- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
Brazil's Lula, environmentalist... and oil champion
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has cast himself as a champion of the fight against climate change, but faces criticism from environmentalists for Brazil's booming oil production.
Since returning to office for a third term in January 2023, the veteran leftist has made solid progress on his pledge to end illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, which fell by half last year compared to 2022.
But climate campaigners were outraged in December when, just as the COP28 UN climate talks were being held in Dubai, Brazil announced it would join the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries.
The timing earned Brazil, the world's ninth-biggest crude producer, the "Fossil of the Day" award from the Climate Action Network, which said the country's leaders "appear to have mistaken oil production for climate leadership."
"Brazil can't be a climate leader and petro-state. The two things are incompatible," Suely Araujo, policy coordinator at environmental group the Climate Observatory, told AFP.
- Record oil production -
Lula came to office vowing "Brazil is back" in the climate fight after four years of surging destruction under far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) in the Amazon, whose hundreds of billions of carbon-absorbing trees are a key buffer against global warming.
In keeping with that message, Brazil is due to host the 2025 edition of the UN climate talks in the Amazon city of Belem.
But even as the Lula government fought to protect the Amazon, Latin America's top oil producer also racked up several monthly crude output records last year -- most recently in November, when it produced nearly 3.7 million barrels a day.
The energy ministry hopes to hit 5.4 million barrels a day in 2029, which could make Brazil the world's fourth-biggest oil producer.
"The world should be thankful to Brazil for being a reliable supplier" of oil, the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said this week during a visit to the country.
Brazil provides about three percent of global crude supply, he said.
Lula has pushed to expand further, and even wants to explore for oil near the mouth of the Amazon river -- a plan opposed by environmentalists, including his own environment minister, Marina Silva.
- 'Looking to the past' -
Oil accounts for around 13 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Latin America's biggest economy, according to economist Igor Barenboim.
Brazil exports about one-third of its oil output, which is "key to drive growth," Barenboim said.
Sales from oil and oil derivatives were $42.5 billion last year.
That money provides revenue for the state, including for Lula's cherished social programs.
Lula also argues oil money will be used to fund the transition to clean energy.
But "it's a mistake to want to generate revenue from (oil) exports, looking to the past and ignoring the severity of the climate crisis," said Araujo.
Enrico Marone, a spokesman for Greenpeace Brasil, said the country does not need any new oil.
"The oil fields currently in operation will provide enough resources to support the energy transition," he said.
Brazil currently relies on renewables for 47 percent of its energy mix, more than triple the world average of 15 percent, according to government figures.
P.Costa--AMWN