BBC, 02/26/2013
Health authorities in Brazil say there has been a steep rise in the confirmed cases of dengue fever this year.
More than 200,000 people were infected in the first seven weeks of 2013 compared to 70,000 in the same period last year, official figures suggest.
The southern state of Mato Grosso do Sul has been hardest hit.
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Public Health | Tagged: Alexandre Padilha, Brazil dengue, Brazil health and wellness, Dengue Fever, Mato Grosso do Sul | 
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Upside Down World/Amnesty International, 10/30/2012
The Brazilian authorities must immediately suspend a court order to evict 170 Guarani–Kaiowá indigenous people from a portion of their ancestral lands, Amnesty International said after the community pledged to die together rather than be forced off their territory.
Some 170 people – including 70 children – from the Pyelito Kue/Mbarakay community near Iguatemi in southern Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul state are at risk of eviction following the order, which a regional federal court upheld on 17 September.
The community has been occupying a two-hectare tract of forest along the Hovy River for almost a year, after gunmen razed their previous settlement to the ground.
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Deborah Zampier – Agencia Brasil, 03/19/2012
The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled yesterday on the oldest case on its docket. In 1959, the government’s chief prosecutor (“procurador-geral da República”) filed a lawsuit against the state of Mato Grosso because of controversial land donations (the state gave areas of over 10,000 hectares to private companies; at that time, such large donations of land were only legal if approved by the Senate).
The law’s delay played a decisive role in the final decision as the court ruled unanimously in favor of the government prosecutor that the donations were unconstitutional and illegal. However, in a second, 5 to 4 vote, it was decided that so much time had gone by and so many things changed (among other things, the state of Mato Grosso was divided into two states: Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, and over 80,000 people now live in the area) that the donations could not be undone or annulled.
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AFP/France 24, 09/07/2011
Brazilian Indians of the Guarani tribe have called on Shell to withdraw from their ancestral land, where the oil giant produces ethanol from sugar cane, according to a native rights group.
Guarani Indians in southern Brazil have called on Shell to withdraw from their ancestral land, where the oil giant produces ethanol from sugar cane, according to a native rights group.
“Shell must leave our land… The companies must stop using indigenous land,” said Ambrosio Vilhalva, a Guarani from the Caarapo municipality in the southern state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
“We want justice, we want our land to be mapped out and protected for us,” he was quoted as saying by Survival International, a rights group that campaigns for indigenous peoples.
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Mercopress, 08/31/2011
JBS plans to cut costs by 125 million dollars annually
The world’s largest beef producer, Brazil’s JBS, will shift its meat packing operations to other locations where it operates in the country, to reap tax savings, the company said on Tuesday.
The restructuring should enable JBS to raise output from its domestic operations by 5% through efficiency gains and enable the company to save around 200 million Real a year (125 million dollars) by reducing its tax bill and overheads.
The company said it would suspend operations at the Presidente Epitacio unit in Sao Paulo state due to tax inefficiencies there and shift that plant’s output northwest to a unit in neighbouring Mato Grosso do Sul state.
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Garry Duffy-BBC News, 09/17/2009
Survival International says families from the Guarani Kaoiwa people are now living at the side of a road in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in very primitive and dangerous conditions.
Campaigners for indigenous rights say the community of around 35 families, including 60 children and teenagers, was evicted last week as the result of legal action taken by a local landowner, who is himself a lawyer.
Disputes between local farmers and indigenous groups over what is farmland purchased in good faith, and what is indigenous ancestral land are common in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
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