Police in Brazil have arrested a third person in connection with the rape of an American woman on a minibus in Rio de Janeiro.
Carlos Armando Costa dos Santos was arrested Monday night, police said.
The woman boarded the minibus with another tourist in the Copacabana beach district in Rio de Janeiro early Saturday. Three men subsequently boarded the minibus and forced off all the other passengers, police said.
The woman was raped, and the other tourist, a man, was held captive and robbed, authorities said.
FULL STORYThe death toll in the nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil, has increased to 234 according to Fernando Kruel de Lemos, a forensic official of the Santa Maria's Police Department.
FULL STORYSouls rose to heaven symbolically Monday night, when marchers in this southern Brazilian town remembered those who perished in a nightclub inferno during a packed concert.
The mourners, wearing white, released 231 white helium balloons into the sky - one for each life lost.
They hope there won't be more.
Eighty three more victims lie hospitalized - 75 of whom could forfeit their lives to the severe burns and smoke inhalation they suffered when the Kiss nightclub went up in flames Sunday, authorities said.
FULL STORY[Posted at 8:37 a.m. ET] Three people have now been arrested in connection with the deadly nightclub fire in Brazil, according to CNN affiliate Band News in Brazil.
The owner of the nightclub Elissandro Sphor, known as "Kiko", was arrested at a hospital in Cruz Alta, Brazil, according to Band News.
The media outlet also reported a vocalist from the band and a person in charge of stage safety for the band were arrested in Mata, Brazil.
[Posted at 8:25 a.m. ET] One of the club owners and a member of the band have been arrested in connection to the Brazil nightclub fire, CNN affiliate Band News in Brazil is reporting.
[Posted at 8:02 a.m. ET] The death toll in Sunday's nightclub fire in Brazil has risen to at least 233, officials say.
Panicked crowds pushed toward the exits as fire swept through the packed Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria. Many died of smoke inhalation, state-run Agencial Brasil reported. Others were trampled, a security guard told CNN affiliate Band News.
Owners say permits were OK | Did security guards block exits? 
Party the 'last hurrah' before school | Photos | Staying safe
How it unfolded | Opinion: We haven't learned from past
Rhode Island 'can't help but watch' |Timeline: Nightclub fires
FULL STORYThe owners of Kiss nightclub in southern Brazil pledged to cooperate with the investigation into a fire that left more than 230 people dead early Sunday, according to a statement released by the law firm of Kummel & Kummel.
"We are open to all authorities and inspections," said the statement, obtained by GLOBO TV.
About 2,000 people were inside the club when the fire broke out - double the maximum capacity of 1,000, said Guido de Melo, a state fire official.
The full statement is here.
FULL STORY[Update 2:49 p.m. ET] The death toll in Sunday's nightclub fire in Brazil has risen to at least 233, officials say.
Panicked crowds pushed toward the exits as fire swept through the packed Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria. Many died of smoke inhalation, state-run Agencial Brasil reported. Others were trampled, a security guard told CNN affiliate Band News.
[Original post 7:15 a.m. ET] A fire swept through a popular nightclub in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria, killing at least 90 people early Sunday, officials said.
The death toll was expected to climb as firefighters continued to pull bodies from the Kiss nightclub, Col. Adilomar Silva, the regional coordinator of civil defense said.
Most of those killed appeared to have died of smoke inhalation, he said. Hundreds are believed to have been injured, though an exact count was not immediately available.
The fire started at about 2 a.m. after the acoustic insulation in the Kiss nightclub caught fire, he said.
FULL STORYA fire swept through a nightclub in southern Brazil, killing at least 90 people early Sunday, officials said.
The fire started around 2 a.m. at the Kiss nightclub in the city of Santa Maria. At 9 a.m., firefighters were still pulling out bodies.
FULL STORYA Brazilian actor died after accidentally hanging himself during the play "The Passion of the Christ," a local hospital said.
Tiago Klimeck, 27, was one of the actors from a local theater company taking part in an independent production of the play April 6 in the city of Itarare.
Klimeck died Sunday after spending more than two weeks in a medically induced coma due to extensive brain injuries from a prolonged lack of oxygen after accidentally hanging himself, according to the Hospital Santa Casa de Misericordia, in the neighboring city of Itapeva.
Photos taken by a local photographer show the final moments of the play as Klimeck, in the role of Judas Iscariot, hangs himself as described in the Bible in the book of Matthew.
Klimeck wore a harness under his robe during the play, according to CNN affiliate TV Record.
FULL STORYBrazilian rescuers intensified their search for victims in the rubble of three collapsed buildings in Rio de Janeiro Friday, though they are yet to find any survivors.
Seven bodies have been recovered and 20 people are reported missing, the Rio de Janeiro fire department said, according to the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency.
It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse of a 20-story building and adjacent 10- and 4-story buildings on Wednesday night. Officials said they were investigating both the possibility of a gas leak and a structural failure.
FULL STORYBrazilian rescue workers dug through rubble in search of survivors Thursday morning, hours after three buildings collapsed in the historic center of Rio de Janeiro, Mayor Eduardo Paes told reporters.
Nineteen people were still missing, Paes said, and five people had been rescued with injuries.
Three bodies were found Thursday morning, CNN affiliate Band TV reported, but it was not known if they were among those reported missing.
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An 18-story building partially collapsed after an explosion in the historic center of Rio de Janeiro Wednesday, state media reported.
Civil defense authorities told Agencia Brasil that there were injuries, but they did not provide details.
"I started to hear a crackling. I thought they were gunshots. When I looked up, I saw the top floors falling," maintenance worker Julio Cesar de Oliveria Brandao told CNN affiliate TV Record.
There was a fire after the blast, Agencia Brasil said. Police and fire officials were isolating the area and searching for victims, the news agency reported.
Cars parked on the street were covered in dust, and there was a strong smell of gas in the area, fire officials said, according to the news agency. The building's lobby contained a bank branch and a bakery, Agencia Brasil said.
FULL STORYFormer Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will begin chemotherapy in the coming days to treat a malignant tumor in his larynx, a hospital official said Saturday.
Lula, 66, will be treated at Sao Paulo's Syrian-Lebanese Hospital, said hospital spokeswoman Mirtes Bogea. It is not clear what day the treatment will begin.
He was diagnosed Saturday morning after undergoing medical examinations, Bogea said.
"This is a localized tumor," noted Bogea, meaning that it has not spread elsewhere in the body. She added that the tumor has not metastasized, a characteristic of most cancerous cells.
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With China’s first aircraft carrier completing sea trials this week, we thought it would be good to look at other countries that operate aircraft carriers.
Aircraft carriers give nations so-called blue water navies, with the ability to project military power far from their nation's shores. The carriers often are good neighbors, too, as essential platforms for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.
Brazil: The Brazilian navy operates the Sao Paulo, a French Clemenceau-class light aircraft carrier it acquired from France in 2000. The Sao Paulo can carry up to 40 aircraft and operates with a mix of A-4 jets and helicopters. It was originally commissioned in France in 1963.
France: The French navy operates the Charles de Gaulle, a nuclear-powered light aircraft carrier. The de Gaulle can carry 35 to 40 aircraft and about 2,000 personnel. It entered service in 2001. Most recently the de Gaulle has been supporting NATO operations over Libya.
India: The Indian navy operates the INS Viraat, formerly the British carrier HMS Hermes, which it acquired in 1987. Viraat is a vertical short takeoff and landing carrier with displacement of almost 29,000 tons. It can carry up to 12 fighter aircraft and nine helicopters.
Suspected Peruvian drug traffickers have destroyed a guard post protecting a recently discovered indigenous tribe in Brazil's Amazon rain forest, the aid group Survival International reports.
Aerial film and still images of the tribe were first shown to the world in February. The Brazilian government's National Indian Foundation established the guard station near the tribe's territory along Brazil's border with Peru to protect the Indians from outsiders.
Survival International said Monday that Brazilian authorities can now find no sign of the tribe.
"We think the Peruvians made the Indians flee. ... We are more worried than ever. This situation could be one of the biggest blows we have ever seen in the protection of uncontacted Indians in recent decades. It’s a catastrophe," Carlos Travassos, the head of Brazil's isolated Indians department, said in a Survival International statement.
Survival International reports the tribe's lands are near the Envira River, which Peruvian cocaine smugglers reportedly use as a route into Brazil.
Brazilian authorities report groups of men armed with machine guns and rifles are in the nearby forest, according to the aid group.
Authorities had recovered a drug trafficker's rucksack with a broken Indian arrow in it, Survival International reported.
"This is extremely distressing news. There is no knowing how many tribal peoples the drug trade has wiped out in the past, but all possible measures should be taken to stop it happening again. The world’s attention should be on these uncontacted Indians, just as it was at the beginning of this year when they were first captured on film," Survival International Director Stephen Corry said in a statement.
The body of one of the victims of Air France Flight 447 was recovered from deep in the Atlantic Ocean, French authorities said Thursday. Even though the body had been submerged for two years, authorities were able to locate it. It was still attached to the seat of the Air France plane, the French Foreign Ministry said.
The announcement comes days after the cockpit voice recorder from the flight was located. The Air France plane crashed mysteriously nearly two years ago, killing all 228 people on board. The plane crashed in stormy weather en route to Paris from Brazil on June 1, 2009. It took nearly two years and a massive undersea search to locate the bulk of the wreckage.
The world's governments shelled out $1.63 trillion in military spending last year, a 1.3% increase over 2009, according to a Swedish institute.
The United States accounted for nearly all of the increase, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute noted sharp increases by South American and African countries as well.
By virtually every measure, U.S. military spending, which rose 2.8%, leaves every other nation in the dust. The $698 billion it spent accounted for 43% of all the military spending in the world and was six times the amount expended by the No. 2 country, China. Military spending amounted to 4.8% of U.S. gross domestic product, compared to the world average of 2.6%.
Move over Chile, Brazil has just finished building the world's largest Lego tower.
Standing at 31.19 meters the tower in the city of Sao Paulo breaks the previous record set in Santiago, Chile, in 2008 by 25 centimeters.
Brazilian former footballer Cafu was responsible for attaching the last piece of the tower, which was built in the parking lot of a shopping mall.
Lego sent designers from Denmark to Brazil for the event, the company said on its website.
The tower took four days to build.
The first Lego tower was built in London in 1988 and stood just a little over 15 meters, according to Lego. Since then 53 cities have hosted the tower in more than 30 countries.
[Update 3:43 p.m.] The number of students killed in a shooting rampage inside a school Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has risen to 11, Rio de Janeiro's health secretary said.
Thirteen students remain injured, including four in critical condition, he said.
[Update 11:33 a.m.] A shooting rampage inside a school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killed 10 students before the suspect was fatally shot by police, the country's health minister said.
The student victims were nine girls and one boy, the health ministry told CNN. Eighteen others, 12 boys and six girls, were wounded. the government said.
Earlier reports erroneously stated that 13 had died at the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School.
[Update 10:47 a.m.] The suspect in the fatal shootings of at least 13 students and personnel of a school in Rio de Janeiro died after being shot by authorities, the state-run Agencia Brasil reported Thursday. He was identified as Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 24, a former student at the school.
[Posted 10:08 a.m.] At least 13 people, both children and adults, were killed Thursday in a school shooting in Rio de Janeiro, CNN affiliate Record TV reported, citing civil police.
The incident happened at the Tasso da Oliveira Municipal School.
According to Record TV, a 24- or 25-year-old man entered the school in the morning armed with two handguns and opened fire on children and school personnel.
As the man fled, he ran into military police who were responding to the scene. There was a confrontation, and the man was shot, the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency reported. The man and the injured victims were taken to a hospital, the agency reported.
Air France wreckage found – Bodies have been found from an Air France flight that went down in the Atlantic Ocean almost two years ago. They will be brought to the surface and identified. A French official said Monday that the main part of the wreckage had been found. Previously, only chunks of the plane had been recovered. It went down in a remote part of the ocean, an estimated two to four day’s travel by ship from the nearest Brazilian or Senegalese port.
Cracks in jets – Southwest Airlines canceled about 600 flights over the weekend to accommodate inspections after a hole opened in a plane on a Sacramento, California-bound flight. The Texas-based airline grounded 79 planes and expects to cancel about 100 flights Monday. Investigators have reportedly found cracks in three other aircraft. Southwest is advising passengers to check their flight status before going to the airport, and Boeing is sending out a service bulletin telling how to inspect planes for similar cracks.
French investigators said Sunday that they have found pieces of the Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, killing all 228 people on board.
Air France Flight 447 disappeared after taking off from Rio de Janeiro on its way to Paris.
France's air accident investigation agency, the BEA, said that a team - led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - discovered parts of the aircraft during an underwater search operation conducted within the past 24 hours.
The agency did not immediately say what parts of the jet the team found.
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