BRAZILIAN PREZ SAYS AMAZON FIRES ARE ‘A LIE’

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has said it is a “lie” that fires are ravaging the Amazon rainforest, despite data from his own government showing the number of blazes is rising. The leader has faced international condemnation for presiding over huge fires and rising deforestation in the Amazon - criticism he took issue with in a speech to a video conference of countries that share the world’s biggest rainforest.

“Tropical rainforest doesn’t catch fire. So this story that the Amazon is burning is a lie,” he said on Tuesday.