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Latin American markets were mostly higher, with Brazilian stocks edging up, as continued optimism about the local economy's prospects in 2006 helped to offset mounting concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Meanwhile, Argentine issues rallied on bargain hunting. Mexico's market was closed for a holiday. Brazil's Bovespa Index gained 59.47 points, or 0.16%, while Argentina's Merval Index jumped 22.45 points, or 1.32%. Brazilian stocks edged up amid continued expectations for solid economic growth and further interest-rate declines in Brazil this year. However, gains were limited by an early-session rise in oil prices on news over the weekend that Iran ended voluntary cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and said it will start uranium-enrichment activities. Buyer enthusiasm was also limited by some gloomy analyst commentary on local companies. An influential investment bank downgraded steel maker CSN to "underperform" from "peer perform" after the company's ADRs surged nearly 40% in the first five weeks of 2006. "At current levels we have a hard time justifying the risk/reward for CSN shareholders," the bank said. The investment bank also downgraded private banking giant Bradesco to "peer perform" from "outperform," citing valuation. "After the significant rise of BBD's stock in 2005 (132%) and so far in 2006 (30%), our expected total return in 2006 of 7.6% no longer merits an Outperform rating," the investment bank said. In other news, Brazil's Civil Aviation Department said paying passengers on Brazil's domestic airlines flew a total of 3.75 billion kilometers in January, up 21.1% from a year earlier. The increased traffic was attributed largely to the rising number of flights run by TAM SA and Gol Linhas Aéreas. Meanwhile, the National Confederation of Industries reported that Brazil's industrial sales rose by more than 2% in 2005 from a year earlier. Elsewhere, Argentine shares leapt on the day, gaining back some of the losses incurred last week when profit-taking took hold. Investors are still awaiting the onslaught of the fourth-quarter earnings season. Also on the docket for next week is the expiration of options contracts. In telecom news, Telefonos de Mexico's subsidiary in Argentina accused Telefonica de Argentina and Telecom Argentina of unfair competitive practices stemming from a public tender for a police communications system in Mendoza province. The firm said it may put forward a formal complaint with the Argentine government. Elsewhere, Aerolineas Argentinas was threatened by its Argentine pilots and mechanics unions regarding an open-ended strike. The unions claim the airline is transferring assets to other units of the company. Thomson Financial - www.thomsonfinancial.com
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Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.