The death toll from flooding in southern Brazil on Thursday climbed to 97, the state news agency said.

Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien scored one of the goals as Ghana defeated Sudan 2-0 in Accra on Sunday to become the first African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari gave the 'Black Stars' an early lead and Essien added a second soon after half-time, unleashing a drive that flew into the net at the near post. The result, coupled with closest challengers Benin and Mali drawing 1-1 in Cotonou a few ...

Luis Fabiano drilled in two goals and Luisao added another to lead Brazil to a 3-1 win over Argentina late Saturday and to give their squad a spot in the 2010 World Cup finals. Fabiano netted his two goals at the 30 and 68 minute marks, while Luisao scored just 24 minutes into the match. Jesus Datolo put Argentina on the board at the 66-minute mark with the team's lone goal. This defeat has complicated Argentina's hopes of reaching the ...

European champions Barcelona began the defense of the Spanish Primera Liga title with a 3-0 demolition of Sporting Gijon in the Camp Nou on Monday night. Barca were missing Lionel Messi, who is on international duty with Argentina, and injured key midfielder Andres Iniesta, but it made little difference against the visitors, who narrowly avoided relegation last season. Mali international midfielder Seydou Keita proved the main influence for the Catalan giants in the first half, setting up Bojan Krkic for ...

Brazil has confirmed 557 deaths caused by H1N1 flu, the highest total in the world, the nation's Health Ministry says. The United States has counted 522 fatalities through Thursday, and nearly 1,800 people had died worldwide through August 13, U.S. and global health officials said. In terms of mortality rate, which considers flu deaths in terms of a nation's population, Brazil ranks seventh, and the United States is 13th, the Brazilian Ministry of Health said in a news release Wednesday. ...

For generations the residents of Sao Pedro, Brazil and neighboring Candido Godoi have known their isolated hamlet in southern Brazil was special. They say about a decade ago the rest of the world figured it out too. Since then, despite the remoteness, they've been visited by researchers, authors, journalist and even a few tourists. We saw the print articles, we knew the story; 40 pairs of twins in just a four kilometer stretch of land. But it sounded too good ...

The Air Force spent years fighting to keep building the $350 million F-22 fighter, an airplane crammed with so much gee-whiz technology there's a law barring it from being sold to any other nation. But since no other nation is building such a plane to challenge it, the F-22 has become a costly investment with an uncertain payoff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates just killed it. That sent an unmistakable message to the two new top Air Force officials Gates ...

For one of the farthest, coldest places in the solar system, Pluto sure stirs a lot of hot emotions right here on Earth. It was three years ago Monday that the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet, a decision that made jaws drop around the world. An outcry followed, textbooks had to be rewritten, long-held beliefs were shattered, and many people felt our cosmic neighborhood just didn't seem the same with eight -- instead ...

President Richard M. Nixon and his Brazilian counterpart, Emilio Medici, in 1971 discussed ways their countries could work together to overthrow the socialist government of Salvador Allende in Chile, according to a newly declassified document. During a meeting of the two leaders at the White House on December 9 of that year, Medici was discussing the possibility of a coup by the Chilean military with assistance from Brazilian military officers when Nixon said that it was "very important that Brazil ...

Did you know when you joined Twitter how powerful a communication tool it would become? —Jenny Johnson, London I didn't know anything about it when I joined. I was on Facebook. I was on MySpace. And somebody said to me, You should check out this thing called Twitter. I knew five people that were on it, so I started following those people and seeing what they were doing and then I applied my own sensibility to it. The more that ...