PhotoRIO DE JANEIRO — A federal judge in Brazil has temporarily halted a plan by President Michel Temer to allow mining in a large area of the Amazon forest, dealing a victory to environmental activists who had denounced the initiative as potentially calamitous. The judge said that only Congress could make that change. But opponents say that the plan will hasten development that has encroached on the rain forests and accelerate deforestation and the displacement of native peoples. Advertisement Continue reading the main story“I’m a regular citizen,” he said in an interview. “And now I have certainty that a regular citizen can have a lot of strength.”

Source: New York Times August 30, 2017 23:54 UTC