The Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest. The fruit and its nutshell – containing the edible Brazil nut – are relatively large, possibly weighing as much as 2 kg (4 lb 7 oz) in total weight. As food, Brazil nuts are notable for diverse content of micronutrients, especially a high amount of selenium. The wood of the Brazil nut tree is prized for its quality in carpentry, flooring, and heavy construction. Common names In various Spanish-speaking countries of South America, Brazil nuts are called castañas de Brasil, nuez de Brasil, or castañas de Pará (or Para). In Brazil, they are more commonly called "castanha-do-pará" (meaning...

SAO PAULO (AP) — A large Ferris wheel with red lights illuminates a gloomy path at a horror theme amusement park in Brazil. A line of cars carrying spectators moves

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Suellen de Souza could no longer endure the confinement. After six months of precautions, the Brazilian nursing technician decided that Sunday would be her first day at the beach since the pandemic began. "This week it was very hot ... the truth is I really wanted to come" to the beach, said the 21-year-old at Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema beach, which is technically still closed to sun-bathers though few respect the prohibition and authorities seldom enforce it. Under a burning midday sun, she had difficulty finding an empty space in the sand as thousands crowded the famed beach, which was dotted with hundreds of umbrellas and families sunning themselves. Beach-goers were packed close together with few wearing face masks. With tentative signs the coronavirus pandemic is easing, Brazilians exhausted with quarantine measures and social distancing are increasingly relaxing precautions and flooding beaches as if the pandemic were over. They are being urged to do so - and violate the recommendations of health experts - by President Jair Bolsonaro, who has resisted many lockdown measures and pressed for a return to normal life from the beginning, famously calling the novel coronavirus a "little flu." "It is like a rain that is going to reach you," Bolsonaro said of the virus on July 7, the day he confirmed his own infection from which he has since recovered. In Rio, recommendations by health experts to remain isolated are being challenged even by people like Souza, a nursing technician who worked in a field hospital for coronavirus patients. "The coronavirus is being controlled a little more, that gave me security to go out," she said. The same scenario is playing out in Sao Paulo, Brazil's worst-hit state with more than 855,000...

Brazil, which has suffered one of the world's worst pandemic tolls, has responded to the crisis by distributing so much cash directly to citizens that poverty and inequality are approaching national historic lows.

Uruguay ( (listen); Spanish: [uɾuˈɣwaj] (listen); Portuguese: Uruguai), officially the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. Uruguay covers an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometers (68,000 sq mi) and has a population of an estimated 3.51 million, of whom 2 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo. The area that became Uruguay was first inhabited by groups of hunter–gatherers 13,000 years ago. The predominant tribe at the moment of the arrival of Europeans was the Charrúa people, when the Portuguese first established Colónia do Sacramento in 1680; Uruguay was colonized by Europeans late...

NEW DELHI (AP) - India's increasing caseload made the Asian giant the pandemic's second-worst-hit country behind the United States on Monday as its efforts to head off economic disaster gain urgency. The 90,802 cases added in the past 24 hours pushed India's total past Brazil with 4.2 million cases. India is now only behind the United States, which has more than 6 million. India's Health Ministry on Monday also reported 1,016 deaths for a total of 71,642, the third-highest national toll. India has been recording the world's largest daily increases in coronavirus cases for almost a month. Despite over 2 million new cases in the past month and the virus spreading through the country's smaller towns and villages, the Indian government has continued relaxing restrictions to try and resuscitate the economy. On Monday, the Delhi Metro - a rapid transit system that serves India's sprawling capital New Delhi and adjoining areas - resumed operations after five months. Only asymptomatic people were allowed to board the chugging trains, with masks, social distancing and temperature checks mandatory. "We are on our way. It's been 169 days since we've seen you!," the official Twitter account of Delhi Metro tweeted. The capital's metro train network is India's largest rapid transport system. Before closing down in March, the packed trains carried an average of 2.6 million passengers daily. Its reopening comes at a time when India has the fastest-growing coronavirus crisis in the world and the economy has shrunk faster than any other major nation's.

NEW DELHI (AP) - India's increasing coronavirus caseload made the Asian giant the world's second-worst-hit country behind the United States on Monday, as its efforts to head off economic disaster from the pandemic gain urgency. The 90,802 cases added in the past 24 hours pushed India's total past Brazil with more than 4.2 million cases. India is now behind only the United States, where more than 6.2 million people have been infected, according to Johns Hopkins University. India's Health Ministry on Monday also reported 1,016 new deaths for a total of 71,642, the third-highest national toll. The world's second-most populous country with 1.4 billion people, India has been recording the world's largest daily increases in coronavirus cases for almost a month. Despite over 2 million new cases in the past month and the virus spreading through the country's smaller towns and villages, the Indian government has continued relaxing restrictions to try and resuscitate the economy. On Monday, the Delhi Metro, which serves India's sprawling capital, New Delhi, and adjoining areas, resumed operations after remaining shuttered for more than five months. The commuters were scarce and stations deserted. Only asymptomatic people were allowed to board the trains, with masks, social distancing and temperature checks mandatory. Security personnel used metal detectors attached to rods to ensure social distancing during frisking at the stations, and commuters were allowed to enter only after sanitizing their hands. New Delhi's streets have already returned to their normal bustle, and people are again flocking to markets. The city's bars will reopen on Wednesday. The reopenings come after India's economy shrank faster than any other major nation's, nearly 24% in the last...