Can this man really see the future?

A Brazilian man who says he predicted the two latest airplane crashes in the country is being questioned by experts, according to the Folha News website (in Portuguese). Jucelino Nobrega Luz has achieved notoriety in certain Web circles in Brazil with his predictions, but lost many would-be believers when he wrongly predicted that Pope Benedict XVI would suffer an attack - he didn't -, or when he said Brazilian president would not be reelected last year - he was. Mr. Luz says the Vatican took protective measures after receiving his letter alerting to the possible attack, and argues that some of his predictions may not become true, this being the reason for Mr. Lula's election win - alongside an alleged fraud in the voting process, according to him.

This same man had already claimed he sent a letter to the White House years before the Iraq War saying where Saddam Hussein would be hiding years later, after a US invasion to the country. For that prediction he tried, unsuccessfully, to demand the reward from the US authorities for information leading to the former dictator's arrest. He also said he predicted the Gol Airlines crash last September over the Amazon, and last month's crash in Sao Paulo with a TAM Airlines aircraft. He shows letters that were supposedly sent to the airlines, but the companies have not commented whether they received them before the accidents or not, as Mr. Luz claims. He says he registers all letters with a notary public before sending them, but experts that have seen the letters say the text in some of them appear to have been changed, which could indicate that Mr. Luz registered one letter prior to the accident and showed another after confirmation of what has happened.

The fortune-teller is at it again, saying that another air crash will take place on October 29, killing about 600 people. All we can do is wait to see if he's right, or see what kind of excuse he'll give for the tragedy not taking place.