Get quality reporting directly into your inbox Antonio Pereira/AGIF/Sipa USA/Alamy stock photo The Ministry of Labor and Employment of Brazil (MTE) updates its so-called Dirty List every six months The latest list includes two municipal councilors who were re-elected on October 6 along with two candidates who failed to win seats Eduardo Ribeiro Lima was elected for the ninth time in Beberibe The MTE said 22 workers on his cashew plantation were subjected to “conditions analogous to slavery.” Fabiano Francisco da Silva was re-elected to council in Vera Mendes a town in the interior of the neighboring Piauí state His name first appeared on the list a year ago in relation to 10 people working for his mining business Cícero Rodrigues da Silva withdrew from his campaign in August in Campina Grande the second largest city in the northeastern state of Paraíba He was accused of subjecting five workers to illegal conditions at a granite mining operation nor Rodrigues da Silva responded to requests for comment via phone and email Bezaliel Moura de Lima ran unsuccessfully for city council in Quixadá The MTE cited him in relation to one employee who was subjected to conditions analogous to slavery said he was not notified that his client would be added to the Dirty List Moura de Lima had earlier been summoned by Federal Police to give a statement after they received a complaint based on the MTE findings Santos said authorities had not proven that “conditions analogous to slavery” were present in Moura de Lima’s rock quarry operation He provided a copy of findings of the Federal Police investigation concluding that “there was no evidence of criminal liability.” “We will take the appropriate judicial and administrative measures to exclude/remove his name from said list,” Santos added Employers are added to the Dirty List after labor inspectors find evidence of “slavery-like” conditions in at least two instances Employers are subject to an administrative process and are added if the allegations are found to be true Slavery-like conditions include forced labor They also include being held at the workplace through extensive surveillance Employers found to have overseen such conditions stay on the Dirty List list for at least two years and are removed if they rectify the violations The latest update saw 85 employers removed Those on the list may also face criminal charges with a penalty of up to eight years in prison if they are convicted advocacy director with the transparency group Fiquem Sabendo a politician would not necessarily be removed from office case law says the loss of office is only possible if the judgment expressly and specifically justifies the reasons why the conviction should also lead to the loss of public office," Morassutti said OCCRP found that 16 people who are on the current list of 727 names have run for political positions since 2014 With the exception of Francisco da Silva and Ribeiro Lima The MTE added 176 names to its newest list The sectors with the most violations were charcoal production Ribeiro Lima also faces a civil suit lodged by the Ceará Public Prosecutor's Office which accuses him of using an official vehicle for personal purposes as then-president of the Beberibe City Council he had the right to use the car for institutional activities is under investigation by police and prosecutors in Piauí for alleged fraud and using false documents His company allegedly misreported the origin of timber it had traded as well vastly underestimating the amount of the shipment it had received Support from readers like you helps OCCRP expose organized crime and corruption around the world you’ll be directly supporting investigative journalism as a public good You’ll also gain access to exclusive insights and benefits The Public Investment Fund (PIF) Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is planning to invest $15 billion in Brazil The investments will be made in green hydrogen, infrastructure and renewable energy sectors, Reuters reported quoting Brazil’s minister for energy NewsletterGet the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week In May Manara Minerals, a joint venture between the Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) and PIF, completed a $2.5 billion deal to acquire a stake in a subsidiary of the Brazilian giant Vale Under Vision 2030 the kingdom has made mining a priority industry for growth with the government estimating its untapped mineral wealth at $2.5 trillion based on exploration of 30 percent of the country’s mineral region Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company acquired a 10.7 percent stake in the Brazilian food processor BRF for SAR1.27 billion in July 2023 BRF is the second-largest halal products company globally with an annual production capacity of more than five million tonnes of diversified products.   AGBI registered members can access even more of our unique analysis and perspective on business and economics in the Middle East Already registered? Sign in I’ll register later The $4 trillion South Asian juggernaut is relatively insulated from Trump's protectionist caprice Saudi Arabia is still evaluating accepting the membership in the Brics bloc, the minister of economy and planning has said. “The kingdom is always focusing on fostering more global dialogue,” Faisal Alibrahim told Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In August 2023, founding members, Brazil, Russia, India and China, together with South Africa, […] Suggestions that the UAE would drop its dollar peg in favour of a Brics currency have been described as “fantasy” by the head economist at Standard Chartered bank. The UAE, along with Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, joined the non-Western-aligned Brics group – named for its earliest members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – […] President-elect’s de-dollarisation warnings are likely to flounder amid complex economic realities The direction of capital flow is set to continue from the Middle East to Asia A report that Turkey has formally applied to join the non-Western aligned Brics bloc is looking premature, with a Turkish government spokesman refusing to confirm the claim. Bloomberg reported that Turkey had submitted its application to join the bloc that consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, plus more recent members, the United […] Saudi Arabia and seven members of Opec+ will triple the volume of barrels they add to the market in June, as part of the kingdom’s new strategy to squeeze quota-busting members and boost market share, experts said. Saudi Arabia and seven other countries implementing voluntary cuts decided in an online May 3 meeting to add […] Higher-than-budgeted oil prices wiped out Oman’s OR640 million ($1.7 billion) deficit for 2024, according to the finance minister, although the IMF has warned that the Gulf state still faces economic challenges.  Oman posted a surplus of $1.4 billion last year as it sold oil at an average price of $82 per barrel, a third higher […] Saudi hospital and clinic operator Specialized Medical Company (SMC) starts the process of selling shares to the public on Sunday – only the second IPO in the kingdom since Donald Trump rocked global markets a month ago with his April 2 tariff announcement. It would also be the first Saudi hospital group to list its […] Dubai developer Gulf House Real Estate has launched Olaia Residences, its first luxury development, for sale in the heart of Palm Jumeirah. The upscale residential project is planned to open in 2027 and will consist of one-to-three-bedroom apartments and three-to-five-bedroom duplexes.  State-of-the-art amenities will include indoor and rooftop pools, a wellness centre, a mini-golf course […] Iraq will install solar panels at the presidential palace in Baghdad as the first stage in a plan to switch nearly 6,000 public buildings to renewable power, according to officials. The project is intended to ease reliance on conventional electricity, protect the environment and tackle a power supply gap caused by gas shortages and the […] Dubai real estate developer Omniyat has raised $500 million to fund its sustainable developments. The order book of the inaugural three-year green sukuk was oversubscribed 3.6 times, reaching $1.8 billion. The sukuk will be listed and traded on Nasdaq Dubai and the London Stock Exchange’s international securities market.  The pricing details were not given. Sukuk […] State-controlled AD Ports Group and Egypt government-backed Suez Canal Economic Zone have signed a 50-year renewable deal to develop and operate a 20 sq km logistics and industrial park near the coastal city of Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea. The Abu Dhabi-based ports operator will develop, construct, finance, operate and manage the industrial and logistics zone in […] Oman has signed a 15-year agreement with Mexico’s Amigo LNG to secure liquefied natural gas (LNG) as part of its strategy to diversfy its clean energy sources. Under the agreement, the government-backed OQ Trading will purchase 0.6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG from Amigo’s export terminal in Guaymas, Mexico. Amigo LNG is a subsidiary […] Abu Dhabi’s Masdar said its Greek clean energy subsidiary Terna Energy has been delisted from the Athens stock exchange. The UAE renewables major completed the acquisition of 100 percent of Terna Energy last month to accelerate renewable energy growth in southeastern and central Europe, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported. Sultan Al Jaber, chairman of […] Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, whic is 70 percent owned by Saudi Aramco, swung to a loss in the first quarter of 2025 but intends to push ahead with a capital expenditure plan worth up to $4 billion. The petrochemicals giant, which trades on the Saudi stock exchange, reported a net loss of SAR1.2 billion ($320 million) […] The CEO of state-owned Kuwait Airways, Ahmad Al-Kreebani, has been fired and replaced by Abdulwahab Al-Shatti. Al-Shatti took over the job on Sunday, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Kreebani’s dismissal after two years in the job followed a decision by the country’s civil aviation authority to withdraw its approval for his […] MBS Global Investments and the Maldives government will jointly develop a $8.8 billion Maldives International Financial Centre (MIFC) in the Maldivian capital city of Malé. The freezone will have no corporate tax and tax-free inheritance in a bid to attract digital nomads, entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals. Based in Dubai, MBS Global is the investment […] the capital of Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco Recife Civil Defence say that they received over 200 calls for assistance on Monday 30 May and located over 90 landslide or potential landslide sites Roads in the metropolitan and surrounding areas have also been flooded causing major traffic problems Over 70 people have been evacuated from areas near the Beberibe River Recife Civil Defence has issued two alerts via SMS calling for the immediate departure of over 15,000 residents living in risk areas A young girl was killed when a landslide buried her home in Córrego do Passarinho in Olinda At least 3 buildings were completely destroyed in the landslide Agencia Brasil are reporting that two women and a child of the same family are feared dead after they were buried in a landslide in bairro de Águas Compridas The government of Recife say that the city is fully mobilized to carry out prevention and reduction of risks and inconvenience caused by the heavy rainfall Over 1,200 personnel are helping carry out evacuations and flood and landslide prevention Officials in Recife say that 235 mm of rain fell between 22:00 Sunday 29 May and 10:00 Monday 30 May Normally the area would expect to see 328 mm of rain for the whole of May parts of the state of of Alagoas have also experienced heavy rain Maceió recorded 87.8mm in a 24 hour period between 29 and 30 May 2016 Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList By 2030, global emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) must drop by 45 percent from 2010 levels to stay on a 1.5° path, while the cost of inaction could be as high as 4 percent of US growth domestic product In a new journal article published in Studies in Comparative International Development, Jiajun Xu and Kevin P. Gallagher evaluate the role of development financing institutions (DFIs) in fostering renewable energy transformations Going beyond the conventional approach of assessing the bankability of individual projects they identify four constraints: the incumbent entrenchment of fossil fuels unmet energy demand of energy-intensive industries weak production capacity of renewable energies and lack of supporting infrastructure Xu and Gallagher argue that DFIs can potentially address these constraints by setting a mission-driven vision acting as honest brokers to overcome the incumbent entrenchment scaling up renewable energy financing to make the cost of renewable energies more competitive incubating nascent renewable energies and financing supporting infrastructure Xu and Gallagher suggest DFIs will need to make more comprehensive investment plans to alter the energy mix toward cleaner energy They say DFIs should take a system-level transformative approach to ensure that complementary infrastructure is in place and provide the local currency-denominated financing to help less developed countries tackle balance-of-payment problems Donate Stay on top of all our news and events. Sign up for our newsletters with clues to a sixth location coming soon Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission Yes, HBO set up a worldwide scavenger hunt for Game of Thrones fans to locate six iron thrones ahead of the show’s eighth season but wouldn’t it be way better if someone who has never heard of Game of Thrones or HBO got to find a massive 600-pound knife chair in the woods or at the foot of a random snow-covered cliff there’s still the chance that could happen While previous thrones have been located in Björkliden, Sweden; Puzzlewood, England; Atienza, Spain; and Beberibe, Brazil; the frosty Throne of Ice featured above has yet to be officially discovered and a sixth and final throne will be unveiled this week. You can do a little geo-detective work of your own, following along at @gameofthrones and #FortheThrone or just keep that massive metal sword-seat that popped up in your driveway our little secret Read Vulture’s guide to every Game of Thrones season, recapped and explained Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York