Rio de Janeiro, Aug 31 (AP) Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is partially backtracking on a decree that banned most fires for land-clearing for 60 days, now saying the ban will only apply to the Amazon region.

The government on Friday published a decree saying fires for agriculture outside the Amazon region would be allowed with authorization from state environmental authorities.

A day earlier, it published a ban on such fires nationwide in response to an international outcry over fires in the Amazon.

Brazil's National Space Research Institute says fires have increased about 80% in Brazil this year when compared to the same period last year.

A little over half those fires are in the Amazon.

The European Space Agency's Copernicus satellite program showed smoke from the Amazon fires reaching Brazil's southeast coast, thousands of kilometers away. (AP)

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