David Biller
@davidbiller.bsky.social
Brazil News Director for the Associated Press • Gringo/New Englander in Rio de Janeiro, via Mexico, Chile & Argentina • ✉️ dbiller@ap.org • Follow our coverage here: https://www.apnews.com/hub/brazil
Haven't posted in awhile, but want to share link for anyone wishing to follow @AP's all-formats live coverage of the Vatican's conclave apnews.com/live/conclav...
Live updates: Cardinals return to the Sistine Chapel to vote on a new pope
Catholic cardinals return to the Vatican to elect Pope Francis' successor. White and black smoke will signal if a new pope has been chosen or not.
apnews.com
Some personal news, as they say: this month, I started as @apnews.com ’s Southern Europe News Director, based in Rome. I’m thrilled about this new opportunity, but before I posting about the here and now, I feel compelled to say that I left Brazil with a heavy heart... (🧵1/8)
The AP’s top photos from Brazil’s Carnival, along with a short story breaking down what Carnival in Rio is all about. Check it out! 📷 @sizqui.bsky.social , Bruna Prado, André Penner apnews.com/article/braz...
AP PHOTOS: In Rio and beyond, Carnival brings euphoria and release to Brazilians
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It’s that time of year in Rio de Janeiro: Carnival! Carnival in the Brazilian city has two sides: the street parties, known as blocos, and the parades at the legendary Sambadrome...
apnews.com
Rio's Carnival street vendors race across parks and up hills to place themselves and their carts in the thronging crush of thirsty revelers. It's an economic lifeline for them, but as their numbers have grown, they've drawn pushback. 📝@eleonorehughes.bsky.social apnews.com/article/braz...
Street vendors dispense the party fuel for Rio’s Carnival, but face pushback as their numbers grow
Vendors are a fixture at Rio’s Carnival street parties. They scour Instagram pages for times and locations, coordinate on WhatsApp groups, then race across parks and up hills, from Rio’s downtown to C...
apnews.com
Oscar fever for Brazil’s Fernanda Torres has made her this year’s Carnival muse 📝@pessoagabi.bsky.social apnews.com/article/braz...
Oscar fever for Brazil's Fernanda Torres has made her this year's Carnival muse
Brazil’s Carnival muse this year isn’t one of the divas or drum queens parading with the Rio de Janeiro samba schools.
apnews.com
A samba school rises to Rio Carnival’s top league, bringing an economic boom to its poor residents 📝diarlei Rodrigues and Mauricio Savarese apnews.com/article/samb...
apnews.com
Mud-covered Carnival revelers are a strange sight in sleepy Brazilian town apnews.com/article/braz...
Mud-covered Carnival revelers are a strange sight in sleepy Brazilian town
Several hundred mud-covered Carnival revelers paraded in the sleepy seaside town of Paraty in southeastern Brazil on Saturday, a decades-old tradition that has grown ever larger since its first editio...
apnews.com
Today’s the first full day of Brazil’s Carnival. Stay with The Associated Press’ live blog throughout the day, as we bring you into the merry madness.🎉🎊🥳 📝 me, @msavarese.bsky.social, @eleonorehughes.bsky.social 📷 @sizqui.bsky.social, bruna prado, André penner apnews.com/live/carniva...
Carnival 2025: Live updates and photos from Brazil's street parties
Brazil’s 2025 Carnival revelry is ramping up, from the raucous street parties to the glitzy parades. Follow AP reporters and photographers as they follow Saturday's pre-Lenten parties.
apnews.com
A Carnival parade in Rio will present the story of a trans woman nearly burned at the stake in the 16th century, highlighting the ongoing violence against transgender people in Brazil. 📷Silvia Izquierdo 📝Diarlei Rodrigues & @eleonorehughes.bsky.social apnews.com/article/braz...
A Rio Carnival parade will tell the story of a trans woman nearly burned at the stake
A Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro will present the story of a trans woman nearly burned at the stake in the 16th century as a means to spotlight trans people’s struggle in Brazil, where more of them...
apnews.com
Brazilian author Marcelo Rubens Paiva has been dismayed at the outpouring of hatred directed at him since his book "I'm Still Here" became a movie, now competing for the Best Picture Oscar. But says he feels his mission has been achieved. 📝@msavarese.bsky.social apnews.com/article/braz...
Author behind Oscar-nominated film finds praise and ire for his rebuke of Brazil's dictatorship
Marcelo Rubens Paiva, a popular author in Brazil for four decades, has had intense days and exchanges since the movie based on his 2015 book “I’m Still Here” became a box-office success.
apnews.com
Last year, I reported on what was then the world’s most expensive cow, worth $4 million. The story included efforts to clone her… and her clone has been born! 🐄 🐄 g1.globo.com/mg/triangulo...
Avaliada em R$ 21 milhões, segunda vaca mais cara do mundo é clonada em MG
Nascida há três meses, em Uberaba, no Triângulo Mineiro, o clone da Viatina-19 19 FIV Mara Móveis permanece sob cuidados da clínica genética onde a clonagem ocorreu. De acordo com uma das empresas que...
g1.globo.com
New Brazil law restricts use of smartphones in elementary and high schools apnews.com/article/smar...
New Brazil law restricts use of smartphones in elementary and high schools
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed a bill restricting the use of smartphones at school, following a global trend for such limitations.
apnews.com
"As the surrender of Musk and X to the Brazilian courts shows, state power is likely to always ultimately win against the platforms if tested."
The coming battle between social media and the state
Behind the alignment of X and Meta with Trump is a cold business logic — and a position of weakness rather than strength
on.ft.com
Brazilian box office success of the film “I’m Still Here” is rooted in its exploration of a long-neglected national trauma, but it is particularly timely, especially as Brazil confronts a recent near-miss with democratic rupture. 📝 Gabriela Sá Pessoa apnews.com/article/braz...
Brazilian film 'I’m Still Here' tops box office, forcing nation to reckon with dictatorship trauma
Brazilian-made dramas rarely last long in local cinemas. But, nearly two months after its release, “I’m Still Here,” a film about a family torn apart by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for...
apnews.com
incredible -- the NYT ran fluff "what i hope to see in 2025" blurbs from CEOs and economists, and then this guy www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/o...
Brazilian box office success of the film “I’m Still Here” is rooted in its exploration of a long-neglected national trauma, but it is particularly timely, especially as Brazil confronts a recent near-miss with democratic rupture. 📝 Gabriela Sá Pessoa apnews.com/article/braz...
Brazilian film 'I’m Still Here' tops box office, forcing nation to reckon with dictatorship trauma
Brazilian-made dramas rarely last long in local cinemas. But, nearly two months after its release, “I’m Still Here,” a film about a family torn apart by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for...
apnews.com
38 people die in a crash between a passenger bus and a truck in Brazil apnews.com/article/braz...
38 people die in a crash between a passenger bus and a truck in Brazil
Officials say 38 people have been killed in a crash between a passenger bus and a truck on a highway in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil.
apnews.com
Santa Claus joins sharks for a holiday swim at Rio de Janeiro’s aquarium apnews.com/article/braz...
Santa Claus joins sharks for a holiday swim at a Rio de Janeiro aquarium
Santa Claus has arrived in Rio de Janeiro — under water. Starting on Saturday, he’ll be spotted at AquaRio Marine Aquarium swimming with sharks during their daily fish feeding sessions as part of the ...
apnews.com
It’s perhaps Rio’s hardest trail, with one daunting section requiring a perilous scramble that can cause hikers to freeze with fright. But this week, paraplegic athlete Ezequiel da Luz reached Pedra da Gavea’s peak that towers over the Atlantic Ocean. apnews.com/article/braz...
At one of Rio de Janeiro's hardest trails, one paraplegic athlete climbed into the clouds
It’s perhaps Rio de Janeiro’s hardest trail. It features one particularly daunting section requiring a perilous scramble that can cause hikers to freeze up with fright.
apnews.com
Call it the caramel complex. Or how Brazilians learned to love the mongrel in everyone. Leave it to @davidbiller.bsky.social to tell the story of the mutt for all seasons. apnews.com/video/this-s...
This street dog is Brazil's new national icon
For decades, they have scrounged for food on streets across the country — undesired, abandoned and overlooked.
apnews.com
broke: stray dog woke: mutt, mongrel bespoke: TRASHCAN-TIPPER So much better! Cheers for that, David :)
Forget soccer and samba, and behold Brazil's new national icon: a “vira-lata caramelo” (literally: “caramel trashcan-tipper.”) For decades, these mutts scrounged for food on streets nationwide — undesired, abandoned and overlooked. Now caramelos are having a major moment. 🐶🐕
Forget soccer and samba. This caramel-colored street dog is Brazil’s new national icon
For decades, lanky stray dogs have scrounged for food on Brazilian streets, abandoned and overlooked.
apnews.com
Brazil’s currency drops to weakest level ever as Lula’s fiscal measures debated 📝 @msavarese.bsky.social apnews.com/article/braz...
Brazil's currency drops to weakest level yet as Lula's fiscal measures debated
Brazil’s real has fallen to its weakest level against the dollar since the currency was introduced in 1994, undercut by investors’ frustration with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's efforts to rei...
apnews.com
We love caramel dogs.
David Biller@davidbiller.bsky.social · 2y agoEvery dog has its day, and now’s the time for Brazil’s vira-lata caramelo (literally: caramel trashcan-tipper 🐕) This mutt is the new national icon, exalted in memes, petitions, a Netflix feature and Carnival parade. Find out why 👇 apnews.com/article/braz...
In other Brazil animal-related news... Not quite the ‘Girl from Ipanema’, a fur seal’s rare appearance on Rio’s famous beach turns heads apnews.com/article/braz...
Not quite the 'Girl from Ipanema', a fur seal's rare appearance on Rio's famous beach turns heads
A fur seal was spotted on Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, attracting attention from locals and tourists.
apnews.com
I have had various rescue dogs in my household for most of my life, including a US version of a caramelo. This is a great story about the mutts that have captured the heart of Brazil.
David Biller@davidbiller.bsky.social · 2y agoEvery dog has its day, and now’s the time for Brazil’s vira-lata caramelo (literally: caramel trashcan-tipper 🐕) This mutt is the new national icon, exalted in memes, petitions, a Netflix feature and Carnival parade. Find out why 👇 apnews.com/article/braz...
Every dog has its day, and now’s the time for Brazil’s vira-lata caramelo (literally: caramel trashcan-tipper 🐕) This mutt is the new national icon, exalted in memes, petitions, a Netflix feature and Carnival parade. Find out why 👇 apnews.com/article/braz...
Forget soccer and samba. This caramel-colored street dog is Brazil's new national icon
For decades, lanky stray dogs have scrounged for food on Brazilian streets, abandoned and overlooked. Today, the brownish short-haired mutts are having a major moment.
apnews.com
Brazilian Santa swaps sleigh for Jet Ski to deliver toys — and joy — to disabled children in Rio apnews.com/article/sant...
Brazilian Santa swaps sleigh for Jet Ski to deliver toys — and joy — to disabled children in Rio
Dozens of children with disability gathered on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach on Tuesday to receive presents — and joy — from the white-bearded man, a joint effort by the city’s firefighters and no...
apnews.com
