Brazil Carnival Travel

The search through the remains of Flight 447 were re-inforced this Wednesday with the arrival of five French naval ships one being a nuclear submarine cable of picking up the ping of the black box. Two of the ships are deep sea salvage ships and the Fairemont equiped with 40 tons of equipment to assist in the search  and retrieval process.

Outside of the 400 military personel France has devoted to the search process, Wednesday Frances has sent two high level investigators

This evening, the rumors were confirmed as Kaka will play football next season at the Bernabeau, signing a six year deal with Real Madrid. The transfer will cost Real €65 million, the second most expensive transaction in history after Zinedine Zidane’s transfer in 2001. Many of us would have loved to see Kaka finish his career in Milan, but the return of Florentino Perez as president of Real changed all of that.

For AC Milan, which lost €70 million last year, this presents an opportunity to rebuild and upgrade an aging squad. Real Madrid, after stumbling through the Ramon Calderon era and marred by overpaying for the above average player, this is a return to the Galactico era and a return to the prestige that made them the world’s elite club. Although the cost was steep, Real has bagged one of the world’s three best players.

For Kaka, the pressure will be immense to perform and stay fit. A second place finish for Real is still in the works unless the club addresses its gaping hole in its central defense. This pressure is something a world class champion like Kaka will undoubtedly meet. I don’t think Kaka could have gone wrong whatever way he chose. At the very minimum, at least Marcelo will have a compatriot in the first team. I would love to hear some comments about whether you believe this was the right or wrong move.

Brazil’s defense chief says military planes have found a 3-mile swath of wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean, confirming that an Air France jet carrying 228 people crashed in the sea, The Associated Press is reporting.

Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said the discovery “confirms that the plane went down in that area” hundreds of miles from the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha.
He said the wreckage included metallic and nonmetallic pieces, but did not describe them in detail. No bodies were spotted.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the ocean is two miles deep at the crash site, which will make recovery of the data and voice recorders difficult.

Five Brazilian navy ships are expected to reach the area by tonight. The Pentagon has sent a P-3 surveillance aircraft and 21-member rescue crew to assist.

New Finds Catapult Brazil Oil Producing Status

With Exxon Mobil’s new oil discovery off the coast of Brazil the South American nation has taken another giant step in its quest to become a global energy superpower.

Exxon’s Azulao-1 well tapped a reservoir that reportedly contains as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, says Luiz Lemos, a partner at TozziniFreire Advogados, a Brazilian law firm that represents foreign energy companies. It was Petrobras that first triggered the rush on Brazil’s energy sector when, in November 2007, the company announced the Tupi discovery - an underwater field that could contain as much as 80 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

This new Azulao find will rival the nearby Tupi oil field as the largest discovery on this side of the planet since Mexico’s Canarell field was discovered in 1976.

Last year, Haroldo Lima, the head of Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency, said Carioca could hold 33 billion barrels of oil and gas. Upon hearing the news, brokers and analysts rushed to tell their clients that Brazil, as one minister put it just months ago, was about to become the “new Saudi Arabia.”

Secretary of State Clinton on Wednesday implored the Brazilian government to push for the speedy return of an 8 year old boy to his father who is a US citizen. The boy was illegally abducted more than 4 years ago.

“Mr. Goldman has, under every known law of international adoption, followed the rules,” she said. “He’s come in, he’s made a claim, which is certainly a paramount claim that as the biological father he has every right to have custody of his son.”

Goldman’s wife took their son with her on vacation to her native home of Brazil. She then divorced him and remarried. Last year, his ex-wife died and left their son in the custody of her new husband who now refuses to return the boy.

The new Husband is a lawyer and comes from a prominent family in Rio de Janeiro. For the first time since this ordeal began Goldman was allowed to see his son last month.

Brazilian local courts have declined to grant Goldman custody, despite both Brazil and the United States being signatories to the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention. The case is due to be heard in a federal court in Brazil.

Your 2009 Rio de Janeiro Carnival Samba School Winner is….

Salguerio Samba School was the big winner for Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival this year. Their theme was the history of the Drum. They entered the Sabadromo in brilliant colors, of course their school colors of Red and White were ever present, and began singing and dancing their hearts out.

Viviane Araujo was the Schools Drum Queen and boy did she represent her school well. Vivane wore an absolutely stunning carnival outfit that showed off all of her generous Brazilian curves and sexy tanlines. She danced the samba for 80 minutes straight as her school entered the Sambadromo blaring their school song and music.

Viviane Araujo, Simply Stunning in Rio de Janeiro Carnival 2009

Queen of the Drum Section Wears VERY Little

On Monday night in the Sambodromo, Dani Sperle, a Carnival Queen of the drum section (Rainha do Bateria) performed the samba for her school of Unidos da Tijuca down the runway with the least bit of clothing EVER.

Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO - It’s a record that can only be broken in Rio de Janeiro.

A samba dancer has worn the smallest scrap of clothing ever in a Carnival parade.

The O Globo newspaper says model Dani Sperle sported a sparkly silver headdress, a necklace, matching arm bands — and nothing else but a patch of cloth 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) long — in front of 80,000 Sambadrome spectators early Monday morning.

Dani is a dancer on a program that comes on each Saturday throughout Brazil called Calderao do Huck. She was discovered by the Host of the show and has grown to be quite popular. I guess wearing as little as possible does get a girl noticed.

Pics of Dani’s Costume can be found on these links (remember, Not Safe For Work)
Dani Sperle 1
Dani Sperle 2