Brazil | GlobalPost

2016 Olympics: Three funerals and a party

Thomas MuchaOctober 2, 2009 16:00Updated May 30, 2010 13:09

After years of intense preparation, millions of dollars, euros, yen and reais spent — as well as plenty of politicking at the highest levels — the International Olympic Committee on Friday awarded the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro. The IOC vote in Copenhagen, Denmark, triggered immediate reactions across the four candidate cities: Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and, of course, among the throngs and thongs on Copacabana Beach.

Sign of the times

Seth KugelOctober 16, 2009 10:31Updated May 30, 2010 13:09

SAO PAULO, Brazil — It’s everywhere: by candy displays, in parking garages, on pharmacy counters, elevators, public buses in rich neighborhoods and poor. Two staggered trapezoids with a cigarette in the middle, a red line through it and the announcement, in Portuguese and sometimes English, too: “Smoking prohibited in this area.” Since the eye-catching shape is actually a stylized version of the map of this state, the message is actually more like: “Smoking prohibited in this area, because you are in Sao Paulo.”

The 2016 Olympics: The betting odds

Mark StarrOctober 1, 2009 07:22Updated May 30, 2010 13:09

BOSTON — President Barack Obama will travel to Copenhagen on Thursday to lobby International Olympic Commission voters on behalf of Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid — a last-second appeal before the IOC awards the Games on Friday. Ever since Obama’s election, the Chicago 2016 campaign had been counting on its hometown hero to sway IOC voters, as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair did for London 2012 and former Russian President Vladimir Putin did for Sochi 2014 in the last two triumphant Olympic campaigns.

Tegucigalpa 2009, Rio 2016

Seth KugelSeptember 29, 2009 12:40

There’s only really one story in Brazil these days: whether this country of 190 million is ready for prime time as a major geo-political player. Or perhaps more accurately, how far along is Brazil in its inevitable march toward that status.

Honduras, as seen from Brazil

Seth KugelSeptember 24, 2009 08:58

Brazil is swept up in the drama at its embassy in Honduras, where, as most everyone knows by now, deposed president Manuel Zelaya is holed up after a dramatic and clandestine return to the country he was kicked out of, in his pyjamas, on June 28.

Everyone loves Lula

Seth KugelSeptember 23, 2009 17:49Updated September 23, 2009 17:49

TOP NEWS: President Lula is in New York to speak at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. Then he's off to the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh before heading to Copenhagen to plead Rio de Janeiro’s case to host the 2016 Olympics before the Oct. 2 final vote.

What's not happening in Honduras?

Alex LeffSeptember 23, 2009 11:37

It's a lot easier to tell what is not happening in the Honduras crisis than what is. Since deposed President Manuel Zelaya's surprise return Monday, he has remained holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. Brazil handing Zelaya over to the de facto Honduran authorities? Not happening. De facto President Roberto Micheletti ordering armed forces to barge into the embassy and arrest Zelaya? Not happening.

How Much Do I Weigh?

Seth KugelSeptember 22, 2009 18:57

It's pretty easy to be American here. Highfalutin discussions of cultural imperialism and the Monroe Doctrine aside, Brazilians are generally OK with us, at least since we swapped Bush for Obama. Teenagers dream of Disney World, Up is a box-office hit, Doritos are available on every corner, and even those weird cappuccinos they make at Starbucks (what, no chocolate?) are catching on.

Reporters With Guns: Not a Good Time to Be an Innocent Paper Bystander

Seth KugelSeptember 21, 2009 22:40

The Military Police of Sao Paulo, which is a fancy name for what we would call regular police, invited journalists to two-day training this past weekend on what they call the Giraldi Method. That’s a system one Col.

Rejected Alternative: "Wake Up With South America's Biggest Iron Ore Producer"

Seth KugelSeptember 16, 2009 22:28

What do the Bronx and Brazil have in common, besides that I've covered both of them? No matter how far they come, they can't seem to shed those annoying stereotypes the rest of the world pins on them.