SAO PAULO, Brazil — The Brazilians call it "frango" and the Iraqis call it "dajjaj," but more than ever before, they’re referring to the same chickens. Brazil’s direct exports to Iraq have exploded from virtually nothing before the American occupation to $107 million in 2008 to $250 million last year. And poultry is leading the charge. Chicken and anything it can be turned into now make up about 80 percent of those exports.

SAO PAULO, Brazil — It was to be a moment of racial awakening for Brazil. The United States, about one-eighth black and with a history of legal segregation, had elected a black president. Brazil, half-black by some counts, with no post-slavery history of race-based laws and a popular image of racial harmony, was nowhere close to such a feat. (Read about Brazilians anticipation of Obama's inauguration one year ago.)

SAO LUIZ DO PARAITINGA, Brazil — This valley town of 11,000, nestled between cow-flecked green hills and the Paraitinga River, was known for its charming colonial buildings and old-fashioned Carnaval. But the river flooded over on New Year’s weekend, knocking down at least 20 of 90 state-landmarked buildings and leaving dozens of others structurally damaged and potentially unsalvageable. Hundreds of other homes were flooded, some destroyed, and thousands of people left homeless. Next month’s Carnaval has been canceled.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Almost five years after Bruna Bianchi took her American-born son Sean Goldman on vacation from New Jersey to her native Brazil and never returned, Sean is finally back with his father. At about 10 a.m. today, they left the American consulate on President Wilson Avenue in downtown Rio de Janeiro, and sped away in police-escorted SUVs to the airport. There the Goldmans boarded a private jet to the United States.