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Straits Times
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Catholicism shrinks in Brazil as evangelical faith surges
FILE PHOTO: Hooded Catholic faithful participate in the Torch Procession, known as Fogareu, during the Holy Week in Goias, State of Goias, Brazil April 17, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Renascer Praise performs as Evangelicals take part in the \"March for Jesus\", considered to be the biggest event of the Evangelical Church, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Lucas Landau/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Hooded Catholic faithful walk in the Torch Procession, known as Fogareu, during the Holy Week in Goias, State of Goias, Brazil April 16, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil, the world's largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022 while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by statistics agency IBGE showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7% of the population, down from 65.1% or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9% last year, up from 21.6% in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure on record. The numbers may spell trouble to Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose Workers Party has historically struggled to gain ground among evangelicals. A recent Quaest poll showed that while 45% of Catholics approved of the Lula administration, only 30% of evangelicals did. The share of Catholics in Brazil has been dropping since the beginning of official records in 1872, when residents could only opt between Catholic or non-Catholic, said Maria Goreth Santos, an analyst of IBGE. Enslaved people, who made up a huge share of Brazil's population at the time, were all counted as Catholics, regardless of their wishes, she added. Still, Catholicism remains the country's most popular religion – though the Vatican's dominance varies in different regions, with fewer Catholics in the Amazon region, and more in the Northeast. The new census data also revealed that the number of Brazilians who declare to have no religion rose to 9.3% from 7.9%, totaling 16.4 million people. Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Umbanda and Candomble, also gained ground, with the number of followers increasing from to 1% from 0.3%. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Brazil plans to cut tax breaks, curb education spending in fiscal package, say sources
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stands on the day he attends a press conference at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo BRASILIA - Brazil's government is negotiating a package of fiscal measures with congressional leaders that includes cuts to tax exemptions and limits on the growth of transfers to an education fund, according to sources familiar with the talks. After initially signaling the measures would be unveiled on Tuesday, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said they would be disclosed only after further discussions with party leaders on Sunday. First reported by local newspaper Valor Economico and confirmed by three government sources who requested anonymity, the package is being prepared as an alternative to the controversial hike in the financial transactions tax (IOF) announced last week, which drew broad backlash from lawmakers and business sectors. The plan focuses heavily on reducing tax benefits, a longstanding target of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's leftist administration, said three sources. His economic team often criticizes the volume of tax exemptions that weaken public revenues, though previous attempts to roll them back have seen limited success in Congress. That includes a payroll tax break for companies, which remains in place without due compensation. One of the sources said the new package includes a proposed constitutional amendment that would establish rules to curb growth in transfers to the Fund for the Development of Basic Education. A similar initiative in last year's fiscal package was watered down by Congress, which blocked efforts to redirect more of the fund's resources to full-time education spending. The new measures aim to create fiscal space for the government to revise the recent IOF tax decree, which increased rates on a range of credit, foreign exchange, and pension transactions. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Brazil plans to cut tax breaks, curb education spending in fiscal package, say sources
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stands on the day he attends a press conference at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's government is negotiating a package of fiscal measures with congressional leaders that includes cuts to tax exemptions and limits on the growth of transfers to an education fund, according to sources familiar with the talks. After initially signaling the measures would be unveiled on Tuesday, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said they would be disclosed only after further discussions with party leaders on Sunday. First reported by local newspaper Valor Economico and confirmed by three government sources who requested anonymity, the package is being prepared as an alternative to the controversial hike in the financial transactions tax (IOF) announced last week, which drew broad backlash from lawmakers and business sectors. The plan focuses heavily on reducing tax benefits, a longstanding target of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's leftist administration, said three sources. His economic team often criticizes the volume of tax exemptions that weaken public revenues, though previous attempts to roll them back have seen limited success in Congress. That includes a payroll tax break for companies, which remains in place without due compensation. One of the sources said the new package includes a proposed constitutional amendment that would establish rules to curb growth in transfers to the Fund for the Development of Basic Education. A similar initiative in last year's fiscal package was watered down by Congress, which blocked efforts to redirect more of the fund's resources to full-time education spending. The new measures aim to create fiscal space for the government to revise the recent IOF tax decree, which increased rates on a range of credit, foreign exchange, and pension transactions. (Reporting by Bernardo Caram and Lisandra Paraguassu, writing by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Japan Today
18-05-2025
- Science
- Japan Today
As the Amazon's waves weaken, a surfer fights to protect them
Brazilian surfer Sergio Laus rides the thunderous pororoca tidal bore wave on the Mearim River, in the Amazon jungle, near the northern Brazilian city of Arari of Maranhao state, Brazil April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado By Sergio Queiroz, Adriano Machado and Manuela Andreoni Deep in the Amazon rainforest, the power of mighty rivers combines with the pull of the moon's gravity to form waves that run for dozens of miles. Record-breaking Brazilian surfer Sergio Laus fears that climate change and environmental degradation mean their days may be numbered. One early morning in late April, with a supermoon still in the sky, he trekked dozens of miles through the mud up the Mearim River, at the eastern tip of the Amazon, to surf the country's biggest remaining 'pororoca' and highlight the risk. The two-meter-high muddy waves that formed as the river narrowed between the lush mangroves at the margins amazed him, as they always did. "A wave breaks and dissolves," he said, of ocean waves. "This one just keeps gaining intensity. It's an Amazonian tsunami." Yet the waves were about half the size of what he saw here years ago - and even smaller than the five-meter waves he says he used to ride in the Araguari River further west before erosion caused by agriculture and nearby dams dried up Brazil's mightiest pororocas. "Looking through older pictures, I said wow, look at the size of these waves," he said. "Sometimes I cry," he added, explaining how he missed the huge waves. Laus, who twice broke records for surfing the world's longest waves, fears that sea level rise and droughts fueled by climate change, as well as erosion from farming and dams, are upsetting the balance that unleashes the force of nature he spent years learning to ride. "Nature is very alive, it feels every movement, every interference from humans," he said, adding that he hoped the global climate summit that will take place in the Amazonian city of Belem in November "would bring new hope". The name pororoca means great roar in the Tupi Indigenous language - the thunderous clash between the ocean and the river that generates a tidal bore. As the moon approaches the earth, some rivers are pushed back by ocean water lifted by its gravitational pull. The wave grows bigger as a deep river becomes shallow. Research shows climate change has made parts of the Amazon hotter and disturbed rain patterns that keep the water volume in its rivers steady. Communities near the Mearim River have also noticed the sea reach further inland, creating sandbanks and forming new mangrove areas that block the ocean tide, said Denilson Bezerra, an oceanographer at the Federal University of Maranhao. "We have felt the impact in the occurrence of the pororoca," he said. "But we still lack studies to establish the cause-and-effect relationship." Laus has surfed pororocas all over the world, in Indonesia, China, and Alaska, and he plans to continue searching for new tidal bores around the Amazon, as well as Papua New Guinea and Canada. "There are many pororocas that no one has ever seen," he said, adding that he still dreams of surfing "all the pororocas in the world." © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Straits Times
12-05-2025
- Climate
- Straits Times
As the Amazon's waves weaken, a surfer fights to protect them
Brazilian surfer Sergio Laus rides the thunderous pororoca tidal bore wave on the Mearim River, in the Amazon jungle, near the northern Brazilian city of Arari of Maranhao state, Brazil April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado Brazilian surfer Sergio Laus stands after riding the thunderous pororoca tidal bore wave on the Mearim River, in the Amazon jungle, near the northern Brazilian city of Arari of Maranhao state, Brazil April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado Brazilian surfer Sergio Laus rides the thunderous pororoca tidal bore wave on the Mearim River, in the Amazon jungle, near the northern Brazilian city of Arari of Maranhao state, Brazil April 28, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado A drone view shows the thunderous pororoca tidal bore wave on the Mearim River, in the Amazon jungle, near the northern Brazilian city of Arari of Maranhao state, Brazil April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado Brazilian surfer Sergio Laus rides the thunderous pororoca tidal bore wave on the Mearim River, in the Amazon jungle, near the northern Brazilian city of Arari of Maranhao state, Brazil April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado ARARI, Brazil - Deep in the Amazon rainforest, the power of mighty rivers combines with the pull of the moon's gravity to form waves that run for dozens of miles. Record-breaking Brazilian surfer Sergio Laus fears that climate change and environmental degradation mean their days may be numbered. One early morning in late April, with a supermoon still in the sky, he trekked dozens of miles through the mud up the Mearim River, at the eastern tip of the Amazon, to surf the country's biggest remaining 'pororoca' and highlight the risk. The two-meter-high muddy waves that formed as the river narrowed between the lush mangroves at the margins amazed him, as they always did. "A wave breaks and dissolves," he said, of ocean waves. "This one just keeps gaining intensity. It's an Amazonian tsunami." Yet the waves were about half the size of what he saw here years ago - and even smaller than the five-meter waves he says he used to ride in the Araguari River further west before erosion caused by agriculture and nearby dams dried up Brazil's mightiest pororocas. "Looking through older pictures, I said wow, look at the size of these waves," he said. "Sometimes I cry," he added, explaining how he missed the huge waves. Laus, who twice broke records for surfing the world's longest waves, fears that sea level rise and droughts fueled by climate change, as well as erosion from farming and dams, are upsetting the balance that unleashes the force of nature he spent years learning to ride. "Nature is very alive, it feels every movement, every interference from humans," he said, adding that he hoped the global climate summit that will take place in the Amazonian city of Belem in November "would bring new hope". The name pororoca means great roar in the Tupi Indigenous language - the thunderous clash between the ocean and the river that generates a tidal bore. As the moon approaches the earth, some rivers are pushed back by ocean water lifted by its gravitational pull. The wave grows bigger as a deep river becomes shallow. Research shows climate change has made parts of the Amazon hotter and disturbed rain patterns that keep the water volume in its rivers steady. Communities near the Mearim River have also noticed the sea reach further inland, creating sandbanks and forming new mangrove areas that block the ocean tide, said Denilson Bezerra, an oceanographer at the Federal University of Maranhao. "We have felt the impact in the occurrence of the pororoca," he said. "But we still lack studies to establish the cause-and-effect relationship." Laus has surfed pororocas all over the world, in Indonesia, China, and Alaska, and he plans to continue searching for new tidal bores around the Amazon, as well as Papua New Guinea and Canada. "There are many pororocas that no one has ever seen," he said, adding that he still dreams of surfing "all the pororocas in the world." REUTERS Find out more about climate change and how it could affect you on the ST microsite here.
