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The Brazilian Federal Police have already arrested, today, 40 people involved in a gang specialized in cloning bank cards. Among those arrested there are a major and a captain from Ceará state's Fire Department as well as an Army sergeant.
There is also a public servant who worked for Fortaleza's City Hall. This employee, a woman, used to pass confidential information about city biddings to the ring. The group is also accused of using the Internet for irregular money transfers, obtaining fraudulent bank financing and loans, falsifying public documents, defrauding public biddings and selling drugs. The police action called Operation Cyclone counted on 250 federal police agents carrying 48 search warrants in the states of Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte, in the Brazilian Northeast. According to the Federal Police, the gang used a system known as "chupacabras" (literally goat sucker), which is installed in the automatic teller machines and allows to clone the cards that are inserted in the ATM. The investigations show that the ring after copying bank cards in one city would drive to a neighboring town to withdraw money using the newly-cloned cards and then would clone new cards there. They had already acted in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Goiás and Rio Grande do Norte. The police found out that the gang was developing a more sophisticated system that would allow them to make unlimited withdrawals using remote control. The service dubbed "money trigger," was still in the testing stages and hadn't been used yet. Those involved in the fraudulent scheme are being charged with qualified theft, ideological falsehood, crimes against the National Financial System, biddings frauds, drug trafficking and gang formation. When these offenses are added jail time might go up to 20 years. This was another busy day for the Federal police, which also arrested 60 other people for cheating Brazil's Social Security system Carlos Alberto Balbi Moura, a Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, city council, was among those arrested. He is charged with defrauding Social Security and also buying votes. Most of those caught by the Golden Years operation, including its chief, José Carlos Barcelos, live in the state of Rio de Janeiro, but eight other people were arrested in Paraná and another one in Goiás. According to the police, the fraudulent scheme was going on for five years and had already caused an estimated loss of 200 million reais (US$ 94 million) to the Social Security's National Institute (INSS). About 100 people were involved in the plot, which consisted in getting fraudulent documentation so people could withdraw pension funds to which they were not entitled. The scheme wouldn't be possible without the help from INSS insiders.
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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. 
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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. 
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A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.
Another gold medal !