President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The favorite in Honduras' weekend presidential election said on Friday he will try to persuade the world and especially Brazil to recognize him if he wins to end Central America's worst political crisis in decades. Conservative Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo, who has a clear lead over his closest rival in recent polls, urged Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to see a new Honduran president-elect as legitimate even though Sunday's vote follows a June coup. "We will be knocking at president Lula's door and everyone else's to reestablish channels of friendship with all nations," Lobo, a wealthy farmer, told foreign correspondents. ... Read Full Story

Brazil's president said that "gringos" should pay Amazon nations to prevent deforestation, insisting rich Western nations have caused much more past environmental destruction than the loggers and farmers who cut and burn trees in the world's largest tropical rain forest. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the comments Thursday just before an Amazon summit in which delegates signed a declaration calling for financial help from the industrial world to halt the deforestation that causes global warming. "I don't want any gringo asking us to let an Amazon resident die of hunger under a tree," Silva said. "We want to preserve, but they will ... Read Full Story

Brazil's president said Thursday that "gringos" should pay Amazon nations to prevent deforestation, insisting rich Western nations have caused much more past environmental destruction than the loggers and farmers who cut and burn trees in the world's largest tropical rain forest. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the comments just before an Amazon summit in which delegates signed a declaration calling for financial help from the industrial world to halt the deforestation that causes global warming. "I don't want any gringo asking us to let an Amazon resident die of hunger under a tree," Silva said. "We want to preserve, but they will ... Read Full Story

Representatives from eight nations straddling the Amazon basin plus French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Thursday in Brazil to urge next month's world climate talks to preserve the rainforests. Called by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the one-day meeting in the city of Manaus in the heart of the Amazon included Sarkozy because France's overseas department of French Guiana is in the region. Together with high-level delegates from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela and Suriname, Lula and Sarkozy hope to draw up a "common stance" for the December 7-18 conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen on saving the Amazon jungle. The participants ... Read Full Story

The presidents of eight nations straddling the Amazon basin plus France will meet Thursday in the heart of the Amazon rainforest to lay out a save-the-jungle proposal for next month's climate change summit in Copenhagen. Called by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, the biggest stock holder in the Amazon basin, the one-day meeting includes President Nicolas Sarkozy since France's overseas department of French Guyana extends into the Amazon basin. Together with leaders from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela, Lula and Sarkozy hope to draw up a "common stance" for the December 7-18 conference in the Danish capital on ... Read Full Story