Brazil’s Finance Minister Dario Durigan said Thursday (Sep. 24) that Antônio Carlos Freixo Júnior, known as “Mineiro,” the owner of Entre Investimentos, received money from organized crime. The company has a stake in the financing of Dark Horse, a film that chronicles the life of former President Jair Bolsonaro and which received funding from Banco Master, owned by Daniel Vorcaro.

Today’s operation, the third phase of Operation Carbono Oculto, was launched by São Paulo prosecutors and the Federal Revenue Service.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Candidate Flávio Bolsonaro targeted by probe into “Dark Horse” film.

“We’re talking about the management company of a business group – the Entre Group – which received money from both Baco Master and organized crime, all into the same pool. Everything indicates that the funds providing liquidity for these operations come from the same entity, from the same pool,” the minister stated in an interview in Brasília.

According to Durigan, the money received by Entre was used for money laundering and bribery.

“We’re talking about the same fund, where money from different sources ended up – whether from Master, organized crime, or individuals who have already entered into plea bargain agreements with the São Paulo Prosecution Service or the Federal Prosecution Service.”

Antônio Carlos Freixo Junior entered into a plea bargain agreement with the Prosecutor-General’s Office regarding the investigations into the Banco Master scandal.

Brazil’s forests generated an economic output valued at BRL 47.9 billion in 2025 – the highest figure ever recorded in Brazil, up 6.7 percent from the previous year.

The data cover natural or planted forests and are part of a survey released Thursday (Sep. 24) by the statistics bureau IBGE.

The institute takes into account silviculture – when production comes from planted areas – and extractive activities, which refer to originally natural green areas.

Silviculture soars

Silviculture jumped 8.6 percent from 2024 to 2025, reaching BRL 41 billion. Plant extraction moved in the opposite direction and fell 3.1 percent, totaling BRL 6.9 billion.

In the late 1990s, silviculture and extractive activities alternated as the main drivers of forest production. Since then, however, production from planted areas has skyrocketed, reaching 85.6 percent in 2025, leaving only 14.4 percent for plant extraction.

The survey notes that, since 2019, the economic value of silviculture has grown by 165 percent. According to the institute, this is due to technological advances. In 2025, planted forests totaled 10.4 million hectares (104,000 km²).
 

Eucalyptus and cellulose

Of this area, 78.6 percent is planted with eucalyptus, a fast-growing tree maturing in about seven to eight years, used primarily in the manufacture of cellulose, a key raw material for paper production.

Brazil’s silviculture makes the country the world’s largest producer and exporter of cellulose, a position it has held since 2022, when it surpassed Canada.

The study also reports that Brazil’s global prominence is driven by climatic conditions and soil that are favorable to rapid forest growth, as well as “investments in sustainable practices, which make it highly competitive in the international market.”

In 2025, Brazil produced 22.2 million metric tons of cellulose, 12.7 percent more than in the previous year.

In terms of value, the figure was USD 10.2 billion – a 3.9 percent decline over the past year. As a commodity, the price of cellulose is directly influenced by the global market.

The IBGE explains that prices fell due to “global oversupply, a slowdown in Chinese consumption and the resulting increase in inventories, and exchange rate factors, such as the appreciation of the real.”

Cellulose was Brazil’s eighth-largest export in 2025. The top three exports, in order, were petroleum, soybeans, and iron ore.

Food products

The report also found that food products accounted for BRL 2.2 billion in production value.

Half of this amount came from açaí (251,000 metric tons), with two-thirds of this production (66.7%) coming from the Northern state of Pará.

Yerba mate ranked second among non-timber products, with BRL 562.3 million. Of all the yerba mate harvested in the country, 88.4 percent came from the state of Paraná, in South Brazil.

A new species of glass frog has been described and named Vitreorana micaelae following its discovery in Luziânia, in the state of Goiás. The study was conducted by researchers at the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás, the Federal University of Goiás, and the University of Brasília (UnB).

The small, greenish, nearly transparent frog caught the attention of a group of researchers led by biologist Wilian Vaz-Silva in the gallery forests bordering small tributaries of the Corumbá River in the Cerrado biome. Although it resembled other known species, the researchers decided to investigate further.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazilian-led team finds new feline species in Bolivian forests.
• Amazon home to over 2,700 species of fish, study finds.
• List of threatened fish, invertebrates updated.

“After these animals were found and their calls recorded, we began evaluating and comparing them with other groups of glass frogs, because glass frogs are generally more restricted to the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon,” says biologist Reuber Brandão, one of the study’s authors and a member of the Boticário Group Foundation’s Network of Experts in Nature Conservation.

Species

Based on an integrated approach involving different fields of knowledge - morphology, bioacoustics, molecular genetics, and fieldwork - the researchers concluded that this was the 11th species in the glass frog genus. Only four species are found in Brazil, and Vitreorana micaelae is the second species known to occur exclusively in the Cerrado.

According to Brandão, in addition to molecular characteristics that distinguish the species from those already known to science, unique traits were identified in the individuals analyzed. “From a bioacoustic perspective, it is an animal with far fewer vocal notes. It has subtle but consistent differences in the shape of the iris, dorsal pigmentation, and morphology, especially in the region near the cloaca [the terminal opening for excretion and reproduction],” he explains.

The researchers report that the limited knowledge about the species - even among the local Community - is due to the habits of Vitreorana micaelae.

“This creature sings from the tops of trees along steep ravines on the riverbank, and only when it’s raining heavily. So, even for us, who are out in the field searching for these animals, it takes time to find populations in the region,” he points out.

This difficulty in accessing the species, combined with its small size - just over 2 centimeters - and the scattered occurrence of individuals, has prevented it from being associated with a common name already used by local communities.

“People have more common names for amphibians with more noticeable calls, such as the blacksmith tree frog and the barking dwarf frog. These are species that, when you go looking for them, aren’t what people typically think of as frogs - they’re tree frogs or tiny frogs,” says Brandão.

Previous report

During the study, the researchers were also able to better understand the species’ reproductive biology, which is quite similar to that of other species in the same Vitreorana group.

“The pair lays its eggs on the leaves of tall trees. The eggs stick to the leaves, and the male takes care of them. After hatching, the tadpoles fall into the stream below, where they burrow into the sediment,” he notes.

This similarity may have led other researchers who reported sightings of individuals in this region of the Cerrado in 2013 to identify them as a previously described species. “They identified them as Vitreorana eurygnatha and did not realize that it was a new species,” the researcher says.

Classification

The study describing the species was published in the September issue of the scientific journal ZooKeys and recommends that Vitreorana micaelae be classified as Data Deficient (DD) under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) system, due to the need to determine its population size and the threats it faces.

“Following that study, we’ve already identified another location in the Cerrado where the species is present. So far, there are three known locations, but this is new information. It’s currently being studied and hasn’t been published yet,” Brandão adds.

The name chosen for the species reflects the collaboration among the scientists who worked on the study. It honors fellow biologist Micaela de Jolepian L. Vaz, the wife of Wilian Vaz-Silva.

Threat

This joint effort is a race against time, as climate change - which alters the water cycle - and human activities in the Cerrado, including deforestation and the damming of rivers for small hydroelectric plants, directly affect the habitats of amphibians such as the tiny Vitreorana micaelae.

These threats could lead to the extinction of species that have not yet been discovered by science. “Less rain, fewer streams, fewer toads and frogs, and fewer discoveries,” Reuber Brandão concludes.

Petrobras announced on Wednesday (Sep. 23) that it had signed a memorandum of understanding for strategic cooperation in the oil and gas sector in Mozambique, a country on the southeast coast of Africa.

The agreement was signed with the National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH), the Mozambican government’s commercial arm for oil and gas exploration, production, processing, marketing, and distribution.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Petrobras to explore for oil off equatorial margin of Côte d’Ivoire.
• Petrobras boasts highest profit margin among world’s top oil giants.
• Petrobras negotiates oil exploration in Ghana.

Among the document’s objectives are joint efforts in studies, evaluation, development, and marketing, as well as the exchange of knowledge and technical expertise. The agreement is valid for two years and may be extended.

Focus on natural gas

Mozambique, a country with a population of about 30 million, shares with Brazil the legacy of having been a Portuguese colony, which explains why the two countries speak the same language.

According to the National Petroleum Institute of Mozambique, a state agency, the country stands out as a major source of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Foreign companies are already operating in the country, including France’s TotalEnergies, US-based ExxonMobil, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Italy’s Eni, Portugal’s Galp, and South Africa’s Sasol.

Petrobras in Africa

This week’s move marks another step by Petrobras toward strengthening its presence on the African continent.

The state-owned company operates in Ivory Coast, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, and South Africa. In August 2026, it began negotiations for exploration blocks in Ghana, on the west coast of Africa.

This expansion into Africa marks a return to the region. In the early 2000s, the company operated in countries such as Nigeria, Tanzania, Angola, Benin, Gabon, and Namibia, but those stakes were later sold.

In addition to Brazil and Africa, Petrobras operates in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and the United States.

The Superior Electoral Court found that the number of cases involving gender-based political violence has increased more than 11-fold in four years. In 2022, 15 cases were brought before the Electoral Court. As of September 2026, cases have reached 177.

Since 2018, the federal prosecutors have recorded 436 complaints of gender-based political violence. In more than half of the cases (221), this violence was of a moral nature. And in 40 percent of them (177), psychological violence was involved.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil’s Supreme Court expands law aimed at violence against women.
• Half of Brazilian women claim to have faced violence from partners.
• Reports of digital violence against women rise 188% in one year.

Political violence against women can take many forms, ranging from intimidation and attacks on a woman’s honor to threats and murders. Cases such as that of Rio Councilwoman Marielle Franco, who was murdered in 2018 for reasons linked to her political activities, and the attacks suffered by Congresswoman Maria do Rosário in Congress in 2014, highlight the extent to which this type of violence can escalate.

Awareness

In an effort to combat this type of violence, the Superior Electoral Court and the Federal Prosecution Service on Tuesday (Sep. 22) launched a campaign dubbed Política é Substantivo Feminino (“Politics is a feminine noun,” in reference to the fact that the word “politics” follows the feminine gender in Portuguese grammar). The initiative aims to raise awareness among the public about the role of combating the various forms of political violence perpetrated against women.

Court Judge Estela Aranha explained the impact of this type of violence on Brazilian democracy.

“It [gender-based political violence] silences women individually. A woman thinks, ‘I’m going to leave politics,’ but it also affects the community as a whole, because other women who witness the violence think, ‘Why should I get into politics?’ You drive out those who are already involved as well as those who are thinking of getting involved. And this is serious, because democracy presupposes the political and electoral participation of all citizens – men and women alike – and women are being excluded from the debate,” she argued.

Gender and race

During the campaign launch, women’s rights and black rights organizations presented court head Judge Minister Nunes Marques with a letter expressing concern over the rise in political violence based on gender and race in this year’s elections and demanding effective measures to prevent further incidents.

The document states that, in recent weeks, social movements have received reports in various states from female candidates – especially black, lesbian, bisexual, and trans women – who have been threatened with death and sexual violence, had their addresses and family members’ information exposed, and suffered racist and LGBT-phobic attacks, persecution, intimidation, and physical assaults.

The text also emphasizes that gender-based violence does not affect all women in the same way. A study by the Marielle Franco Institute analyzed 77 cases from 2021 to 2025. Among the victims, 87 percent were black.

Women in elected office

Brazil is one of the countries with the lowest representation of women in Parliament. In a ranking of 184 countries, Brazil ranks 135th, with only 17.5 percent of women in Congress, trailing behind nations with less democratic regimes, such as North Korea and Burkina Faso.

At the local level, Brazil has over 700 municipalities with not a single woman in elected office, and only 16 percent of city governments are led by women.

Raquel Branquinho, coordinator of the working group on preventing and combating gender-based political violence at the Office of the Prosecutor-General for Electoral Affairs, says that Brazilian legislation is in line with international guidelines on women’s representation.

“The major problem to be addressed, however, is violence against these women,” she said.

Fake videos created by artificial intelligence and low-quality information have replaced traditional fake news and have become the main digital threat to elections and democracy. This is the conclusion of the Internet, Democracy, and Elections Guide, published on Tuesday (Sep. 22) by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br).

The guide highlights the abrupt shift between 2018 - the year of the first edition - and the current election cycle. Whereas open networks such as Facebook were the primary channels for dissemination back then, more restricted networks such as WhatsApp are now the main means of dissemination.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Electoral court recommends deepfake identification tool for candidates.
• Electoral Court approves restrictions on AI use in 2026 elections.

CGI.br experts also noted that disinformation has become increasingly widespread, circulating simultaneously across multiple platforms. “In terms of format, video has become the primary vehicle, almost always accompanied by a short text that anchors and legitimizes the false narrative,” the document states. It is no wonder that institutions such as the World Economic Forum have considered disinformation one of the greatest global risks since 2025.

Given this scenario, the central role of the internet as a medium for information, entertainment, and communication is becoming a more important factor in democratic contests.

Recent tools, such as generative artificial intelligence, emerged during the 2022 election cycle but are expected to have an even greater impact this year when combined with dissemination tools, with more tailored targeting of specific user profiles and more complex narrative structures designed to appear more authentic.

“Today, digital platforms play a central role in how Brazilians stay informed about what is happening in the world, in the country, and in the cities where they live,” says CGI.br coordinator Renata Mielli.

She highlights the responsibility of private companies driven by economic objectives rather than the public interest. “Understanding how these environments function, how content is distributed, and what impact this has on public debate is essential to strengthening the integrity of information and democracy itself. Clarifying these mechanisms is one of the guide’s objectives.”

“Available on the CGI.br website, the publication addresses topics such as how content recommendation systems operate, the impact of generative AI on the electoral landscape, and how advanced tools - such as deepfakes and conversational language models - work.

The guide also includes guidelines for institutional efforts to combat disinformation and advice for citizens on how to avoid becoming victims of or spreading false or misleading content.

In addition to analyzing the structures of media outlets and social networks, the study highlights the role of their communicators - influencers. It acknowledges their prominent role but points to a fundamental difference from journalism: they do not follow a code of ethics, nor are they institutionally accountable for the accuracy of their statements or for inaccuracies - or even deliberate errors - in what they publish.

Warning

According to the study by the CGI.br group, the most frequently cited concern regarding deepfakes is their realism or credibility. As this type of deceptive content has undergone constant refinement, it now has the potential to deceive even voters who are highly experienced in evaluating content.

This type of content can foster widespread distrust of all kinds of information, including truthful information.

“The loss of trust in institutions such as the press and the judiciary, combined with political polarization, also contributes to this scenario, causing personal convictions to take precedence over fact-checking,” the guide warns.

Another problem that arises from this climate of mistrust is that people increasingly consume content that confirms what they already believe. “When they encounter information that contradicts these beliefs, they tend to dismiss it - a phenomenon known as motivated reasoning. In this sense, it can reinforce their ideologies,” the study points out.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva once again defended countries’ sovereignty, specifically citing the situations in Latin America and Brazil, where, he stated, attempts have been made to exert foreign influence over national political processes.

He said that the problems facing Latin America and the Caribbean stem from the region’s proximity to major powers.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil rejects Trump’s criticism of its domestic fight against drugs.
• Justice says Brazil’s sovereignty must prevail over US threats.
• China defends Brazil’s sovereignty and proposes greater cooperation.

“In Latin America and the Caribbean, geographical proximity to the world’s greatest military power is inescapable, especially in the context of resurgent hegemonic ambitions. Brazil wouldn’t fit in anyone’s backyard,” he said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the 81st UN General Assembly on Tuesday (Sep. 22) in New York.

“We are once again witnessing foreign interference in electoral processes. The division of the world into spheres of influence and neocolonial encroachments on strategic resources are anachronistic acts,” he noted, citing recent events in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba.

The region, he went on to declare, has come a long way toward consolidating democratic regimes following periods of dictatorship and authoritarianism. In this context, he advocated for greater regional integration and respect for the self-determination of peoples.

“We need partners with a positive agenda that fosters development. Ideological differences should not be an obstacle to greater integration among neighbors. The countries of the region have recognized the horrors of authoritarian regimes. We have come a long way toward restoring the will of the people,” he stated.

Democracy under threat

President Lula also warned of what he described as a resurgence of practices incompatible with the contemporary international order. “Democracy is once again under threat,” he said.

When mentioning countries in the Americas, the president stated that each nation must chart its own course. In his view, the Venezuelan people must decide their own fate without external interference, while Nicaragua will not solve its problems by preventing the opposition from participating in elections.

He also mentioned the humanitarian crisis in Haiti and once again criticized the economic embargo imposed on Cuba.

Networks of disinformation

The Brazilian leader also mentioned the influence of disinformation networks during election campaigns and stated that the Brazilian government will be vigilant against possible attempts at interference.

“We do not underestimate the challenge posed by disinformation networks that seek to distort public debate during the campaign,” he declared.

He then emphasized his confidence in the country’s institutions and electoral system. “We will not allow the enemies of democracy, whether internal or external, to undermine the will of the people. Brazil will remain a sovereign nation. No one will divert us from this path,” he declared.

Denialism

Lula also highlighted the dangers of fake news, especially regarding scientific findings on issues such as health and the environment. “In the age of disinformation, obscurantists resist scientific evidence,” he said, while advocating for the fight against denialism.

“We will never forget the millions of lives lost due to the failure to adequately address COVID-19. Anti-vaccine campaigns are bringing back diseases we thought had been eradicated. Weakening the World Health Organization makes everyone more vulnerable.”

“Until recently, the response to climate change was firmly established at the center of the international agenda. This year, the issue has disappeared from the debates at the G7 and G20 – forums that bring together the world’s largest carbon emitters. It is time to go back on the offensive and defeat denialism.”

Public safety

When addressing public safety, Lula rejected the involvement of foreign forces in combating organized crime on national territory and advocated for international cooperation in specific areas, such as combating arms trafficking and money laundering.

“We will not transfer the responsibility for defending our borders and guaranteeing the people the right to live without fear,” he stated.

The president added that the fight against crime must be carried out through cooperation among governments, not through external military actions. “We don’t need aircraft carriers patrolling our waters; we need cooperation to stem the flow of weapons and money that fuels organized crime.”

According to Lula, Brazil has presented the US with a proposal for cooperation to combat money laundering carried out by Brazilian criminals abroad.

The president also stated that Brazil has been strengthening coordination among the states and expanding efforts to combat criminal organizations.

A report released Tuesday morning (Sep. 22) by the Civil Defense stated that, since last Friday (18), 151 incidents related to strong winds and heavy rains have been recorded in 146 municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

In total, more than 527,000 people across the state have been affected by the weather events of the past few days, with 413 of them left homeless and 2,732 displaced.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Devastation could disrupt world’s largest “rain machine:” the Amazon.

The strong winds and rains also caused damage to 38 educational institutions and 17 health care facilities.

The state Civil Defense agency confirmed the second death resulting from Monday’s (21) severe storm. The victim is a teenager who had been reported missing in the municipality of Caxias do Sul.

The same municipality has reported three other people missing and recorded 159.4 millimeters of rainfall.

The first confirmed death in the state was that of a motorcyclist struck by falling high-voltage power lines during the storm in the city of Pelotas.

According to the local authorities, the weather event - characterized mainly by strong winds that reached 89 km/h - caused roofs to be torn off, trees and utility poles to fall, and power outages in various parts of the city.

A new species of feline, named Leopardus tilcayo, has been identified in the mountain forests of Bolivia, in a region known as Nor Yungas.

The discovery was made by researchers led by Eduardo Eizirik, a professor at the School of Health and Life Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS).

Notícias relacionadas:

• Amazon: Indigenous peoples catalog species to protect biodiversity.
• Amazon home to over 2,700 species of fish, study finds.
• Brazil’s endangered wildlife list includes 790 species or subspecies.

The scientific description of a new feline species is the first in over a century. The study, published in the scientific journal Current Biology, was based on the genomic analysis of an animal known by the nickname “Tigrino.”

The male was found as a cub in 2016 by a resident of the Nor Yungas region in Bolivia. The specimen was later taken to the La Senda Verde animal sanctuary, where he has remained ever since.

Genomic results were published on September 17 and show that the animal did not belong to the species previously imagined (Leopardus tigrinus), but was part of an evolutionarily distinct lineage that had not yet been recognized by science.

“This study highlights just how much there is still to discover about the planet’s biodiversity. Even among charismatic and well-known animals such as felines, species can remain unknown for centuries. Discovering and understanding these species is vital so that we also know how to protect them,” Eizirik noted.

According to the university, the article Phylogenomics and Museomics Reveal Five Distinct Species of Tiger Cats in South America also provided new insights into the diversity of wildcats known as “tiger cats.”

The research found that the group, which until recently was considered a single species, is in fact composed of five distinct species.

This conclusion was reached thanks to the sequencing and analysis of complete genomes from 38 individuals from different regions of South America. Among the samples analyzed were eight historical specimens housed in museums in Europe and the US.

The wild cats analyzed, Eizirik said, can be classified as cryptic species – animals that look very similar but exhibit genetic differences and independent evolutionary trajectories.

“This visual similarity led to different species being confused and classified as a single species for a long time,” he says.

The research brought together scientists from PUCRS and partner institutions in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Belgium, Colombia, the US, and the UK.

Over the past 41 years, the Atlantic forest has lost nearly 10 million hectares, while the area devoted to agriculture has gained 11 million hectares, as per data in a MapBiomas survey released Monday (Sep. 21), when Arbor Day is celebrated in Brazil.

The survey also shows that one in every four hectares of native vegetation currently found in the Atlantic forest consists of areas that have regrown after being deforested since 1985.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Pantanal: Tackling climate change depends on five other biomes.
• Amazon home to over 2,700 species of fish, study finds.
• Brazil’s cerrado biome may store more carbon than the Amazon.

The data are part of MapBiomas’ annual maps of land cover and land use in Brazil. MapBiomas is a collaborative network of universities, NGOs, and technology companies focused on monitoring changes in land cover and land use in Brazil, with information ranging from 1985 to 2025.

In total, Brazil’s Atlantic forest has lost 9.7 million hectares of mature vegetation since 1985 (areas mapped as native vegetation since 1985). On the other hand, during the same period, the biome gained more than 8 million hectares of secondary vegetation (areas that have regrown after being deforested).

Despite this growth, the data show that deforestation has increasingly targeted regenerated areas with secondary vegetation. For example, from 2021 to 2025, 1.2 million hectares were cleared in the Atlantic forest – 700,000 hectares of secondary vegetation and 500,000 hectares of mature vegetation. Thus, 60 percent of the deforestation that occurred over the past five years affected areas of secondary vegetation.

At the same time, the figures show that, with regard to the clearing of native vegetation, a downward trend has been observed in the Atlantic forest over the historical time series. Since the 2000s, the area of native vegetation cleared has remained below 2 million hectares in each five-year period. According to the study, the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo were the only ones that did not experience any loss of native vegetation over the past 41 years.

Natália Crusco, MapBiomas’ technical coordinator for the Atlantic forest, points out that despite the positive progress made in restoring vegetation cover to areas that had lost their native vegetation, it is essential to prevent deforestation in the biome, which spans 15 states and is designated as a national heritage site under the Brazilian Constitution.

“Regeneration plays a fundamental role in the recovery of the Atlantic forest – whether through restoration or the natural recovery of degraded areas,” said Crusco.

At the same time, she argues, further loss of native vegetation – both mature and secondary – must be prevented, especially in a biome that is so fragmented and has historically been under pressure from human occupation.

Covering an area of some 1.3 million km², the Atlantic forest is the Brazilian biome with the lowest proportion of native vegetation. In 2025, this vegetation covered 32 percent of its territory.

Conversion of grasslands

According to the report, much of the agricultural expansion in the biome occurred at the expense of grasslands, which lost approximately 11 million hectares in the period. Their conversion to agricultural land accounted for 19 percent of the changes in land cover and land use recorded from the beginning (1985) to the end of the time series in 2025.

“Soybean cultivation expanded by 8.7 million hectares over 41 years and covered 11.11 million hectares in 2025 – an area 4.6 times larger than the area recorded in 1985.  Sugarcane expanded by 5 million hectares and reached 6.15 million hectares,  5.3 times the 1985 area,” the document reads.

In 2025, the Atlantic forest accounted for 25 percent of soybean, 50 percent of sugarcane, 68 percent of coffee (833,000 hectares), and 34 percent of citrus (141,000 hectares) of Brazil’s mapped areas.

Another highlight is the expansion of forestry, which increased by 3.8 million hectares, reaching 4.9 million hectares in 2025. That year, half of Brazil’s mapped forestry area was located in the Atlantic forest. Paraná and Santa Catarina accounted for 46 percent of the biome’s forestry area.

Urbanized areas

Urbanized areas grew 2.5 times in the Atlantic forest from 1985 to 2025. The expansion stood at 1.3 million hectares, bringing the total area to 2.3 million hectares. More than half – 52 percent – of all urbanized areas in Brazil were located in this biome by 2025.

The states of São Paulo, Paraná, and Minas Gerais recorded the largest absolute gains in urbanized areas from 1985 to 2025.

Brazil concluded its participation in the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Hungary on Sunday (Sep. 20), with six medals: three gold, two silver, and one bronze.

Gymnast Flávia Saraiva opened Brazil’s medal tally on Saturday (19), winning gold on the uneven bars.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil wins two gold medals at rhythmic gymnastics worlds.
• Volleyball: Brazil wins South American title, books 2028 olympic spot.
• Brazilian women’s volleyball team secures spot in Los Angeles 2028.

On Sunday (20), Flávia once again reached the top of the podium, taking gold, while Rebeca Andrade won silver on the balance beam.

On the floor exercise, Flávia Saraiva struck again, winning silver - her third medal of the competition. Fellow Brazilian Lorrane Oliveira took bronze in the same event.

In Sunday’s final event, Arthur Nory delivered a flawless routine on the high bar to claim the gold medal.

Season

Part of both the Challenge Series and the World Circuit, the Hungary leg is the penultimate stop on the artistic gymnastics circuit.

This week, the Paris, France, leg wraps up the season. The 2026 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships will follow, taking place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from October 17 to 25.

The Brazilian men’s national volleyball team has qualified for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The spot was secured with a 3-0 victory over Argentina on Sunday morning (Sep. 20) at Maracanazinho in Rio de Janeiro.

In front of a crowd of 11,968, coach Bernardinho’s team won 25–20, 25–23, and 25–20.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Alison dos Santos wins 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship.
• Brazil wins overall title at judo Grand Prix in Peru with 11 medals.
• Brazilian women’s volleyball team secures spot in Los Angeles 2028.

Since 1964, when volleyball made its Olympic debut, the Brazilian men’s national team has never missed an edition of the Olympic Games. The victory also secured its 34th South American Championship title.

Opposite hitter Darlan led the way, finishing as the match’s top scorer with 23 points. The All-Tournament Team, which brings together the competition’s best players, consisted of opposite hitter Darlan, setter Cachopa, outside hitters Adriano and Aravena (Chile), middle blockers Flávio and Loser (Argentina), and libero Massimino (Argentina). Brazilian team captain Ricardo Lucarelli, an outside hitter, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

In his opening address to the high-level segment of the 81st United Nations General Assembly - traditionally delivered by a Brazilian president - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will emphasize the importance of multilateralism, one of the central tenets of Brazilian foreign policy, in a context marked by a proliferation of international conflicts.

The president arrived in New York on Sunday (Sep. 20). In his speech, he will advocate for negotiation as a means of resolving disputes, respect for international humanitarian law, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Lula will present Brazil’s perspective on the main issues on the international agenda.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil rejects Trump’s criticism of its domestic fight against drugs.

Reform of the United Nations, particularly its Security Council, will be among the topics to be addressed. For years, Brazil has advocated for updating the composition and functioning of the body and has criticized its inability to respond effectively to international conflicts.

Lula will hold bilateral talks with other heads of state, in addition to meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who is in the final stages of his term at the helm of the international organization. He will also meet with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the progressive Democrat who took office at the beginning of the year.

This will be Lula’s 11th appearance at the United Nations General Assembly as president of Brazil. During his three terms in office, he has only missed the assembly once, in 2010.

Trump

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not provided any information on the possibility of a meeting between Lula and US President Donald Trump before he returns to Brazil on Tuesday (22).

The US president will be the second speaker, immediately after Lula, raising the possibility that the two leaders could cross paths behind the scenes in the plenary hall. Last year, they briefly encountered each other as Lula was leaving the stage after his speech and Trump was preparing to deliver his address.

A silent machine works constantly to ensure that millions of people in South America have access to water, rivers, and crops. This mechanism is called the Amazon, and it works as follows – moisture from the ocean produces rain over the forest; the water is absorbed from the soil by the trees and released back into the atmosphere as vapor; the wind then spreads this vapor across the entire continent, causing rain in various regions.

Researcher Julia Valentim Tavares explains that this is South America’s primary water infrastructure and the largest “rain machine” on the planet. A mature tree in the Amazon can release 200 to 300 liters of water into the atmosphere every day.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Amazon home to over 2,700 species of fish, study finds.
• El Niño: Drought hit 38% of Amazon’s inhabited areas in 2024.

“Imagine 400 billion of them working together every day. If we could visualize that moisture, we’d see giant rivers flying through the sky. That’s what we scientists call ‘flying rivers.’”

Marielos Peñaclaros, co-chair of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon – an organization that brings together more than 350 scientists dedicated to studying the biome – emphasizes that the forest is the backbone of water, nutrient, and carbon cycles at the local, regional, and global levels.

“In other words, the Amazon sustains life – not only in the Amazon region but on the planet as a whole.”

The two specialists participated in the latest edition of TEDxAmazônia, held in late August in Ecuador. TEDxAmazônia stems from a commitment to listening deeply to this region. It is the only TEDx event dedicated to a single biome. The conversations that emerge at these gatherings “cross borders, connect knowledge, and bridge the local and the global,” a text on the TEDx website reads.

Warning

In addition to emphasizing the importance of this water system, the scientists issued a warning – the devastation of the Amazon is already affecting the “rain machine,” and its breakdown would be catastrophic for the entire planet.

Activities such as mining and drug trafficking, combined with deforestation and wildfires, have directly impacted Amazonian connectivity – a key factor for the conservation of the biome, Marielos noted.

“The Amazon is a living mosaic of interconnected terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, home to a great diversity of cultures. These communities have a deep and interdependent relationship with the ecosystems through their ways of life, management practices, and knowledge.”

The effects on the climate are already measurable, she said, with evidence that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon results in less rainfall in regions of Brazil and Bolivia. In deforested areas, temperatures have risen, and dry seasons are becoming more intense and longer.

Julia Valentim Tavares is also measuring these effects from within the trees along the southern edge of the Amazon – a region known as “arc of deforestation” – where rainfall has already decreased and temperatures have risen over the past decade. She is investigating how long these trees can withstand droughts before their internal “ropes” are damaged.

“If the soil has water, this rope remains intact. During a dry season, the soil loses its water, and this rope becomes taut. The atmosphere pulls it upward, the soil pulls it downward, until the rope finally snaps. If this happens repeatedly in various parts of the tree, the tree literally begins to die of thirst.”

Global warming

In recent years, the region has also suffered from the effects of global warming. In 2024, the Amazon faced the worst drought in its history as a result of El Niño – a natural phenomenon involving the warming of Pacific Ocean waters that alters atmospheric circulation and has been growing in intensity.

Marielos points out that 88 percent of the Amazon basin felt the effects of this drought, which also disrupted the “rain machine.” Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, located in the Andes region, suffered from water shortages. In Quito, Ecuador – which is also outside the Amazon – water shortages led to power outages.

“The question we should all be asking is, where does the water for countless Latin American cities come from? Where does the water we use in agriculture, industry, and food production come from?” asked the co-chair of the scientific panel for the Amazon.

The drought also rendered the Amazon more vulnerable to wildfires, which reached record levels that year. Julia Valentim Tavares notes that smoke from the fires spread across the country, reaching as far as the Brazilian Southeast.

“This casts light on two key issues – first, the Amazon has never been far away. What happens in the forest does not stay in the forest. And second – millions of people depend on the Amazon, yet they still do not feel connected to it.”

The forecast that a super El Niño will occur this year has alarmed the scientists. “When these droughts occur, the forest either faces mortality due to water stress, or stops growing – plus wildfires. As a result, the Amazon ceases to function as a carbon sink and becomes a source of emissions, contributing to global warming,” she warned.

“We’re expecting it to be as strong as or stronger than in 2024, but the main difference is that last time, things happened that no one was expecting. How could a river dry up in the Amazon? Now everyone is talking about it,” Marielos noted.

In her view, a definitive solution will only be achieved through a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which depends heavily on replacing fossil fuels with less polluting energy sources.

“We also have to invest in connectivity – restoring degraded areas, rehabilitating those that were deforested for production, and reestablishing this ecological connectivity, because the Amazon is already approaching the point of no return, and because the total loss of this connectivity would be catastrophic for the entire world.”

*The reporter attended TEDxAmazônia at the invitation of the event organizers.

More than just disillusioned with politics, Brazilian voters are staying away from the polls year after year because they feel exhausted and lonely. The finding comes from a survey conducted by Plataforma Avaaz with pollster Datafolha, released this week.

In this groundbreaking study, experts linked the lack of community ties and contact with nature to disinterest in politics, pointing to these factors as explanations for voter abstention.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Over 20,500 file for candidacy ahead of general elections this year.
• Brazil kicks off campaigns for general elections in October.

About 30 million voters – nearly one in three – did not vote in the last elections. The survey found that, in general, this abstention was driven by what it termed an “epidemic” of loneliness, mental exhaustion, and a dependence on technology.

“We discovered that the ‘disengaged’ are caught in a destructive cycle,” explained Nana Queiroz, director of Avaaz’s Desapocalíptica Project, who believes this group turns to TV and social media “as a kind of anesthetic for this exhaustion.”

She also pointed out that social media in Brazil keeps people in their own personal circles of users with similar opinions – in addition to fueling “a culture of hate.” In these cases, they feel more isolated, hopeless, or guilty for wasting so much time on social media or TV.

“When these people feel this way – guilty, exhausted, and isolated – they believe they lack the power to bring about collective change, and that is why they are stopping voting,” she argued.

The “disengaged”

Nearly half of Brazilians identified with this behavior (47%) were classified in the survey as “disengaged.” These are individuals who have stopped voting altogether or vote only rarely. Three in ten have given up voting entirely due to this lack of engagement.

Young people fit this profile the most. According to the data, young people aged 18 to 34 make up 44 percent of the disengaged group, signaling the need for action. Only two out of ten young people say they have a connection to their community and feel good about it.

Queiroz draws attention to grueling work schedules, such as the 6–1 shift (six days of work followed by one of rest), which reduce the time available for leisure and for building a social network.

Good living

To rebuild that connection, the recommendation is to develop what are known as “good living” policies. These are initiatives that also promote contact with nature, access to culture, leisure, and more accessible cities in general, Queiroz explains.

“Saying ‘good morning’ to someone at the bakery already has an impact on your level of happiness,” she noted.

Contact with the environment is also seen as restorative to mental health, especially in cases of anxiety and boredom among young people. Measures to curb digital addiction are also necessary.

“If you want to win these people back and get them to the polls, you need to create policies that change their real lives, so they feel that their vote has a real impact on their lives,” the specialist stressed.

The survey was based on a foreign methodology that looks at quality-of-life indicators less frequently examined in economically focused surveys – which tend to focus more on access to consumption, material comfort, and economic performance itself.

Petrobras has signed an exploration contract to search for oil off the equatorial margin of Côte d’Ivoire. The Brazilian company will have the right to explore eight offshore exploration blocks.

The contract with the West African country was signed Thursday (Sep. 17) in Abidjan, the economic capital and seat of government. The Brazilian company was represented by Sylvia Anjos, Petrobras’ executive director of exploration and production.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Petrobras boasts highest profit margin among world’s top oil giants.
• Petrobras negotiates oil exploration in Ghana.
• Petrobras reports oil discovery at mouth of Amazon river.

The contracts are under a production-sharing arrangement. Petrobras will operate in the country through its subsidiary Petrobras Netherlands B.V. (PNBV), which will hold a 90 percent stake in the blocks and serve as the exploration operator. The remaining 10 percent will be held by the Ivorian state-owned company Petroci Holding.

According to a statement from Petrobras, the initiative is in line with the strategy to replenish oil and gas reserves through exploration in new frontier areas, both in Brazil and abroad.

High potential

The company emphasizes that the agreements secure a stake in exploration areas “with high potential on the African equatorial margin.”

The company’s president, Magda Chambriard, stated that the new deal gives Petrobras a “significant presence” in Côte d’Ivoire, “a country located in a region with high exploration potential, with geological characteristics similar to those of our sedimentary basins.”

“We will apply our experience and technical expertise to these blocks, and we are confident that, with them, we will be able to unlock all the possibilities we believe exist on the African Atlantic margin,” she added.

Petrobras around the world

The contracts in Côte d’Ivoire mark a step forward for Petrobras in oil and gas exploration in Africa and around the world.

On the continent, the state-owned company also operates in Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, and South Africa. In August 2026, the oil giant began negotiations for exploration blocks in Ghana.

This expansion into Africa marks a return to the region. In the early 2000s, the company operated in Nigeria, Tanzania, Angola, Benin, Gabon, and Namibia, but those interests were later sold.

The Americas

In addition to Brazil and Africa, Petrobras is involved in oil exploration and production in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and the US.

In June 2026, the company signed a memorandum of understanding to establish strategic and technical cooperation with the state-owned company Pemex, with a focus on the Gulf of Mexico.

In the first half of 2026, Petrobras achieved the highest profit margin among a group of major international oil companies, surpassing giants such as Saudi Aramco and the US companies ExxonMobil and Chevron.

The numbers can be found in a study released Wednesday (Sep. 16) by the United Federation of Oil Workers (FUP), which brings together unions representing more than 105,000 workers in the oil industry. The survey is coordinated by economist Cloviomar Cararine of the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), a research institution linked to the labor movement.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Petrobras negotiates oil exploration in Ghana.
• Petrobras reports oil discovery at mouth of Amazon river.
• Brazil’s oil, gas production up 14% in second quarter.

The study compares the financial results of major oil companies since 2020. This is the first time Petrobras has topped the profit margin rankings.

Margin vs. profit

Profit is the amount of money left over for the company after costs, expenses, and taxes have been deducted. Profit margin, on the other hand, gauges the company’s efficiency by showing what proportion of revenue (total sales – such as fuel, crude oil, and petroleum products) actually turns into profit.

For example, if a company has a net margin of 15 percent, it means that for every BRL 100 in sales, BRL 15 remains as net profit for the business after all costs, expenses, and taxes have been paid.

In the Dieese ranking, Petrobras tops the list, with a margin of 29.15 percent in the first half of 2026. During that period, the Brazilian state-owned company reported net income of BRL 85.1 billion.

The profit margins of the major oil companies surveyed are as follows:

• Petrobras – 29.15 percent;
• Saudi Aramco – 25.48 percent;
• Chevron – 18.01 percent;
• ExxonMobil – 16.33 percent;
• BP (UK) – 14.83 percent;
• Equinor (Norway) – 12.84 percent;
• Shell (Anglo-Dutch) – 9.94 percent;
• TotalEnergies (France) – 9.44 percent.

From 2020 through 2025, Saudi Aramco had the highest profit margin. In all of those years, Petrobras ranked second, with the exception of 2024.

The data are based on information disclosed by the companies themselves. The researcher did not include Chinese companies, such as Sinopec and PetroChina in the tracking.

Factors behind efficiency

The economist believes this unprecedented result reflects the company’s “high operational efficiency.”

The performance, he added, was sustained by increased production, rising international oil prices (a result of the war in the Middle East), reduced overhead costs, and the fact that it remains an integrated company that both produces and refines oil.

Cloviomar Cararine argues that this combination gives Petrobras a greater ability to weather crises than its international competitors.

In the second quarter of 2026, Petrobras’ oil and natural gas production reached an all-time high, totaling a daily 3.34 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe, a unit derived from converting natural gas into oil energy equivalent, which allows the two products to be combined).

About 30 percent of what was produced was sold overseas (996,000 barrels per day).

The company also set an all-time record for the refinery utilization factor, reaching 101.2 percent. The higher it is, the closer the refineries are operating at full capacity.

In a statement, Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security has refuted allegations made by the US president that there are failures or omissions in the fight against transnational organized crime.

Donald Trump criticized the Brazilian government for, in his view, failing to confront Brazilian criminal organizations Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV). The statement appears in an annual report sent to the US Congress, dated Tuesday (Sep. 15).

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil and IDB expand cooperation against organized crime.
• Brazil cracks down on international drug trafficking by sea.

In it, the US leader lists countries considered significant in the trafficking or production of illicit drugs for fiscal year 2027, in addition to presenting individual assessments of various governments.

According to the Brazilian government, the position set forth in Trump’s document “would, if accepted in its entirety, disregard the federal government’s efforts to combat organized crime, such as the Anti-Gang Law, enacted in March 2026, which provides for harsher penalties for ring leaders and creates mechanisms to stifle their operations.”

Trump also stated that while many governments in the Western Hemisphere have adopted bold measures to reduce drug flows and eradicate cartels, the Brazilian government has failed to confront the foreign terrorist organizations known as Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, which have turned Brazil into a hub for global cocaine flows.

These Brazilian terrorist organizations, Trump went on to argue, pose a growing threat to peace and security around the world, and the Brazilian government urgently needs to take aggressive measures to confront and defeat them before they spread and grow.

The Brazilian ministry further argues that the US president’s statement also fails to take into account “the tens of thousands of operations” carried out by federal forces to combat crime, “resulting in billions of reais in losses to criminals, as well as the numerous actions implemented in 2026 under the Brazil Against Organized Crime Program, launched last May, which economically strangles criminal factions, strengthens the prison system, improves homicide investigations, and combats arms trafficking.”

Cooperation

According to the Brazilian government’s statement, the US statement also disregards the “robust cooperation that already exists” between Brazil and the US in the fight against transnational organized crime.

Furthermore, “it is worth highlighting the proposal delivered in person by President Lula on May 7, 2026, in Washington, which details joint measures to combat money laundering, share intelligence, and combat arms trafficking. To date, Brazil is awaiting a possible response from the US government.”

Compliance

The statement from the Ministry of Justice notes that Brazil is not described in Trump’s document as a country that has “demonstrably failed” to comply with its international obligations to combat drugs based on US laws. This designation was applied to Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Furthermore, Brazil does not appear on the list of major transit or production countries for illicit drugs. Those countries are Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

After suffering from unfavorable weather conditions in 2024, Brazil’s agricultural sector reached 345.4 million metric tons of grains, legumes, and oilseeds in 2025. This volume is 18.2 percent higher than that recorded the previous year, when production was hampered by the effects of El Niño.

The value of production – which combines the physical volume produced with the prices charged at sale – totaled BRL 927.2 billion, an 18.4 percent increase compared to 2024.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil’s July trade balance posts USD 7B surplus.
• Brazil launches BRL 525.1B Crop Plan for 2026/2027.

The data were released Thursday (Sep. 17) by the statistics bureau IBGE.

Increase in cultivated area

The survey also shows that, for the first time, Brazil surpassed the 100-million-hectare mark for cultivated area. The 100.6 million hectares recorded in 2025 represent a 4.4 percent growth compared to the previous year.

Soybeans

According to the survey, soybeans accounted for more than one-third (34%) of the value of Brazilian agricultural production (BRL 315.2 billion), a performance that maintains Brazil’s position as the world’s largest producer and exporter of this oilseed.

The soybean harvest grew by 14.4 percent year-on-year, reaching 165.2 million metric tons – 20.8 million metric tons more than in 2024.

IBGE explains that the international landscape contributed to the stabilization of soybean prices.

“The current situation shows that the trade war between the US and China led China to increase its demand for Brazilian soybeans, keeping domestic prices for the commodity stable throughout the final months of the year.”

The top agricultural products by production value in 2025 are:

Soybeans – BRL 315.2 billion;
Corn – BRL 122.1 billion;
Sugarcane – BRL 108.9 billion;
Coffee (beans) – BRL 100 billion;
Cotton (seed cotton) – BRL 40.6 billion.