Hobbesian Rio: Free Batgirl the Parapolitician!

Orkut community declares the candidate to be the legitimate heir of the Dark Knight — political chieftain of a vicious protection and black-market racket with bizarre comic-book branding. Run by cops. Parapolitics, carioca style. Source: O Dia (Rio).

Carminha Jerominho, solta, diz que milícia é ‘mal menor que tráfico’: Batgirl, out of jail and freshly elected [...]

Folha de S. Paulo: “Apocalypse Now!”

The Estado de S. Paulo deadpans: “FMI supports aid to banks and calls for ‘audacious’ actions against the crisis.”

The Folha de S. Paulo shrieks: “The world financial system is on the brink of a meltdown, says FMI!”

What If They Held a Gathering of Foreign Correspondents in Brazil and Larry Rohter Was Not Invited?

Comunique-se notes an interesting event: The launch of a book on “The Brazil of the Foreign Correspondents” held last week at (where else?) FNAC Pinheiros.
A number of foreign correspondents were invited, including one of my recent acquaintance — Veronica Goyzueta, who, with her degree from MacKenzie, according to her official bio, is not so foreign [...]

Votorantim: Caught Short

Jamildo from the Jornal do Commercio (Recife, not Rio) again is the first to break the news to me: Another major Brazilian corporate, the Votarantim paper and cellulose group, makes a bad bet on the way the dollar was heading.
Price tag: R$2.2 billion (about $1 billion).
Their crisis communication angle: The incident was like smallpox vaccination.
It [...]