Brazil proposes ban for sugarcane-ethanol plantations in Amazon

October 6th, 2009 Brazil TV crime host hunted after arrest orderedBRASILIA, Brazil — Brazilian police say they are hunting for a TV crime show host and former state legislator who is accused of commissioning killings to boost ratings. Agents say they haven't yet been able to find Wallace Souza and they are staking out an airport in Manaus.

September 9th, 2009 BRASILIA - The Brazilian government will use electronic markers to detect illegal felling of trees in the Amazon forests via satellite as illegal encroachment has threatened the sensitive ecosystem. Officials said the protected Amazon forests are being cleared illegally to set up ranches.

September 4th, 2009 Amazon offers to replace Orwell books on KindlesSAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com Inc. is offering free books or $30 to Kindle customers whose copies of the George Orwell novels "1984" and "Animal Farm" were deleted from their electronic reading devices in July.

August 19th, 2009 Amazon defender quits ruling party in BrazilBRASILIA, Brazil — A former Brazilian environment minister who is a famed campaigner to protect the Amazon rainforest from development says she is leaving the governing Workers Party and may run for president next year. The 51-year-old Marina Silva says she will likely join the Green Party, which recently invited her to be its presidential candidate to push the issue of sustainable development.

July 24th, 2009 On The Call: Amazon CFO Tom SzkutakSAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com Inc. refuses to say how many of its Kindle electronic reading devices have sold since their original debut in 2007, but the release of newer versions of the product, a steadily growing number of available digital books and a recent price cut suggest it may be gaining some traction with consumers.

June 26th, 2009 Brazil approves controversial land tenure lawBRASILIA, Brazil — President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has approved a law that could legalize landholdings by some 1 million squatters occupying a Texas-sized chunk of the Amazon rain forest, despite environmentalist fears it will accelerate deforestation. The law, approved late Thursday night, affects 260,233 square miles (67.4 million hectares) of federally owned land that for decades has been illegally occupied — mostly by small farmers, but also by large property holders and loggers.

June 10th, 2009 Shell station sells gas blended with wheat biofuelAMSTERDAM — Royal Dutch Shell PLC says it has begun selling gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol derived from wheat straw at a Shell station in Ottawa, Canada. Though there are now thousands of gas stations worldwide that sell gasoline blends containing some ethanol fermented from corn or sugar cane, the Ottawa station is believed to be the first to sell ethanol derived from straw, Shell said.

June 5th, 2009 Peru says 5 police killed in Amazon protestLIMA, Peru — Peruvian authorities say five police officers have been killed by Indians protesting against oil and gas exploration on their ancestral lands in Peru's Amazon. Indigenous leaders say 15 protesters were killed in the clash in an area called Cruz del Diablo — or "Devil's Cross" — in Utcubamba province.

May 12th, 2009 Brazil flood chaos eases, but 265K still homelessSAO PAULO, Brazil — The chaos from epic flooding in northern Brazil has eased, with the number of homeless dropping from more than 300,000 to 265,000. Officials say people have started heading back home in some of the 10 states affected by the floods — an affected area three times the size of Alaska.

May 11th, 2009 Floods ease in Brazil, but 300,000-plus homelessPEDREIRAS, Brazil — Floodwaters receded some in inundated towns across northern Brazil on Sunday, but the number of homeless rose above 300,000 and two people were missing after an overloaded canoe overturned in swift waters. Forty deaths had been confirmed in northern Brazil's worst flooding in decades, fed by two months of unusually heavy rains in a zone stretching from deep in the Amazon to normally arid areas near the Atlantic coast.

May 11th, 2009 Brazil boosts flood aid effort for 300K homelessSAO LUIS, Brazil — Brazil intensified efforts Monday to ship aid to areas isolated by severe flooding as waters continued rising in a jungle state nearly the size of Alaska and more than 300,000 people remained homeless. At least 40 people have died in the worst northern flooding in at least two decades, and two were still missing Monday after an overloaded canoe capsized over the weekend.

May 6th, 2009 Death toll from Brazil floods increases to 29SAO PAULO — At least 29 people have been killed by floods and mudslides in northern Brazil as authorities struggle to rush aid to dozens of small cities cut off from civilization by overflowing rivers in the Amazon region, officials said Wednesday. Months of heavy rains extending from the Amazon jungle to the Atlantic coast have dislodged nearly 200,000 people from their homes and stranded thousands more in 10 states, according to civil defense officials.

May 6th, 2009 Amazon's larger Kindle for textbooks, periodicalsNEW YORK — Amazon.com Inc. will release a larger — and more expensive — version of its Kindle electronic reading device that is geared toward periodicals and textbooks.

April 29th, 2009 Brazil slave labor complaints riseRIO DE JANEIRO — Reports of debt slavery reached record numbers in Brazil last year, and most of the cases were connected to the nation's booming sugarcane ethanol sector, according to a report released Wednesday by a watchdog group. The report from the Catholic Land Pastoral, indicated there were 280 cases debt slavery reported in 2008, a 6 percent increase over 2007.

February 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) have put on hold their plans to invest in ethanol projects in Brazil due to the current economic slowdown, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said here Tuesday. The oil marketing companies - Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp - had explored the possibilities of acquiring sugarcane farms and setting up ethanol manufacturing units in Brazil, Deora said while answering a question in the Rajya Sabha.