[Jardim Gramacho, Brazil; December 9. Image via Getty]

JARDIM GRAMACHO, BRAZIL - DECEMBER 09: Eliame Pereira, 43, poses at the Jardim Gramacho waste disposal site on December 9, 2009 in Jardim Gramacho, Brazil. Pereira, following in the footsteps of her mother, has been working as a trash picker at the site since she was 10 years old. She takes night courses in reading and writing hoping to get another job one day. Pereira works seven days a week at the site earning an average of $17 per day. Referred to as the largest open-air landfill in Latin America, the waste disposal site of Jardim Gramacho processes up to 9,000 pounds of trash daily from Rio de Janerio. The landfill provides a livelihood for over 1000 trash pickers who make an average daily wage of $20 separating the trash from paper, cans and plastics that are then sold as recyclables. Gramacho opened in 1978 and is said to have reached its trash capacity years ago. The landfill is currently set to close in 2012 to avert an environmental disaster but jeopardizing the work of the 1,300 trash pickers left who have few other employment options. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

[Rio de Janeiro, December 7. Image via Getty]

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - DECEMBER 07: Women walk by a special units police officer at the entrance of a favela in the area of Copacabana where fighting between the police and drug dealers is continuing on December 7, 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is estimated that there are over 1,000 favelas in Rio where violent crime is rampant. The police are attempting a softer touch in many favelas by participating in community policing after they clear the area of drug gangs. Police are believed to want to continue with these programs citywide ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games. As Brazil prepares to host the 2016 Summer Olympics international scrutiny is falling on Rio de Janeiro's favelas where over 5,000 people were murdered last year alone. In the last week violence in tourist areas has increased as drug gangs are progressively reacting to a growing police presence in the favelas. In figures released Tuesday by the IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica) statistics agency it was found that an average of 68 young Brazilian men died violently each day between 1998 and 2008. These numbers included murder, traffic accidents and gang violence involving the police. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

[Rio de Janeiro, December 2. Image via Getty]

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - DECEMBER 02: A young girl stands in a shopping cart in the poverty ridden City of God favela, or slum, on December 2, 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The favela, which acclaimed international notoriety after the film 'City of God' brought the violence of the slum to millions of viewers, has been largely pacified by police but its over 65,000 residents are still stepped in poverty. As Brazil prepares to host the 2016 Summer Olympics international scrutiny is falling on Rio de Janeiro's favelas where over 5,000 people were murdered last year alone. In the last week violence in tourist areas has increased as drug gangs are increasingly reacting to an increased police presence in the favelas. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

[Rio de Janeiro, November 22. Image via Getty]

Human rights activists hold signs and flags during a demonstration against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, on November 22, 2009. Ahmadinejad will arrive in Brazil tomorrow as part of a a five nation tour, in a bid to boost ties with Latin America's biggest economy and a rare backer of Tehran's nuclear programme. AFP PHOTO/Eduardo Romero (Photo credit should read EDUARDO ROMERO/AFP/Getty Images)

• Police believe Joshua Woodward, a restaurateur from L.A., gave his 13-weeks pregnant girlfriend an abortion inducing drug without her consent. She claims just hours before she miscarried, Woodward touched her sexually, leaving white powder in her underwear. • Conseulo Carreto Valencia, 61, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison - the maximum sentence - for forcing girls to work as prostitutes. In this rather tasteless article, the NY Daily News refers to her as a "mini-madam," due to her short stature. •  A Danish political party has fessed up to pasting yellow penis stickers all over the posters for opposing parties. "We admit we did it," said party Vice President Niels Andreasen. But it seems like their hilarious efforts paid off: "At first we figured we'd get around 200 votes. But now we've had 10,000 visitors to our Web site and we have 500 new Facebook friends." • Two cities in California have voted to outlaw the declawing of cats. Beverly Hills City Council and the Los Angeles City Council joined Santa Monica and San Francisco in the recent ban. •  A 20-year-old Somali woman was stoned to death for adultery in front of a crowd of 200 on Tuesday afternoon. She had recently been divorced, and was reportedly dating a 29-year-old man. He received 100 lashes for his part in the affair. • A research team from the UK found that almost 50% of women have a genetic variation which reduces their ability to produce vitamin A from beta-carotene. This may mean that up to half the women in England could be at risk for vitamin A deficiency. • Doctors believe that they may be able to use eggs donated by younger women to increase the chances of conception among older women. A team from Japan removed the nuclei from eggs of women undergoing IVF and injected them into eggs donated by women under 35. • The city of Sacramento, California has presented 18-year-old Margarita Vargas with an official proclamation, calling her decision to call the police after hearing about the brutal gang rape of a teen girl "a bold act of humanity." • Olivia Thomas, the oldest person in the U.S., died this week at the age of 114. Thomas was believed to be the third oldest person in the world at the time of her death. •  A police officer in Arkansas recently tasered a 10-year-old girl when she refused to get into his police car. The report says the stun was "very, very brief" and only used to bring the girl to a youth shelter. • It seems Brian Adams, the photographer who shot the picture of Sarah Palin in shorts for Runner's World violated his contract by reselling the photo to Newsweek. A spokeswoman for Runner's World said the picture was supposed to be under embargo until August 2010, and "Runner's World did not provide Newsweek with its cover image... It was provided to Newsweek by the photographer's stock agency, without Runner's World's knowledge or permission." A Newsweek spokesman responded, "We purchased the photo from an agency and were not aware of any issues with it." • Police say they're not filing any more charges in the murder of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis until it's decided which North Carolina county will handle the case. Her mother, Antoinette Davis, and Mario McNeill have already been arrested and charged with kidnapping and child abuse involving prostitution. • Katherine Sebelius addressed the confusion over new breast cancer screening recommendations saying, "The U.S. Preventive Task Force is an outside independent panel of doctors and scientists who make recommendations... They do not set federal policy, and they don't determine what services are covered by the federal government... The Task Force has presented some new evidence for consideration but our policies remain unchanged. Indeed, I would be very surprised if any private insurance company changed its mammography coverage decisions as a result of this action." • A 13-year-old boy in Alabama was arrested after he asked an undercover officer posing as a prostitute for sex. The officer says she tried to run him off more than once, but he insisted, so she had to arrest him. He was charged with a misdemeanor count of loitering while looking for a prostitute. • In its 2009 state of the world population report, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says the world's poor are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and most of the 1.5 billion people living on less than $1 a day are women. "Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, even though they contributed the least to it," said UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. • Last month the U.K.'s Law Commission proposed that unmarried couples who live together for two years should be able to claim half of their partner's estate if they die without a will. Baroness Deech, chairman of the Bar Standards Board says, "Cohabitation law retards the emancipation of women, degrades the relationship, takes away choice, is too expensive and would extend an already unsatisfactory maintenance law for married couples to another large category," adding, "Women do not need and ought not to require to be kept by men after their relationship has come to an end." • British hedge fund manager Mark Lowe is being sued for sexual discrimination by female executive Jordan Wimmer because he repeatedly forwarded the office sexist emails. She confronted him when he sent around a dumb blonde joke. He said in court: "I didn't for a moment suppose anyone would take exception to a feeble joke of this sort. It was not directed against [Ms Wimmer]. The thought never occurred to me that she'd be offended." •

[Rio, November 14. Image via INFDaily.]

• Madonna is in Brazil, but not to meet Jesus' parents. She says:

"I am going there strictly for fund raising and humanitarian purposes." Her Madgesty is sponsoring a documentary about kids living in the squalid hillside slums. [Page Six]

• Guess who was seeing Heath Ledger when he died? Lindsay Lohan. Her mom, Dina, tells Michael Lohan about it in this — you guessed it — recorded phone conversation. In the audio, Dina says Lindsay "cannot be alone" and sleeps with Dina when she is home because she has fears of being alone. [Radar Online]
• In a newly released 2008 taped phone call between Lindsay Lohan's assistant, Jenni Muro, and Michael Lohan, the former says: "I am trying to save your daughter's life every day." Muro was also pissed she had to relocate to NYC so LL could be on Ugly Betty, saying: "I get a 5% commission on this entire TV show and it's sick and disgusting and I'm here and I give up my boyfriend and my dog and my parents and my new place in LA and everything so that your daughter doesn't kill herself, ok?" [ONTD via Radar]
• A recent Tweet from Lindsay Lohan: "i'm a regular person to.. i sleep, eat, laugh, cry, shower, have blood running through my veins, i have a heart, etc etc- lol" [Twitter]
• People: I have seen a clip of Lady Gaga's new video, "Bad Romance," and there is latex and implied violence and dancing! The full video debuts Monday, and Ms. Gaga says: "There's this one shot in the video where I get kidnapped by supermodels. I'm washing away my sins and they shove vodka down my throat to drug me up before they sell me off to the Russian mafia." In addition, Gaga wears razor-blade sunglasses: "I wanted to design a pair for some of the toughest chicks and some of my girlfriends - don't do this at home! - they used to keep razor blades in the side of their mouths. That tough female spirit is something that I want to project. It's meant to be, 'This is my shield, this is my weapon, this is my inner sense of fame, this is my monster.'" [MTV News]
• Amy Winehouse loves her new boobs and now wants butt implants to get that "pin-up look." [The Sun]
• Joe Halderman — the CBS news producer accused of trying to extort cash from David Letterman — goes to court today for the first hearing in his criminal case. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Joe Halderman's friends are helping him pay his legal bills. [TMZ]
• Justin Timberlake has been dealing with a stalker, and submitted a statement to a judge yesterday which read: "I fear for my personal safety." He called the behavior of woman in question "ever-increasing, aggressive and harassing." [TMZ]
• At the link, James Franco talks about his upcoming stints on 30 Rock and General Hospital. Of doing a soap opera, he says: "It's been a blast so far. It was kind of mind-blowing. I've worked one day on it. It's one day of a few. But I think we packed seven episodes of my material in." He also reveals that he has not worn an eyepatch. Yet. [NY Magazine]
• Oh dear: Tracy Morgan's stand-up show at Carnegie Hall was so crazy, people walked out. And not crazy in the good way — he called homosexuality a choice and joked, "Obama is really changing the White House, because he and Michelle will have the first presidential sex tape out." [Gatecrasher]
• "Dr. Conrad Murray was on the phone with his girlfriend as Michael Jackson was dying." [TMZ]
• Joe Jackson is being meddlesome with the executors of Michael Jackson's will. [CNN]
• Naomi Campbell is going on a month-long, £1 million vacation with boyfriend Vladislav Doronin, and she is calling it a honeymoon, though they're not married. Grain of salt on this one. [The Sun]
• Levi Johnston has Tweeted: "BREAKING NEWS !!!! SNL APPEARANCE THIS SAT… you hear it first !!!" My guess is that he'll be in the news segment, but you never know — we could get a Tina Fey/Sarah Palin appearance! [MSNBC Scoop]
• Levi Johnston is reportedly going to file for joint custody of his son Tripp. [Page Six]
• Ugh. Carrie Prejean's autobiography is out so she is still in the damn spotlight. She claims the Miss California USA pageant director pressured her into getting a boob job. [Radar Online]
• By the by, Carrie Prejean says her "solo sex tape" was the biggest mistake of her life. [TMZ]
• Director Lee Daniels is not pushing for an Oscar for Precious: "It scares me," he says. When he first heard Oscar talk, "I was completely thrown off guard. I was like … Oscar who? Oscar de la Renta?" [Gatecrasher]
• "Actress Emma Thompson's art project takes viewers on 'Journey' of sex slave" [NY Daily News]
• John Travolta has to promote his new flick Old Dogs, even though he is struggling to get by since the death of his son. He says: "
  "We've been working very hard every day as a family to heal. We have our own way of doing it, and it has been helping." [USA Today]
• Congrats to Halle Berry, who will receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter's 18th annual Women in Entertainment breakfast presented by Lifetime. Past recipients include Barbara Walters, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster and Glenn Close. [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Entourage's Kevin Connolly gambles and hangs with Playmates. [Page Six]
• Donald Trump and Omarosa will be reunited for Omarosa's new dating reality show on TV One, called Omarosa's Ultimate Merger, on which she tries to choose a love interest from a selection of 12 bachelors. [Variety]
• Boo: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. [People]
• "The only thing worse than Aerosmith with Steven Tyler is Aerosmith without Steven Tyler." [NY Post]
• Hot hottie Jason Lewis — you know, he played hottie Smith Jerrod — has been cast as the lead in a new show called Rio! He'll play an international detective (?!?!) who goes to Brazil to investigate a crime… and decides to stay after enjoying the city, its beaches and nightlife. It's Miami Vice and Magnum PI and maybe even Hawaii 5-0. Also, he's hot. [Page Six]
• Someone spilled a drink on Russell Simmons at a party. [Page Six]
• Twilight's Christian Serratos is getting naked for a PETA ad. She's 19. [Gatecrasher]
• Unsolicited uterus update: Kelly Kapowski is pregnant. [Gatecrasher]
• Whatshisname sued a tabloid magazine and won libel damages. [BBC News]
• "When you hear the phrase 'only in America,' it means something extraordinary, something extreme, something good. But if someone were to say ‘only in Britain,' it would be something damp, miserable, no, not until Wednesday and then it's unlikely." — Stephen Fry is promoting Stephen Fry In America and might come live in the U.S. [Daily Express]
• "If he wanted to go down that road he probably would have done so by now. And I think he is a very solid and faithful person." — Mel Gibson's girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, who has dated Mel and given birth while he's still legally married to his wife of 29 years. [MSNBC]
• "There wasn't going to be any more Juliet, and now there is going to be more Juliet. That's all I can say. I wish I could say more. I don't really like to be so close-lipped, but it kind of just goes with the show." — Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell. [USA Today]
• "How do I still look good? I owe 30 per cent to genes, 30 per cent to good sex, 30 per cent because of sports and healthy lifestyle with proper nutrition and for the remaining 10 per cent – I have to thank my plastic surgeon. I'm 71 and physically don't feel so good since I'm in pain. But I'm happier, the sex is better and I understand life better. I don't want to be young again." — Jane Fonda just had spine surgery, a new knee and hip made of titanium, but she had to get herself repaired because she wants to climb the Himalayas. [Telegraph]
• "I smoke weed, but I don't think it's really a drug. 'It's more of a herb. I don't regret saying that at all. I think everyone smokes weed and people who say they don't are lying! Weed has been given this evil stamp, but how is it dangerous? It's going to make you laugh your arse off? You might go to sleep? I think alcohol is much more harmful. People beat the f**k out of each other on alcohol." — Joss Stone should change her name to Joss Stoned. [Daily Mail]
• "I really enjoy acting. I like being in front of the camera. I think I should be an action star." — Serena Williams, that makes two of us. [NY Daily News]
• "Elevators scare me — just being stuck without phone service when you're alone. Small spaces are fine, if I'm with someone in an elevator fine, but I will not buy an apartment on the 14th floor of a building that's for sure, I've gotta be able to walk. … The unknown is very scary. …I'm scared of a lot of women, certain women because I guess I don't have a lot of confidence in myself, I don't know what it is." — Amanda Seyfried. [Mirror]
• "We're discovering who the enemy are, and I do think we do have an enemy. It means that everyone's got to go on fighting. And in what way you fight, well, it depends who you are… You can write a letter, you can talk about it to your congressperson… you can talk to people in bars… Or you can go on marches, or you can go and break windows." — Sir Ian McKellan on the fight for gay marriage. [Page Six]

According to Edison Bernardo DeSouza of Brazzil Magazine, on October 22, tourism student Geisy Arruda showed up to class at Uniban, near Sao Paulo, wearing a pink minidress and "heavy makeup," which apparently prompted her fellow students to go completely insane. Two hundred of them gathered outside her classroom to gawk at her, and when she left to go to the bathroom, men followed, physically fighting with her and trying to take cell phone pictures between her legs. A professor then tried to hide her in another classroom, but 700 students massed outside, shouting, "Let her out Professor, we want to rape her." As she finally left, escorted by police, some students took videos, including the one above, where you can hear chants of "puta" or "whore."

Uniban chose to respond to the situation by expelling Arruda. And rather than doing so by contacting her directly, the university decided to take out an ad in Sao Paulo newspapers Sunday titled "Educational Responsibility - Education Is Made With Attitude Not Complacency," explaining that it was kicking out Arruda because her dress and actions provoked "a collective reaction in defense of the school environment." Uniban's lawyer Josias de Souza helpfully added that Arruda was responsible for her harassment, explaining, "she always liked to provoke boys, the problem was not with her clothes, but the way she acts, talks, crosses her legs, and walks."

Arruda says she was initially told she'd be allowed to return to class with a security escort, and she's rightly outraged at how Uniban has handled the attacks on her. "I was the victim," she says. "How can I be expelled? It's absurd." From the outside, the whole situation does seem absurd, and not in any sort of amusing way. Reuters quotes an online commenter who says the hysteria over a mere miniskirt was "pure hypocrisy ... Once February and the Carnival comes round everyone will be naked and no one will find it abnormal." The Toronto Star points out that "although Brazil is known for its skimpy attire, especially in beach cities, most college students dress more modestly on campus – commonly in jeans and T-shirts." Indeed, most of the students in the video above appear to be dressed in jeans, but that doesn't give them the right to attack Arruda or threaten her with rape. And psychologist Ana Fraiman, interviewed on a Brazilian television show, doubts whether moral outrage over Arruda's skimpy attire was even the real issue. She says,

What we saw here was a case of mass hysteria, a false moralism. This situation simply dragged the students into it because this fact was probably more interesting than the classes they were taking.

Since Uniban is apparently one of the worst universities in Brazil, this last statement sounds pretty apt. A clearer dress code, as recommended by Minister Nilcéa Freire of Brazil's Special Secretariat of Policies for Women, might make future incidents less likely, but even that is debatable — Arruda didn't cause her harassment and assault with her short dress any more than rape victims provoke their rapists with sexy clothes. Rather, she appears to have been at the center of a deeply sexist mass hysteria, one that Uniban is only feeding by blaming her. The university should be trying to root out the prejudices and pent-up rage that caused hundreds of students to turn on their classmate — instead, they're sending the message that women who wear short skirts deserve to be called "whores." Perhaps now that the international press is paying attention, Uniban will change its tune, but it's going to take a lot more than a dress code or security escort to make the campus truly safe for Arruda, or for any woman.

Miniskirt In Brazil School Results In Riot, Expulsion And Federal Action [Brazzil Magazine]
Brazil Student Expelled After Row Over Short Dress [Reuters]
Brazil Student Expelled After Wearing Mini-Dress [AP, via MSNBC]

[Sao Paulo, November 6. Image via Getty]

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY MARC BURLEIGH A litlle girl points at an airplane at a projection on the ceiling while vitising 'The Litlle Prince' exhibition, held at the OCA museum, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 6, 2009. The Little Prince, the intergalactic boy traveler who is part of many peoples' childhoods around the world, is visiting Brazil in a show also honoring his adventuresome creator. The exhibition highlights the voyages and lessons learnt by the character dreamed up Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1942, two years before his death at age 44. AFP PHOTO/Mauricio LIMA (Photo credit should read MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images)

[Rio, October 30. Image via INFDaily.]

• Of course a Nicole Richie clothing line was inevitable. It's called Winter Kate, and it will be hitting stores next February. [WWD]
• The full Jimmy Choo for H&M lookbook is out. [Daily Mail]

• Nick Knight is apparently shooting Raquel Zimmerman for the spring Alexander McQueen campaign. [Fashionologie]
• At the Oprah Store in Chicago, you can buy items worn by Oprah Herself on the show, from Oprah's Closet. But don't dare try them on! The rule is "To preserve the integrity of the items and ensure that Oprah was the last person to wear them," says a clerk. [True/Slant]
• Dennis Hopper has done an Easy Rider-inspired sneaker — whatever that means; it's navy suede — for Hogan. [WWD]
• "It's really belittling of the customer to think that anyone from a different price bracket deserves anything less," says Stella McCartney, who has collaborated on lower-priced lines so far with H&M, Adidas, Le Sportsac, and now GapKids. [NYTimes]
• Isaac Mizrahi decided to open his first store in the middle of a recession because a psychic told him to. [Fashionista]
• Mizrahi also told audiences at the 92nd St. Y, "I've actually booked girls [for a fashion show] that weren't obese, they were real girls. Like gorgeous anatomy. And one was a stripper. And you could feel the energy in the room just go down. Closed the books. Pens went down. They were angry. I could feel the anger. And I never did it again, because I thought Why bother? It takes a lot to rile women. It takes like actual breasts. Someone with implants, they're fine. Yes, you're right. Fashion advertisements are hateful. Hateful. Yeah, but they wouldn't do it unless it worked, right? It works." [The Cut]
• Yvon Chouinard, 70, is the founder of Patagonia. And as you would expect, he's outdoorsy. "I used to spend 250 days a year sleeping on the ground. I've climbed on every continent. I'm old enough to have seen the destruction," he says. "The reason I am in business is I want to protect what I love." And it seems like corporate responsibility has been Chouinard's practice since long before it became a buzzword; Patagonia has donated 1% of its annual sales to grass-roots environmental causes since 1985, and it switched to only using organic cotton in 1995. It has persuaded Nike, Timberland, and Wal-Mart to switch, too. [USN]
• Meanwhile, Lily Cole is working with a group called the Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign, which is working to save a 3 million hectare area of rainforest in the state of Acre, Brazil. [Independent]
• Levi's apparently thinks corporate responsibility comprises adding an extra message to its garment care tags, asking customers to please consider donating the jeans to charity when they are no longer needed, oh yeah, and to care for our planet. [AW]
• A man named Daniel Storto makes gloves in a rust belt New York town called Gloversville. That's the best we can describe this story, which, though a tad long on the gosh-darnit quirky local color, you should totally read. [NYTimes]
• Why would anyone make a $650 necklace, take the care to plate it in gold, and then adorn it with fake pearls? Questions that should be put to some outfit that sells at Barneys called Mawi. [W]
• The save the garment district rally yesterday featured this grand promise from mayoral candidate Bill Thompson: "As mayor, I'll work with manufacturers, the fashion industry and labor unions to arrange for up to one million square feet of dedicated garment manufacturing space in nonprofit buildings." Meanwhile, one manufacturer wants tax cuts for companies that manufacture domestically, interest-free loans, vouchers for his rent, tariffs on imported garments, and a blow job from Anna Wintour. (All right, we made that last part up.) Enforcing existing zoning laws would probably work just as well. [Crain's]
• Judith Leiber once designed a bag for Hillary Clinton based on Socks the Cat. [Style.com]
• Louis Vuitton now has a store in Ulan Bator. That's in Mongolia. The country, or at least certain sectors of it, is awash in wealth from uranium and copper mining, and officials at LVMH are assured that "elegant women" are already sporting damier and monogram canvas items at Ulan Bator's "trendy nightclubs and restaurants." Louis Vuitton is not, however, the first luxury brand to hit the market: Ermenegildo Zegna opened last month. [WWD]
• Roberto Cavalli, after having visited Chechnya, will now take care of fashion business in Turkey. [FWD]
• Cynthia Rowley is doing a line of surfwear for Roxy. We want to see those alleged neoprene pencil skirts. [Racked]
• J. Crew nearly doubled its earnings forecast for the fourth quarter, and its stock rose by 10%, to $42.01. [TS]
• Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group — which owns Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, and Burton — reported a 13% rise in pre-tax profits, to £213.6 million, for the year to this August. [Independent]

[Buenos Aires, October 20. Image via Getty]

Brazilian pole dancer Eduarda Ribeiro (L) waits backstage for the start of the 'Miss Pole Dance Argentina 2009' and 'Miss Pole Dance South America 2009' competitions, in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 20, 2009. Brazilian dancer Rafaela Montenero took first place in the 'Miss Pole Dance South America 2009' and Argentinian pole dancer Maria Luz Escalante took the 'Miss Pole Dance Argentina 2009' title. AFP PHOTO/JUAN MABROMATA (Photo credit should read JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images)

[São Paulo, October 12. Image via Getty]

A woman rests inside a building just outside the Diogo Pires shantytown in western Sao Paulo, Brazil, on October 12, 2009. More than half of the 600 families living in the shantytown lost all their belongings on the eve, in a blaze whose origin has not been determined. AFP PHOTO/Mauricio Lima (Photo credit should read MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images)

[Rio de Janeiro, October 2. Image via Getty]

A cheerful crowd roars of joy in Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as it is officially announced that their hometown will stage the 2016 Olympic Games, October 2, 2009. Rio de Janeiro's dream of bringing the Olympics to South America for the first time became reality here on Friday when they won the vote to host the 2016 edition. The Brazilian city saw off Madrid - by 66 votes to 32 - in the final round of voting after odds-on favourites Chicago, backed by a personal visit from President Barack Obama, had gone out in a first round sensation. AFP PHOTO/VANDRLEI ALMEIDA (Photo credit should read VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images)

[Sao Paulo, September 21. Image via Getty]

A Greenpeace activist (C) dressed-up as a turtle speaks to a passer-by about their national campaign in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil on September 21, 2009. The campaign underway is part of a climate mobilization week aimed at raising awareness about climate change and the measures that can be taken to reduce its impact. AFP PHOTO/Mauricio LIMA (Photo credit should read MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images)

[Sao Paulo, September 8. Image via Getty]

A woman waits to cross an avenue in the surroundings of Congonhas, Sao Paulo's domestic airport, on September 8, 2009. Northern Argentina and southern Brazil, and the small countries of Uruguay and Paraguay wedged between them, were hit by a fierce atmospheric mass packing rain, hail and winds over 120 kilometers (70 miles) per hour. In Congonhas, many flights were delayed and pilots were being forced to rely on instruments because of zero visibility. AFP PHOTO/Mauricio Lima (Photo credit should read MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images)

[Sao Paulo, August 26. Image via Getty]

A homeless Brazilian girl takes a nap in an improvised hut near the land from which her family, and many others, were evicted in Capao Redondo shantytown, southern outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 26, 2009. Around 500 evicted families camped in front of the ruins of their homes, knocked down by authorities, because they had nowhere else to go, a homeless' rights group told AFP. They were forced out of their ramshackle homes by riot police who were enforcing an eviction order two days ago. The slum had existed for two years on illegally occupied property belonging to a bus company. AFP PHOTO/Mauricio LIMA (Photo credit should read MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images)