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SAO PAULO, Brazil - Their faces hide behind scarves, gas masks and motorcycle helmets. TV images show them smashing cars, hurling bricks at police and setting tires ablaze on the streets of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian politicians have claimed they are a national security threat. But who really are these protesters who plan to run riot at the World Cup as soon as the inaugural game kicks off on June 12? Brazil's police allege the militants form an extremist group called the Black Bloc, and say they are watching its leaders. The local press has published exposes...

Promoting travel to the U.S. as a job creator, President Barack Obama wants to make it easier for people from other countries to visit the 50 states and spend money at their hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and other businesses. Obama planned to discuss the economic benefits of tourism to the U.S. and the latest steps he is taking to boost it at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, on Thursday. Obama acted two years ago to speed the processing of tourist visas for visitors from China and Brazil, steps that have dramatically reduced the length...

Yikes! During training of the cadet corps of the Units of Pacifying Police (UPP) in Rio de Janeiro last week, Brazilian police evidently thought it would be a swell idea to let this girl with zero experience toss  a grenade -- a LIVE grenade. Well let's just say it didn't exactly go as planned... WATCH:

Brazilian police reportedly have a warning for those visiting for the World Cup this summer: If you are robbed, don’t scream. The instruction comes in a pamphlet advising visitors on how to stay safe that will be distributed by Brazilian embassies and consulates, according to a report. “Do not react, scream or argue,” the brochure says. The advice is meant to keep tourists from provoking robbers into further violence once a robbery is underway, as robberies that end in murder are becoming increasingly common. It is also recommended that visitors avoid showing off valuable objects, be careful at night, avoid...

Nicholas Wade, a British-born science reporter and editor for more than 30 years with The New York Times, is no longer with the newspaper — just days after the release of his latest book, in which he depicts blacks with roots in sub-Saharan Africa as genetically less adapted to modern life than whites and Asians. Was The New York Times uncomfortable with Wade’s science or his conclusions? It’s unclear. Neither Wade nor his former employer returned requests for comment. Wade’s last Times article appeared April 24. His Penguin Press book “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History” arrived in...

Rio's preparations damned as 'worst ever' but IOC knocks down suggestion London could be last-ditch replacementMisty-eyed fans can forget about digging out their Team GB shirts, the army of 2012 volunteers can leave their distinctive purple uniforms in the wardrobe, and Boris Johnson can stand down. Much to the disappointment of those hoping for an action replay of the heady summer of 2012, the International Olympic Committee has rejected as "totally unfeasible" claims that London could step in for troubled Rio to host the 2016 Olympics. A report in the London Evening Standard has claimed that the capital had been...

“How do you say [in advance] it is not going to work?”

So worried are Olympic organisers by how far behind schedule the 2016 Rio Games has fallen, London has reportedly been asked, in secret, if it could host the event at the last minute. According to the London Evening Standard, an informal approach has been made by IOC chiefs to ascertain whether London's 2012 Olympic venues could be brought back into use.

Soccer riots in Brazil claimed the life of a man who was killed by a toilet bowl thrown from the stands at Arruda Stadium, the latest scene of fan violence that has plagued the country in the lead-up to next month's World Cup. Globoesporte of Brazil reported that rioters ripped three tiolets from the stadium bathroom and tossed them from the stands during Friday night's 1-1 draw between Santa Cruz and Parana. One of the toilets struck a fan identified as 26-year-old Paulo Ricardo Gomes da Silva, killing him instantly.

In a world running low on oil, several countries are still sitting on massive supplies. If only they could get to them. The Ferdows, Mound, and Zageh Fields Location: The Persian Gulf, off the coast of southern Iran Estimated Reserves: 38 billion barrels Details: Discovered in 2003, these three interconnected fields are among the largest oil deposits ever found. Ferdows is the largest, with 30.6 billion barrels. This figure may seem astounding, but it’s usually not possible to extract all the oil from a field due to technological and financial constraints. Plus, assessing how much oil these deposits can actually...

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just completed a series of landmark reports that chronicle an update to the current state of consensus science on climate change. Its conclusion: On our current path, climate change could pose an irreversible, existential risk to civilization as we know it, but we can still fix it if we decide to work together. But in addition to the call for cooperation, the reports also shared an alarming new trend: Climate change is already destabilizing nations and leading to wars. That finding was highlighted in last week's premiere of Showtime's climate change docu-drama...

Global military spending dropped by nearly two percent in 2013, led by the United States which dropped it’s spending by 7.8 percent. By contrast, the military industrial complexes in Russia and China are bustling; seeing a 4.8 and 7.4 percent increase, respectively. "For the first time since 2003, Russia spent a larger percentage of it’s Gross Domestic Product on military expenses than the United States… " The U.S. dropped spending from roughly $690 Billion in 2012, to $640 Billion in 2013, shrinking to 3.8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. The reduction is noted in real terms, which means the...

A German submarine sank to its watery grave somewhere off the coast of South America in 1943. This is the exact moment it's discovered. Secrets of the Third Reich: The Ghost of U-513 The pride of the wolfpacks, German sub U-513, became a tomb for all but seven of her crew after being bombed by a U.S. patrol plane in 1943. The U-boat then vanished off the South American coast, where it was lost for more than 68 years. Now, witness the ghost ship's story through rare archival footage and interviews with U-boat vets, and follow the Brazilian entrepreneur who...

Vice President Joe Biden is planning to be among the crowds at this summer’s World Cup soccer tournament. The White House announced Monday that Biden would travel to Brazil for the event in June. He also plans to attend a U.S. national team game. …

Florida, the source of the majority of oranges used to make orange juice in the U.S., experienced an unusually cold winter, plus a fruit disease. Groves in Brazil, the world's largest orange exporter, are experiencing the worst drought in decades.

Federal authorities have arrested 34 suspected illegal immigrants who've been attending a flight school in Stow, Mass., The Boston Globe reported. Strict security controls put into place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks ban illegal immigrants from taking flight lessons and require background checks on all foreigners training to fly in the United States. Thiago DeJesus, the owner of the TJ Aviation Flight Academy at Minute Man Air Field near Boston, was among those arrested in the sting. A Brazilian immigrant and licensed pilot, DeJesus was charged in July with being in the U.S. illegally, but continued to give...

Sunday, April 13, 2014 The Paranoid Party Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog The Democrat may no longer believe in God, the Constitution or even motherhood and apple pie, but he devoutly believes with all the faith of a 9/11 Truther in the impermeability of steel and of a Neo-Nazi in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion that somewhere out there Republicans are sitting in a sealed room and plotting to bring back the 50s. And if not the 50s, then at least the early 60s. The left accuses the right of being deeply paranoid. Meanwhile...

Why Does The Christian Post Espouse Leftism in Brazil? By Julio Severo The U.S. version of The Christian Post rightly addressed the recent World Vision flap on gay “marriage” by quoting prominent evangelical leaders. Their responses were mostly conservative. The first World Vision (WV) stance favoring this faux marriage was universally disapproved among conservative Christians. Its repentance was welcome. In no way, the Christian Post condemned these conservative leaders and their views. In a strange twist, the Brazilian version of The Christian Post decided not only to publish nothing from its U.S. version on the WV flap, but it...

Venezuela is closer geographically than, and at least as important to the United States as, Ukraine. Yet the persistently blurred focus of the Obama Administration has been far less on violent Cuban inspired repression in Venezuela than on Russian repression in Ukraine. Here's a new presentation by Senator Rubio on the continuing mess in Venezuela: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8Uz-9HvRgw] Video linkThe constitutional crisis in Venezuela has apparently been far less disturbing to the Obama Administration, and to the "legitimate" media, than the less violent mess in Ukraine. It has drawn far less media attention than the disappearance of Malaysian flight 370, coverage of which has been extensive and continuous but abysmally uninformed. Here's the best...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://www.frontpagemag.com - Russia’s Threat in the AmericasPosted By Joseph Klein On March 28, 2014 @ 12:08 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | No Comments President Obama dismissed Russia as no more than a “regional power” in remarks he made to the press in The Hague on March 25th, where he was attending a summit meeting on nuclear security. “Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors not out of strength, but out of weakness,” he said.True, the Russian Federation is a shadow of the Soviet empire in its heyday. And Russia is...