US's Ford Motor Co. has just announced that it will spend 4 billion reais (US$ 2.3 billion) to expand its operation in the growing Brazilian market. This is the largest investment the American car company has ever made in Brazil.

Jean Charles de Menezes's family has agreed on a compensation deal with the London Metropolitan Police. Relatives of the Brazilian electrician, who was living in Britain on an expired visa, have been locked in an often acrimonious legal battle with the force since he was shot dead at Stockwell subway station on July 22, 2005.

The Brazilian government does not rule out new steps to slow gains in its currency, the real, even as the government evaluates the impact of a recently imposed tax on capital inflows, Secretary of Economic Policy Nelson Barbosa said in an interview on Monday, November 23.

São Paulo state governor José Serra, the main leader of the Brazilian opposition and a probable presidential candidate at the 2010 elections,  criticized the Lula administration for receiving Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and recalled that the Iranian Defense minister has been accused of the attack against the Argentine Jewish Mutual, AMIA, in 1994, in Buenos Aires.

Is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, worried about a possible military attack by the United States or Israel? Talking to Brazilian and foreign journalists Monday night, in Brazilian capital Brasília, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran said he doesn't fear any reprisal against his nuclear program. Neither the US or Israel, he states, "have the courage" to start a war against Teheran.

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called today, November 23, on his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to adopt a democratic policy that respects diversity. Indirectly, Lula also brought up the need for Teheran to end its financial support of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance movement, which has an active destabilizing role in the West Bank and Lebanon.

The Iranian program of nuclear energy was supported today, November 23, by the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Brazilian capital Brasília. He argued that the enriched uranium production in his country conforms to international norms and denied that Iran is a threat to peace or has plans to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Talking to the Brazilian people this Monday morning in his weekly radio program, Breakfast with the President, the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the world needs to find a middle road to solve the Middle East conflict. He proposed that the UN should be heading this effort for peace.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ,president of Iran arrived at the Itamaraty palace, Brazil's Foreign Ministry seat, for a private meeting with Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at about 12:30 pm Brasília time. He was protected by a heavy security ring and outside about 100 demonstrators in favor and against the Iranian leader waited for his arrival.

Regarding the latest reports that have reverberated in the media, the MST (Movimento Sem Terra - Landless Movement) national directorate would like to make the following public announcement.

To transform the unequal and unjust structures of our society was always one of the objectives of the MST (Movimento Sem Terra - Landless Movement), in order to build a sovereign nation and win a dignified life for the workers. It is for that reason that we have dedicated our energies to bringing about an effective agrarian reform that would democratize access to land and ensure food production.

Just before leaving Brazil after a visit to Salvador, Bahia, where he met Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, witnessed the actions of the Palestinian community in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

About 1,000 people gathered this Sunday morning in Ipanema beach, in Rio de Janeiro, to protest against the visit to Brazil of the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who arrives Monday for a one-day visit. The demonstration brought together groups linked to Jews, blacks, feminists, homosexuals, among others.

"Ahmadinejad, respect the human rights and don't come back here again," read a message in a banner dragged through the skies over Rio de Janeiro beaches this Saturday. The reminder could be read by thousands of people who had gone out to get some sun by the sea.

Enock Cavalcanti and Adriana Vandoni two bloggers, from Mato Grosso state, in the Brazilian Midwest, who write the blogs "Prosa e Política" (Prose and Politics) and "Página do E" (E Page) were forbidden by Judge Pedro Sakamoto from commenting on injunctions issued by the prosecution against state assemblyman José Riva.

Palestine might sign a trade agreement with the Mercosur. The possibility was mentioned by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva this Friday, November 20, after a meeting with the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas.

Just before his arrival in Brazil, which should happen this Sunday, November 22, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wrote a piece in which he calls "unfair" the controversy around Teheran's nuclear program reiterating that the Iranian effort has only peaceful goals. "A few arrogant powers," he says", "try to prevent other nations from accessing advanced sciences." 

The president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, asked for support from the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in order to reach an understanding with Israel. Abbas made the request to Lula in a press statement, this Friday, November 20, after a closed-door meeting with the Brazilian head of state at Museu na Misericórdia, in Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia.

The Brazilian economy will experience a robust growth in 2010 and 2011, in the range of 4.5%, while Mexico will recover from deep recession beginning next year with a GDP expansion of 2.7% and 3.9% in 2011, according to the Organization for Economic and Development Cooperation, OECD.

I must confess that almost a decade ago when I moved to New York, I had a very small collection of Brazilian music among my many CDs (a total of about 300 back then). There were a couple of discs by Caetano Veloso, Rita Lee, Lulu Santos, Chico Buarque, a handful of bossa nova classics and little else.