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In the latest fallout from the Edward Snowden affair, the president of Brazil canceled a state visit to Washington out of anger that the National Security Agency had spied on her and other Brazilian officials, deepening a rift with the Obama administration. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday called off the high-profile visit that both governments had planned for Oct. 23. A White House spokesman sought to downplay the diplomatic snub by a key ally and trading partner, and described the decision to indefinitely postpone the visit as mutual. The White House said in a statement that Rousseff and President...

Beyoncé was pulled off stage by a shirtless concertgoer during a performance in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday night. The over-excited fan managed to put his arms around the 32-year-old singer and yank her off the elevated platform she had been singing from. However, Beyoncé's entourage were quick to step in, with two security guards rushing onto the stage to disentangle the singer from the grip of the fan. The incident occurred when Beyoncé moved around the platform and leaned forward to sing to the crowd. While most of the ticket-holders were happy just to bask in the singer's glow,...

A TSA agent and 5 others were caught red-handed bringing Brazilian nationals across our border illegally: ... a group of Brazilian nationals were smuggled through the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Díaz-Torres allegedly allowed the Brazilians through a TSA security checkpoint without questioning them. The group then flew to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia on commercial flights. The corruption is widespread and getting worse, ushering in not only illegals, but terrorists. An ‘event’ that rocks the US is not a matter of if, but when. We are essentially borderless with no real security protecting our...

US SPYING ON BRAZIL HALTS TALKS ON WARPLANE PURCHASE BRASILIA (AFP) - Alleged US spying on the communications of Brazil's president have brought negotiations on buying US warplanes to a halt, a Brazilian government source said Tuesday. The talks have been going on for years, and got a nudge with a visit from Vice President Joe Biden in May. "The negotiations were going very well, and then they stopped" with the recent press reports that the National Security Agency had spied on the online and other communications of President Dilma Rousseff. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was also alleged to...

SAO PAULO | Sun Sep 8, 2013 12:06pm EDT (Reuters) - The U.S. government allegedly spied on Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras, according to the web site of Globo, Brazil's biggest television network. The network, which a week ago aired a report alleging that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted communications by the presidents of Brazil and Mexico, said its information again came from Glenn Greenwald, an American activist who has worked with fugitive former NSA analyst Edward Snowden to expose the extent of U.S. spying at home and abroad. Promotional teasers from the network...

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has canceled preparations for a planned visit to the White House, Agence France-Presse reports. Rousseff is reportedly furious about leaks detailing how the National Security Agency spies on her private communications, according to Reuters. The formal state visit to Washington next month was planned to discuss a possible $4 billion jet-fighter deal — which is reportedly also in jeopardy— as well as cooperation on commercial agreement on oil and biofuels technology.

More than one million people were murdered in Brazil between 1980 and 2011, making it the world's seventh most violent country, a survey showed Thursday. During the period, homicides soared 132 percent to claim 1,145,208 lives, from a rate of 11.5 murders for 100,000 inhabitants in 1980 to 27 per 100,000 in 2011, according to the Map of Violence report, Among those aged between 14 and 25, homicides skyrocketed 326 percent to reach 53 per 100,000 inhabitants, said the study published by the Latin American Studies Center (Cebela). In 2011, Brazil, now home to 194 million people, recorded 51,198 homicides,...

Brazil and Turkey Create Groups to Study Defense Development Projects (Source: Brazil Ministry of Defence; issued Aug. 22, 2013) (Issued in Portuguese only; edited unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com) ANKARA --- Brazil and Turkey will strengthen bilateral cooperation in defense through the creation of five working groups to study partnerships in the naval, aeronautics, space, command and control and cyber defense fields. The decision is the result of an official trip this week by Defense Minister Celso Amorim, Over three days, Amorim and his entourage met with Turkish political, military and corporate executives in Ankara. The decision to create working groups...

A German woman who lost her arm in a shark attack died Wednesday, one week after she was bitten while snorkeling off Maui. ... A woman was killed last month after being attacked while swimming in Brazil during her vacation. Worldwide, there were seven deaths resulting from unprovoked shark attacks in 2012, including one in California

Amnesty International on Monday described as “unlawful and unwarranted” the detention by British authorities of the significant other of a journalist who worked with Edward Snowden. “It is utterly improbable that David Michael Miranda, a Brazilian national transiting through London, was detained at random, given the role his husband has played in revealing the truth about the unlawful nature of NSA surveillance,” said Widney Brown, the organization’s senior director of international law and policy. Miranda was detained while in transit in Heathrow Airport and was held in detention for nearly nine hours under the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows officers...

More pictures here, unfortunately without me-  I do hope the poor thing's coping, somehow... See the attitude I had to deal with? More at Reaganite Republican...

RIO DE JANEIRO – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here hoping to build bilateral relations with Latin America’s leading economic powerhouse, but was given little time for diplomatic pomp and circumstance. Instead, the top U.S. diplomat was met with questions and doubts from the Brazilian government over revelations concerning the National Security Agency’s intelligence gathering in the South American country. Kerry was quickly put on the defensive as Brazilian officials demanded answers about the espionage scandal that shocked the country in a front-page story by the country’s largest newspaper, O Globo, in July.

Spying scandal sets back U.S. chances for fighter jet sale to Brazil By Anthony Boadle and Alonso Soto BRASILIA (Reuters) - U.S. hopes of landing a coveted deal worth more than $4 billion to sell 36 fighter jets to Brazil have suffered a setback with recent revelations that the United States collected data on Brazilian Internet communications. When U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sits down with Brazilian officials in Brasilia on Tuesday to prepare a state visit to the White House by President Dilma Rousseff, the sale of the warplanes will not be on the agenda, a Brazilian source...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry's trip to Colombia and Brazil this week builds on efforts to deepen relations with Latin America, but he can expect a curt reception from the two U.S. allies after reports that an American spy program widely targeted data in emails and telephone calls across the region. On Kerry's first visit to South America as the Obama administration's chief diplomat, the disclosures by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden could chill talks on trade and energy, and even discussions about the Oct. 23 state dinner that President Barack Obama is hosting for Brazil's...

Brazilian Air Force to Retire Mirage 2000 by Year’s End Brazil plans to withdraw from service 12 Mirage 2000C/B fighters operating with the 1st Air Defense Group, currently providing the mainstay of the country’s air-defense force. The jet fighters also known as ‘Jaguars’ are operating from Annapolis, about 140 km from the capital Brasilia. These fighters were acquired from French Air Force surplus in 2005 for $74 millions to replace older Mirage IIIBR fighter jets. France delivered three batches of the fighters in 2006, 2007 and 2008. At the time, the life expectancy of these refurbished fighters should last for...

The giant mural in Dewey Square that caused controversy and racially charged commentary is coming down. The colorful artwork, painted on the utility building housed above the Interstate 93 tunnel by Brazilian brothers Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, who go by “Os Gemeos,” will be replaced by a new mural beginning in the fall. The mural, which went up in July 2012, is withering and fading, and officials have decided it’s time for something new, according to Charlie McCabe, director of public programs for the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, the non-profit entity tasked with providing public artwork along the strip...

By now, you've all read my story about the link between the decline of leaded gasoline and the decline of violent crime, right? Here's an update from an unexpected source: the state of São Paulo in Brazil. Obviously the United States isn't the only place that got rid of leaded gasoline, which means the United States isn't the only place that should have seen declines in violent crime. But other countries made the switch at different times, which means their declines in violent crime should also have taken place at different times. Rick Nevin has done a lot of work...

Brazilian Mourning: Brazilian President Enacts Abortion Law By Julio Severo Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has just enacted a law protecting victims of sexual violence which was passed by stealth in the Brazilian Congress recently. There is no problem in laws protecting such victims. But, according to this law, any woman can get an abortion by alleging violence, and there is no need of medical and legal evidence. Dilma Rousseff The announcement today (August 1, 2013) of the presidential enactment was made by Minister Eleonora Menicucci, who explained that Brazilian women suffer a rape each 12 seconds and that the...

We may be in the era of Facebook and fracking. But 2013 is still beginning to look a lot like the cataclysmic century we just left behind.Victor Davis HansonVictor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a recipient of the 2007 National Humanities Medal.