President Luiz Inacio Lula

A former leftist rebel who was the handpicked candidate of Brazil's popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came in first Sunday in a three-way race to succeed him, but could not ride the incumbent's coattails to a first-round victory. Dilma Rousseff went into Sunday's balloting with a commanding lead over Social Democrat Jose Serra, but nearly complete returns show she came up short of the majority she needed to win outright and avoid a runoff. With more than 98% of the vote counted, Rousseff had about 47%, Serra 33% and former Environment Minister Marina Silva 20%. A total of nine candidates ran, and about 135 million people across the vast country were eligible to vote.

MOVIES L.A. may get most of the film-buzz juice in SoCal, but the Palm Springs International Film Festival is an underrated host of touted docs, shorts and features every year. Highlights for 2011 include "Juan," a portrait of an incorrigible cad, and "Lula, the Son of Brazil" about outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Thurs.-Sun through Jan. 17. Various venues and times. Check http://www.psfilmfest.org for full info.

Reporting from Bogota, Colombia Borzou Daragahi, and Beirut -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives today in Brazil on a Latin American and African tour amid U.S. and domestic criticism that, by playing host, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is squandering his newfound global influence. The first visit to Brazil by an Iranian head of state has generated two protests in the last week in which thousands of demonstrators, many of them Jews alarmed by Ahmadinejad's views on the Holocaust and on Israel, took to the streets and beaches of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Dilma Rousseff, a former rebel and longtime bureaucrat who has never held elective political office, will become Brazil's first female president after her victory Sunday in a runoff election. With 99% of votes counted, Rousseff led Jose Serra of the Social Democratic Party by 55.6% to 44.4%, an insurmountable lead. Analysts agree that it wasn't Workers' Party candidate Rousseff's record, campaign proposals or oratory that provided her with the margin of victory, which was smaller than most voter preference polls had predicted.

At first glance, it is hard to see why Brazil, a country better known for beaches, soccer, and carnival, would want to get involved in the complex business of brokering deals on Middle Eastern uranium enrichment. The answer has less to do with Iran or nuclear weapons and more to do with the rise of developing nations and their place in the new global heirarchy. Brazil feels like it doesn't get the respect it deserves, even as one of the world's most prominent emerging countries.

Rio de Janeiro's landing of the 2016 Olympics last week gave Brazilians reason to cheer for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, their popular president who lobbied heavily on behalf of the city's bid. Soon, they'll be able to applaud his image on the big screen. The $10-million film "Lula, Son of Brazil" will be released across the country in January. According to producers at LC Barreto Productions, the film will dramatize the president's early years, which they describe with Hollywood-worthy hyperbole as "mythic" and "heroic."

On the eve of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit today to the White House to discuss trade, energy and global warming issues, U.S. diplomats reacted coolly to his other agenda item: his offer to mediate with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Lula has received the approval of Chavez, a longtime critic of U.S. policy, to act as a "bridge" between the two countries, whose relations have been rocky in recent years.

Brazil said it would expel a New York Times correspondent who wrote that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was drinking too much. Lula said Larry Rohter deserved to lose his visa after writing that Lula's drinking had raised "national concern" that it was affecting his governance. The Justice Ministry called the article "lightweight, lying and offensive." Newspaper officials did not immediately comment.

Flooding from torrential rains in Brazil's normally arid northeast has killed 15 people and driven about 50,000 from their homes, civil defense officials said. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed an executive order releasing $360 million to help flood victims. The 15 victims drowned in the state of Paraiba, where the Paraiba River overflowed and the walls of a dam cracked, the Civil Defense Department said. In addition to Paraiba, thousands of residents were driven from their homes in Piaui, Maranhao, Pernambuco and Ceara states, officials said.

Gilberto Gil has stepped down as Brazilian culture minister, saying he wants to dedicate more time to his music and his family. The Grammy-winning musician, who revolutionized Brazilian music in the 1960s as a founder of the Tropicalism movement, had been culture minister since 2003, when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva started his first term in office. Gil, 66, tried to step down twice before, but Silva had persuaded him to stay. This week the president accepted his resignation.

A former leftist rebel who was the handpicked candidate of Brazil's popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came in first Sunday in a three-way race to succeed him, but could not ride the incumbent's coattails to a first-round victory. Dilma Rousseff went into Sunday's balloting with a commanding lead over Social Democrat Jose Serra, but nearly complete returns show she came up short of the majority she needed to win outright and avoid a runoff. With more than 98% of the vote counted, Rousseff had about 47%, Serra 33% and former Environment Minister Marina Silva 20%. A total of nine candidates ran, and about 135 million people across the vast country were eligible to vote.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stopped off in Ecuador this week to improve relations with leftist President Rafael Correa, battered by a U.S. military agreement with Ecuador's next-door neighbor, Colombia. She supported Correa's proposal to collect income taxes from the wealthy, who chronically underpay across Latin America, in what appears to be part of a worthy effort to nudge Ecuador out of the sphere of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Now the Obama administration should focus on Brazil, the region's economic power and real counterweight to Chavez, to ensure that our bilateral relationship is not derailed by differences over how to address Iran's nuclear program.

At first glance, it is hard to see why Brazil, a country better known for beaches, soccer, and carnival, would want to get involved in the complex business of brokering deals on Middle Eastern uranium enrichment. The answer has less to do with Iran or nuclear weapons and more to do with the rise of developing nations and their place in the new global heirarchy. Brazil feels like it doesn't get the respect it deserves, even as one of the world's most prominent emerging countries.

Reporting from Bogota, Colombia Borzou Daragahi, and Beirut -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives today in Brazil on a Latin American and African tour amid U.S. and domestic criticism that, by playing host, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is squandering his newfound global influence. The first visit to Brazil by an Iranian head of state has generated two protests in the last week in which thousands of demonstrators, many of them Jews alarmed by Ahmadinejad's views on the Holocaust and on Israel, took to the streets and beaches of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled that the nation's president should decide whether to extradite Italian fugitive Cesare Battisti, a former leftist rebel wanted by his native country for political killings in the 1970s. In two separate 5-4 votes, the court held first that there was no legal reason to block Battisti's extradition, and then that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has the final say over the matter. The decision apparently opens the way for Battisti, who says he is innocent, to remain in Brazil, since Lula himself approved political refugee status for him in January.

Rio de Janeiro's landing of the 2016 Olympics last week gave Brazilians reason to cheer for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, their popular president who lobbied heavily on behalf of the city's bid. Soon, they'll be able to applaud his image on the big screen. The $10-million film "Lula, Son of Brazil" will be released across the country in January. According to producers at LC Barreto Productions, the film will dramatize the president's early years, which they describe with Hollywood-worthy hyperbole as "mythic" and "heroic."

MOVIES L.A. may get most of the film-buzz juice in SoCal, but the Palm Springs International Film Festival is an underrated host of touted docs, shorts and features every year. Highlights for 2011 include "Juan," a portrait of an incorrigible cad, and "Lula, the Son of Brazil" about outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Thurs.-Sun through Jan. 17. Various venues and times. Check http://www.psfilmfest.org for full info.

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled that the nation's president should decide whether to extradite Italian fugitive Cesare Battisti, a former leftist rebel wanted by his native country for political killings in the 1970s. In two separate 5-4 votes, the court held first that there was no legal reason to block Battisti's extradition, and then that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has the final say over the matter. The decision apparently opens the way for Battisti, who says he is innocent, to remain in Brazil, since Lula himself approved political refugee status for him in January.

Finding the discount on a new Renault hatchback irresistible, lawyer Roni Figueiro of Porto Alegre, Brazil, took the plunge, plunking down $22,200 last week for the first new car he has ever owned. Prodded by government incentives, consumers like Figueiro are not just keeping the Brazilian economy afloat amid the global crisis but propelling it toward a robust recovery next year, according to a survey of Brazilian economists made public by the central bank last week. The expected recovery is another example of how things seem to be breaking Brazil's way. Today, the nation will find out whether Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Mauricio Funes, a television journalist whose party once fought a bloody guerrilla war in El Salvador, on Monday became the country's first leftist president amid emotional symbols of landmark change. Funes, a 49-year-old moderate elected under the banner of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, cast himself as a motor of change for El Salvador, in the mold of President Obama and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.