Latest news from Brasil

[Frank Cunha]

Rolling Stones left a major clean up

great crowd but still short of the Rod Stewart crowd of years ago

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/02/19/stones.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

During the show, Mick Jagger, who has a Brazilian son, ad-libbed comments in Portuguese, delighting the crowd. At one point, he wore a white shirt with the Brazilian flag and the words "Brasil" and "Rio de Janeiro

[Frank Cunha]

Banco do Brasil profits drops
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aL2uUwswe6CQ

[Frank Cunha]

Mello marches on at Brasil Open
The Sports Network - Feb 20 8:01 PM
Costa do Sauipe, Brazil (Sports Network) - Home country favorite Ricardo Mello moved into the second round at the $380,000 Brasil Open with a three-set triumph over Costa Rica's Juan Antonio Marin.
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http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.asp?c=sportsnetwork&page=tennis-m/news/BCN4005709.htm

Mello marches on at Brasil Open
Costa do Sauipe, Brazil (Sports Network) - Home country favorite Ricardo Mello moved into the second round at the $380,000 Brasil Open with a three-set triumph over Costa Rica's Juan Antonio Marin.

The 25-year-old Mello, who has one career singles title, earned a hard-fought 7-6 (11-9), 3-6, 6-0 victory to set up a second-round match versus either eighth-seeded Serbian Boris Pashanski or German Tomas Behrend. Those two will tangle on Tuesday.

In other opening-round play at Costa do Sauipe - Salvador, Czech Jiri Vanek got past Spaniard Albert Montanes 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 and Argentine Carlos Berlocq topped veteran Spaniard Fernando Vicente 6-2, 2-0, retired.

Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal, who is not defending his title this week, beat his compatriot Alberto Martin in last year's all-Spanish clay-court finale here.

Argentine Gaston Gaudio is the top seed and will take on Spaniard Albert Portas, a lucky loser, in the first round on Tuesday.

The 2006 Brasil Open champ will collect $52,000.


02/20 22:58:58 ET

[riverplate]

U.S. apologizes for 'joke' at Pan Am Games (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/07/07/bc.panamgames.usoc.ap/index.html) - SI.com

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- In a joke that made Brazilians cringe and forced the U.S. Olympic Committee to apologize, a USOC worker scrawled "Welcome to the Congo!" on a board in the organization's Rio de Janeiro media center for the Pan American Games.

Rio's O Globo newspaper published a photo of the message on its front page Saturday, and ran a headline saying the joke was "full of prejudice." The message was condemned in a nation extremely sensitive about being compared to less-developed countries, especially by Americans--who often are perceived as arrogant by Brazilians.

The controversy occurred as American athletes arrived in Latin America's largest country to compete in the event that starts Friday. The USOC issued a "deep apology to the people of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro" in a statement Saturday, and said the worker who wrote the phrase was disciplined and is no longer a member of the U.S. delegation to the games...

The newspaper also produced a full-page graphic showing a map of the globe, pointing out that the Congo is in Africa and an ocean away from Brazil. The graphic included bright red arrows and a headline in English and Portuguese, saying "Watch and Learn."