Brazilian Police

Police on Friday restored order to an overcrowded prison in the northern state of Ceara where 1,200 inmates rioted after six inmates were shot and killed during an escape, prison officials said. The riot erupted in the prison built for 900 inmates after the foiled breakout attempt Thursday. Armed prisoners exchanged gunfire with police early Friday in the 15-hour standoff at the Paulo Sarasate prison near Fortaleza.

SANTA MARIA, Brazil - Brazilian police reportedly took four people into custody Monday in connection with a deadly nightclub fire that killed at least 231 people, as funerals began in the small town of Santa Maria. Two owners of the popular Kiss club and two members of the band that was performing at the time of the blaze early Sunday were being held for questioning, according to local press reports. The tragedy, meanwhile, put the country in a period of national mourning and self-reflection, with social networks and political discourse busy with commentary on the many issues facing Brazil, especially fire safety at night-life venues.

Two squatters were killed in a battle Tuesday with Brazilian police who evicted thousands from huts they had built on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, officials said Wednesday.

Brazilian police killed at least 10 male suspects, including two teenagers, during operations against drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro. Police inspector Rodrigo Oliveira told O Globo newspaper that 300 police officers took part in the early-morning raids. The action came a day after hundreds of police occupied a slum in Sao Paulo in response to shootouts and car burnings sparked by the alleged police killing of a suspect.

Six people were burned to death in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck on the Rio-Minas Gerais highway, Brazilian police said Friday. The spokesman said the bus was on its way from Belo Horizonte to Rio de Janeiro when the accident occurred Thursday night.

Brazilian police killed at least 10 male suspects, including two teenagers, during operations against drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro. Police inspector Rodrigo Oliveira told O Globo newspaper that 300 police officers took part in the early-morning raids. The action came a day after hundreds of police occupied a slum in Sao Paulo in response to shootouts and car burnings sparked by the alleged police killing of a suspect.

Brazilian police arrested a man who said he kidnaped and collected $1.5 million in ransom on former Belgian Prime Minister Paul Vanden Boeynants, who was freed in Belgium in February after being held for a month. Police, acting on a request from Belgian officials, seized Patrick Haemers, 37, his wife, and a suspected accomplice, but two more suspected gang members are still on the run, a police spokesman said in Rio de Janeiro. Haemers said that he decided to kidnap Vanden Boeynants after robbing banks and armored cash trucks became too dangerous.

Brazilian police said that 79 people were killed during Rio de Janeiro's raucous Carnival--eight more than during last year's five-day event--and complaints poured into television stations for airing scenes of nudity and raunchy behavior. Police blamed high unemployment and inflation for the upsurge in violence.

Brazilian police said Monday they have found a stolen Picasso print, the last of four artworks to be recovered following a museum heist in June. On June 12, three robbers stole Picasso's "Minotaur, Drinker and Women," along with the Picasso print "The Painter and the Model," from Sao Paulo's Estacao Pinacoteca Museum. Thieves also took the paintings "Women at the Window" by Emiliano DiCavalcanti and "Couple" by Lasar Segall. The artworks are estimated to be worth $630,000.

Two filled teeth and assorted other fragments of a body said to be that of Nazi death camp doctor Josef Mengele were delivered to West German authorities Monday by a Brazilian police chief. Sao Paulo Police Chief Romeu Tuma arrived at Frankfurt airport and turned his forensic evidence over to Frankfurt Dist. Atty. Hans-Eberhard Klein, who led West Germany's hunt for Mengele.

In late 2007, Carlos Miguel Sobral and 14 other Brazilian police investigators were getting ready for another day of fighting Internet crime when one of them suggested looking into peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Sobral said the other federal investigators agreed, choosing to focus on eMule, Brazil's most popular file-sharing program. The investigators soon saw that the network was being used to distribute child pornography, not just in Brazil but around the world, Sobral told the Associated Press on Friday.

Brazilian police said Monday they have found a stolen Picasso print, the last of four artworks to be recovered following a museum heist in June. On June 12, three robbers stole Picasso's "Minotaur, Drinker and Women," along with the Picasso print "The Painter and the Model," from Sao Paulo's Estacao Pinacoteca Museum. Thieves also took the paintings "Women at the Window" by Emiliano DiCavalcanti and "Couple" by Lasar Segall. The artworks are estimated to be worth $630,000.

Brazilian police say they've recovered two more stolen paintings but have yet to find a missing Picasso from a Sao Paulo art museum heist in June. Police spokesman Mauricio Rodrigues said that officers recovered the paintings by Brazilian artists Emiliano Di Cavalcanti and Lasar Segall on Wednesday night. Three of four paintings -- worth $630,000 and stolen from the Estacao Pinacoteca Museum on June 12 -- have now been recovered, including the Picasso print "The Painter and the Model," discovered in an attic on the city's outskirts in July.

Thousands of residents of crime-hit Rio de Janeiro, many of them wearing black, joined an anti-violence march along the picturesque Ipanema beach Sunday after a bloody hostage drama that shook Brazil last week. "Mourning for peace," read a banner, carried by marchers in black. "We are prisoners of fear," read another placard. "Enough, enough, enough of violence!" was written on another.

Police on Friday restored order to an overcrowded prison in the northern state of Ceara where 1,200 inmates rioted after six inmates were shot and killed during an escape, prison officials said. The riot erupted in the prison built for 900 inmates after the foiled breakout attempt Thursday. Armed prisoners exchanged gunfire with police early Friday in the 15-hour standoff at the Paulo Sarasate prison near Fortaleza.

Two squatters were killed in a battle Tuesday with Brazilian police who evicted thousands from huts they had built on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, officials said Wednesday.

In late 2007, Carlos Miguel Sobral and 14 other Brazilian police investigators were getting ready for another day of fighting Internet crime when one of them suggested looking into peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Sobral said the other federal investigators agreed, choosing to focus on eMule, Brazil's most popular file-sharing program. The investigators soon saw that the network was being used to distribute child pornography, not just in Brazil but around the world, Sobral told the Associated Press on Friday.

Brazilian police say they've recovered two more stolen paintings but have yet to find a missing Picasso from a Sao Paulo art museum heist in June. Police spokesman Mauricio Rodrigues said that officers recovered the paintings by Brazilian artists Emiliano Di Cavalcanti and Lasar Segall on Wednesday night. Three of four paintings -- worth $630,000 and stolen from the Estacao Pinacoteca Museum on June 12 -- have now been recovered, including the Picasso print "The Painter and the Model," discovered in an attic on the city's outskirts in July.

Brazilian police arrested a man who said he kidnaped and collected $1.5 million in ransom on former Belgian Prime Minister Paul Vanden Boeynants, who was freed in Belgium in February after being held for a month. Police, acting on a request from Belgian officials, seized Patrick Haemers, 37, his wife, and a suspected accomplice, but two more suspected gang members are still on the run, a police spokesman said in Rio de Janeiro. Haemers said that he decided to kidnap Vanden Boeynants after robbing banks and armored cash trucks became too dangerous.

Brazilian police today arrested four men and recovered virtually all of the $8 million that disappeared last month from a Brink's shipment en route from New York to Argentina. A Brink's official said the men thought they were stealing videocassettes when they took two bags from a Brink's shipment Feb. 4 and that police accidentally found the stolen money while on a drug case. "We have the men and we have the money," Police Inspector Jorge Jose Marques said.