments for Brazil's booming market, our correspondent says.

Recently the Brazilian authorities formed a special task force to locate and shut down sweatshops.

Many of the workers are smuggled into Brazil from Bolivia, said Luiz Alexandre Faria from the labour ministry.

"They can't leave the workshop until they pay for their journey. Some employers even confiscate the workers' documents," he told the BBC.

Brazil's criminal code classifies slave-like labour as instances including when a person is forced to work exhausting hours, subjected to an unsafe working environment and prevented or restricted in their movement to and from work.

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