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Today, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Brasil has formally launched its redesigned website, bbcbrasil.com, alongside a major editorial initiative exploring the place of Brazil, Russia, India and China in the changing global political and economic order.

The BRICs 2020 – The Future Of Brazil, Russia, India And China report will go live on the new bbcbrasil.com from Monday 30 March 2009.

In addition, bbcbrasil.com will offer a whole range of improved functions and features.

With its clean design, enhanced interactivity and easily accessible videos, the website will provide online audiences with an improved user experience as they navigate the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s latest news and analysis.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ Brasil team has applied all the new website features – text, audio and video – to present the BRICs 2020 – The Future Of Brazil, Russia, India And China report.

The report will take a comprehensive look at the economic, political and social future of Brazil, Russia, India and China – the countries grouped together and abbreviated into the term "BRICs" due to their prominent role in the emerging world order.

The bbcbrasil.com journalists have travelled to each country, exploring issues such as agriculture, environment, energy, education and political leadership, talking to experts and using latest evidence, research and analysis. The resulting rich content is aimed at engaging the online audiences in a high-quality debate.

The revamped bbcbrasil.com website has the capacity to embed flash video clips in stories and headlines, and is generally more flexible for content placement and positioning.

The website features a range of image formats and interactive modules such as forums, debates and blogs – including the recently-launched ´óÏó´«Ã½ Tendências and Planeta & Clima.

A special forum about the new site welcomes readers' opinions and suggestions.

Head of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Brasil, Rogerio Simoes, says: "bbcbrasil.com has an ever-increasing audience of internationally-minded Brazilians, seeking a global view of events, whether they take place in Brazil, the rest of the Americas or elsewhere in the world.

"Every week, around 1.6 million unique users access ´óÏó´«Ã½ Brasil stories, via our bbcbrasil.com and on our partner websites, and we receive more than 400,000 requests a month for our video material. The new additions to bbcbrasil.com open up a range of exciting opportunities to make our content even more engaging for our users.

"A project such as BRICs 2020 showcases what we at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ do best – objective, independent reporting and in-depth analysis, engaging audiences, wherever they are, in a global conversation."

Notes to Editors

´óÏó´«Ã½ Brasil is a multimedia operation, with the internet as its main platform through bbcbrasil.com and its partners such as UOL, MSN Brasil, IG, Terra, G1, Folha Online and Estadão which syndicate the bbcbrasil.com content on their news sites. According to an audience appreciation survey, Pulse, bbcbrasil.com was rated as "exceptionally good" by its visitors, receiving a Net Promoter score of 73 (Net Promoter scores are the industry standard for measuring user loyalty to websites. The Net Promoter scale runs from -100 to 100, with scores over 60 recognised as "exceptionally good").

´óÏó´«Ã½ Brasil radio is currently available on shortwave and via partner networks CBN and Globo which rebroadcast the ´óÏó´«Ã½ news bulletins. ´óÏó´«Ã½ Brasil also has a partnership with Bandeirantes Network which rebroadcasts international news video clips available on the bbcbrasil.com website on its prime-time news programmes.

´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Publicity