Mac Margolis

For a moment, it looked like Colombians wanted a new kind of politics. But in the end, they decided things were going so well under outgoing President Álvaro Uribe that they'd do better to pick his annointed successor than to take a gamble on change.

Some concessions to 'futebol' in Brazil are to be expected. But the quadrennial fever over the beautiful game may be heading over the top, compelling this nation of aficionados to shutter shops, empty schools, slow down industry, and snarl traffic as millions scramble for home or to the nearest pub in time to cheer on the national side.

With crude still hemorrhaging into the Gulf of Mexico, deepwater drilling might seem taboo just now. In fact, extreme oil will likely be the new normal. Despite the gulf tragedy, the quest for oil and gas in the most difficult places on the planet is just getting underway.

When Iran's opposition protesters used Twitter and other forms of social media last year to let the world know about their regime's brutal post-election crackdown, activists praised Twitter as the tool of revolution and freedom.

He spices his interviews with bits from French philosophy. He got married atop an elephant, and showered with his wife on TV to promote conservation. And this spandex-wearing, trouser-dropping man is about to become president of Colombia. Meet Antanas Mockus.

After shedding help in droves during the recession, many businesses find they are now shrunken and bereft of the qualified professionals needed to kick-start growth again.

Instead of helping solve the world's problems, Brazil's Lula is cavorting with autocrats and dictators.

Colombia's may 30 presidential election seemed like a foregone conclusion. Until a few weeks ago, Juan Manuel Santos, defense minister under President Álvaro Uribe from 2006 to mid-2009, held a crushing lead.

It's easy to slight Carmen Miranda. She stood 1.52 meters, shorter than most of today's sixth graders. She spoke halting English, wore preposterous get-ups and starred in no less preposterous films.

Cleanup crews are used to thankless tasks. But when maintenance men at the Sao Paulo Electrical Co. (CESP) descended to the bowels of the huge Sergio Motta hydro- electric plant on the Parana River earlier this year, they couldn't believe what they saw.