Brazil's president came under withering criticism Wednesday at home and in Cuba for his deference to the island's communist government over political prisoners and hunger strikes for human rights.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton faces an uphill battle as she tries to win support from a skeptical Brazil for new United Nations sanctions against Iran.

A kiss is just a kiss, but at Rio's Carnival, collecting as many pecking partners as possible at one of the 650 massive street parties that hit high gear on Saturday is truly a competitive sport.

Carnival's raucous street parties flooded Rio with drum-beating local revelers and sweaty foreigners escaping snowbound cities.

She is the Shirley Temple of samba, a 7-year-old named to a coveted Carnival role normally reserved for barely clad models who have undergone more plastic surgeries than little Julia Lira has seen birthdays.