Brazil

Brazil at the weekend claimed victory in its latest assault on US cotton subsidies at the World Trade Organization (WTO), underscoring warnings by the Bush administration that the subsidy-laden farm bill under consideration by the US Congress risks triggering a wave of trade disputes. Brazil said a confidential interim ruling by a WTO panel had gone in its favor. In other news, police found seven dead bodies Aug. 1 who they believe are victims of a gangland war that has flared anew in violence-plagued Rio de Janeiro after weeks of calm during the Pan American Games. The games were guarded by thousands of additional police and troopers from a paramilitary national security force. (Financial Times, Reuters)