Caracas, Venezuela | AFP | Venezuela on Saturday said two diplomats from Canada and Brazil were no longer welcome, in an escalating showdown over their criticism of President Maduro’s socialist government. The head of the powerful pro-government Constituent Assembly, Delcy Rodriguez, said the body decided on the move against Brazil’s …
Read More »Brazilian president to undergo new health tests
Brasília, Brazil | AFP | Brazilian President Michel Temer will undergo urological tests Wednesday, his office said, following a series of concerns over his health. He will be examined at the Sirio-Libanes Hospital in Sao Paulo, the statement said. In October, the 77-year-old Temer underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate …
Read More »Brazil’s prison population doubles in decade: government
Brasília, Brazil | AFP | Brazil’s prison population more than doubled between 2005 and 2016 and cells are now so crowded that there are almost two people for every space, the justice ministry said Friday. With 726,712 detainees in June 2016, Latin America’s biggest country now has the third highest prison …
Read More »Scandal-hit Robinho cautionary tale of wasted talent
Paris, France | AFP | Few players encapsulate the idea of wasted potential like Robinho, once one of the world’s most sought-after talents but now far from the spotlight and mired in scandal after a conviction for gang rape. The Brazilian attacker, capped 100 times for Brazil, had the world …
Read More »Lady Gaga hospitalized, pulls out of Brazil’s Rock in Rio
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | Lady Gaga said Thursday she had been hospitalized in “severe pain” and was pulling out of Brazil’s Rock in Rio festival, which she was due to headline this weekend. The US superstar, who revealed Tuesday that she suffers from the chronic disease fibromyalgia, had …
Read More »Brazil prosecutor files two corruption charges against Temer
Brasília, Brazil | AFP | Brazil’s chief prosecutor on Thursday charged President Michel Temer with obstruction of justice and leading a criminal group. Temer was accused along with six heavyweight political allies, a statement from Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot’s office said. However, the president is widely thought to have enough …
Read More »Rio probe puts IOC back under Olympics corruption spotlight
Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | The Rio 2016 cash-for-votes inquiry in Brazil has placed the International Olympic Committee under a fresh cloud of corruption less than a week before it is due to award the 2024 Games to Paris. Almost two decades after its image took a battering with the …
Read More »Brazil police say Rio Olympics were bought in corrupt scheme
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | Brazilian officials said that the country’s Olympics chief was the “lynchpin” in a plot to bribe the International Olympic Committee into awarding Rio de Janeiro last year’s Games. Brazilian police said in a statement they were probing “an international corruption scheme” aimed at …
Read More »Brazilian police find suitcases of cash linked to ex-politician
Sao Paulo, Brazil | AFP | Brazilian police on Tuesday found suitcases overflowing with millions of dollars worth of cash in an apartment believed to be linked to a former government minister accused of corruption. There was so much money in the apartment in the northeastern city of Salvador, which …
Read More »Brazil on top as Chile, Argentina struggle
Montevideo, Uruguay | AFP | Philippe Coutinho shrugged off his transfer disappointment with a goal as Brazil beat Ecuador to guarantee top spot in South America’s 2018 World Cup qualifying race on Thursday while Chile and Argentina stumbled once more. Liverpool star Coutinho, who had seen his hopes of a dream …
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