Brazil native Ana Paula De Jesus says her dream football World Cup final would be to see her countrymen play their arch-rival, Argentina.

A mobile scanner designed to spot a 3D-printed plastic pistol hidden under a gunman's clothing is to be used in Brazil after threats by organised criminals to disrupt the World Cup.

Goldman Sachs say buy Brazilian stocks because the country will win the World Cup, giving a boost to the local equity market. But investors need to move fast as the gains won't last.

Sao Paulo is facing "imminent water rationing" after the worst drought on record, less than six weeks before the city hosts the World Cup opening ceremony and first game.

At least 10 residents and police officers were injured yesterday as authorities ousted squatters from an abandoned building just steps from Rio's Maracana stadium.

Part of the stadium that will host the World Cup opener in Brazil next year collapsed today, causing significant damage and killing two people, authorities said.

Rio de Janeiro's famed Copacabana beach has been packed with tens of thousands of revellers taking part in the city's gay pride parade.

Brazil plans to divorce itself from the US-centric internet over Washington's widespread online spying, a move that many experts fear will be a potentially dangerous first step toward fracturing a global network built with minimal interference by govts.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has confirmed the death of Rebeca Nathan, 26, in the Brazilian city last week.

The Brazilian government has designated nearly 10,000 square kilometeres of land in the Amazon rainforest as a protected area.

Bino's back was killing him. He was suffering from scoliosis. He couldn't move his legs, two of them anyway, and his tail just wouldn't swish.

Pope Francis will land in a Brazil electric with anticipation for the pontiff's first international trip, heading into the open arms of his home continent where mammoth crowds are expected to celebrate Mass on Rio's Copacabana beach.

As more Kiwis look to South America for adventure, Karen Phelps compiles a bucket list for the continent.

Aerial trams and cable cars take visitors up mountains, over rivers and above cities, and sometimes these cable cars are the destination themselves.

The Vatican has asked Brazil for an additional €30 million ($49.5 million) to help cover an expected shortfall in funding for the visit of the Pope to Rio de Janeiro this month.

The demonstrations in Brazil began after a small rise in bus fares triggered mass protests.

More than 270 drops comprise Iguazu Falls on the Brazil-Argentine border, one of the world's grandest water falls.

Eight people have been charged in connection with the deadly nightclub fire in southern Brazil that killed 241 people earlier this year, prosecutors said.

Prime Minister John Key has wrapped up his tour of Latin America with a meeting with Brazil's "Iron Lady".

When Prime Minister John Key lands in Mexico tomorrow it will have been more than a decade since the last New Zealand prime minister toured Latin America, and he concedes the region has been neglected in favour of Asian economies.