JAN 26 - Brazil's health minister says the country will mobilize some 220,000 troops to battle the mosquito blamed for spreading ZIKA virus suspected of causing birth defects, but he also was quoted Tuesday as saying the battle already is being lost. And all major Brazilian dailies quoted Castro as saying the country is "badly losing the battle" against the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.

JULY 05 - A “mutilated body” that was found on the Copacabana beach, the site where the beach volleyball is proposed to be held.

JULY 27 - Rio 2016: Brazil prepares to host the Olympics in a country with a pre-9/11 notion of security

In Rio, spotlight on Pakistanis linked to recent terror plot
Brazil's Counter-terrorism Director Luiz Alberto Sallaberry has revealed that the threat by the ISIS to the Olympic Games is genuine.The national intelligence agency has been on an overdrive scanning the entry and exit of suspected radical Islamists. According to officials, many Pakistanis, including the recent suspects, came into the country during the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and did not return. The security spotlight is on them.

JULY 26 - Rio Olympics 2016 disaster: No order. No progress.
The 2016 Olympic Games already stand to go down as one of the greatest Olympic calamities in modern history—and the opening ceremonies are still two weeks away. One of the great mysteries of our time is why global cities still vigorously compete to host the Olympic Games despite the cost-overruns, negligible tourism increases, and general disappointment of the local populations in the wake of hosting the Games.

Is Rio ready for Olympics?
Questions and complaints are mounting as Brazil prepares to host the Summer Olympics in August. There have been concerns raised about infrastructure, safety, health, and Brazil’s economic and political crisis. The latest controversy has come from the Australian Olympic team. The team’s leader, Kitty Chiller, has decided to keep her group from the Athletes Village until improvements are made to the facilities. Chiller cited “blocked toilets, leaking pipes, and exposed wiring”, reports the Washington Post. More than 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries will be converging in Rio over the next few weeks.