Artistic gymnastics women’s team final at Rio 2016 Olympics
Photos from the artistic gymnastics women’s team final at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Brazil
Baltimore neighborhoods
Baltimore street photographers
Year in review
Freddie Gray: protests, aftermath
24 hours with...
A. Aubrey Bodine
Viewing Baltimore from above
Haitian swimmer hopes to end country’s dry spell at Rio 2016 Olympics
It’s been nearly 90 years since Haiti earned a medal at the Olympic Games. But Haitian Olympic swimmer Frantz Mike Itelord Dorsainvi is aiming to break that dry spell. Swimming barely exists as a sport in Haiti, where there are few pools. Many Haitians, even some who fish for a living, never learn how to swim. More →
Rio readies for Olympic spotlight
While opening ceremonies are Friday, Rio 2016 Olympics competition began today with matches in women’s soccer. Meanwhile, other athletes held practices, team welcoming ceremonies were held, and the Olympic torch neared the end of its journey.
Synchronized swimmers compete in Rio de Janeiro
Synchronized swimming teams from around the world competed in the Synchronized Swimming Olympic Games Qualification Tournament at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, March 6, 2016. The tournament is also a test event for the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Brazil’s Carnival season begins despite Zika health scare
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian Carnival could be called a hungry mosquito’s dream — five days of non-stop street parties that bring together millions of revelers in an inviting mass of bare ankles, uncovered legs and denuded torsos. So the mosquito-borne Zika virus might be expected to dampen this year’s debauchery.
But despite warnings to cover up and slather on repellent, the show went on as it always has, in just a sprinkling of sequins and a few puffs of feather. Pants, long-sleeve shirts and bug spray, they say, are antithetical to the hedonistic, out-of-control spirit of Carnival.
“We need joy,” said Angela Pessanha, a self-described “Carnival nut” and owner of a home furnishings store. “And Carnival is the easiest way of doling out a stiff dose of joy to everyone.”
Rural miners in Brazil seek diamonds at abandoned mines
Rural miners try their luck in the abandoned mines in Areinha, Brazil, left over by multinational mining corporations that pulled out in recent years.
Lacking any kind of infrastructure, the workers struggle to survive with unstable incomes and basic tools.
Fans get ready for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
Star Wars fans around the world geared up for the premiere of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Inside one of Brazil’s most crowded prisons
With more than 600,000 inmates behind bars, Brazil has the fourth-largest prison population in the world after the United States, China and Russia, according to Brazil’s Justice Ministry.
Preparing for Christmas in a Brazilian prison
By JENNY BARCHFIELD | Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In her sweat-stained Santa suit and soggy cotton-ball beard, Carina Barbosa looked every inch the picture of tropical Christmas cheer — at least until she leaned into the candy cane striped bars of her cell and peered wistfully out.
Barbosa, a 29-year-old who’s serving time for drug trafficking, was one of more than 500 inmates ringing in the holidays Thursday at Rio de Janeiro’s Nelson Hungria prison with religious plays and a cell-decorating contest.
The inmates, who are serving time for offenses from burglary to homicide, spent weeks decking out the cell blocks with holiday decorations they made from objects they have access to behind bars.
Christmas trees were made from strips of green plastic from soda bottles, the presents below out of empty milk cartons swathed in tissue paper. Wreathes were fashioned out of the aluminum plates that prison-issue meals are served on, and the floors were sprinkled with a light snowfall of ground-up Styrofoam. Tropical heat-resistant snowmen were made from white plastic cups, and family members supplied Santa suits and store-bought ornaments.
Each cell of 50 women or more also put on a skit dramatizing biblical stories, with many depictions of Jesus’ life, as well as David and Goliath, giving the prison’s would-be thespians their chance to shine. Voices soared in rapture with the religious songs, and many, many tears were shed.
Protesting Brazil mining operation after muddy waste levels village
The bursting of two dams at the Samarco mining operation, jointly owned by Vale and BHP Billiton, unleashed a flood of muddy waste which mostly leveled a village in Minas Gerais state. The massive mudflow left 10 people dead and an environmental aftermath polluting downstream waters.