Michael Astor
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/ 27 November 2007

Brazil takes stock of crumbling stadiums

A stadium collapse that killed seven people highlighted the crumbling state of Brazil’s soccer arenas less than a month after the country was chosen to host the 2014 World Cup, architects said on Monday. The victims fell 15m through a 3m wide hole that opened in the concrete stands of the Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador.

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/ 28 February 2006

Sounds of samba flood the streets of Rio

Rio happily swapped a group of ageing British rockers for scantily clad dancers and the relentless beat of hundreds of drums on Monday as Brazil’s top-tier groups faced off in the yearly carnival’s annual samba parade. For two nights, 14 of the city’s top-tier samba groups present 80-minute parades costing about -million each.

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/ 1 June 2004

Guard killed in revolt in Rio prison

Inmates at a prison near Rio de Janeiro who shot and killed a guard and held 21 hostages agreed on Monday to a fresh round of negotiations with police on how to end the three day-old revolt, which also left nine other jailers and inmates injured. Fourteen inmates managed to escape, three of whom were recaptured by police.