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Brazilian fans were left distraught by the team's performance Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has urged the country to bounce back after its catastrophic 7-1 World Cup defeat against Germany. "Like all Brazilians, I am very, very sad after the defeat. But we will not let ourselves be broken," she tweeted.

Two people have died in an accident at Sao Paulo's stadium that is due to host the opening ceremony of the 2014 Football World Cup, police say. A senior local fire official said crews were called to the Arena Corinthians after reports of a collapsed crane. It fell on top of a metal structure, destroying parts of a stand. The arena was due to be completed at the end of December to meet a Fifa deadline. Brazil has admitted it is struggling to have all 12 venues ready. Extremely shocked by the news from Sao Paulo. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this accident Jerome Valcke, Fifa Secretary General.

The world is facing a wine shortage, with global consumer demand already significantly outstripping supply, a report has warned. The research by America's Morgan Stanley financial services giant says demand for wine "exceeded supply by 300m cases in 2012". It describes this as "the deepest shortfall in over 40 years of records". Last year, production also dropped to its lowest levels in more than four decades. Global production has been steadily declining since its peak in 2004, when supply outweighed demand by about 600m cases.

The US National Security Agency has spied on French diplomats in Washington and at the UN, according to the latest claims in Le Monde newspaper. NSA internal memos obtained by Le Monde detailed the use of a sophisticated surveillance programme, known as Genie. US spies allegedly hacked foreign networks, introducing the spyware into the software, routers and firewalls of millions of machines. It comes a day after claims the NSA tapped millions of phones in France. The details in the latest Le Monde article are based on leaks from ex-intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, through Glen Greenwald, the outgoing Guardian journalist, who is feeding the material from Brazil, says the Christian Fraser in Paris. It comes on the day the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, is in London meeting foreign counterparts to discuss Syria. 'Spy implants' The Le Monde report sets out details of Genie, an NSA surveillance programme in which spyware implants were introduced remotely to overseas c...

Protesters demonstrating in support of teachers receiving better pay in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have clashed with police. The centre of Rio was packed with more than 10,000 people marching peacefully. But as it got dark, some protesters threw firebombs at public buildings and riot police responded with tear gas. A similar protest in Sao Paulo also ended in violent confrontation with police after many banks were ransacked by hooded protesters. Brazil's security situation is a challenge to cities that will play host to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. The latest demonstration took place over several hours and was peaceful at first. Analysis ByWyre Davies Rio de Janeiro correspondent Brazil is getting the kind of attention it could really do without only eight months before thousands of visitors are due here for the World Cup. The authorities, both here in Rio and at federal level, insist they have responded to many of the protestors...

Braslia - Canada spied on communications at Brazil's Mining and Energy Ministry, according to Canadian intelligence documents revealed late on Sunday by Globo television. Documents leaked by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, purportedly from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, show a detailed outline of the Brazilian ministry's communications including phone calls, email and Internet traffic. Earlier disclosures by Snowden that the United States spied on the same ministry, as well as on President Dilma Rousseff and her aides, have strained US-Brazilian ties. According to Globo, Snowden obtained the documents at a June 2012 meeting of intelligence analysts from the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, a group said to be called the "Five Eyes". A Canadian software spying program named Olympia "mapped" the ministry's phone communications and computers with the goal of studying contacts "made with other ...

Hundreds of Brazilian security officers, backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters, have occupied 12 shanty towns in Rio de Janeiro. The major operation is part of an ongoing drive by authorities to push drug gangs away from poor areas. Two new police pacification units (UPP) will be set up in Lins de Vasconcellos, home to about 15,000 people. Since 2008, another 34 UPPs have been set up across the state but there have also been reports of police brutality. Rio will host the 2016 Olympics and matches of next year's football World Cup. 'Step towards peace' Hundreds of police officers backed by at least two armoured vehicles and three helicopters moved into the slums at dawn on Sunday. There has been no resistance from gangs on Sunday's operation, authorities say. "This is another step towards peace," Rio state governor Sergio Cabral Filho told reporters. Heavily armed policemen guarded the entrances to the shanty towns The authorities say the securi...

Hundreds of Brazilian security officers, backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters, have occupied 12 shanty towns in Rio de Janeiro. The major operation is part of an ongoing drive by authorities to push drug gangs away from poor areas. Two new police pacification units (UPP) will be set up in Lins de Vasconcellos, home to about 15,000 people. Since 2008, another 34 UPPs have been set up across the state but there have also been reports of police brutality. Rio will host the 2016 Olympics and matches of next year's football World Cup. 'Step towards peace' Hundreds of police officers backed by at least two armoured vehicles and three helicopters moved into the slums at dawn on Sunday. There has been no resistance from gangs on Sunday's operation, authorities say. "This is another step towards peace," Rio state governor Sergio Cabral Filho told reporters. Heavily armed policemen guarded the entrances to the shanty towns The authorities say the securi...

It's easy to campaign to save endangered species like pandas and woolly spider monkeys because they're fluffy and cute. But what about venomous snakes? These are crucial predators in Brazil's Atlantic rainforest ecosystem, and a local doctor has made it his life's work to save one of the most dangerous. Carnival was in full swing in the small Brazilian coastal town of Itacare when a giant snake measuring 6m long slithered down the streets, sending hundreds of revellers screaming into roadside bars. Until recently the snake would have been killed. The police were standing by with shotguns. But instead the local doctor was summoned. Dr Rodrigo Souza moved to the north-eastern state of Bahia 12 years ago and developed a fascination with the rainforest and its wildlife. Now whenever a strange creature ventures into a built-up area, the doctor is called. He was even asked to rescue a group of confused penguins that had been swept up from the Falkland Islands by the mighty ...

Work on a Brazilian football stadium which is being refurbished for the 2014 World Cup has been suspended after a judge ruled there were safety concerns. The Arena da Baixada stadium in the city of Curitiba is due to stage four matches during the World Cup. Refurbishment work on the stadium is already lagging behind schedule. Judge Lorena Colnago said workers were at serious risk of accidents. She ordered a new inspection be carried out before work could resume. "Countless infractions have been committed, in various stages of the building process," the judge from Brazil's labour tribunal said. She said workers were in danger of "being buried, run over and of collision, falling from heights and being hit by construction material, among other serious risks". 'No plan B' The news comes a week after an investigation revealed that construction workers employed on another World Cup-related project faced what were termed "slave-like" conditions...

A court in the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk has remanded 22 activists from a Greenpeace ship in custody for two months for allegedly trying to seize an oil platform. Another eight people from the Arctic Sunrise were detained for three days pending a new hearing. The activists - who hail from a total of 18 countries - are being held pending a "piracy" inquiry, but Greenpeace says the activists were staging a legal, peaceful protest. Among those detained was Iain Rogers from Devon. He said the activists had been made to comply with the Russian authorities against their will and that the justice system was "corrupt".

A court in the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk has remanded 20 activists from a Greenpeace ship in custody for two months for allegedly trying to seize an oil platform. The crew of the Arctic Sunrise ship, who hail from 18 nations, are accused of "piracy" against an oil platform. Russian coastguards intercepted the ship on 19 September after two activists tried to haul themselves onto an offshore drilling platform operated by the Russian company Gazprom. Greenpeace says the activists were staging a legal, peaceful protest. Warning shots were fired as they were apprehended. Watch footage of the incident.

The environmental organisation Greenpeace is to appeal against the detention of 30 of its activists in Russia over a protest in the Arctic. It demanded their immediate release, after a court in Murmansk remanded 22 of them in custody for two months pending an investigation. Eight other activists face a new hearing on Sunday. The crew of the Arctic Sunrise ship, who hail from 18 nations, are accused of "piracy" against an oil platform. However, President Vladimir Putin has said the Greenpeace activists are clearly not pirates, though they may have broken international law. Led by Captain Peter Henry Willcox, who previously commanded Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior ship when it was blown up by French agents in a New Zealand port in 1985, the activists were protesting against the Arctic oil and gas industry. Greenpeace says drilling for oil in the Arctic puts a delicate environment at risk. Russian coastguards intercepted the ship on 19 September after two activists trie...

Construction workers employed on a project in Brazil ahead of next year's World Cup face "slave-like" conditions, officials say. An investigation into the expansion of Sao Paulo international airport found that 111 workers were living in poor accommodation near the building site. They were approached in poorer states and some had to pay more than $220 (£140) to secure a job, the Labour attorney general's office says. The promised wages were $625 a month. The workers, among them six ethnic Pankaruru indians, were reportedly lured in the country's north-east with promises of work in Sao Paulo. However, many were not immediately employed and had to stay in one of 11 makeshift camps near the airport which is being expanded in preparation for next year's World Cup. The Labour attorney general's office says it found the workers living in "conditions analogue to slaves" and has 30 days to present legal action against the contractors. According to...

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have pledged to create a 100 billion fund to help protect their markets from shocks as the G20 debates the impact of the withdrawal of monetary stimulus on the world economy.According to the agreement announced at a meeting of G20 leaders in Russia, China will contribute $41 billion to the fund. Brazil, India, and Russia will provide $18 billion each while new member South Africa will pay $5 billion.The fund -- dubbed the Contingent Reserve Arrangement -- is designed to provide member countries with an emergency cushion of cash during times of crisis. Its creation reflects frustration in emerging markets at a lack of influence over institutions such as the international monetary fund despite their growing importance in the world economy.Jim O'Neill, a former Goldman Sachs economist who coined the "BRIC" acronym, called the $100 billion fund "an encouraging, interesting development" that could help emerging markets ...

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have pledged to create a 100 billion fund to help protect their markets from shocks as the G20 debates the impact of the withdrawal of monetary stimulus on the world economy.According to the agreement announced at a meeting of G20 leaders in Russia, China will contribute $41 billion to the fund. Brazil, India, and Russia will provide $18 billion each while new member South Africa will pay $5 billion.The fund -- dubbed the Contingent Reserve Arrangement -- is designed to provide member countries with an emergency cushion of cash during times of crisis. Its creation reflects frustration in emerging markets at a lack of influence over institutions such as the international monetary fund despite their growing importance in the world economy.Jim O'Neill, a former Goldman Sachs economist who coined the "BRIC" acronym, called the $100 billion fund "an encouraging, interesting development" that could help emerging markets ...

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has criticised the US over allegations it carried out electronic espionage. Speaking at the opening of the UN General Assembly, Ms Rousseff said Brazil would adopt legislation and technology to protect itself from illegal intercepts. She called Washington's argument that spying on Brazil was to protect nations from terrorists "untenable". Earlier this month, she cancelled a planned visit to Washington. 'Affront' Ms Rousseff told the assembled leaders that Brazil had been a target of intrusions and intercepts carried out by a "global network of electronic espionage". Brazil, Mr President, knows how to protect itself Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil She said that "corporate information - often of high economic and even strategic value - was at the centre of espionage activities". President Rousseff said such tampering with another country's affairs was an "affront to the principles that must...