After Deadly Fire, Fears for Carnival in Brazil

Bradley Brooks – Associated Press, 02/08/2013

Just over a week since a nightclub fire killed nearly 240 revelers in southern Brazil, Carnival festivities hit full stride Friday, raising questions about the safety of those who will pack party spaces across the nation.

In the days following the deadly blaze at the Kiss club in the university town of Santa Maria, authorities across Brazil increased fire inspections and closed dozens of clubs in many major cities, mostly citing problems with the establishments’ paperwork.

But most of the clubs have already reopened — leading fire experts to say few changes were put in place to really improve safety for patrons.

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Brazil: The Face Behind Rio’s Carnival

Fox News Latino, 02/07/2013

RIO DE JANEIRO – Rio’s Carnival is here, who do you want to be this year?

The wall of Olga Valles’ office is a vast tableau of famous faces past and present: Barack Obama smiles warmly, while Yasser Arafat poses in his trademark black-and-white keffiyeh. Next to him is George W. Bush, practically cheek-to-cheek with a fierce Saddam Hussein, teeth bared in a snarl under his black beret.

Beyond them are Osama Bin Laden, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, an array of soccer greats and the more colorful images of Shrek, Simba from the movie “The Lion King” and assorted monsters.

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Brazil: striking police leave occupied building

Jenny Barchfield – AP/SF Gate, 02/09/2012

Soldiers patrol the streets in the historic center of Salvador, Brazil, Wednesday Feb. 8, 2012. Crime reportedly jumped when one-third of the 30,000 police in Bahia walked off the job Jan. 31. Though violence has tapered off a bit since more than 3,400 soldiers and federal police were sent in to patrol Salvador on Sunday. (Felipe Dana/AP)

Striking police officers in the northeastern city of Salvador on Thursday evacuated the state legislative building they occupied in protest for more than a week.

It was not immediately clear, however, whether the conclusion of the dramatic standoff between the strikers and 1,000 army soldiers and elite federal police officers would also mark the end of the 10-day-long work stoppage that has threatened one of the globe’s biggest Carnival celebrations here.

Army spokesman Marcio Cunha didn’t know whether the estimated 10,000 striking officers would return to the job, and some local media reported that negotiations were to continue.

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Brazil’s illegal numbers game under pressure

Beth McLoughlin – BBC News, 01/27/2012

Jogo do bicho and Carnival have long been intertwined

The illegal gambling game in Brazil known as jogo do bicho, or the animal game, occupies an important, if shady, place in popular culture.

In the run-up to Carnival in February, Rio de Janeiro police have been targeting alleged gambling chiefs in an operation called Dedo de Deus, or Finger of God.

Standing for his police photo in Brazil’s regulation green prison uniform, Aniz Abraao David cut a forlorn figure.

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