From Sydney to Mumbai to Paris to Rio de Janeiro, communities around the world are welcoming 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.

Singer Gal Costa, an icon in the Tropicalia and Brazilian popular music movements has died at age 77.

Thousands of Brazilians are rallying in defense of the nation’s democracy.

Some of the world’s biggest mining companies have withdrawn requests to research and extract minerals on Indigenous land in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and repudiated Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s efforts to legalize mining activity in the areas.

Thousands of Brazilians have gathered outside Congress in Brasilia to protest a set of bills that they say threaten the Amazon rainforest and the Indigenous people living in it.

The COVID-19 death of a popular comedian has prompted an outpouring of grief across all sectors of society in Brazil, a nation otherwise deeply divided over how to cope with the disease.

Dozens of celebrities including actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Fonda and Joaquin Phoenix are calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to refrain from signing any environmental agreement with his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro.

(Republic Records via AP)NEW YORK, NY – The top 10 albums of the year by Associated Press Music Editor Mesfin Fekadu:1. A nomination — or eight — isn’t necessary for any real music fan to realize how outstanding, soulful and poignant Lennox’s debut album is. Lennox’s “Shea Butter Baby” is the best album of the year, no matter if awards shows think differently, including you, the Soul Train Music Awards. Summer Walker, “Over It”: Summer Walker’s debut album is perfect, as she spits matter-of-fact lyrics over some beats that borrow from classic ‘90s R&B hits including Usher, Destiny’s Child and 702. But even when she’s not sampling a song, Walker can hold her own, delivering a flawless album that’s easy to obsess over.