Brazzil

As a rising star on the global stage and as the current financial model that many other Latin American states wish to emulate, Brazil is viewed as the poster child for regional development. With that said, one aspect of Brazil's extraordinary pace of growth that has not been widely discussed is how widespread Internet usage is in the Portuguese-speaking giant.

President Obama's authorization of the expulsion of the Venezuelan consul general from that country's consulate office has further deteriorated relations between the two countries. Although the Obama administration has not been explicit as to the reason for the expulsion, the action is within Washington's legal right.

Having gone through the year-end celebrations we were left with the feeling that 2011, as a whole, will not be missed: it will be marked as one of the most mediocre political years, characterized by successive crises involving the three branches of government. I don't know which one most haunts my fears, what I know is they all exacerbate my deepest suspicion.

In spite of its cold winters, the state of Massachusetts has been very attractive to Brazilian immigrants, who now form one of the largest and most vibrant expat Brazilian groups (second only to Florida), where they have established businesses like restaurants, bakeries, language schools and capoeira centers.

In 2011 it became increasingly apparent that the Brazilian property market is unlikely to escape the ongoing effects of the global financial climate with bearish forecasts pointing to drops potentially reaching as much as 40 percent.

Are urbanization and efforts toward environmental sustainability and land preservation compatible? Can we imagine a development strategy that does not destroy territory and also respects the rights of local indigenous populations? These are the fundamental questions that are arising in Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile; each of which are going through various types of economic booms that require investment in energy and infrastructure.

In recent weeks, I have read a lot about how the economic growth of Brazil has made it possible to Brazilians to travel abroad more often and enjoy perks that were considered luxuries not too long ago.

After having interviewed Romero Lubambo and Duduka Da Fonseca in this series, it was a natural thing to talk to Nilson Matta, who is considered - alongside cats like Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten - one of the top bassists alive today.

Amaury Ribeiro Junior's A Privataria Tucana (Private is a neologism combining Privatization and Piracy. Tucano is a common name given to members of the PSDB party) is a controversial book written by a no less controversial journalist, but certainly competent at what he does. Former special reporter of weekly magazine Isto É and daily newspaper O Globo, Amaury has won several Esso awards, which were praised by his colleagues and bosses.

Last month, Brazil took pride in Rio de Janeiro's police: some of them for their heroism in refusing a drug dealer's bribe and others for their competence and heroism in occupying the Rocinha favela. But, surprisingly, the pride in some Brazilians' heroism provokes a sense of shame about the country's social structure.

The results of research recently published by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) and UNICEF - the first one finding that 70% of households in Brazil are living with open sewers and that most do not have clean water, the second stating that about 40% of adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years are living below the poverty line and 20% of them do not know how to read or write - reveal the perverse face of an unjust and unequal nation, disfigured by one of its most serious social crisis.

Dilma Rousseff approaches the anniversary of her inauguration as Brazil's president at the beginning of 2012 following a year when policy advances and political setbacks have tumbled into one another. Among the most spectacular of the latter is a series of corruption scandals which has led to the fall of no less than five of her ministers.

Distinguished reader, lovely lady reader, put yourself in the shoes of someone who has to write every week. I am not referring to the obligation to produce a text regularly without fail. Sometimes, like everything in life is a little boring, but with experience this is a piece of cake, there are tricks and tips learned informally over the years and this is no sweat for the old hand.

What happened? Or rather, why it didn't happen? There were only 150 "protestants" in Cinelândia, downtown Rio de Janeiro, for the anti-corruption demonstration organized by five groups in social networks.

Jazz hagiography abounds with tales of unknown talent, many of the stories probably apocryphal, but in the case of Antonio Adolfo we have a genuinely underrated, yet influential figure. The son of a music teacher and orchestral violinist, Adolfo began his professional career when he was 17, performing in nightclubs on a narrow side street in Rio nicknamed Beco das Garrafas (Bottles Lane). Says Adolfo, "I was musically created and educated there." At age 22 he was touring with Elis Regina.

In July 1981, during the 33rd Meeting of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC) in Salvador da Bahia, I presented a proposal to create a Forum to Judge Development Crimes in Brazil. At that time five possible crimes existed:

Last week Time magazine had a cover feature about moving up in America compared with what it was fifty or sixty years ago during the economic boom that came in the years after World War II  -  a time heralded by many as one of the best times in this country.

In a war operation that used 7 helicopters, 18 armored cars and about 3,000 man, authorities in Rio, have taken back from the drug Mafia, the favela (slum) of Rocinha, the city's largest shantytown, with 70,000 residents. For the last 6 year, law, prime minister and king in Rocinha was 34 year old Antônio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, aka Nem,  chief of the drug trafficking gang Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends). All with the help of a corrupt police.

Never print anything in haste, or in anger, I always say. Well, maybe the time has come for me to get a taste of my own medicine. Back in 2004, I published an article on this Website called "Damn the Drummer, Where's the Composer?"

London will host the Olympics next year but this year, from October 5 to 8, the city held the 41st WorldSkills Competition - the World Olympics of Technical Education. For four days, 944 competitors from 51 countries and from every continent competed for medals in tests that simulate day-to-day work in 46 professions.