BRICS

Brazil's northwestern state of Acre declared a "social emergency" Wednesday as it attempts to slow a wave of undocumented immigrants smuggled overland from neighboring countries, AFP reports.

Indira Gandhi was willing to go where politicians today fear to tread. Back in 1975, she wanted to tax agriculture income and the rural rich. It remains a no-go area for policymakers even today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for calm on the Korean peninsula, saying the escalation of tension in the region could lead to a nuclear disaster far worse than the Chernobyl incident.

Stung by the UK's reluctance to accommodate its concerns in the negotiations for the global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) approved by the UN general assembly last Tuesday, the government has decided to send a strong message of its displeasure to the UK.

Russia may bring its operations at the Baikonur cosmodrome close to zero as early as by 2020, according to Russia’s Izvestia.

The United States is pressuring China's new President Xi Jinping to crack down on the regime in North Korea or face an increased US military presence in the region, AFP reports citing The New York Times.

The death toll in the collapse of a residential building being constructed illegally in India's financial capital rose to 62 Saturday amid diminishing hopes of finding any survivors alive, police said.

Kazakhstan and China will solve the issues related to transborder rivers, a Tengrinews.kz journalist reports, citing President Nazarbayev as saying following the talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

At least 27 people were crushed to death on the outskirts of Mumbai after a building collapsed while under construction, with many victims believed to be labourers living at the site, AFP reports citing police.

"We are sitting on a plastic time bomb," the Supreme Court said on Wednesday after the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) informed it that India generates 56 lakhtonnes of plastic waste annually, with Delhi accounting for a staggering 689.5 tonnes a day.

Historically immigrants helped to build Brazil. The great inflow was in the second half of the XIX century (1888 to 1929), excluding World War One, when the country received on average 100.000 immigrants per annum, mainly Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards, Germans, Middle East, Poles, Russians and Ukrainians.

Beni Prasad Verma revived his assault on Mulayam Singh Yadav, leaving a livid Samajwadi Party (SP), whose 22 members in the Lok Sabha are critical for UPA, to remind Sonia Gandhi of her promise to take action against the Union steel minister.