XAPURI, Brazil (AP) — Rubber tapper Raimundo Mendes de Barros prepares to leave his home, surrounded by rainforest, for an errand in the Brazilian Amazon city of Xapuri. He slides his long, scarred, ...

XAPURI, Brazil (AP) — When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is sworn in as president of the second most populous country in the western hemisphere Jan. 1, few challenges will be greater than fulfilling his ...

Among the most consequential of Brazilian rubber barons was João Gabriel de Carvalho e Melo, an explorer and entrepreneur who was among the first individuals to discover the rich stands of Hevea trees ...

Rubber tapper Rogerio Mendes shows off his Veja sneakers, received as a prize for his work as a young rubber extractor in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, Acre state, Brazil, Wednesday, Dec. 7, ...