Dilma Rousseff

Rio de Janeiro’s Fashion Week has long been criticized for using almost exclusively white models in a country that is mostly non-white. But no more. A new agreement ensures at least 10 percent of models on Rio’s runways will be non-white.

Brazilians are increasingly critical of the United States.

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has postponed a state visit to the US next month because of allegations leaked by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. Brazilians are angry that the US has been intercepting their emails and phone calls.

Brazil was ruled by an abusive military dictatorship decades ago, like many other South American countries. But alone among its neighbors, Brazil has resisted efforts to confront and deal with that past. A new Truth Commission has been established to investigate, but no concrete actions are expected.

As the global economic crisis has consumed more and more time and attention, focus on the global warming crisis has waned. So it wasn’t surprising when President Barack Obama chose not to attend the Rio+20 conference this week in Brazil, and it also was unsurprising when there was little progress reported there.