Brazil

A significant turning point for Maya Gabeira -- one of many in her turbulent life -- occurred Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 5., 2006. She'd moved from Brazil to Hawaii and had become passionately addicted to surfing large waves. "Waimea was the first huge wave I ever saw, and I just felt that was what I wanted to do for my life," she says.

Auto sales may be slumping in the U.S., but in Brazil these days, everyone seems to have a new set of otimo -- cool -- wheels. Bank employee Rafael Hanzava bought not one but two new cars in recent months: a Peugeot and a Fiat. He loved the styling and gas mileage of both of them, but what really sealed the deals, he said, were the five-year loan on the Peugeot and a six-year loan on the Fiat that dealers offered.

For as far as the eye can see, stalks of sugar cane march across the hillsides here like giant praying mantises. This is ground zero for ethanol production in Brazil -- "the Saudi Arabia of biofuels," as some have already labeled this vast South American country.

Police have arrested a suspect in the heist of two Pablo Picasso prints from a museum in Sao Paulo and recovered one of the works, police and a museum official said Saturday. Inspector Cesar Carlos Dias said information obtained through wiretaps of gang members suspected in unrelated robberies led police to Ueslei Barros, the suspect in the July robbery.

ThyssenKrupp's towering steel factory going up near Rio de Janeiro resembles a medieval cathedral -- and stands as a latter-day shrine to the belief that Brazil's economy will withstand U.S. financial turmoil. Brazil's stocks and currency whipsawed wildly last week along with U.S. markets, recalling the gyrations that preceded financial crises in the 1990s when meltdowns in Mexico, Russia and Thailand sucked this country's economy down with them. But as the U.S.

Exploratory oil wells drilled off Brazil's coastline indicate the presence of a vast pool of crude that could propel this nation into the top tier of world energy producers. The oil field highlighted last week by state-controlled oil company Petrobras lies in "ultra-deep" waters beneath an unstable layer of hot salt, presenting technological challenges that are sure to be ultra-high cost.

Brazilian director Heitor Dhalia was delighted and profoundly relieved to finally see his movie "Drifting" screened this month. The completion of the film based partially on his childhood ended an emotionally grueling two-year gestation. But Dhalia's $3.4-million-budget picture, which opens early next year, is also part and parcel of a co-production trend gathering steam in the Brazilian film industry.

With investors and credit markets spooked by the global financial crisis, Brazil is facing delays in crucial billion-dollar public works projects that it needs to modernize its economy and join the upper tier of world powers. Word of likely delays in electric power, oil and wood pulp projects comes as Brazil hosts an emergency meeting today in Brasilia of leaders of Mercosur, the trade bloc that includes Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia.

Rescue workers rushed to help residents in southern Brazil on Monday after landslides and floods caused by heavy rain killed at least 59 people and forced more than 43,000 from their homes. The state of Santa Catarina declared an emergency as rescuers used helicopters and motorboats to reach those displaced or stranded after days of torrential rain. The state government said the floods and mudslides had affected 1.

Just weeks ago, Brazil's housing market was one of the world's most dynamic. But now, the global credit crisis has set up housekeeping, and government efforts to stimulate buying are being trumped by consumers' fears for the future. Through September, Brazil's housing sector was on fire.