Rio De Janeiro - President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is to sign decrees today granting Amazon indigenous people 21 million acres of land, officials said yesterday. The decrees will regularise the status of 34 per cent of the 206 million acres controlled by Brazil's native peoples, according to the National Indian Foundation (Funai).
Brazil destroyed a satellite-deployment rocket just 65 seconds after launching it yesterday when the rocket veered off course. Engineers from the Brazilian Space Agency said the rocket was destroyed by remote control at an altitude of 3,230 metres after one of the propulsion engines failed.