Da Silva

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A New York man who helped fleece gamblers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential winnings in horse racing's biggest betting scandal acted because he was unemployed and troubled by drugs, his attorney said yesterday. Glen DaSilva pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court here to conspiracy to commit wire and computer fraud and to money laundering. He is the second man to plead guilty in a case that came to light after the Breeders' Cup and that has rocked the thoroughbred racing industry.

The final two defendants in the Breeders' Cup bet-rigging scandal, including a Baltimore man, have reached agreement with prosecutors and are expected to plead guilty this week. Glen DaSilva of New York is scheduled to appear this morning at the federal courthouse in White Plains, N.Y. He will plead guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, according to his lawyer, Edward Hayes of New York. Derrick Davis of Baltimore is expected to appear in court tomorrow afternoon and plead guilty to a single count of conspirary to commit wire fraud, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Headlines across the world shout about Brazil's new "leftist" president. But Luis Inacio Lula da Silva won a landslide victory in Latin America's largest economy by blurring traditional ideological boundaries and forming a broad-based, nationalist coalition of Brazilians ready to take on U.S. economic priorities and global financial institutions. Da Silva's success is a clear demonstration of the changing face of Latin American politics. The traditional struggle between conservatives, backed almost unanimously by business and financial leaders, against socialists or populists supported by the working class is giving way to a new conflict.

THE ELECTION of Brazil's first working-class president in its history presents a new day for Latin America's most populous country, a challenge for the United States and a boost for the continent's democracies. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who won with a 61 percent majority in Sunday's election, left school in the fifth grade to work fulltime as an office boy. A former factory worker, he honed his political skills as a labor union leader, then as president of Brazil's leftist Workers Party.

MIAMI -- The administration of Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be the most closely watched to date as a case of whether Latin American democracies can combat socioeconomic injustice and simultaneously pursue global competitiveness. Financial markets have accelerated downward ever since opinion polls reported that Mr. da Silva was pulling significantly ahead of the other candidates in Sunday's election. Investors, already wary that Brazil's growing debt burden could lead to a default similar to neighboring Argentina's, took no solace in Mr. da Silva's attacks on banks and currency market traders as perpetrators of "economic terrorism" and his promise to perform "major surgery" on South America's largest economy.

SAO PAULO, Brazil - A day after being elected president of Latin America's largest democracy, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sounded a conciliatory tone yesterday toward financial markets and asked Brazilians not to expect too much too soon. "As we said in the campaign, our government will honor contracts established by the government. We will not lose control of inflation and ... we will maintain ... a position of fiscal responsibility," said da Silva, the first Brazilian president to be elected from a leftist party.

SAO PAULO, Brazil - After narrowly missing outright victory in presidential elections Sunday, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers Party predicted yesterday that he would triumph in the runoff Oct. 27 against Jose Serra, the government's candidate. "We are ready to win these elections," da Silva said. "The decision has merely been postponed. We will work hard to win votes and change the history of our country." With nearly all votes counted, da Silva, a former metalworker and union leader, polled 46.44 percent, comfortably ahead of Serra's 23.21 percent but short of the 50 percent needed to win outright.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Even after all the speechmaking, campaigning, television advertising and debates, nearly a quarter of the electorate still has not made up its mind whom it wants as president. But today, Brazil's 115 million voters will finally have to decide whether they want to steer their country leftward in what everyone here recognizes as a watershed presidential election. From the start, the front-runner in the race has been Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the left-wing Workers' Party, who polls say is favored by 48 percent of voters.

PHILADELPHIA -- For years, people have called Fabiola Da Silva one of the best female in-line skaters in the world. They're still doing it this week at the ESPN Summer X Games, but now they're taking gender out of the equation. She's simply one of the best in the world. Period. Da Silva will be competing against men in the aggressive in-line vert competition - where skaters perform tricks inside a halfpipe and are scored by judges - and she's certainly not doing it as a novelty act. She's got a shot at winning the thing.

NEW YORK - Leaves fall lightly like golden snowflakes. Three scruffy guitarists play an array of tunes from "Here Comes the Sun" to "Rain" for an appreciative audience of admirers who sing along, lean against loved ones and gently weep. Here, at Strawberry Fields in Central Park, where two decades ago Beatle lovers came together to mourn John Lennon's death, hundreds gather to recall the most spiritual of the band members. Alice Harrison, sitting cross-legged on a rock, propping her tear-splotched face in her hands and chain-smoking cigarettes, is having a meditative moment.