Brazil’s biggest slum no longer under drug cartel controlIt took 3000 members of Brazil’s security forces to take control back of the Rocinha slum in Rio de Janiero from drug cartels. The favela “pacification” is part of preparations for the 2014 World Cup.
Brazil
WikiLeaks update: defying Bush, Brazil backed Criminal Court in 04-05
More from Brazil in today’s Wikileaks cables dump, with the South American nation’s strong support for the International Criminal Court (defying George W. Bush) documented in 2004-05. Luke Miller reports.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Brazil’s deadly favela drug war
Last week a war broke out in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. Watch as the Brazilian police force arrive with tanks and guns and battle drug traffickers armed with automatic weapons, while journalists and citizens hide behind houses and try to escape.
Green swing joins the samba as a favourite in Brazil
The new wave of female political leaders is not the only coincidence to come out of the samba-loving Brazil, says freelance writer Leo Codutti.
When democracy smiles at me, I go to Rio
The biggest general election of 2010 takes place on Sunday when Brazil, the world’s fifth-largest country, elects its new president, congress, governors and state legislatures. Democracy works well in Brazil.
Political snippets: Why inflation sucks in France
When you are in too much of a hurry to get the words out, things can go wrong as the former French Justice Minister Rachida Dati found to the amusement of many watchers of political television interviews this week.
Can Brazil become a major economy?
In 2001 Goldman Sachs contentiously listed Brazil as one of the world’s largest emerging economies. This analysis of four key areas - commodities, petroleum, demography and urbanisation - shows why Sachs’ claim wasn’t far off the mark.
revealed 
Google maps government censorship requests around the world
Google reveals — via Google Maps, naturally — the number requests to censor content received from governments worldwide, in six months alone. Brazil tops the list, though a big red question mark still hangs over China.
Letter from...: Letter from…Rio de Janeiro: a streetcar named Desire
The bright lights of Rio make it feel like you’re living in a permanent fast lane with no drop-off zone in sight, writes Grant Doyle.
The biggest stories you didn’t read about in 2009
Foreign Policy looks at ten huge stories that that flew under the global media’s radar in 2009, like China’s suspicious naval deal with Brazil, America’s role in Uganda’s civil war and Russia’s role in the murder of Chechens around the world.
The Amazon: one jungle, many interests
Amazonian countries are meeting today to establish a mutual negotiating position for Copenhagen. But from Columbia to Brazil to Venezuela, each country has its own interests to protect — and they aren’t always ones that put the environment first.
How saving the Amazon went out of fashion
Time was, you couldn’t turn on a TV or open a magazine without seeing some do-gooder celebrity ranting about the Amazon rainforest. So why don’t we hear about it anymore? Did we save it? Er, no, says Brendan Borrell, but the issue is about to become fashionable again.
Political economy: Rate hike didn’t go far enough
If a 3% interest rate is “imprudent:, 3.25% is hardly prudent. Why the Reserve bank did not hike by 50 points last month is difficult to fathom, writes Henry Thornton.
In tourism, even libel can be a world away
Libel tourism has been catapulted into the headlines after aviation writer Joe Sharkey was served a writ for defamatory statements he says he didn’t make in Brazil after surviving a mid-air collision in 2006.
Does hosting the Olympics pay off?
Olympic host cities are usually lucky to even break even on the net cost of hosting the Games. But there are some unmeasured financial boons for staging such “mega events”, as seen with the huge surge in Brazilian stock prices yesterday.
Brazil puts the heat on Honduras
The ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has returned and is in hiding, while the coup continues and the world’s media misreports events. It’s no wonder free elections are impossible.
Honduras in crisis: riots and a smuggled President
In a move sure to grab the attention of world leaders at the UN summit, the deposed president of Honduras has made a dramatic return to his homeland after months in exile.
Click the vote: politics 2.0
Can an open source government work? An electorate in NSW has $300,000 and an online public vote system for choosing which local programs get funded. Want a new oval? Get voting.
Amazon: can’t see the forest for the cut trees
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is occurring at an astonishing rate, with four times more trees chopped down in June than in May.
Sugar not so sweet for Indian farmers
Once a major export good for India, farmers abandoned growing sugar due to government restrictions. Now, prices have soared but no one is growing it.
China’s ore tactics eroded from within
China’s attempts to try and crack the iron ore producers is being undermined by soaring world prices, says Glenn Dyer.
State of the planet
Carbon output rising faster than forecast, says study … Palaeontologists following in footsteps of giants … Caribbean urged to face warming risks … Giant snails, once a delicacy, overrun Brazil … Heroes of the environment
