Edmar Bacha, a distinguished Brazilian economist, reckons that the country has not enjoyed such favourable global conditions (including high commodity prices) since the mid-1960s, when it embarked on a decade as the world's second-fastest-growing large economy.

ECONOMIST: Brazil

Media reports said that the Vice Mayor of Realengo, Edmar Peixoto, had informed the police that Menezes left a strange note at the school saying that he was dying of AIDS. The note was given to authorities at 12:50 local time and has not been released to the press until later in the evening.

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