Playstation 3 rocks - or rock

This happened to a guy in Brazil who ordered a Playstation 3 from a popular online retailer in the country - Submarino -, similar to Amazon. After trying to get his product delivered and failing for few weeks, he gave up when he was finally mailed a Playstation 3 box, with a rock inside. Fortunately he managed to get his money back, but he'll certainly think twice before ordering from them again. Check some of the pictures on his blog.

Alagoas health in chaos

The state of Alagoas, in Northeastern Brazil, has decreed a State of Emergency in its public health system, after a strike by doctors entered its third month. The local authorities are now authorized to hire nearly 250 people to replace some members of the health staff on strike that resigned en masse. The decision takes place after the population started feeling the effect of the long strike. An 18-month-old child died after receiving no treatment, and the main emergency room in the state has started registering several deaths caused by infection due to overcrowding.

Five-star cell treatment for businessman

A businessman jailed for kidnapping and witness cohersion has a better treatment in jail than the overwhelming majority of honest citizens living in Brazil. Alfeu Mozaquatro not only has access to cable TV in his own cell, but also may receive up to five visits a week from family and friends, and can order food from restaurants to be delivered to the prison where he's spending his five-year sentence.

His 'benefits' are even registered in an official document signed by the prison's director. In an interview to a Brazilian news outlet, the director admits that the businessman is given privileges, but says he sees no harm in allowing him to watch DVDs and the news. However, he can't explain why the 39 other people incarcerated at the same prison do not have access to the same treatment.

Brazilian authorities are investigating the case, and may soon put an end to the businessman's five-star dream retreat.

Company is sued for not allowing employee to use the toilet

A telemarketer has successfully sued the company where she worked for R$ 6,800 (roughly US$3,500) for not being allowed to go to the toilet during working hours. The only time she was allowed to go to the restroom was during her five-minute break, which happened once a day. Because of this limitation, the woman developed a urinary infection, and not even after a medical professional recommended that she be allowed to go to the restroom more often she was allowed to do so by the company.

The company rejected the accusations, but the judge in charge of the lawsuit argued the signs of the abuse were clear. In her sentence, judge Ivone Queiroz pointed out that "employees are not machines but human beings, and they should be treated as such."

Cigarette companies are also sued in Brazil

The two largest manufacturers of cigarettes in Brazil - Souza Cruz and Phillip Morris - are being sued by the Sao Paulo State Public Attorney's Consumer Department Office. According to an article on the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper this Monday, the companies are being sued for the damage caused to millions of people by the consumption of tobacco products.

The final value of the indemnization, if any, should be set by a judge, but if similar cases in the US are taken into account, it could end up resulting in more than a billion dollars. According to the article, the lawsuit asks the companies should repay the government - at the Federal and State levels - for the treatment of diseases caused or made worse by the consumption of cigarettes.

Car is stolen twice on same day

Consultant Avelino Cunha hopes to forget this day. His car was stolen twice on the same day in the city of Vitoria, in the State of Espirito Santo (Holy Spirit). According to the news portal G1, When he woke up last Thursday to leave for work he noticed his car was not in the spot he usually left it, in front of his home.

Fortunately, the vehicle, a pickup truck, was found shortly afterwards, abandoned at a nearby gas station. Cunha recovered the car and went to work. At the end of the day, he couldn't find the car at the place he had left it, outside of his workplace. This time, the vehicle could no longer be recovered.

More than 2,000 cars were stolen in the Vitoria Metropolitan area in July alone.

All new cars to have radar tracking in Brazil

Due to the large number of stolen cars in the country, the Brazilian Transit Council (Contran) announced that all new cars sold in Brazil will have to come equipped with a tracking device that will allow the vehicles to be localized by sattelite. The manufacturers have two years to comply with the new rule. For buyers, the decision not only means they will be forced to pay for the system to be installed by the car makers. They will also have to pay for a service monthly fee, roughly around US$ 40/month.

The idea may be good to discourage criminals, but not so for consumers already forced to pay nearly 50% more than the real value of cars in duties alone. In addition to creating rules that ultimately force people to pay more, the authorities should try to do their part in guaranteeing a safer environment not only against car thieves, but also murderers, burglars, drug traffickers and kidnappers.

Brazilian authorities arrest Colombian drug lord

Brazilian authorities arrested a man said to be one of the most wanted drug lords in the world. According to Reuters, Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, 44, was seized around dawn at a luxury apartment in Aldeia da Serra in Sao Paulo state. Abadia, also known as Chupeta, or Lollipop, could be extradited to face U.S. charges that he smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States. The US has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.

Let's see if anything happens from all of this. More likely than not, he may just be replaced by the next in line in this lucrative business.

Brazilians dig 76 tons of buried meat for barbecue

Dozens of families in Rio de Janeiro spent the weekend savoring barbecues made from meat they dug from an Army land on Friday. The meat was buried after the Brazilian Customs agency determined it had been imported illegally. As Army trucks left the place where the 76 tons of meat had been buried, locals started digging the boxes of meat. According to some of the people who ate the meat, interviewed by the local media, the meat was still frozen when it was dug out of the hole, and had an expiry date of October 2007.

Several families in the region of Albuquerque, in the outskirts of Rio, promoted barbecues during the weekend. The local store manager reported having sold three times as much beer as normal, to help quench the thirst of the barbecuers.

The local authorities explained that burying products that are imported illegally is a normal procedure taken with several different types of goods that are confiscated on a daily basis. The meat was imported from Algeria, but the importer abandoned the cargo. Local media reported that so far nobody has fallen ill from eating the dug meat.

Unwanted pregnancy leads to increase in violence

A new study shows that an unwanted pregnancy may be a much stronger factor in the increase of violence related incidents than other components usually believed to encourage violent acts, such as economic or inequality factors. According to the new study, undertaken by economist Gabriel Hartung in Brazil, the number of violent incidents is directly related to the number of children living with single mothers. A decrease in this number of children - usually a result of an unwanted pregnancy - could be three times more efficient in reducing violence than a similar decrease in inequality levels and four times as efficient than an equivalent economic growth. According to Mr. Hartung, heard by the Agencia Estado news agency, birth control would be the most efficient way of reducing violence levels in Brazil. The link between unwanted pregnancies and violence is the environment in which the child grows up, usually a home where the mother lives without a partner, struggling to make ends meet.