Peaks of Amazon deforestation in Brazil, according to photographs of the space agency in the country

By Paulo Prada

Rio DE JANEIRO, 10 Sept (Reuters) – published on Tuesday by the space agency of Brazil preliminary data indicate the deforestation of the Amazon heel by more than one third last year, reversing a steady decline in the destruction of the world's largest rain forest.

If backed by tracking data typically compiled by the end of the year, the increase would confirm fears by scientists and environmental activists who warn that the agriculture, mining and Amazon infrastructure projects, coupled with changes in environmental policies long of Brazil, are investing progress against deforestation.

Last year, the deforestation of the Amazon was shown to be at an all-time low.

The likely increase of deforestation has led to concerns that Brazil may lower its guard and provides an opening for the loggers, ranchers and others eager to develop parts of a forest that is seven times the size of France.

The space agency of Brazil, whose destruction of the rainforest track using monthly satellite imagery, detected almost 2.766 square kilometers (1,067 square miles) of the forest from August 2012 until July of 2013. The total area, more than twice the size of the city of Los Angeles, is 35 percent greater than the cleared area in the previous year, the Agency said.

The measurement year ends in July, when the visibility is better, because the clouds meet often in the region of much of the rest of the year, making it difficult to pick up the satellite images.

A more complete count for the period is compiled, using data from additional satellites and field research provided by researchers in the Government. Additional data will help determine if clear are the result of deliberate destruction or natural degradation caused by drought, fire, or other factors.

Data collected by Imazon, a private Research Institute, also point to an increase in deforestation in recent years. The group, the other source of regular data Amazon considered reliable by many scientists, recently said destruction over the past year have almost doubled. (Edition of Stacey Joyce)

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Giant 'Cucumber' From Brazil May Be One Of The Largest You've Ever Seen, Or Maybe Not (PHOTO)

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How many salads can you make with an 88-pound cucumber? Some (un)lucky Brazilians may soon find out.

The giant vegetable -- which is reportedly 1.15 meters (3 feet 9 inches) thick, 70 cm (2 feet 4 inches) long and weighs about 40 kilograms -- was recently spotted at a market in the Vila Palmeira neighborhood of the northeast city of São Luís.

Antônio Carlos Jr., who was given the cucumber by his father-in-law, decided to display the vegetable in the front of his store at the market. He said some people don't believe it's actually a cucumber and think it's a watermelon, according to the city's O Imparcial newspaper.

(Story continues below.)

Stephen Reiners, an associate professor of horticulture at Cornell University, told The Huffington Post there's a pretty good chance it's not actually a cucumber: "My guess is that it was not a cucumber but may have been in with some seeds that they thought were cucumbers and instead it was an entirely different species of watermelon or squash."

No one has tasted the "cucumber" yet, but Carlos plans to cut it up and distribute it among the townspeople to make salads, photographer Karlos Geromy (who captured the above photo) explained to HuffPost in an email. But even if it is a cucumber, one that large "would be of terrible quality," Rainers said, adding that it would taste "more like eating cotton as it would be extremely fibrous."

Geromy said the seeds that grew this cucumber came from the city of Itarantim and previously grew another cucumber that weighed about 6 kilograms (13 pounds). He added that an agricultural engineer thinks the cucumber's size may be due to a genetic mutation.

For reference, a typical U.S. cucumber is only about 8 inches long and weighs half a pound, according to Michael Mazourek, a professor of plant breeding, also at Cornell.

"Environment is a huge factor in plant size," Mazourek told HuffPost.

Other giant cucumbers have appeared on the Internet in the past, but this Brazilian veggie may be the world's heaviest if it does indeed check out.

Also on HuffPost:

Evangelicals in Brazil increase in power with consequences for Catholics, Gays

Congress (Reuters) - when televangelist Silas Malafaia gathered 40,000 followers outside of Brazil this week, not only to raise his arms to heaven and praise the Lord.

The rally was a demonstration of support to lawmakers who oppose abortion and marriage between persons of the same sex and a message to other politicians that should not ignore Evangelical churches increased from Brazil if they want to stay in Office.

"Gay activism is moral junk" Malafaia roared into the microphone to a crowd shouting on the Esplanade of grass of the Brazilian capital. "Satan will not destroy our family values."

The rise of Evangelical Christians as conservative political force in Latin America's largest nation has put the ruling workers party on guard and President Dilma Rousseff - searching took his re-election in 2014 - an evangelical Bishop to name his Cabinet.

The growing influence of Evangelical churches is also bringing social and moral issues such as abortion to the center of the national agenda, some say at the expense of policy and the economic reforms they need to restore robust growth in septimo-mayor the world's economy.

Pentecostalism was introduced to Latin America by the United States missionaries a century ago and has gained the masses of followers in recent decades in countries such as Brazil, especially among the urban poor who feel abandoned by the dominant Catholic Church.

With its vibrant preaching, emotional prayer and singing, to Evangelical Protestant Churches appeal to Brazilians rather than liturgical masses of the Catholic Church. They also use electronic and social media more effectively to proselytize.

EXODUS

Many Brazilians who join evangelical congregations say that their new religion has meant to their lives, that they not already identified with the Catholic Church.

Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world and Francis Pope will travel to Rio de Janeiro month coming in his first trip abroad as pontiff, in part to try to reverse the exodus of Catholicism.

The Catholic Church is losing followers in Latin America - even among Hispanics in the United States - and opinion polls in Brazil to strict positions of the Church over the sex and divorce as contributing factors.

A Datafolha survey in March found that 58 percent of Brazilians believe that the Catholic Church should accept the divorce and 83% believed that they should allow the use of condoms, two issues that the Vatican has refused to give up and the Evangelical churches are more flexible, allowing that the followers to decide for themselves.

One of every four Brazilians are Evangelical Christian today and their churches have multiplied and become rich institutions that own radio and television networks, financing political campaigns and even financed their own political parties.

While Catholic priests are forbidden to run for public office, Evangelical churches actively encourage your pastors to participate in politics and often use the pulpit to convince his followers that they should vote for.

"Today there are 44 million mainly Pentecostal Evangelicals in Brazil, which is a huge social force. Obviously, this would change things in Congress", said Fernando Altemeyer, a former Catholic priest who teaches theology at the Catholic University of São Paulo.

In the last national election in 2010, Evangelicals increased its presence in the Congress of 50 percent and now hold 68 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and three in the Senate. Although belonging to a dozen of parties different, evangelicals have begun to act as a conclave of the fragmented legislature of Brazil where only the farm lobby tends to speak with a single voice.

ANTI-GAY PREACHER

The Evangelical presence in Congress has been very much in the public spotlight since one of its members, a conservative preacher known for his racist statements and anti-gay, was named President of the Committee of minorities and human rights of the Chamber.

Pastor Marcos Feliciano, of the Social Christian Party, once stated that the murder of Lennon was divine punishment for saying the Beatles were more famous Christ.

The session of the Committee have been interrupted by protesters demanding the dismissal of Feliciano almost every day. He has ordered guards to remove the protesters and closed the Committee to the public. Members of Congress of the party of the workers of Rousseff resigned, saying that he was unable to be President.

Supporters say that the more time the hard controversy, the votes of more evangelical candidates achieved is in upcoming elections, because he is defending the traditional family values.

"He received 200,000 votes in the last elections. Well, he will not have less than 500,000 next time "Malafaia said in an interview before his rally in Brasilia on Wednesday. "He is on a roll."

"The workers party will suffer in the next election by the evangelical vote," predicted Malafaia.

Rousseff has good reason to worry. In 2010, the Evangelical voters helped force was the election to a second round after abortion became a major problem in the campaign and many votes his rival Green Party, Marina Silva, an evangelical Christian.

Last year, Rousseff named Evangelical Bishop Marcelo Crivella, as his Minister of fisheries, while publicly admitted he knew little about fishing. Crivella is nephew of Edir Macedo, founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. Bishop Macedo, a billionaire owner of the Record TV network, has 5 million followers and is a very influential in Brazil power broker.

"Rousseff isn't going to do anything that Ba'th to evangelicals," said David Fleischer, Professor of political science at the University of Brasilia. "No candidate in his right mind would do that."

(Editing by Kieran Murray and Eric Walsh)

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