SAMBA, VOCE SAMBA!

On a street in Rio's Ipanema beach neighborhood, Juju Maravilha, dressed in a sultry gold and green sequined gown topped off by a headdress of yellow feathers, takes less than five seconds to ponder a question. "The soul of Carnival? Why it is here, darling," he coos, pointing at a crowd of thousands gathered for one of Rio de Janeiro's more than 200 informal street marches that give life to the yearly bacchanal of music, flesh, dance and drink.

The showcase event of Rio's Carnival is undoubtedly the two-night parades put on by traditional samba schools — ornate spectacles costing up to $2.5 million each with thousands of drummers, dancers and meticulously designed floats that begin Sunday night.

But locals and tourists in the know say the true golden center of Carnival lies in the parties — known as "bandas," which play the same traditional songs each year, and "blocos," which mix up the music each time. With tickets to the samba school parade running upward of $1,000, these free parties keep Brazil's No. 1 tourist attraction accessible to all.

"The origins of Carnival are in the streets," said Paulo Montenegro, a 48-year-old lawyer taking part in Friday's "Hit On Me, I'm Willing" bloco. "That is why blocos are so important — it is free, democratic, and passes on the traditions of Carnival." The parties occur each weekend for three weeks leading up to Carnival, but began rolling nonstop Friday afternoon. As the last revelers dragged themselves home at sunrise Saturday, some 500,000 people crowded into Rio's center to celebrate the 90th year of the Black Ball Krewe — one of the most traditional and beloved.

In the Banda de Ipanema samba troupe's first march, about 30,000 people shuffled behind musicians and cross-dressing dancers done up as Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian singer who helped export samba to the world in the 1940s. "It's a great cultural manifestation. You see children, older women, men, girls, gays, straights — it's a beautiful democracy of the streets," said Juju Maravilha, or "Marvelous Juju," before turning on his heels and posing for a photo with a family.

Rio's blocos are a tradition going back about 100 years and exist in nearly every part of the city of 6 million. Unlike luxurious Carnival parties attended by the elite and hosted in posh hotels, they're open to anyone who shows up with a smile and feet ready to dance.

"It's the most beautiful part of Carnival, and here you will see all the tribes," said Joao Jadiole, a 35-year-old mechanical engineer from Rio, as he danced behind the Banda de Ipanema, shirtless, a can of beer in each hand. "The banda is peace, love, life, liveliness — everything that is wonderful about this city."

There is little method to the madness, but the blocos begin with a "concentration": a vaguely adhered-to appointment for gathering at a plaza, a street corner, wherever. Banda de Ipanema met on a recent Saturday at 4 p.m. in one of the neighborhood's main plazas. This being Brazil, where the only event that begins on time is lunch break, by 4:20 only a few tourists and a horde of beer vendors were there.
Around 4:30, band members began showing up, trumpeters started tooting their horns, drummers began pounding out rhythms and hundreds of people — from young families to elderly women covered in silver glitter and dressed in skimpy bikinis — surrounded the musicians. By 5:00, after playing several traditional Carnival songs to which the crowd lustily sang along, the band began making its way down the street toward Ipanema beach and the party quickly hit a fever pitch that lasted for several hours.
Banda de Ipanema, founded in 1965 under the shadow of Brazil's military dictatorship, prides itself on irreverent political satire. Daniel Sbruzzi, a 62-year-old who was well into his suds as the party began, said he dressed up as a female "cousin" of President Barack Obama. "Obama is going to be a revolutionary with no negative sides. Only positive," Sbruzzi said, hiking up his blue hula skirt and righting his long, blond wig. "He is an idol for the world, and I wanted to express how he makes us all feel like we are part of his family."

Irane Carneiro, who declined to give her age but appeared to be in her 60s, wore a red miniskirt, a gold tank top, at least four pounds of beads, a feather headdress and a good inch of makeup. She tried to explain the importance of the event, which she has attended since its inception. "If a person loves to be happy, to live life, to leave their problems behind and take to the street with thousands of friends where for a moment everything is wonderful, then they will understand the true face of Rio de Janeiro's Carnival," she said.

A NEW DICTATORSHIP IS BORN

President Hugo Chavez says a referendum victory that removed limits on his re-election is a mandate to intensify his socialist agenda for decades to come. Opponents warn of an impending dictatorship. Both sides had called the outcome of Sunday's vote key to the future of this South American country, split down the middle between those who worship the president for redistributing Venezuela's oil riches and those who see him as a power-hungry autocrat.

"Those who voted "yes" today voted for socialism, for revolution," Chavez thundered to thousands of ecstatic supporters jamming the streets around the presidential palace. Fireworks lit up the Caracas skyline, and one man walked though the crowd carrying a painting of Chavez that read: "Forever." Josefa Dugarte stared at the crowd from the stoop of her apartment building with look of dismay. "These people don't realize what they have done," she muttered.

With 94 percent of the vote counted, official results showed the amendment passing 54 percent to 46 percent, an irreversible trend, and opposition leaders accepted the results. Tibisay Lucena, president of National Electoral Council, said turnout was 67 percent. The constitutional overhaul allows all public officials to run for re-election as many times as they want, removing barriers to a Chavez candidacy in the next presidential elections in 2012 and beyond.

"In 2012 there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate," Chavez said to applause. First elected in 1998, he has said he might stay in power until 2049, when he'll be 95. But analysts said Chavez shouldn't count on getting re-elected just yet.

"Chavez's intention is clear: He aspires to be president for life," said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. "He is convinced he embodies the popular will and is indispensable to the country's progress. But his capacity to pull this off is far from assured." He said the global financial crisis and the plunging price of oil, which accounts for 94 percent of Venezuela's exports and nearly half its federal budget, will limit Chavez's ability to maintain the level of public spending that has fueled his popularity.

"The greatest challenge the government now faces is governing in the face of crisis and not falling into triumphalism," said Miguel Tinker Salas, a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California. At their campaign headquarters, Chavez opponents hugged one another, and some cried. They said the results were skewed by Chavez's broad use of state resources to get out the vote, through a battery of state-run news media, pressure on 2 million public employees and frequent presidential speeches which all television stations were required to air.

With the courts, the legislature and the election council all under his influence, and now with no limits on his re-election, officials say Chavez is virtually unstoppable. "Effectively this will become a dictatorship," opposition leader Omar Barboza told The Associated Press. "It's control of all the powers, lack of separation of powers, unscrupulous use of state resources, persecution of adversaries."

Opponents of Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez Monday warned of greater authoritarian rule after he triumphed in a referendum which could allow him to stay in office for life. Chavez, who has already been president for a decade in this Latin American nation, said he now intended to stand for a third term in 2012, after winning 54.36 percent of preliminary results in Sunday's referendum. "The doors of the future are wide open," Chavez boomed from the balcony of his Miraflores palace after winning the referendum which scraps the previous rules requiring the president to stand down after two terms in office.

Chavez's victory strengthens his mandate, which would normally have ended in 2013, and could prompt him to expand his socialist drive, which has led to nationalizations and greater state control over the economy. In this increasingly polarized country, the opposition garnered some 45.63 percent after more than 11 million people out of some 17 million eligible voters went to the ballot. The leftist leader is popular with many of the country's poor for his oil-funded health care and education programs, but blamed by a vocal opposition for rising crime, corruption and inflation.

Critics charge that Chavez has too much power, holding sway over the courts, lawmakers and the election council. "With this result, the president can deepen the path to socialism and he'll be tempted to reinforce the authoritarian character of Venezuela's politics," warned Veneuzelan International Relations professor Carlos Romero. There was also criticism of flaws in the weekend ballot. "Chavez won the right to re-election after a process marred with faults," the El Nacional newspaper headline read.



The opposition had widely criticized Chavez's massive state-sponsored campaign for the vote to alter the constitution. "This was the campaign with most abuses of public resources that we have ever seen," said Carlos Vecchio, a member of an opposition grouping. Venezuela becomes the first Latin American country to adopt unlimited electoral terms with the vote. The president was previously allowed two consecutive terms, which would have forced Chavez to step down at the end of his second mandate in 2013. The proposed amendment was his second bid to extend presidential term limits after a package of sweeping constitutional changes, including an end to term limits, was struck down by voters in December 2007. But the vote also comes amid warnings that Chavez's social programs in this OPEC member nation could be hard hit by tumbling oil prices.

"I think that the greatest challenge the government now faces is governing in the face of crisis and not falling into triumphalism," Venezuelan analyst Miguel Tinker Salas of Pomona College, California, told AFP. As Chavez-dominated national TV stations on Monday played patriotic songs and images of the president and his supporters, the private opposition-led press lauded the high turnout -- the most in the last four elections -- and reported complaints about voting machines. From Buenos Aires to Havana and beyond, many watched the vote on the future of the fierce anti-liberal US foe and Latin American leftist champion. Chavez said he received his first congratulations from his mentor, former Cuban president Fidel Castro.

The latest vote came only three months after regional and municipal elections in which the opposition gained ground. "We don't like Chavez, his people, or unlimited re-election," said opposition supporter Rosi Gonzales after voting in eastern Caracas. "He's destroyed the country." Chavez supporters meanwhile reveled in another victory for their larger-than-life leader. "Chavez has been a president who loves the people and has fought for them," said Diazmelis Benitez, from a working class neighborhood of Caracas.

WAR IN CHRISTMAS

The death toll from a weekend of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza has topped 300, Palestinian medical sources said Monday as a third day of air raids hit the Hamas-ruled territory.
Another 650-plus people have been wounded in the strikes, the sources said. The U.N. Security Council has called for an immediate end to the airstrikes, which began Saturday. But Israel says its objective is to stop an ongoing stream of rockets fired by Hamas militants into southern Israel, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Cabinet ministers Sunday that the situation "is liable to continue for some time."

Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, pledges it will defend its land and people in the face of what it calls continued Israeli aggression. Each side blames the other for violating an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, which formally expired Friday, December 19, but in reality had been weakening for months.

Israel has struck more than 300 Hamas targets since Saturday, its military said. The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that more than 150 rockets have been launched into Israeli territory from Gaza since the campaign began. One of those hit a home in southern Israel on Saturday, killing one man inside.

Palestinian security and medical sources said airstrikes hit the Jebaliya refugee camp in Gaza early Monday, and a home near Hamas leader Ismail Haniya's residence was hit overnight. Hamas security sources said that raid targeted the home of a senior leader in the group's military wing.

The Jebaliya raid left five children dead in a home that was damaged when a nearby mosque was targeted, said Dr. Mu'awiya Hassanein. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that claim.

And a few minutes after midnight, an Israeli F-16 fired rockets into at least one building at the Islamic University of Gaza, a Gaza-based journalist at the scene -- whose name was withheld for security reasons -- told CNN. There were no immediate reports of casualties from that strike, which the IDF said targeted "a center for weapon research and development."

The Palestinian television station Ramattan showed firefighters trying to put out a fire at a building identified by the Palestinian network as part of the university, while others sifted through large piles of debris and rubble.

"There was a loud series of explosions ... the entire apartment I'm in was shaking," said Sami Abdel-Shafi, a Palestinian business consultant in Gaza City. "It was scary and a very disappointing position to be in for the 'nth' time."

An Israeli military statement said the targets of the raid were "buildings that were used as meeting places for senior leaders of Hamas."

"One of the structures struck housed explosives laboratories that were an inseparable part of Hamas' research and development program, as well as places that served as storage facilities for the organization," the IDF statement said. "The development of these weapons took place under the auspices of senior lecturers who are activists in Hamas. Among the weapons that have been developed and manufactured at this site are Qassam rockets."

There was no immediate response from Hamas to the IDF statement.

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team is choosing its words carefully in dealing with Israel's assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The deaths of hundreds of Palestinians in Israel's deadly air assault on the militant Islamic group will further complicate Obama's challenge to achieve a Middle East peace — something that eluded both the Bush and Clinton administrations. David Axelrod, senior adviser to Obama, said the president-elect would honor the "important bond" between the United States and Israel.

"He wants to be a constructive force in helping to bring about the peace and security that both the Israelis and the Palestinians want and deserve," Axelrod said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "Obviously, this situation has become even more complicated in the last couple of days and weeks. As Hamas began its shelling, Israel responded. But it's something that he's committed to."

Pressed about how much support Obama will offer Israel, Axelrod said: "He's going to work closely with the Israelis. They're a great ally of ours, the most important ally in the region. ... But he will do so in a way that will promote the cause of peace, and work closely with the Israelis and the Palestinians on that — toward that objective."


The Bush administration has blamed the renewed violence on the militant Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, saying it broke a cease-fire by firing rockets and mortars deep into Israeli territory. The Arab world, however, has reacted with rage to the aggressive Israeli counterattacks.

It's unclear whether Obama will be as supportive of Israel as President George W. Bush has been.

Jon Alterman, head of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, speculated that Israeli leaders synchronized their retaliatory attacks to political calendars in both Israel and the U.S. More moderate politicians running in the Feb. 10 national election needed to appear strong against Hamas, and it was perhaps better to strike before Bush left office on Jan. 20 because they weren't as sure about what Obama's reaction would be.



"I think Obama will be supportive of Israel, but will bring a little more skepticism to it," Alterman said. "I think Obama will start from premise that Israel is an ally, but that we have to look at this fresh."

Bush, who is staying at his Texas ranch, spoke on the phone with national security adviser Stephen Hadley to receive an update on the situation and was being kept abreast of developments throughout the day, said Gordon Johndroe, a presidential spokesman. He said Bush would receive an intelligence briefing via a secured video hookup at the ranch early Monday morning and would be briefed then on any overnight developments.


According to an aide on Obama's transition team, the president-elect, who is in Hawaii, continues to closely monitor global events, including the situation in Gaza. He had an intelligence briefing Sunday and plans to talk with his incoming national security adviser, Gen. James Jones, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his nominee for secretary of state.

The aide said Obama appreciates the information the Bush administration is sharing with him. The aide requested anonymity because the Obama team is refraining from comment, saying the U.S. has only one president at a time.

FLYING SHOES

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in a supreme insult has suddenly become the talk of Iraq. The little known Shi'ite reporter said to have harbored anger against Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by unknown gunmen in 2007. TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi remained in detention on Monday, accused by the Iraqi government of a "barbaric act."

His employer, independent al-Baghdadiya television, demanded his release and demonstrators rallied for him in Sadr City in Baghdad, the southern Shi'ite stronghold of Basra and the holy city of Najaf, where some threw shoes at a U.S. convoy. "Thanks be to God, Muntazer's act fills Iraqi hearts with pride," his brother, Udai al-Zaidi, told Reuters Television, demanding that the Iraqi government free him. "I'm sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did. Muntazer used to say all the orphans whose father were killed are because of Bush."

Zaidi shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," at Bush in a news conference the U.S. president held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during an unannounced farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday. The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over Bush's head and slammed into the wall behind him. Zaidi was dragged struggling and screaming from the room by security guards and could be heard shouting outside while the news conference continued after momentary mayhem.

The Iraqi government said Zaidi had carried out "a barbaric and ignominious act" that did not correspond to the role of the media. "He tried to attack the visiting president," the media center of the council of ministers said in a statement. "At the same time that we condemn this ignominious act, we call on the television channel of this reporter to deliver a public apology for this act which sullies the reputation of all Iraqi journalists and the whole media." Al-Baghdadiya television demanded Zaidi's immediate release, "in accordance with the democratic era and the freedom of expression that Iraqis were promised by U.S. authorities."

It said that any harsh measures taken against the reporter would be reminders of the "dictatorial era" that Washington said its forces invaded Iraq to end. Zaidi, now in his late 20s, spent more than two days blindfolded, barely eating and drinking, after armed men forced him into a car as he walked to work in November 2007. He said at the time that the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness, and used his necktie to blindfold him and bound his hands with his shoelaces. He never learned the identity of the kidnappers, who questioned him about his work but did not demand a ransom.

Colleagues of Zaidi say he resented President Bush, blaming him for the bloodshed that ravaged Iraq after the invasion. It did not appear that he had lost any close family members during the sectarian killings and insurgency, which in recent months have finally begun to wane. A small number of supporters of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for his release in Basra, the southern city that controls Iraq's oil exports. Larger groups of Sadrists also protested in Baghdad's Sadr City and in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf. In Najaf, witnesses said demonstrators threw shoes at a passing American convoy.

But the president's message on progress in the region was having trouble competing with the videotaped image of the angry Iraqi who hurled his shoes at Bush in a near-miss, shouting in Arabic, "This is your farewell kiss, you dog!" The reporter was later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam with their shoes after U.S. Marines toppled it to the ground following the 2003 invasion. Bush told reporters later that he didn't think "you can take one guy throwing shoes and say this represents a broad movement in Iraq. You can try to do that if you want but I don't think that would be accurate."


Reaction in Iraq was swift but mixed, with some condemning the act and others applauding it. Television news stations throughout Iraq repeatedly showed footage of the incident, and newspapers carried headline stories. In Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for protests against Bush and demanded the release of the reporter. Thousands took to the streets Monday, chanting, "Bush, Bush, listen well: Two shoes on your head." Talking to a small group of reporters after the incident, Bush said, "I didn't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole." He told the reporters that "you were more concerned than I was. I was watching your faces." "I'm pretty good at ducking, as most of you know," Bush joked, adding quickly that "I'm talking about ducking your questions."

On a more serious note, he said, "I mean, it was just a bizarre moment, but I've had other bizarre moments in the presidency. I remember when Hu Jintao was here. Remember? We had the big event? He's speaking, and all of a sudden I hear this noise — had no earthly idea what was taking place, but it was the Falun Gong woman screaming at the top of her lungs (near the ceremony on the White House lawn). It was kind of an odd moment." The Iraqi government condemned the act and demanded an on-air apology from Al-Baghdadia television, the Iraqi-owned station that employs Muntadar al-Zeidi. Several people descended on the man immediately after, wrestling him to the ground, and it took a minute for security agents to clear the crowd and start hauling him out. As they dragged him off, he was moaning and screaming as if in pain. Later, a large blood trail could be seen on the carpet where he was dragged out of the room.

He was taken into custody and reportedly was being held for questioning by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's guards and is being tested for alcohol and drugs. Other Arab journalists and commentators, fed up with U.S. policy in the Middle East and Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam, echoed al-Zeidi's sentiments. Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote on the newspaper's Web site that the incident was "a proper goodbye for a war criminal."

In Iraq, nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, protecting the fragile democracy. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have died and $576 billion has been spent since the war began five years and nine months ago.

HOT GREECE

The funeral on Tuesday of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a teenager shot dead by police was expected to provoke more riots in Greece following three days of the country's worst unrest in decades. The 15-year-old boy's killing on Saturday night has fanned public anger at unpopular economic policies and scandals as the global financial crisis reaches Greece.

Thousands of protesters burnt and looted shops in central Athens and tear gas choked Syntagma Square outside the parliament as police clashed with left-wing demonstrators. More than 50 people have been hurt and scores of shops, banks and cars damaged. Police arrested about 150 people.

Greece's conservative government. "Today's picture is unacceptable for the level of our democracy," Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos told after a government meeting. The government denied reports it was planning to declare a state of emergency but Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis was due to meet the president and party political leaders to discuss the crisis. Protests have erupted in more than 10 cities across the nation of 11 million people, including northern Thessaloniki and the tourist islands of Crete and Corfu. Greeks overseas protested in London and Berlin.


Five men have been arrested in Britain. The Metropolitan Police said the men were being held in custody for a variety of public order offences. They were detained after taking part in a 40-strong protest outside the Greek Embassy in Holland Park, west London. The London protest began at 10am and had dispersed by 3pm, a Met spokesman said. He could not confirm the nationality of those arrested and he said nobody was thought to be injured.


On Monday night, rioting youths took control of central Athens and set fire to the huge Christmas tree. More than 130 shops have already been destroyed in the capital, dashing retailers' hopes that Christmas would compensate for Greece's darkening economic outlook. The shooting of Grigoropoulos kindled smouldering anger among Greek youths, resentful at a widening gap between rich and poor.



Two police officers have been charged over the shooting, one with murder and the other as an accomplice. Police said one officer fired three shots after their car was attacked by 30 youths The officer described firing warning shots but witnesses have said he took aim at the boy. A coroner's report on Monday said it was not possible to be sure.