Petrobras posts $10bn quarterly loss

<p dir="ltr">Brazil's Petrobras, which is at the centre of a massive corruption scandal, has posted its biggest ever quarterly loss due to the plunge in oil prices.<br>The state oil firm's net loss widened to 36.9bn reais ($10.2bn; £7.1bn) in the three months to December.<br>The company had to write down billions of dollars from assets like oil fields and drilling rigs after crude prices fell by more than 40%.<br>Petrobras shares fell by nearly 6% in after hours US trading on the results.<br>Its chief executive said in a press conference that 2015 was "an extremely difficult year for the oil industry".</p><p dir="ltr">Weak demand<br>Petrobras has also been trying to deal with the fallout from an expanding corruption scandal that has gone to the top ranks of government and seen some of its former executives jailed.<br>On Monday police arrested a man in Portugal they say was laundering payments for two of the jailed Petrobras executives.<br>Police say the man, Raul Schmidt Felipe Junior, may also have acted as an intermediary between some foreign companies and Petrobras.<br>Brazil is also mired in its worst recession in a century, which has led to weak demand at home for its fuel products.<br>To maintain its finances, the firm has drastically reduced its spending and investment plans. Petrobras is also looking to sell some of its assets in order to raise more than $14bn.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYp5otU1iqqaJjU4FPI2SbI6qsrMLESkmZv9yZGVNkLnnoaOII5zY9oMZNfNixjjSHa3puygWZS7-OAcUUpdWGsm_wkfaKsBcDzjfqY0DCR97aHex38MQ9bJby6zDkcdMj43bbIyRzVzE/s1600/Pm83.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYp5otU1iqqaJjU4FPI2SbI6qsrMLESkmZv9yZGVNkLnnoaOII5zY9oMZNfNixjjSHa3puygWZS7-OAcUUpdWGsm_wkfaKsBcDzjfqY0DCR97aHex38MQ9bJby6zDkcdMj43bbIyRzVzE/s640/Pm83.jpg"> </a> </div>

Petrobras posts $10bn quarterly loss

Brazil's Petrobras, which is at the centre of a massive corruption scandal, has posted its biggest ever quarterly loss due to the plunge...

Tempers Flare in Brazil Over Intercepts of Calls by Ex-President ‘Lula’

<p dir="ltr">RIO DE JANEIRO — “In Brazil, a poor man goes to jail when he steals,” a fiery left-wing congressman named Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in 1988. “When a rich man steals, he becomes a minister.”</p><p dir="ltr">Those words are coming back to haunt him now.</p><p dir="ltr">On Thursday, Mr. da Silva, the former president facing investigations into his accumulation of wealth since leaving office, was sworn in as exactly that: a cabinet minister.</p><p dir="ltr">With prosecutors seeking his arrest, Mr. da Silva was sworn in as chief of staff to his protégé and successor, President Dilma Rousseff. The post may give him broad legal protections, but immediately set off a national firestorm.</p><p dir="ltr">A judge in the capital, Brasília, issued an injunction against the move, arguing that Ms. Rousseff may have violated the law in appointing Mr. da Silva. Protesters rallied outside the ceremony and on the streets of São Paulo as police officers tried to prevent clashes</p><p dir="ltr">And the old quote by Mr. da Silva — made long ago to denounce the legal protections enjoyed by senior officials ensnared in graft scandals — circulated widely in Brazil, illustrating the former president’s evolution from a union leader who crusaded against corruption to the target of multiple investigations.</p><p dir="ltr">Mr. da Silva, 70, also found himself at the center of an uproar over the release of intercepts of telephone conversations in which he discusses ways to attack the officials investigating his dealings and says, “Why can’t we intimidate them?”</p><p dir="ltr">The intercepts, made public by Sergio Moro, the judge overseeing the inquiry into the colossal graft scheme around the national oil company, set off a fierce debate over the limits of surveillance in Latin America’s largest country and whether Ms. Rousseff and Mr. da Silva conspired to obstruct investigations.</p><p dir="ltr">In one of the recordings, Mr. da Silva and Ms. Rousseff briefly discuss his “appointment papers,” with the president telling him that they are available “in case they are needed.”</p><p dir="ltr">Critics of the government contend that the discussion reveals how the two officials were moving to obstruct the investigation into Mr. da Silva’s dealings by making him a minister.</p><p dir="ltr">Cabinet ministers figure among the 700 or so senior officials in Brazil, including all of the elected members of Congress, who have special judicial standing. It allows them to be tried only by the Supreme Federal Tribunal, the country’s highest court.</p><p dir="ltr">Effectively, few officials tried at the court ever go to jail, with their trials dragging on for years.</p><p dir="ltr">In the capital, a judge issued an injunction on Thursday in an attempt to block Mr. da Silva’s appointment, arguing that Ms. Rousseff may have interfered with the workings of the judiciary.</p><p dir="ltr">Such injunctions are common in Brazil’s legal system and are often overturned. The solicitor general, José Eduardo Cardozo, said that Ms. Rousseff’s government was quickly appealing.</p><p dir="ltr">Expressing anger over the spectacle of a sitting president having one of her phone conversations broadcast on national television, Ms. Rousseff also lashed out at the release of intercepts, contending that she and Mr. da Silva were merely following normal procedures. She accused the judge of releasing the conversations illegally, describing the move as contributing to efforts to oust her.</p><p dir="ltr">“This is how coups get underway,” she said at Mr. da Silva’s swearing-in ceremony in Brasília, which was marked by the shouting of the word “shame” by an opposition legislator and protests outside the palace by groups of opponents and supporters of the government.</p><p dir="ltr">The country pored over details of the former president’s conversations, dissecting his profanity-laced phone calls with a range of senior officials, from cabinet ministers to the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes.</p><p dir="ltr">In one call with a legislator from Mr. da Silva’s leftist Workers Party, the former president explains how he wants the party’s members of Congress to exert pressure on Judge Moro and the prosecutors investigating the claims of bribery and money laundering by a group of large construction companies.<br>“I think they have to be afraid,” Mr. da Silva said on the call. “He needs to go to sleep knowing that the following day he’ll have 10 legislators irritating him at his house, irritating him at his office, facing a case at the Supreme Federal Tribunal.”</p><p dir="ltr">“Why can’t we intimidate them?” Mr. da Silva continued.</p><p dir="ltr">Facing an outcry from Mr. da Silva’s supporters over the recordings, Judge Moro said in a statement on Thursday that they were allowed as part of the inquiry into the former president’s business dealings.</p><p dir="ltr">The judge also said that a conversation with Ms. Rousseff was intercepted because she called Mr. da Silva.</p><p dir="ltr">“Not even the highest leader of the republic has the absolute privilege of guarding their communications,” Judge Moro said, citing the precedent of the taped conversations of Richard M. Nixon that formed part of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s in the United States.</p><p dir="ltr">Still, the move by Judge Moro, who has emerged as a hero among the protesters calling for the ouster of Ms. Rousseff, sparked debates around Brazil’s legal system over intercepting the calls in the first place and then releasing them on a day when emotions were running high over the political shifts in Brasília.</p><p dir="ltr">“He was not acting as a judge,” said Ronaldo Lemos, a law professor at Rio de Janeiro State University and one of the creators of the legislation covering freedom of speech and privacy on the Internet. “He was acting as a politician. That’s what concerns me.”</p><p dir="ltr">Others, however, say that Judge Moro was acting in the public interest by releasing the intercepts.</p><p dir="ltr">“I don’t think there was a single illegal act in what Judge Sergio Moro did,” said Fernando Castelo Branco, a criminal lawyer and professor at the Pontifical Catholic University in São Paulo. “Ex-president Lula was not a minister at that time. Even though he was speaking to the president of the republic, the focus of the investigation was a common citizen without special judicial standing.”</p><p dir="ltr">Either way, the intercepts seem to be contributing to the political upheaval gripping the country.</p><p dir="ltr">The lower house appointed a committee on Thursday that will analyze a move to impeach Ms. Rousseff over claims of improperly using funds from state banks to cover budget shortfalls.</p><p dir="ltr">And in the Supreme Federal Tribunal, which will rule on the injunction blocking Mr. da Silva’s appointment, tempers flared over a recording in which the former president derided the court as “intimidated,” calling into question its capacity to oversee corruption cases involving senior officials.</p><p dir="ltr">Celso de Mello, 70, the court’s most senior member, called Mr. da Silva’s characterization “vile and undignified.”</p><p dir="ltr">“It’s typical,” Mr. de Mello said, “of autocratic, arrogant minds.”</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyR4Pme-QBGMuqZLqY6FfpED098nVobPwJ5q1bwPY013sLjVSx2lMJocZ8GqyAb1Y9aOaOHrFA6oIdPZYJ79ajeDU1YRFb8Z1OSoPAtdMnYl2O09SALmXLR4_b9-rmbe57bj1nl8FK9A4/s1600/IMG_20160317_110519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyR4Pme-QBGMuqZLqY6FfpED098nVobPwJ5q1bwPY013sLjVSx2lMJocZ8GqyAb1Y9aOaOHrFA6oIdPZYJ79ajeDU1YRFb8Z1OSoPAtdMnYl2O09SALmXLR4_b9-rmbe57bj1nl8FK9A4/s640/IMG_20160317_110519.jpg"> </a> </div>

Tempers Flare in Brazil Over Intercepts of Calls by Ex-President ‘Lula’

RIO DE JANEIRO — “In Brazil, a poor man goes to jail when he steals,” a fiery left-wing congressman named Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in ...

White House pledges to work with Brazil on surveillance concerns

<img abp="1" height="479" src="http://wemeantwell.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/obama-susan-rice.jpg" width="640" /><br /><br />WASHINGTON  - The White House tried on Wednesday to smooth over a diplomatic row with Brazil, pledging to address concerns caused by reports that the United States had spied on President Dilma Rousseff and hacked into the computer networks of state-run oil company Petrobras.<br /><br /><img abp="1018" alt="Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff reacts during a reception for the Brazilian Football delegation at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia" class="vlz" height="425" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/2ZUOjaz4d1rTq_fufo4oSg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zMDA7cT04NTt3PTQ1MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-09-12T000714Z_1_CBRE98B00C600_RTROPTP_2_BRAZIL-DILMA.JPG" title="Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff reacts during a reception for the Brazilian Football delegation at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia" width="640" /><br /><br />Susan Rice, President Barack Obama's national security advisor, met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo to discuss Brazil's questions about documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.<br /><br />"The United States is committed to working with Brazil to address these concerns, while we continue to work together on a shared agenda of bilateral, regional and global initiatives," said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, in a statement<br /><br />Rice told Figueiredo that the United States understands why Brazil is upset, and said some of the news reports from the leaked information "have distorted our activities" but other disclosures "raise legitimate questions for our friends and allies about how these capabilities are employed," said Hayden.<br /><br />Figueiredo had no comment on his meeting with Rice, a spokesman at the Brazilian embassy said, but noted he would remain overnight in Washington for further talks with the U.S. government on Thursday.<br /><br />Obama has been heavily criticized at home and abroad since Snowden disclosed secret details about telephone and e-mail information gathered by the NSA.<br /><br />He has had to appease allies including Rousseff and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and has pledged to improve oversight of the surveillance programs to try to restore trust in the system among Americans.<br /><br />Rousseff met with Obama last week during the G20 summit in Russia, and said she wanted to "know everything" about the NSA's activities in Brazil.<br /><br />Rousseff is scheduled to make a state visit to the White House next month, but the furor in Brazil over the spying revelations has prompted speculation she could cancel the trip.<br /><br /><div><img abp="1" height="359" src="http://cdn.ph.upi.com/sv/upi/UPI-92771370433029/2013/1/8ef619fa5773b2c7802f83229f34e316/Susan-Rice-replaces-Tom-Donilon-as-national-security-adviser.jpg" width="640" /></div>

White House pledges to work with Brazil on surveillance concerns

WASHINGTON  - The White House tried on Wednesday to smooth over a diplomatic row with Brazil, pledging to address concerns caused by reports...

Brazil senate committee to probe U.S. spying.

BRASILIA,- Brazil's Senate formed an Investigative Parliamentary Commission Tuesday to follow up on reports that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) spied on President Dilma Rousseff.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlO6cFv1fO1VaMbxuPmUxnb8-14sg3-vwJJKI3ZJcPbkJwIR8mojJuthe2SDgrM7V_-VFxB7qB0NVTiXRh18dgg56wJhGbkyZ81jVXp-Gp6Q_-phFh-gv2eunsoN6QWXH3_FBRTDRkd0c/s1600/nsa1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlO6cFv1fO1VaMbxuPmUxnb8-14sg3-vwJJKI3ZJcPbkJwIR8mojJuthe2SDgrM7V_-VFxB7qB0NVTiXRh18dgg56wJhGbkyZ81jVXp-Gp6Q_-phFh-gv2eunsoN6QWXH3_FBRTDRkd0c/s1600/nsa1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><h3>"We intend to protect national sovereignty," said Senator Vanessa Graziotin, of the Communist Party of Brazil (CPB).</h3><br />The committee, composed of 11 main members and seven substitutes, initially has 180 days to investigate claims the NSA monitored emails between Rousseff and several of her top aides, and tapped her phone.<br /><br />The investigative period can be extended by another 180 days if the commission needs more time.<br /><br />As the committee's first order of business, members discussed the possibility of the state providing federal protection for Rio de Janeiro-based journalist Glenn Greenwald and his partner David Miranda, considering them to be key witnesses in the investigation.<br /><br />Greenwald was the first to break the story of Washington's global spying program, based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Snowden, who is wanted by the U.S. on espionage charges for revealing the surveillance scheme, has been given temporary asylum in Russia.<br /><br />Miranda was recently interrogated for nine hours at London's Heathrow airport as he traveled from Germany to Brazil, and had his belongings confiscated. British officials said they were operating under an anti-terror law, but Greenwald said he believed it was an attempt to intimidate.<br /><br />The Senate's decision to open an investigation follows the broadcast Sunday of a Brazilian television news program reporting the NSA spied on the highest levels of Brazil's government, even targeting the president.<br /><br />That report was also based on documents leaked by Snowden and made public by Greenwald.<br /><br />News of NSA spying on Brazil first broke in July, when Brazil's O Globo daily published articles alleging the agency had monitored digital communications and phone calls.<br /><br />Washington has maintained that the spy program is designed to thwart terrorism, but Brazil says it suspects industrial espionage and has demanded an written official response from the U.S. government by Friday.<br /><br />Rousseff is reportedly considering cancelling a scheduled trip to Washington next month if she receives no answer or an unsatisfactory explanation from the U.S. government.<br /><br />• Brazil's Senate formed a committee to follow up on reports NSA spied on President Dilma Rousseff.<br /><br />• The committee initially has 180 days to investigate claims.<br /><br />• New revelations disclosed NSA spied on the highest levels of Brazil's government.<br /><br />

Brazil senate committee to probe U.S. spying.

BRASILIA,- Brazil's Senate formed an Investigative Parliamentary Commission Tuesday to follow up on reports that the U.S. National Secur...

NSA spied on Mexico

<h3>Report: NSA spied on Mexico,Brazil.</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DPnUBy_aAepck22Pr98U04WuFbkNBvqU3ie-IiPCBIsQecDeBMVVXI64LdE44aU4VzLypt_DzJ_h8yk0ypajpqvwxSNBDWhDu_fP0rvte7Kdz3PTBMTkpnFPMSU0sNxqfWbjAQF985g/s1600/1_photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DPnUBy_aAepck22Pr98U04WuFbkNBvqU3ie-IiPCBIsQecDeBMVVXI64LdE44aU4VzLypt_DzJ_h8yk0ypajpqvwxSNBDWhDu_fP0rvte7Kdz3PTBMTkpnFPMSU0sNxqfWbjAQF985g/s1600/1_photo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The National Security Agency’s spy program targeted the communications of the Brazilian and Mexican presidents, and in the case of Mexico’s leader accessed the content of emails before he was elected, the U.S. journalist who obtained secret documents from NSA leaker Edward Snowden said Sunday.<br /><br />Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who lives in Rio de Janeiro, told Globo’s news program “Fantastico” that a document dated June 2012 shows that Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s emails were being read. The document’s date is a month before Pena Nieto was elected.<br /><br />The document Greenwald based the report on includes communications from Pena Nieto indicating who he would like to name to some Cabinet posts among other information. It’s not clear if the spying continues.<br /><br />As for Brazil’s leader, the June 2012 document “doesn’t include any of Dilma’s specific intercepted messages, the way it does for Nieto,” Greenwald told The Associated Press in an email. “But it is clear in several ways that her communications were intercepted, including the use of DNI Presenter, which is a program used by NSA to open and read emails and online chats.”<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMnxFIDz5OD7cB1ZlBDETsiE166pU17CstQ1x9oWH3rDEb56oNyHeDX7poZBIvfEGLGjcstZ3cEvfyreHWqXff2aRYYM-sXWZphgmrydkmLn-qJWOiabCDVI4GslPksaKM37dVxnzd6tc/s1600/46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMnxFIDz5OD7cB1ZlBDETsiE166pU17CstQ1x9oWH3rDEb56oNyHeDX7poZBIvfEGLGjcstZ3cEvfyreHWqXff2aRYYM-sXWZphgmrydkmLn-qJWOiabCDVI4GslPksaKM37dVxnzd6tc/s1600/46.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Calls to Rousseff’s office and a spokeswoman were not answered. Messages sent to a spokesman for Nena Pieto weren’t immediately returned.<br /><br />Brazilian Justice Minister Eduardo Cardozo told the newspaper O Globo that “if the facts of the report are confirmed, they would be considered very serious and would constitute a clear violation of Brazil’s sovereignty.”<br /><br />“This is completely outside the standard of confidence expected of a strategic partnership, as the U.S. and Brazil have,” he added.<br /><br />In July, Greenwald co-wrote articles in O Globo that said documents leaked by Snowden indicate Brazil was the largest target in Latin America for the NSA program, which collected data on billions of emails and calls flowing through Brazil.<br /><br />The Brazilian government denounced the NSA activities outlined in the earlier reports.<br />Greenwald reported then that the NSA collected the data through an undefined association between U.S. and Brazilian telecommunications companies. He said he could not verify which Brazilian companies were involved or if they were aware their links were being used to collect the data.<br /><br />Greenwald began writing stories based on material leaked by Snowden in May, mostly for the Guardian newspaper in Britain.<br /><br />Before news of the NSA program broke, the White House announced that Rousseff would be honored with a state dinner in October during a trip to the United States, the only such full state dinner scheduled this year for a foreign leader.<br /><br />The move highlighted the U.S. desire to build on improved relations since Rousseff took the presidency on Jan. 1, 2011.

NSA spied on Mexico

Report: NSA spied on Mexico,Brazil. The National Security Agency’s spy program targeted the communications of the Brazilian and Mexican pres...

Brazil demands clarifications on NSA surveillance

<h3>Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota demanded information on NSA spying in Brazil from visiting Secretary of State John Kerry and warned relations could be hurt.</h3><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Kerry visits Brazil: Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and Brazil's Foreign Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota" class="image" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/df/d7d9d39c70ca5432467989bf8e4f38/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and Brazil's Foreign Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota</td></tr></tbody></table>BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil demanded answers Tuesday from the U.S. about National Security Agency spying in the country and warned that trust between the two nations would be damaged if U.S. explanations about the program were not satisfactory.<br /><br />Secretary of State John Kerry, who was visiting Brasilia, sought to allay Brazil's concerns about the program, saying the U.S. would work to provide answers to Brazil and other Latin American nations rankled by the NSA surveillance revealed by systems analyst Edward Snowden.<br /><br />"We're now facing a new type of challenge in our bilateral relationship," Brazil Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said at a news conference. "The challenge is related to news about the interception of Brazilian electronic and telephone communications. And if those challenges are not resolved in a satisfactory way, we run the risk of casting a shadow of distrust over our work."<br /><br />He said Brazil was seeking explanations through political, diplomatic and technical channels, but that those clarifications were not an "end to themselves."<br /><br />"We need to stop practices that violate sovereignty, " he said.<br /><br /><br />The O Globo newspaper reported last month that information released by Snowden showed Brazil is the top target in Latin America for the NSA's massive intelligence-gathering effort, aimed at monitoring communications around the world.<br /><br />Kerry defended the NSA program, saying it had been approved by all three branches of the U.S. government.<br /><br />"We're not surprised, and we're not upset that Brazil would ask questions. Absolutely understandable," Kerry said.<br /><br />"Brazil is owed answers with respect to those questions, and they will get them. And we will work together very positively to make certain that this question — these issues — do not get in the way of all the other things that we talked about," Kerry said.<br /><br />He said he could not discuss operational issues, but said the U.S. is talking to the Brazilians about the program.<br /><br />"We will guarantee that Brazil and other countries will understand exactly what we are doing — why and how — and we will work together to make sure that whatever is done is done in a way that respects our friends and our partners. And that is what we are going to achieve."<br /><br /><br />Revelations about NSA snooping in Brazil came at a time when the U.S. has been trying to expand the relationship with Brazil, an economic powerhouse in Latin America.<br /><br />During President Barack Obama's visit to Brazil in 2011, the two nations signed 10 bilateral agreements. Five more were signed when Brazil President Dilma Rousseff visited the United States earlier this year, evidence of enhanced cooperation between the two countries.<br /><br />Rousseff, who met with Kerry Tuesday afternoon, has been invited again to Washington in October, when Obama hosts a state visit for Brazil.<br /><br />Both Patriota and Kerry boasted that the U.S.-Brazil relationship had matured and that the two nations were working together on many issues, including trade, energy, gender equality, sustainable development, deforestation, climate change, biofuels and visa-free travel between the two countries.<br /><br />Kerry said the U.S. did not want the surveillance dispute to taint relations.<br /><div><br /></div>

Brazil demands clarifications on NSA surveillance

Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota demanded information on NSA spying in Brazil from visiting Secretary of State John Kerry and warned relati...

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden provides an awkward background to John Kerry's first visit to South America

<h3>Disclosures by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden provides an awkward background to John Kerry's first visit to South America as U.S. secretary of state.</h3><br /><br /><b>Kerry trip to Brazil,Colombia could be chilly.</b><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Kerry in Colombia and Brazil: Secretary of State John Kerry." class="image" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/dd/402440a64c807d3e9850c13441c39e/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Secretary of State John Kerry visits Colombia and Brazil this week.</td></tr></tbody></table>BOGOTA, Colombia — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's attempts to build warmer relations with two U.S. allies in Latin America may be hindered by resentment after reports about an American spy program that widely targeted data in emails and telephone calls across the region.<br /><br /><h3>Kerry is visiting Brazil and Colombia this week, his first trip to South America as the Obama administration's chief diplomat. It comes at a time when disclosures by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden could chill talks on several fronts.</h3><br />Those include trade and energy, and even discussions about the Oct. 23 state dinner that President Barack Obama is hosting for Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff.<br /><br />Kerry arrived late Sunday in Bogota, the Colombian capital. The country is holding peace talks to end a half-century-old conflict with the Western Hemisphere's most potent rebel army, a rebel force diminished in strength thanks in considerable measure to U.S. military and intelligence support.<br /><div><br /></div><div><div>Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, said Thursday that he wanted clarification from Washington on whether U.S. intelligence-gathering in Colombia had overstepped the countries' joint operations against drug traffickers and illegal armed groups. The U.S. has supplied Colombia with eavesdropping equipment, technicians and aerial surveillance.</div><div><br /></div><div>Santos said in an interview with The Associated Press that Vice President Joe Biden called him about the issue following revelations by Snowden that U.S digital snooping has targeted allies as well as foes. Santos said Biden offered a series of technical explanations. Asked if he was satisfied with them, Santos replied, "We are in that process."</div><div><br /></div><div>Biden also called Rousseff to express what Brazil's communications minister, Helena Chagas, said was "his regret over the negative repercussions caused by the disclosures." Biden invited Brazilian officials to Washington to get details about the spy program.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rousseff told Biden that the privacy of Brazilian citizens and the country's sovereignty cannot be infringed upon in the name of security, and that Brazil wanted the U.S. to change its security policies and practices.</div><div><br /></div><div>During Kerry's visit, the U.S. wants to show its support for the peace talks between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which are taking place in Cuba.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Colombia is one of the United States' closest allies in the region, but the reports about the spying program have rankled Colombian officials.</div><div><br /></div><h3>Brazil's O Globo newspaper reported last month that citizens of Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and other countries were among the targets of a massive NSA operation to secretly gather information about phone calls and Internet communications worldwide. </h3><h3>The reports were based on information provided by Snowden.</h3><div><br /></div><div>Last week, Brazil's Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota was at the United Nations with counterparts from other South American nations to express their indignation about the spy program to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>The Obama administration has worked to forge stronger ties with Latin America. In May, Obama took a three-day trip to Mexico and Costa Rica. Biden has visited Colombia and Brazil, where he said stronger trade ties and closer cooperation in education, science and other fields should usher in a new era of U.S.-Brazil relations this year.</div><div><br /></div><div>Brazil has received much attention in recent months because of Pope Francis' visit and preparations for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thousands of demonstrators have staged anti-government protests since June demanding better public services in return for high taxes they pay. Under considerable domestic pressure, Rousseff announced a $4 billion program to improve transportation, sewage and public housing in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city.</div><div><br /></div><div>The protests have weakened her domestic support, but she can bolster her poll numbers with a strong stand against the U.S. over the spying allegations, said Carl Meacham, former Latin America adviser on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.</div><div><br /></div><div>"I think the tone of the visit will be a bit tense because of these issues raised by the surveillance (program), and I think Secretary Kerry will have to speak to that," he said.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>That assessment was shared by Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue</div><div><br /></div><div>"I don't think this is going to be a warm 'abrazo,'" said Shifter, using the Spanish word for "hug." ''I think it will be businesslike."</div></div><div><br /></div>

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden provides an awkward background to John Kerry's first visit to South America

Disclosures by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden provides an awkward background to John Kerry's first visit to South America as U.S. secr...

Pope:Beware the lures of "money","power" and "pleasure".

Pope Francis' first major event of his first foreign trip was a Mass in Aparecida, Brazil, where he urged Catholics to maintain faith and generosity.<br /><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Pope in Brazil: Pope Francis waves to pilgrims from his popemobile as he arrives Wednesday, July 24, at the Aparecida Basilica in Aparecida, Brazil." class="image" height="359" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/c9/5441969619c6d94252ec913679e/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pope Francis waves to pilgrims from his popemobile as he arrives Wednesday, July 24, at the Aparecida Basilica in Aparecida, Brazil.</td></tr></tbody></table>APARECIDA, Brazil — Pope Francis urged Catholics to resist the "ephemeral idols" of money, power and pleasure in celebrating the first public Mass of his initial international foreign journey as pontiff during an emotional visit to one of the most important shrines in Latin America.<br /><br />Thousands packed into the cavernous Basilica of the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, tucked into an agricultural region of verdant fields halfway between Rio and Sao Paulo, and tens of thousands more braved a cold rain outside to catch a glimpse of the first pope from the Americas returning to a shrine of great meaning to the continent and him personally.<br /><br />Before the Mass, Francis stood in silent prayer in front of the 15-inch-tall image of the Virgin of Aparecida, the "Black Mary," his eyes tearing up as he breathed heavily. It was a deeply personal moment for this pontiff, who has entrusted his papacy to the Virgin Mary and, like many Catholics in Latin America, places great importance in devotion to Mary.<br /><br /><br />During his homily, Francis urged Catholics to keep their values of faith, generosity and fraternity, a message he was expected to repeat later in the day during a visit to a drug-rehabilitation center in Rio de Janeiro.<br /><br />"It is true that nowadays, to some extent, everyone including our young people feels attracted by the many idols which take the place of God and appear to offer hope: money, success, power, pleasure," he said. "Often a growing sense of loneliness and emptiness in the hearts of many people leads them to seek satisfaction in these ephemeral idols."<br /><br />The church is struggling in Latin America to keep Catholics from straying to evangelical and Pentecostal churches that often promise help in finding material wealth, an alluring attraction in a poverty-racked continent. Francis' top priority as pope has been to reach out to the world's poor and inspire Catholic leaders to go to slums and other peripheries to preach.<br /><br />It was no coincidence, then, that the first major event of his first foreign trip as pope was a Mass in Aparecida. The shrine, which draws 11 million pilgrims a year, hosted a critical 2007 meeting of Latin American bishops who, under the guidance of then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, drafted a mission statement on how to reinvigorate the faith on the continent.<br /><br />"I've seen people in my own congregation leave because the evangelicals offer them something new and exciting and the Catholic Church was seen as kind of old and stuffy," said Marcia Cecilia de Souza, the 52-year-old owner of a private school in the southern state of Santa Catarina, as she searched for newspaper to stuff into her soaked leather boots. "Francis is such an inspiration, so humble and giving, I think he's going to bring people back into the fold."<br /><br />Unlike the scenes of chaos that greeted Francis upon his Monday arrival in Rio, when a mob of faithful swarmed his motorcade from the airport, the security situation in Aparecida was far more controlled. Chest-high barriers kept the faithful far from his car. Soldiers in camouflage, emergency crews in raincoats and other uniformed security forces stood guard along his route while his bodyguards walked along the side of his vehicle.<br /><br />Not all were pleased with the increased security.<br /><br />"They put up a Berlin Wall between us and the pope, and we couldn't get anywhere near him. You could tell he wanted to get close to us, but the police really insisted on this separation," said Joao Franklin, 51, from Minas Gerais state. "I felt really excluded by all these barriers and don't see the need for them. We're all here to show our love for him, and we just want to get close to show him that love."<br /><br />Nacilda de Oliveira Silva, a short 61-year-old maid, perched at the front of the crowd though she was barely tall enough to see over the metal barrier.<br /><br />"I have been up for almost 24 hours, most of that time on my feet and in the rain and the cold. But I don't feel any pain. I feel bathed in God's glory, and that's because of the pope. For me, it's the same thing as seeing Jesus pass by. That's how moved I feel."<br /><br /><br />Before the Mass, some pilgrims sought shelter from the Southern Hemisphere winter chill beneath tarps while others wrapped themselves in blankets and sleeping bags. And many left offerings to the Virgin.<br /><br />Lena Halfeld, a 65-year-old housewife, paused to add her offering to a cardboard box filled with stuffed animals, leg braces and other personal objects. She deposited an embossed invitation to her niece's December wedding, which she was praying for the Virgin to bless.<br /><br />"I have real faith in the powers of the Virgin of Aparecida," said Halfeld, adding she had made the hourslong trip to the church once a week for a year during her husband's recent illness. "Now he's cured, so I owe it all to her. I can't think of a more wonderful setting to see the new pope."<br /><br />Francis is in Brazil for World Youth Day, a church event that brings together young Catholics from around the world about every three years. About 350,000 young pilgrims signed up to take part officially in the Youth Day events.<br /><div><br /></div>

Pope:Beware the lures of "money","power" and "pleasure".

Pope Francis' first major event of his first foreign trip was a Mass in Aparecida, Brazil, where he urged Catholics to maintain faith an...

Pope's Brazil trip spurs security,protest worries.

When Pope Francis visits Brazil this week,he'll be traveling without his bulletproof popemobile and visiting unpredictable,potentially chaotic environments.<br /><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Pope's visit to Brazil: Police patrol the streets of Varginha, Brazil, within the slum complex where Pope Francis will visit in Rio de Janeiro." class="image" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/ba/3db5f1da4eba1fb3fab0b075f02b7b/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Police patrol the streets of Varginha, Brazil, within the slum complex where Pope Francis will visit in Rio de Janeiro.</td></tr></tbody></table>RIO DE JANEIRO — Since taking the helm of the world's biggest church in March, Pope Francis has waded into massive crowds with minimal protection to hug children and wash the feet of the faithful. He has surrounded himself with everyday worshippers at every turn, winning acclaim that he's breaking down barriers between the Vatican and the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.<br /><br />Yet for Brazilian security officials charged with protecting the 76-year-old pontiff with the common touch, his seven-day visit this week is an uncommon security challenge.<br /><br />In his first international trip as pope, Francis has built much of his schedule in the world's biggest Catholic country around high-profile events that send him straight into unpredictable, potentially chaotic environments — without the protection of the bulletproof popemobile used by his two predecessors.<br /><br />On Thursday, the pope will visit a tiny chapel founded in 1971 in the Varginha slum, one of Rio's more than 1,000 hillside shantytowns. Many such slums cower under the control of dangerous drug gangs or deadly militias made up mostly of former and current police and firefighters. Police invaded Varginha in January to clear out traffickers, but the gangs remain a shadowy presence there.<br /><br />The next day, Francis will hit Copacabana beach to walk the Stations of the Cross among an expected 1 million young Catholics gathered for World Youth Day festivities. Vatican officials have said he'll travel to the beach past thousands of devotees in an open-topped vehicle, a plan that would put the thousands of police and soldiers dispatched to protect the pope on high alert and require more plainclothes security.<br /><br />Brazil's justice and defense ministers, along with a top army commander, urged the pope to use an armored popemobile instead, but the Vatican has responded that Francis likes to jump in and out of his vehicle to greet the faithful, which wouldn't be possible in the more protected vehicle.<br /><br />"The bulletproofing would lessen our worries, it'd be better if he had it," said Gen. Jose Abreu, the top officer overseeing the military's role in the security scheme. "It's a personal choice and we'll respect it, but it's not remotely pleasant for security forces."<br /><br />On the top of everyone's minds are the massive and sometimes violent anti-government protests that swept this continent-sized country last month. They've continued, albeit with fewer people, less than a week before Francis' arrival Monday.<br /><br />Last week, a small protest in Leblon, one of Rio's poshest neighborhoods, erupted into looting and destruction, with demonstrators smashing storefronts, defacing street signs and setting piles of garbage on fire.<br /><br />A handful of protests are planned. If violence breaks out near the pope, the world may once again see images of demonstrators enveloped by clouds of tear gas, stun grenades ricocheting off stately buildings and rubber bullets whizzing through the air.<br /><br />Jose Beltrame, the top security official for Rio de Janeiro state overseeing the police who will counter any violent protests, said he's certain his officers "are ready to host the pope" because they know his set agenda and have a plan in place.<br /><br />However, Beltrame acknowledged that the protests are an unknown factor and that each demonstration would need to be approached differently depending upon how it unfolds.<br /><br />"The challenges of the protests are different. The police have to be flexible and adapt, because there is no coordinated agenda (of protests)," he said. "We're vigilant, but it depends upon how they happen, when they happen, which is information that we don't fully have."<br /><br />Joe Biundini, a Brazilian-born former U.S. Marine who heads the FAM International Group security firm, warned that much will depend on police response to any protests.<br /><br />"If you see the police doing something stupid, like violently attacking protesters, that could cause some very serious problems," Biundini said.<br /><div><div>Security officials have said the stiffest security challenge will be providing security for the pope's two events on 2.5 mile-long (4 kilometer-long) Copacabana beach. Still, they insist they're experienced in handling mega-crowds and point to a string of concerts that have attracted similarly massive numbers of spectators to Copacabana.</div><div><br /></div><div>April's bombing attacks on the Boston Marathon, which killed three and injured 264, have certainly raised sensitivities about the potential dangers of such mass events. But Brazilian police said there'll be no checkpoints or bag inspections of the crowds at Copacabana, similar to the security schemes at other events.</div><div><br /></div><div>That doesn't mean the Brazilians won't be making a show of force.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some 10,000 police officers and more than 14,000 soldiers will be on duty during the pope's visit, and six Brazilian military aircraft will provide transportation for the pontiff. The helicopters will let Francis avoid Rio's snarled traffic and the dangers of land travel.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nearly 100 lookout towers will also allow police to monitor an expected 1.5 million people turning out for yet another event, the World Youth Day's closing Mass in the rural neighborhood of Guaratiba, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Copacabana on the far outskirts of Rio.</div><div><br /></div><div>Federal, state and local governments are expected to spend a total of around $52 million on all the security and logistical measures for the papal visit.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even with such numbers, Francis' itinerary will at some points push him out of the reach of all but his immediate security detail, entrusting much of his protection to the crowd of faithful. Experts have warned that a lone wolf-style assailant presents the gravest security threat.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Much of the pope's security will be provided by the Brazilian people" themselves, said General Presidential Secretary Gilberto Carvalho.</div><div><br /></div><div>Biundini said the high-profile visit will provide a tempting stage for demonstrators looking for a world audience.</div><div><br /></div><div>"On the one hand, the pope is a very respected figure in Brazil, which is of course a majority Catholic country," he said. "On the other hand, all eyes are going to be on Brazil, so the pope's visit would be a very attractive platform for groups to get their messages across."</div><div><br /></div><div>For Brazil's government, the pope's visit is seen as a test run for the country's hosting of next year's World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics, which will also draw millions of visitors.</div><div><br /></div><div>In preparation, Brazilian soldiers have invaded a swath of Rio's slums to push out drug gangs and re-establish their authority. In large part because of slum violence, Brazil suffers one of the world's highest homicide rates, which has doubled in the past three decades, according to a new report.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nonetheless, a recent visit to the slum Francis is set to enter revealed only two police officers parked just a few meters from the chapel where he'll pray. Journalists were warned by adolescent boys to not take pictures of certain areas where drug peddlers were active, standard practice in slums that have yet to be pacified.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Pope's visit to Brazil: Workers build a stage on Copacabana beach in preparation for a visit by Pope Francis in Rio de Janeiro." class="image articleimage" data-class="img1" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/14/68d15e53513fcb968932f464ba2b3/_h0_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Workers build a stage on Copacabana beach in preparation for a visit by Pope Francis to Rio de Janeiro.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><span class="media hover"></span></div><div>Varginha is one of Rio's smallest slums, a triangle-shaped chunk of flat, dusty land sitting between two putrid waterways full of raw sewage. On the third side runs a busy main road with an elevated commuter train that noisily rolls by overhead.</div><div><br /></div><div>Brazilian police haven't revealed how they'll secure the slum when Francis arrives, beyond that military police will handle the job. The slum's surroundings somewhat ease security concerns, with the waterways acting as natural boundaries and only two roads 300 meters apart from one another allowing access.</div><div><br /></div><div>With so many challenges ahead of them, city officials have made clear they still welcome the visit by Francis, the first pope to come from the Americas. But they'll also be relieved when they're no longer responsible for his safety in such complicated terrain.</div><div><br /></div><div>"It's all worrisome," said Mayor Eduardo Paes. "When you think that in Copacabana we're going to have two New Year's concerts in the same week and then when you think you can go home and rest but then you have another New Year's party in Guaratiba, you can imagine this is something that has demanded a huge effort on our part."</div></div><div><br /></div>

Pope's Brazil trip spurs security,protest worries.

When Pope Francis visits Brazil this week,he'll be traveling without his bulletproof popemobile and visiting unpredictable,potentially c...

Guardian reporter:Snowden docs contain NSA 'blueprint'

<h3>A journalist for The Guardian newspaper says NSA leaker Edward Snowden has information on how the agency operates that someone could use to evade surveillance.</h3><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Reporter says Snowden has NSA 'blueprint': Journalist Glenn Greenwald" class="image" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/95/5ee5b97f3238527bf0245de5973e/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Journalist Glenn Greenwald gave an interview Sunday, July 14, in Rio de Janeiro.</td></tr></tbody></table>RIO DE JANEIRO — Edward Snowden has highly sensitive documents on how the National Security Agency is structured and operates that could harm the U.S. government, but has insisted that they not be made public, a journalist close to the NSA leaker said.<br /><br />Glenn Greenwald, a columnist with The Guardian newspaper who first reported on the intelligence leaks, told The Associated Press that disclosure of the information in the documents "would allow somebody who read them to know exactly how the NSA does what it does, which would in turn allow them to evade that surveillance or replicate it."<br /><br />He said the "literally thousands of documents" taken by Snowden constitute "basically the instruction manual for how the NSA is built."<br /><br />"In order to take documents with him that proved that what he was saying was true he had to take ones that included very sensitive, detailed blueprints of how the NSA does what they do," the journalist said Sunday in a Rio de Janeiro hotel room. He said the interview was taking place about four hours after his last interaction with Snowden.<br /><br />Greenwald said he believes the disclosure of the information in the documents would not prove harmful to Americans or their national security, but that Snowden has insisted they not be made public.<br /><br />"I think it would be harmful to the U.S. government, as they perceive their own interests, if the details of those programs were revealed," he said.<br /><br />He has previously said the documents have been encrypted to help ensure their safekeeping.<br /><br />Snowden emerged from weeks of hiding in a Moscow airport Friday, and said he was willing to meet President Vladimir Putin's condition that he stop leaking U.S. secrets if it means Russia would give him asylum until he can move on to Latin America.<br /><br />Greenwald told The AP that he deliberately avoids talking to Snowden about issues related to where the former analyst might seek asylum in order to avoid possible legal problems for himself.<br /><br />Snowden is believed to be stuck in the transit area of Moscow's main international airport, where he arrived from Hong Kong on June 23. He's had offers of asylum from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, but because his U.S. passport has been revoked, the logistics of reaching whichever country he chooses are complicated.<br /><br /><br />Still, Greenwald said that Snowden remains "calm and tranquil," despite his predicament.<br /><br />"I haven't sensed an iota of remorse or regret or anxiety over the situation that he's in," said Greenwald, who has lived in Brazil for the past eight years. "He's of course tense and focused on his security and his short-term well-being to the best extent that he can, but he's very resigned to the fact that things might go terribly wrong and he's at peace with that."<br /><br />Greenwald said he worried that interest in Snowden's personal saga had detracted from the impact of his revelations, adding that Snowden deliberately turned down nearly all requests for interviews to avoid the media spotlight.<br /><br />Asked whether Snowden seemed worried about his personal safety, Greenwald responded, "he's concerned."<br /><br />He said the U.S. has shown it's "willing to take even the most extreme steps if they think doing so is necessary to neutralize a national security threat," Greenwald said. "He's aware of all those things, he's concerned about them but he's not going to be in any way paralyzed or constrained in what he thinks he can do as a result of that."<br /><br />Asked about a so-called dead man's pact, which Greenwald has said would allow several people to access Snowden's trove of documents were anything to happen to him, Greenwald replied that "media descriptions of it have been overly simplistic.<br /><br />"It's not just a matter of, if he dies, things get released, it's more nuanced than that," he said. "It's really just a way to protect himself against extremely rogue behavior on the part of the United States, by which I mean violent actions toward him, designed to end his life, and it's just a way to ensure that nobody feels incentivized to do that."<br /><br />He declined to provide any more details about the pact or how it would work.<br /><br />Greenwald said he himself has beefed up his own security, particularly since a laptop went missing from his Rio home.<br /><br />"I don't really feel comfortable discussing the specific measures, but one would be really irrational and foolish to have thousands of top-secret documents from the most secretive agency of the world's most powerful government and not be thoughtful about added security," said the 46-year-old former constitutional and civil rights lawyer who has written three books contending the government has violated personal rights in the name of protecting national security.<br /><br />Greenwald has also co-authored a series of articles in Rio de Janeiro's O Globo newspaper focusing on NSA actions in Latin America. He said he expected to continue publishing further stories based on other Snowden documents over the next four months.<br /><br />Upcoming stories would likely include details on "other domestic spying programs that have yet to be revealed," but which are similar in scope to those he has been reporting on. He did not provide further details on the nature of those programs.<br /><br />It was not immediately clear whether Russia would take Snowden up on his latest request for asylum, which could further test U.S.-Russia relations.<br /><br />Following Friday's meeting between Snowden and human rights activists, U.S. officials criticized Russia for allowing a "propaganda platform" for the NSA leader.<br /><br />White House spokesman Jay Carney said Russia should instead send Snowden back to the U.S. to face the felony charges that are pending against him.<br /><br />Carney said Snowden is not a human rights activist or a dissident. "He is accused of leaking classified information, has been charged with three felony counts and should be returned to the United States," the spokesman said.<br /><div><br /></div>

Guardian reporter:Snowden docs contain NSA 'blueprint'

A journalist for The Guardian newspaper says NSA leaker Edward Snowden has information on how the agency operates that someone could use to ...

Bus crash kills 10 in Brazil

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUM5nmmKXVRbXpYiNizbc7V4DCb2azkokkgMJnp-cBfpTnaZ7TKc-qsD_jRIKFkwNzFZTjwzjozy7vy8xBAtk1HPKrw-veGFPpOyx1j-CCqNApbpYphKsK4V1ghf03rIENb3AIQYbbYQ/s1600/012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUM5nmmKXVRbXpYiNizbc7V4DCb2azkokkgMJnp-cBfpTnaZ7TKc-qsD_jRIKFkwNzFZTjwzjozy7vy8xBAtk1HPKrw-veGFPpOyx1j-CCqNApbpYphKsK4V1ghf03rIENb3AIQYbbYQ/s1600/012.jpg" width="320" /></a>RIO DE JANEIRO,- At least 10 people have been killed in a bus crash on their way to a religious gathering in southeast Brazil, local media reported on Saturday.<br /><br />The driver of a tourist bus lost control of the vehicle late Friday, as it was carrying 42 church members at the time of the crash in the province of Minas Gerais, rescue officials said.<br /><br />Several other people were injured in the accident, according to news reports.<br /><div><br /></div>

Bus crash kills 10 in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO,- At least 10 people have been killed in a bus crash on their way to a religious gathering in southeast Brazil, local media r...

Brazil opens probe into U.S. spying

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ZFg2G6MrXW5qyGoJSuBBl0Vu3xIkbKW_StIU4xpGUTQneETcbBc5QfvW8z2dkueLtBZJ4IRasF9KFIKYmdkUIprCqcQP4Xb4DzhkTZDLEztxIh0Nm8-zC2-kAv3IlLfxTf022HhvdR8/s1600/NationalSecurityAgency.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ZFg2G6MrXW5qyGoJSuBBl0Vu3xIkbKW_StIU4xpGUTQneETcbBc5QfvW8z2dkueLtBZJ4IRasF9KFIKYmdkUIprCqcQP4Xb4DzhkTZDLEztxIh0Nm8-zC2-kAv3IlLfxTf022HhvdR8/s1600/NationalSecurityAgency.jpg" width="320" /></a>BRASILIA, July 8 - Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) said Monday it has launched an investigation into whether any U.S. firms operating in the country "violated the privacy of personal data and phone calls."<br /><br />The agency said it would work in conjunction with Brazil's federal police and other federal government bodies to investigate a newspaper report that the U.S. collected billions of telephone and e-mail conversations in the Latin American country.<br /><br />Any violation is a civil, criminal and administrative offense as "the privacy of personal data and phone calls is a right guaranteed by the Constitution, legislation and Anatel regulations, " the Anatel added.<br /><br />The move follows revelations published by Brazil's prestigious O Globo newspaper over the weekend that the United States undertakes blanket surveillance of all digital and telephone communications in the Latin American country.<br /><br />The newspaper said it had access to documents leaked by U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden, adding that Washington used social networks and Internet service providers in its mass spying on Brazilian individuals and companies.<br /><br />It also reported that the United States set up an espionage base in the capital Brasilia in 2002, manned by intelligence agents posing as diplomats. The paper couldn't verify if the operation continues.<br /><br />Also in the day, Brazil's Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo said President Dilma Rousseff was highly concerned and angered by the revelations.<br /><br />Bernardo said officials were particularly concerned about possible industrial espionage.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qsRGASZWJ5YDMDcxMgx0NFhVJQ3Z1WSyn3ouj89H7M9FL5-yeCXa5RYxpE_Fv5zLnbgqi8smlW7oiEjEKTru5y1pnrhx-H6beebqiVopgsfxf2jPO_l-cQvRiJqZwd35jKvjRpX-q819/s1600/unlogo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5qsRGASZWJ5YDMDcxMgx0NFhVJQ3Z1WSyn3ouj89H7M9FL5-yeCXa5RYxpE_Fv5zLnbgqi8smlW7oiEjEKTru5y1pnrhx-H6beebqiVopgsfxf2jPO_l-cQvRiJqZwd35jKvjRpX-q819/s1600/unlogo.gif" /></a>Brazil's Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said on Sunday the government was "gravely concerned" by the spying allegations and has requested the U.S. government to explain.<br /><br />Brazil plans to call for better multilateral regulations governing telecommunication security at the International Telecommunications Union based in Geneva, Switzerland, and also plans to submit Internet privacy initiatives at the United Nations, Patriota said.<br /><div><br /></div>

Brazil opens probe into U.S. spying

BRASILIA, July 8 - Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) said Monday it has launched an investigation into whether any U....

U.S.ambassador rejects Brazil's accusation of spying.

<h3>RIO DE JANEIRO, July 8 - The U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon, Monday rejected Brazil's accusation that the U.S. government has been spying on Brazilians citizens and companies over the past years.</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2k6AOB_a9OGEGS_z7MI1K1fTKXpj_HKrOxvSNVpqf_d9V9dNKDDo2kFiK93LMq7UJcCWxxOEo6TyhLKkSnu2OqxHlyOBScRcym98KSP_Fn8TAzQxdOlhiTYnZFK26toVTzlwrHBhneVA/s1600/un.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2k6AOB_a9OGEGS_z7MI1K1fTKXpj_HKrOxvSNVpqf_d9V9dNKDDo2kFiK93LMq7UJcCWxxOEo6TyhLKkSnu2OqxHlyOBScRcym98KSP_Fn8TAzQxdOlhiTYnZFK26toVTzlwrHBhneVA/s1600/un.png" /></a></div><br />Shannon told reporters after meeting Brazilian Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo that the story in local daily O Globo on Sunday presents an "incorrect image" of the U.S. intelligence program.<br /><br />"The story ran in O Globo presented an incorrect image of our program, so we are working with Brazil to answer their questions," the Ambassador said, stressing that his country will continue to collaborate with Brazil in the intelligence field.<br /><br />The story detailed how the massive NSA (National Security Agency) espionage scheme leaked by Edward Snowden affected Brazilians.<br /><br />Shannon did not, however, answer any questions on whether the U. S. actually did monitor millions of calls and e-mails made by Brazilian citizens, as the daily reported.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlO6cFv1fO1VaMbxuPmUxnb8-14sg3-vwJJKI3ZJcPbkJwIR8mojJuthe2SDgrM7V_-VFxB7qB0NVTiXRh18dgg56wJhGbkyZ81jVXp-Gp6Q_-phFh-gv2eunsoN6QWXH3_FBRTDRkd0c/s1600/nsa1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlO6cFv1fO1VaMbxuPmUxnb8-14sg3-vwJJKI3ZJcPbkJwIR8mojJuthe2SDgrM7V_-VFxB7qB0NVTiXRh18dgg56wJhGbkyZ81jVXp-Gp6Q_-phFh-gv2eunsoN6QWXH3_FBRTDRkd0c/s1600/nsa1.jpg" /></a>According to O Globo, Brazil was a priority target of NSA's surveillance program, which also affected a number of other countries.<br /><br />Brazil's National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into whether any U.S. firms operating in the country "in any way violated the privacy of personal data and phone calls."<br /><div><br /></div>

U.S.ambassador rejects Brazil's accusation of spying.

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 8 - The U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon, Monday rejected Brazil's accusation that the U.S. government has...

Snowden hid copies of secret NSA documents in case something happens to him

A trove of classified documents supplied to The Guardian newspaper by NSA leaker Edward Snowden has been copied and shared with several people around the globe, journalist Glenn Greenwald told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNZ92UkgCOn_cHWsCT188_yqt4qLH9ZyZwdUXd3psvLLeoI5smFvBWjCui2jmOJIX8qJUHrWOlJ_5ueg5YiB_Pt_oT2yr4DgCh-1QwVNBKcmC6ARsAyVlvaLqpCsrlEJmmOxInczRuZA/s1600/Glenn+Greenwald.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNZ92UkgCOn_cHWsCT188_yqt4qLH9ZyZwdUXd3psvLLeoI5smFvBWjCui2jmOJIX8qJUHrWOlJ_5ueg5YiB_Pt_oT2yr4DgCh-1QwVNBKcmC6ARsAyVlvaLqpCsrlEJmmOxInczRuZA/s1600/Glenn+Greenwald.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Glenn Greenwald</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Greenwald, the Guardian reporter who first began publishing National Security Agency documents earlier this month after meeting with the former intelligence contractor, told journalist Eli Lake that Snowden made arrangements to ensure others around the world have encrypted copies of that information should any circumstances allow the data or its source to be compromised.<br /><br />Snowden “has taken extreme precautions to make sure many different people around the world have these archives to insure the stories will inevitably be published,” Greenwald said. He added that the files are “highly encrypted” and corresponding passwords to render them readable have not yet been distributed.<br /><br />According to Lake, Greenwald said, “if anything happens at all to Edward Snowden, he told me he has arranged for them to get access to the full archives.” Greenwald previously claimed that Snowden provided him with the archives of "thousands" of documents, dozens of which he considered to be newsworthy. Revelations published thus far by The Guardian and attributed to Snowden have generated international headlines and responses from presidential administrations worldwide.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivpXQzi9XS1tQYWRtu9pVP5ulMRsYoqtXb3L_pDGigdAgmkHHp2BQkvteCZwHWFq133UllHbztaEXf8UvCF0islJ9v1G27DVOX_8cLg3vEMor5kS3dDErEr93aeklFtrZ9IQiOPGjhvEs/s1600/Edward+Snowden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivpXQzi9XS1tQYWRtu9pVP5ulMRsYoqtXb3L_pDGigdAgmkHHp2BQkvteCZwHWFq133UllHbztaEXf8UvCF0islJ9v1G27DVOX_8cLg3vEMor5kS3dDErEr93aeklFtrZ9IQiOPGjhvEs/s1600/Edward+Snowden.jpg" width="320" /></a>The latest news from Greenwald comes in the midst of an international manhunt for Snowden that has made awkward the relations between the United States and other nations around the globe. The US unsealed an indictment against Snowden on Friday, but has been unable to extradite him to the country where he faces charges of espionage.<br /><br />Snowden was reportedly in Hong Kong at the time his indictment went public and was alleged to be in Moscow hours later. Representatives for US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin both say Snowden is in Moscow, and the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks says the leaker has sought asylum from Ecuador, Iceland and perhaps elsewhere.<br /><br />“We are aware of where Mr. Snowden is,” WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange said in a conference call on Monday. “He is in a safe place and his spirits are high. Due to the bellicose threats coming from the US administration we cannot go into further detail at this time.”<br /><br />The US has lambasted Hong Kong with failing to comply with what America considers a lawful arrest, and Russia will not cooperate with attempts for extradition. White House press secretary Jay Carney said earlier this week that Hong Kong’s failure to act has already strained the relationship between the US and China.<br /><br />Another relationship — the one between Snowden and Greenwald — has begun to emerge as a contested topic within the conversation as well in recent days. The possibility of charging Greenwald with publishing the classified documents has been discussed by politicians, pundits and the press, and the he told The Daily Beast that he’s likely having his every move watched by Washington.<br /><br />“I would be shocked if the US government were not trying to access the information on my computer,” Greenwald said. “I carry my computers and data with me everywhere I go.”<br /><br />Elsewhere in his interview with Lake, Greenwald explained that one potential lapse almost led to the loss of the intelligence.<br /><br /><b>“When I was in Hong Kong, I spoke to my partner in Rio via Skype and told him I would send an electronic encrypted copy of the documents,” Greenwald said. “I did not end up doing it. Two days later his laptop was stolen from our house and nothing else was taken. Nothing like that has happened before. I am not saying it’s connected to this, but obviously the possibility exists.” </b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4gaUDf5S7EXyXkaIoTPWNaxQ55-cn3pwcl4FP1FvuUdlRcq0zbyTd8wdmLENdIzgw-gvfw_9Jh8NDLY1aqQROxCvy6ceWtz7oaDZU40t1GHrdYyidWtVyrFHRy0R7KeXIYRRnw9YqtI/s1600/Esp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx4gaUDf5S7EXyXkaIoTPWNaxQ55-cn3pwcl4FP1FvuUdlRcq0zbyTd8wdmLENdIzgw-gvfw_9Jh8NDLY1aqQROxCvy6ceWtz7oaDZU40t1GHrdYyidWtVyrFHRy0R7KeXIYRRnw9YqtI/s1600/Esp.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>

Snowden hid copies of secret NSA documents in case something happens to him

A trove of classified documents supplied to The Guardian newspaper by NSA leaker Edward Snowden has been copied and shared with several peop...

Chinese, Brazilian presidents discuss bilateral ties, BRICS cooperation

BEIJING, June 24 - Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, on Monday discussed bilateral ties, the international financial situation and BRICS cooperation.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" Brazil to spend $23B more on transit: Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff " class="image" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/b1/1f323a445a1de5fe19b6fc6f2461/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title=" Brazil to spend $23B more on transit: Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff (AP Photo: Eraldo Peres)" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff</td></tr></tbody></table>In a phone conversation, Xi recalled that he and Rousseff held an in-depth and fruitful meeting on the sidelines of the fifth BRICS summit in Durban in March and reached broad consensus on bilateral friendly cooperation in various areas.<br /><br />The Chinese president said he is confident that the China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership will advance to higher levels thanks to the joint efforts of the two sides.<br /><br />Noting that some new and complex elements have occurred in the international financial markets, Xi said the BRICS nations should pay close attention to the relevant dynamics, boost communication and cooperation in the financial field, and speed up the construction of a financial safety net.<br /><br />Xi also proposed that the BRICS nations push the international community to enhance coordination on macroeconomic policy-making, enact relevant commitments reached at G20 summits, safeguard international financial stability, fight protectionism, and promote healthy development of the world economy.<br /><br />For her part, Rousseff said she agrees with Xi's opinions and her country pays close attention to the comprehensive strategic partnership between Brazil and China.<br /><br />Brazil, she said, is ready to join hands with China to make their bilateral cooperation more fruitful.<br /><br />Rousseff presented her views about the current international financial situation, saying Brazil is willing to maintain close communication and coordination with China and other BRICS countries in this field in order to jointly cope with challenges and safeguard common interests.<br /><br />The two presidents also exchanged views on beefing up bilateral energy cooperation.<br /><br />BRICS groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.<br /><div><br /></div>

Chinese, Brazilian presidents discuss bilateral ties, BRICS cooperation

BEIJING, June 24 - Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, on Monday discussed bilateral ties, the inter...

Brazil to spend $23 Billion more on transit amid protests.

Bowing to pressure from national demonstrations, Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff said $23 billion more will be spent on public transportation.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" Brazil to spend $23B more on transit: Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff " class="image" height="359" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/b1/1f323a445a1de5fe19b6fc6f2461/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title=" Brazil to spend $23B more on transit: Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff (AP Photo: Eraldo Peres)" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AP Photo: Eraldo Peres. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff meets with governors and mayors to discuss the recent wave of protests Monday, June 24, in Brasilia, Brazil. </td></tr></tbody></table>SAO PAULO — Under pressure after more than a week of nationwide protests, Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff said Monday her government will spend $23 billion more on public transportation and announced five core areas that leaders will focus on to speed political reform and improvements to government services.<br /><br />Rousseff made the announcement after meeting with leaders of a free-transit activist group that launched the first demonstrations more than a week ago and has called for new protests Tuesday. The president also opened a meeting of governors and mayors from 26 capital cities to discuss ways to make deep improvements.<br /><br />"I mainly want to repeat that my government is listening to democratic voices. We must learn to hear the voices of the street," Rousseff said at the opening of the meeting with governors and mayors. "We all must, without exception, understand these signals with humility and accuracy."<br /><br />While not providing details, Rousseff said she would push debate about holding a plebiscite on political reform and said all levels of government would focus on five priorities: fiscal responsibility and controlling inflation; political reform; health care; public transport; and education.<br /><br />Protesters have filled cities across this continent-sized country to air a wide spectrum of grievances including poor public services and billions of dollars of spending to prepare for next year's World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.<br /><br />Mayara Longo Vivian, one of the leaders of the Free Fare Movement who met with Rousseff in Brasilia, said that no concrete measures were given to the group and that their "fight would continue." The movement has been working since 2006 to eliminate public transport fares.<br /><br /><div><div>Vivian referred to the billions of dollars Brazil is spending to host the World Cup, saying, "If they have money to build stadiums, they have money for zero tariffs" on public transportation.</div><div><br /></div><div>"The people are on the street, the left is on the street, with legitimate agendas," she said. "Only with concrete measures from the state will this situation be reversed."</div><div><br /></div><div>Monday marked the beginning of a more hands-on approach for Rousseff in the face of sharp criticism that she had been too silent during protests last week. Rousseff only delivered a nationwide address Friday, a week after the protest exploded and a day after a million people took to the streets in at times violent protests.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since then, the demonstrations have shrunk and become less widespread.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some scattered protests flared Monday, and two women died after being hit by a car as they tried to block a highway in the state of Goias near the nation's capital. The highway patrol in Goias said the driver of the car fled and is being sought.</div><div><br /></div><div>Protests in Sao Paulo state also blocked road access to the nation's largest port in Santos, causing a massive backlog of trucks trying to unload products. In Brasilia, a group of about 300 students protesting against corruption blocked some streets while a protest was expected in Rio de Janeiro later in the evening.</div><div><br /></div><div>The protests have hit as the nation hosts the Confederations Cup soccer tournament, seen as a warm-up for the World Cup.</div><div><br /></div><div>Experts said the protesters, though mostly disorganized, were in control thanks to support from the majority of Brazilians as seen in recent polls. That opened a window for concessions on their demands for less corruption and improvements to the nation's woeful public services.</div><div><br /></div><div>Complicating matters, though, is Brazil's worsening economic climate, which Rousseff referred to Monday. The government has been struggling against both a lagging economy and rising inflation, which economists say require contradictory actions to fix. While the nation's benchmark interest rate could be slashed to stoke economic growth, it could also be raised to keep inflation at bay.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Brazil will see several waves of protests," said Guillermo Trejo, a professor at the University of Notre Dame in the U.S. whose research focuses on social protests in Latin America. "This cycle will decline, and it'll likely return to episodic protests once the media attention of the Confederations Cup goes away."</div><div><br /></div><div>But next year could be a bumpy ride, as Rousseff faces re-election, Trejo said. Already, the protests have become the largest of their kind in Brazil in at least two decades.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucx7_-knnilA3_rQsv-1fyWO9ixEFCvK73ah0uNIScNqZ-gFxcPTZGX5SyTTQJIQJuqKI9VnzrOHW01bUWClrMfzVCN7LKVvwVSK33cYpPMKjBTJ_pOT4JBDWNw_oWO4k9YFAVCHQ5dU/s1600/index.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucx7_-knnilA3_rQsv-1fyWO9ixEFCvK73ah0uNIScNqZ-gFxcPTZGX5SyTTQJIQJuqKI9VnzrOHW01bUWClrMfzVCN7LKVvwVSK33cYpPMKjBTJ_pOT4JBDWNw_oWO4k9YFAVCHQ5dU/s1600/index.png" /></a></div><div><br /></div>

Brazil to spend $23 Billion more on transit amid protests.

Bowing to pressure from national demonstrations, Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff said $23 billion more will be spent on public transportatio...

Protests build in Brazil as discontent spreads

Demonstrations in Brazil's largest cities grew to hundreds of thousands of people, angry over inadequate public services, police violence and government corruption.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Protests build in Brazil: Activists demonstrate in front of riot police in Brasilia, Brazil." class="image articleimage" data-class="img1" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/73/5f1e69a74fefeadeba13715356ee75/_h0_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Protests build in Brazil: Activists demonstrate in front of riot police in Brasilia, Brazil. (Reuters Photo: Ueslei Marcelino)" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reuters Photo: Ueslei Marcelino. Activists demonstrate in front of riot police Saturday, June 15, outside the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia, Brazil. </td></tr></tbody></table><span class="media"></span><br />SAO PAULO — As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.<br /><br />The marches, organized mostly through snowballing social media campaigns, blocked streets and halted traffic in more than a half-dozen cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, where demonstrators climbed onto the roof of Brazil's Congress building and then stormed it.<br /><div><div>Monday's demonstrations were the latest in a flurry of protests in the past two weeks that have added to growing unease over Brazil's sluggish economy, high inflation and a spurt in violent crime.</div><div><br /></div><div>While most of the protests unfolded as a festive display of dissent, some demonstrators in Rio threw rocks at police, set fire to a parked car and vandalized the state assembly building. Vandals also destroyed property in the southern city of Porto Alegre.</div></div><div><div>Around the country, protesters waved Brazilian flags, dancing and chanting slogans such as "The people have awakened" and "Pardon the inconvenience, Brazil is changing."</div><div><br /></div><div>The epicenter of Monday's march shifted from Sao Paulo, where some 65,000 people took to the streets late in the afternoon, to Rio. There, as protesters gathered throughout the evening, crowds ballooned to 100,000 people, local police said. At least 20,000 more gathered in Belo Horizonte.</div><div><br /></div><div>The demonstrations are the first time that Brazilians, since a recent decade of steady economic growth, are collectively questioning the status quo.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>BIG EVENTS LOOM</div><div><br /></div><div>The protests have gathered pace as Brazil is hosting the Confederation's Cup, a dry run for next year's World Cup soccer championship. The government hopes these events, along with the 2016 Summer Olympics, will showcase Brazil as an emerging power on the global stage.</div></div><div><div>Brazil also is gearing up to welcome more than 2 million visitors in July as Pope Francis makes his first foreign trip for a gathering of Catholic youth in Rio.</div><div><br /></div><div>Contrasting the billions in taxpayer money spent on new stadiums with the shoddy state of Brazil's public services, protesters are using the Confederation's Cup as a counterpoint to amplify their concerns. The tournament got off to a shaky start this weekend when police clashed with demonstrators outside stadiums at the opening matches in Brasilia and Rio.</div><div><br /></div><div>"For many years the government has been feeding corruption. People are demonstrating against the system," said Graciela Caçador, a 28-year-old saleswoman protesting in Sao Paulo. "They spent billions of dollars building stadiums and nothing on education and health."</div><div><br /></div><div>More protests are being organized for the coming days. It is unclear what specific response from authorities — such as a reduction in the hike of transport fares — would lead the loose collection of organizers across Brazil to consider stopping them.</div><div><br /></div><div>For President Dilma Rousseff, the demonstrations come at a delicate time, as price increases and lackluster growth begin to loom over an expected run for re-election next year.</div><div><br /></div><div>Polls show Rousseff still is widely popular, especially among poor and working-class voters, but her approval ratings began to slip in recent weeks for the first time since taking office in 2011. Rousseff was booed at Saturday's Confederations Cup opener as protesters gathered outside.</div><div><br /></div><div>Through a spokeswoman, Rousseff called the protests "legitimate" and said peaceful demonstrations are "part of democracy." The president, a leftist guerrilla as a young woman, also said that it was "befitting of youth to protest."</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>WIDE ARRAY OF GRIEVANCES</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>Some were baffled by the protests in a country where unemployment remains near record lows, even after more than two years of tepid economic growth.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://img1.catalog.video.msn.com/image.aspx?uuid=dd4f624b-ee49-4812-a4b4-fc5a987e81c8&w=300&h=169&so=4" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hundreds of thousands march in Brazil" border="0" class="image" height="225" src="http://img1.catalog.video.msn.com/image.aspx?uuid=dd4f624b-ee49-4812-a4b4-fc5a987e81c8&w=300&h=169&so=4" title="Hundreds of thousands march in Brazil" width="400" /></a>"What are they going to do — march every day?" asked Cristina, a 43-year-old cashier, who declined to give her surname, peeking out at the demonstration from behind the curtain of a closed Sao Paulo butcher shop. She said corruption and other age-old ills in Brazil are unlikely to change soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>The marches began this month with an isolated protest in Sao Paulo against a small increase in bus and subway fares. The demonstrations initially drew the scorn of many middle-class Brazilians after protesters vandalized storefronts, subway stations and buses on one of the city's main avenues.</div><div><br /></div><div>The movement quickly gained support and spread to other cities as police used heavy-handed tactics to quell the demonstrations. The biggest crackdown happened Thursday in Sao Paulo when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas in clashes that injured more than 100 people, including 15 journalists, some of whom said they were deliberately targeted.</div><div><br /></div><div>Other common grievances at Monday's marches included corruption and the inadequate and overcrowded public transportation networks that Brazilians cope with daily.</div><div><br /></div><div>POLICE SHOW RESTRAINT</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" Protests build in Brazil: A demonstrator waves a Brazilian flag in Rio de Janeiro. " class="image" src="http://newsbcpcol.stb.s-msn.com/amnews/i/a4/3eefdc7019500d26797b04bf3c31/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title=" Protests build in Brazil: A demonstrator waves a Brazilian flag in Rio de Janeiro. (Reuters Photo: Sergio Moraes)" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reuters Photo: Sergio Moraes. A demonstrator waves a Brazilian flag by a burning a car Monday, June 17, in downtown Rio de Janeiro. </td></tr></tbody></table><div>The harsh police reaction to last week's protests touched a nerve in Brazil, which endured two decades of political repression under a military dictatorship that ended in 1985. It also added to doubts about whether Brazil's police forces would be ready for next year's World Cup.</div><div><br /></div><div>The uproar following last week's crackdown prompted Sao Paulo state Gov. Geraldo Alckmin, who first described the protesters as "troublemakers" and "vandals," to order police to allow Monday's march to proceed and not to use rubber bullets.</div><div><br /></div><div>The protests are shaping up as a major political challenge for Alckmin, a former presidential candidate, and Sao Paulo's new mayor, Fernando Haddad, a rising star in the left-leaning Workers' Party that has governed Brazil for the past decade. Haddad invited protest leaders to meet Tuesday morning, but has so far balked at talk of a bus fare reduction.</div><div><br /></div><div>The resonance of the demonstrations underscores what economists say will be a challenge for Rousseff and other Brazilian leaders in the years ahead: providing public services to meet the demands of the growing middle class.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Voters are likely to be increasingly disgruntled on a range of public services in a lower growth environment," Christopher Garman, a political analyst at the Eurasia Group, wrote in a report.</div></div><div><br /></div>

Protests build in Brazil as discontent spreads

Demonstrations in Brazil's largest cities grew to hundreds of thousands of people, angry over inadequate public services, police violenc...

Bolivia, Brazil to launch joint anti-drug operations

<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlN3T-hyxXa_LTk3z2eiOIk_k1liDZOxPc0voF3vrzoOXz2Yc5ydVtl-_8WAGgCnlxJMaEDY3AQBkiDhGfdfpfN1Nqpn_NHVMKqgIyj6pfLNg0EZ3bvHjZbecSalaNOWqCH1sj3lS15r0/s1600/publimetro.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlN3T-hyxXa_LTk3z2eiOIk_k1liDZOxPc0voF3vrzoOXz2Yc5ydVtl-_8WAGgCnlxJMaEDY3AQBkiDhGfdfpfN1Nqpn_NHVMKqgIyj6pfLNg0EZ3bvHjZbecSalaNOWqCH1sj3lS15r0/s1600/publimetro.gif" /></a>LA PAZ, May 15- Bolivia and Brazil have signed an agreement on launching joint anti-drug operations, Vice Minister of Social Defense Felipe Caceres said Wednesday.<br /><br />During Monday and Tuesdays' meeting with Brazilian officials in Santa Cruz, the two sides discussed ways to reduce Bolivian drug supply and Brazilian demand, Caceres told a press conference.<br /><br />The deal also includes exchange of intelligence on drug trafficking and other crimes, such as human trafficking and money laundering, as well as natural resources smuggling.<br /><br />"There will be joint operations to fight organized crime by air, land and rivers," added Caceres.<br /><br />He also said that Bolivia has approved a budget of 20 million U.S. dollars for the anti-drug fight, with additional funding of 16 million dollars.<br /><br />The next meeting of the bilateral anti-drug talks will be held in July in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.<br /><br />Bolivia and Brazil share a 3,700-kilometer borderline and the most vulnerable points are in San Matias, Puerto Quijarro and Cobija.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZOoROBlVQxIT2l0wYYzqD07otQf2kI-L652WQKrkfundmolnjIgWglNykmvMnVmC6YeY3_jJxYQhP133VkHstmwtwRL7EBpY8RMW5UeW1U_YKp2zXyIvkbAUSq1kkTvRhsxQyoG6Lr-v/s1600/%2540publimetro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZOoROBlVQxIT2l0wYYzqD07otQf2kI-L652WQKrkfundmolnjIgWglNykmvMnVmC6YeY3_jJxYQhP133VkHstmwtwRL7EBpY8RMW5UeW1U_YKp2zXyIvkbAUSq1kkTvRhsxQyoG6Lr-v/s1600/%2540publimetro.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>

Bolivia, Brazil to launch joint anti-drug operations

LA PAZ, May 15- Bolivia and Brazil have signed an agreement on launching joint anti-drug operations, Vice Minister of Social Defense Felipe ...

Brazil to probe 2012 police copter shootout with drug suspect

<br />Critics say police would never risk shooting at homes and buildings in Brazil's tourist areas and demand an investigation into the 2012 shootout.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPWUS7U-Z9I9HbFkjGVOX8Bw-pW_kiViH6TPmL4bkL0sreVVZTqO3DvO9wgmvToyW95sBnqWyl-5kPKAeQGBCb78xEhTER_JBjlFRCswOg1dNk4n6pL9ldiMVr4-FW974awBeCmxrKiEXk/s1600/be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPWUS7U-Z9I9HbFkjGVOX8Bw-pW_kiViH6TPmL4bkL0sreVVZTqO3DvO9wgmvToyW95sBnqWyl-5kPKAeQGBCb78xEhTER_JBjlFRCswOg1dNk4n6pL9ldiMVr4-FW974awBeCmxrKiEXk/s1600/be.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Brazil is opening an investigation into a 2012 shootout in which police fired from a helicopter at an accused drug trafficker as they pursued him through a Rio de Janeiro shanty town.<br /><br />Inquiries into the shooting began after exclusive video of the bizarre shooting appeared on national television Sunday, airing on the popular news program "Fantastico."<br /><br />The shooting, which took place May 11, 2012, began after police monitoring one of Rio's most wanted alleged drug traffickers, Marcio Pereira, nicknamed "Mathematician," notified a police helicopter that they believed Pereira could be found in the Korea shanty town, located in Rio's West zone.<br /><br />According to police, Pereira was running a drug trafficking ring through four different towns in one of the most populous regions of Rio.<br /><br />Reportedly, from an altitude between 3,000 and 3,900 feet, police in the video spotted a man they said "looked like" Pereira. The helicopter then descended to an altitude of about 65 to 130 feet before pursuing a vehicle that apparently had Pereira traveling inside it.<br /><br />Police opened fire, shooting several rounds while chasing the speeding car.<br /><br />The car eventually halted and was surrounded by people in the area. Pereira did manage to escape, but was then found dead the next day in a parked car.<br /><br />Since the video surfaced, internal affairs for the police, the state attorney general and a local human rights commission are all looking into the shooting. Investigators will determine if police officers used excessive force in their pursuit.<br /><br />State Attorney General Marfan Martins Vieira believes the video demands a proper inquiry.<br /><br />"As these new images constitute new proof, I am examining the opening of an investigation in order to make the proper inquires and eventually, those in charge, those people involved in this operation, will be held responsible," Vieira said.<br /><br />Bullets struck homes and other buildings in a heavily populated neighborhood. No injuries were reported.<br /><br />Rio and its police continue to face global scrutiny with a pending visit by Pope Francis in July, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.<br /><br />A recent string of violent incidents involving tourists, including an American woman who was gang-raped and robbed, have raised concerns.<br /><br />Part of Rio's police force, the elite squad unit known as BOPE, have been known to, at times, use war-like tactics when entering shanty towns in order to apprehend drug traffickers.<br /><br />Marcelo Freixo, a state representative and active member of a local human rights commission, believes the police would never behave the same way if they were in Rio's more touristy beachside neighborhoods.<br /><br />"It's unimaginable that in Rio de Janeiro, still today, in some territories, the police can act without obeying the law. In others? No. A scene like this, the pursuit of a car with criminals inside, would never be done this way in Ipanema, Copacabana or Leblon. Never would we have a building shot up in any neighborhood in the South zone of Rio de Janeiro," Freixo said.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZOoROBlVQxIT2l0wYYzqD07otQf2kI-L652WQKrkfundmolnjIgWglNykmvMnVmC6YeY3_jJxYQhP133VkHstmwtwRL7EBpY8RMW5UeW1U_YKp2zXyIvkbAUSq1kkTvRhsxQyoG6Lr-v/s1600/%2540publimetro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZOoROBlVQxIT2l0wYYzqD07otQf2kI-L652WQKrkfundmolnjIgWglNykmvMnVmC6YeY3_jJxYQhP133VkHstmwtwRL7EBpY8RMW5UeW1U_YKp2zXyIvkbAUSq1kkTvRhsxQyoG6Lr-v/s1600/%2540publimetro.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>

Brazil to probe 2012 police copter shootout with drug suspect

Critics say police would never risk shooting at homes and buildings in Brazil's tourist areas and demand an investigation into the 2012 ...

Brazil's Roberto Azevedo,to be next World Trade Organization chief - report

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlN3T-hyxXa_LTk3z2eiOIk_k1liDZOxPc0voF3vrzoOXz2Yc5ydVtl-_8WAGgCnlxJMaEDY3AQBkiDhGfdfpfN1Nqpn_NHVMKqgIyj6pfLNg0EZ3bvHjZbecSalaNOWqCH1sj3lS15r0/s1600/publimetro.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlN3T-hyxXa_LTk3z2eiOIk_k1liDZOxPc0voF3vrzoOXz2Yc5ydVtl-_8WAGgCnlxJMaEDY3AQBkiDhGfdfpfN1Nqpn_NHVMKqgIyj6pfLNg0EZ3bvHjZbecSalaNOWqCH1sj3lS15r0/s1600/publimetro.gif" /></a>Roberto Azevedo, a Brazilian trade diplomat, is to head the World Trade Organization, a diplomatic source told Reuters.<br /><br />As a result of a six month three round competition Azevedo was reportedly chosen from nine candidates and gained much support among the WTO's 159 members.<br />Azevedo is expected to be confirmed as the winner at a meeting on May 14.<br /><br />He will succeed France's Pascal Lamy on September 1.<br /><br />The Brazilian will be the first Latin American to head the trade group since its creation in 1995.

Brazil's Roberto Azevedo,to be next World Trade Organization chief - report

Roberto Azevedo, a Brazilian trade diplomat, is to head the World Trade Organization, a diplomatic source told Reuters. As a result of a six...