Rio de Janeiro

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Brazil's New Weapon Vs. Zika: Gamma Rays

Officials hope by sterilizing male mosquitoes they can curb spread of virus

(Newser) - With the 2016 Olympics in Rio right around the corner, Brazil is bringing in the big guns to fight Zika—specifically, a gamma ray device to sterilize the mosquitoes that carry the virus, Reuters reports. A nonprofit group will breed up to 12 million of the male insects a week...

Budget Woes, Polluted Waterways Plague Rio Olympics

If athletes want air conditioning, they'll have to pay for it themselves

(Newser) - As Brazil suffers through its worst recession in 25 years, organizers of the 2016 Olympics set to take place in Rio de Janeiro in August are cutting hundreds of millions of dollars out of their budget, Bloomberg Business reports. “It will be painful from now on,” Rio 2016...

IOC: We Want Refugee Athletes at 2016 Olympics

It's the first time refugees will be allowed to compete without a home country

(Newser) - Refugees have never been allowed to go for Olympic gold because they can't represent the countries they've fled from. Now they're going to get their shot, thanks to a decision by the International Olympic Committee to allow "highly qualified" refugees to take part in the Summer...

Woman Killed After GPS Takes Her to Wrong Street

Regina Murmura, 70, was shot in Brazil slum and died in hospital

(Newser) - GPS directions might at times drive you insane, but one woman was actually driven to her death in Brazil. Travel agent Regina Murmura, 70, and her husband Francisco, 69, were aiming for a Niteroi beach on Avenue Quintino Bocaiuva on Saturday when their Waze GPS app directed them to Quintino...

US Olympians Get Sick, Blame Rio's Gross Waters

Doc, coach think team members' illness caused by pollution at 2016 Games site

(Newser) - Concerns about contaminated waters in Rio de Janeiro, site of next summer's Olympics, took a new turn yesterday as 13 rowers and four staff members from the US rowing team contracted stomach illness after competing in a competition held in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, a future Olympic site,...

Rio's Olympic Waters Contaminated With Human Feces

AP investigation: Brazil's waters haven't been cleaned up, are beyond toxic

(Newser) - Athletes competing in next year's Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete in the games, an AP investigation has found. An AP analysis of water quality revealed dangerously...

Brazil Pulls 50 Tons of Dead Fish From Lagoon

Olympic athletes advised not to fall out of canoes

(Newser) - Vast numbers of dead fish have been hauled out of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro over the last couple of weeks, and authorities are pretty sure they haven't died of excitement about the Olympic rowing and canoeing events to be held there next year. Dozens...

Super-Bacteria Found in Olympic Event Waters

Bug could be a danger to Rio 2016 athletes

(Newser) - If fighting off "super-bacteria" was an Olympic sport, Rio de Janeiro could be an ideal place to hold the 2016 Games. Instead, it is looking like a pretty dangerous place to hold sailing and windsurfing events, according to a health institute. Researchers say a super-bug normally found in hospital...

In Rio's Olympic Waters: Corpses, Sewage

Rio has a long way to go in clean up of Guanabara Bay

(Newser) - With the clock ticking on Rio's 2016 Olympics and tongues wagging about its lack of preparedness , the New York Times today turns to a rather disgusting item on the Games' checklist that Brazil seems to have missed: Guanabara Bay, the site of the sailing and windsurfing events. Despite Brazil'...

Brazil Cops Advise Tourists: If Robbed, Don't Scream

Police issue pamphlet ahead of World Cup

(Newser) - Muggings are so common on the streets of Brazil these days that police have some advice for tourists coming to next month's World Cup: If someone tries to rob them, they should not "react, scream, or argue," says a new brochure issued in Sao Paulo and noticed...

Rio's Olympic Planning 'Worst' I've Ever Seen: IOC Official

But 'there is no plan B': vice president

(Newser) - Brazil's efforts ahead of the 2016 Olympics are "the worst" International Olympic Committee VP John Coates has "ever experienced," he says. Construction of some venues hasn't even started, Coates notes, and IOC officials have been forced to join local organizers to plan the Games. The...

Rio's Gang-Riddled Slums Swept by 1K Cops, Marines

Latest crackdown on crime ahead of World Cup

(Newser) - More than 1,400 police officers and Brazilian Marines rolled into a massive complex of slums near Rio de Janeiro's international airport before dawn today in the latest security push ahead of this year's World Cup. Not a shot was fired as the Mare complex of 15 slums...

Rio's Christ Statue Chipped By Lightning

Thumb damaged; middle finger hit last month

(Newser) - Storms are chipping away at the 125-foot statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. On Thursday night, lightning appears to have struck the statue's right thumb, officials say. Just last month, the middle finger on the same hand was also chipped, the AP reports. Fortunately, the Archdiocese...

Brazilian Teachers' Protest Turns Into Riot

Marchers clash with police in Rio, Sao Paolo

(Newser) - Looks like Brazilian teachers are not to be messed with: Firebombs were thrown and buildings were attacked after marches by striking teachers and their supporters turned ugly in Rio de Janiero and Sao Paolo last night, the BBC reports. Around 20,000 people marched peacefully in Rio to protest low...

5 Hot Events You Can Attend Next Year ... via Cruise Ship

From Mardis Gras to Carnival and beyond

(Newser) - Cruises are about more than just eating as much as possible, lounging by the pool, and wandering around port cities. As Fox News reports, they can also get you to some of the biggest events of the year. A sample:
  • Australian Open: One of the four annual Grand Slam tennis
...

World Cup Anti-Doping Lab Loses License

'Repeated failures' shut down Rio facility 10 months before tournament

(Newser) - The World Anti-Doping Agency today revoked the license of the Rio de Janeiro anti-doping lab that was supposed to handle player samples for the upcoming World Cup. With just 10 months to go before the tournament, the WADA suspended the lab, citing "repeated failures" in its work. The lab...

Rio Gang Who Raped American Now Locked Up

2 men sentenced to 49 years, another to 21 in rape of tourist

(Newser) - The American student who was brutally gang-raped on a Rio minibus in March while her boyfriend was forced to watch may now find some peace in the knowledge her attackers are behind bars. A judge, who noted the men had been targeting tourists in Rio for months, sentenced driver Jonathan...

Busy Pope Running Staff Ragged

Francis hits beach, then visits Rio slum on foot

(Newser) - Pope Francis may be 76, but that's not slowing him down: He's maintaining a schedule so busy —and getting busier—that aides are struggling to keep up, the AP reports. Yesterday, for instance, he had a full day planned in Brazil, then added two extra events, including...

Pope in Rio: Throngs, a Bomb, Protests

His Fiat made a wrong turn, but it's been mostly smooth sailing

(Newser) - Pope Francis is back on his home continent for the first time this week, and what a reception he got. He landed in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro yesterday for a week of World Youth Day festivities to boisterous crowds, and a somewhat confused driver. The AP reports that the...

Pope's Brazil Mass: Sorry, No Masks

Authorities fear protest reprise

(Newser) - A month after Brazil saw widespread unrest , Pope Francis is headed to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day (which is actually a week long). With more than a million attendees expected, authorities aren't taking any chances. Demonstrators wore Guy Fawkes masks during June's protests; at a Mass...

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