Word: brazile
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...massive blackout that plunged huge swaths of Brazil into darkness - as well as the whole of Paraguay - underscores the challenges facing South America's biggest nation as it prepares to modernize its infrastructure in time for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in Rio two years after...
...power outage affected 18 of Brazil's 27 states and caused havoc, with metros in at least two cities grinding to a halt and blank traffic lights causing road chaos. People got stuck in elevators. Universities sent students home. Bars and restaurants couldn't serve food and drink. The water supply was affected in some areas, and cell-phone calls weren't going through. Furthermore, Brazil is a nation where high crime rates have bred fear and suspicion, and so huge numbers of people stayed home, keeping their distance from the sinister, unlit streets. (Read about Rio's crime problem...
...exact cause of Tuesday's outage is not yet known, but officials and news reports point to problems originating at the Itaipu dam, the huge hydroelectric plant on Brazil's border with Paraguay. "The most probable hypothesis is there was some accident that affected one or more points in the transmission system," a statement from Itaipu said. The area suffered unusually fierce storms on Tuesday, which could have played a part...
What is certain is that Brazil faces huge infrastructure challenges in the coming years. The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to spend $14 billion preparing for the Olympics and billions more readying for the World Cup. But until now, the priorities were improving atrocious transport systems, providing adequate hotel accommodations and stemming the violence that makes Brazil one of the homicide capitals of the world. (See what becomes of Olympic stadiums...
...trace the call. Minutes later, the world's most violent and notorious drug lord was gunned down on a Medellín rooftop. Fearing for their lives, Escobar's wife, son and daughter sought safety in exile, but most nations shut their doors. After stopovers in Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, South Africa and Mozambique - a whirlwind on par with the deposed Shah of Iran's desperate 1979 world tour - the widow and her children finally entered Argentina as tourists on Christmas Eve 1994. They've lived relatively quiet lives in Buenos Aires ever since...