Solon Brochado: It didn’t take long to run tests on the rooster that died in Marília yesterday. This afternoon, the São Paulo State’s Health Secretary released a note discarding any possibilities that the bird may have died from the avian flu. This piece by Terra doesn’t mention what could have killed it, though, and says the birds remains will be sent to another laboratory for futher testing.
Solon Brochado: The opposition seems to have received the Veja magazine piece, detailing how Cuba allegedly invested US$ 3 million in Lula’s campaign, as political currency. As PT congressmen lean toward not asking for Eduardo Azeredo’s annulment, the opposition is asking for a thorough investigation on the Lula-Fidel relation, but is treating the issue with caution.
Meanwhile, with the Mensalão’s CPI coming to its grand finale, the media hasn’t paid much attention to the Castrodollars case. But this op-ed by Gilberto Dimenstein hits all the right spots on the troubling historical connections between the Workers’ Party and Fidel’s Cuba.
Solon Brochado: Rio de Janeiro has a history of Public Security secretaries who’re great at delivering speeches, or writing essays on social problems, but who are incapable of turning all that academic knowledge into results. Over at NoMínimo, Guilherme Fiuza is not very happy with the last in this lineage of fine men, mr. Marcelo Itagiba.
Avian flu may have reached Brazil
Solon Brochado: The avian flu scare has finally reached Brazil. This wednesday, a rooster died with symptoms that resemble those caused by the H5N1 virus. Experts say other respiratory diseases that affect birds have similar symptoms and that it will probably be a false alarm.
If it’s confirmed, though, it won’t be very good news for the Ministry of Agriculture, that’s already having a hard time dealing with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in Mato Grosso do Sul’s cattle. And it certainly won’t be good news for Brazil’s exports, since poultry, cattle and pork exports are expected to reach the US$ 8 billion mark this year.
