South America

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - He's a one-time fiery labor leader who has enlisted a conservative textile magnate as a running mate. He's a vocal critic of U.S. domination of Latin America but insists he won't bring radical change to South America's largest economy. Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva might be a mystery to many outside Brazil, but within this sprawling nation the man known simply as "Lula" is riding a wave of popularity as the front-runner heading into Sunday's presidential election.

Hugo Chavez, the newly re-elected president of Venezuela, has at various times this year referred to President Bush as the Devil, a donkey, and Mr. Danger. Sober analysts of foreign affairs should be deeply troubled by these jibes, but they're so dopey it's hard not to be amused. Certainly the alliterative Mr. Chavez is plenty popular among Venezuelans. Now he says he's going to make his country "really, really red." But let's not panic. Communism has run its course and it's unlikely that Venezuelans who are enjoying the fruits of high oil prices would want to plunge in just as Cuba is on the verge of heaving itself out. Mr. Chavez is spending money like crazy on social programs and though that runs counter to free-market economics it's hardly what you'd call Totalitarianism.

Amid a safari's worth of stuffed wild game and portraits of African natives, the Rev. John Grimley and his wife, Mildred, have spent 10 years ministering to the members of Piney Creek Church of the Brethren.Along the way, the couple -- who served as missionaries in Nigeria from 1945 to 1966 and are retiring Friday -- have also tried to teach members of the community what Africa is really like."I've gone to many school groups and shown the home films I have,and I always take him with me," the white-haired pastor said, gesturing to the stuffed baboon above the piano.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- For weeks now, tales of corruption have been falling from the pages of newspapers here like the rains that have flooded this city as summer approaches.A prominent labor leader admitted steering lucrative union business to lawyers and accountants in return for cash because "it's very difficult making money working." In another case, the government is suspected of paying $1 billion in fraudulent claims to state employees and others in lawsuits fixed by lawyers and judges.

ON A STREET corner in the sleepy provincial capital of Guanare, a man tries to explain Venezuela by using a fresh pastry. From the outside, "it looks big and filled with promise," he says, before biting off a corner. "But look inside. It's less than half-filled." He pokes at the creamy cheese filling. "We expect more."The man whom Venezuelans expect to supply the missing cheese and everything else a country could want is President Hugo Chavez. Since he took office after running as an independent in December's elections, Chavez has promised to break the stranglehold of Venezuela's corrupt two-party system.

SANDGATES - Shrimpy, the kelp gull star of St. Mary's County, soars in from the Patuxent River, lands gracefully on a utility pole and stands there puffing out its chest like a best-actor nominee at the Academy Awards show. With its snowy-white head and breast and black wings with white spots like pearl studs, the bird looks quite elegant on the pole, an old-school gentleman in a dress suit. Its bill, a yellow schnozzola worthy of W.C. Fields, undercuts the elegance a bit. The reddish gonys spot even suggests Fields' overindulgent imbibing.

Tonight, Bill Clinton will go on TV and prepare us for his Presidency of Pain.Then on Wednesday, he will go before Congress and detail the degree of misery that each American will have to bear in order to save this nation.But it won't be enough. No matter how much hardship Bill Clinton dishes out, it will not be enough to save our economy.So says certified financial wizard Jimmy Rogers."Bill Clinton is going to be a one-term president," Rogers said in a speech in Baltimore last week. "And he will be the last Democrat ever elected to the presidency."

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

Kate Joyce detests running. She has since she was in high school. But the prospect of trotting through vibrant clouds of yellow, blue, orange and pink has prompted her to make an exception this weekend. Joyce will be among 25,000 people participating in Saturday's inaugural Baltimore Color Run, a 5K race - in the loosest possible sense of the noun - that's non-competitive and all about having a blast as runners are smothered in colored cornstarch. Many won't break into anything more than a brisk saunter over the entire course, surrounding Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium.

Cholera stayed out of South America 100 years, but it has returned to devastate. The El Tor strain, isolated in Indonesia in 1961, is rolling through the Andes, a malevolent wind felling hapless humans in its path. Cholera, an intestinal disease discovered in India in 1817, passes only through contact with human feces, in food or contaminated water.Some of the suffering in hardest-hit Peru might have been avoided. The epidemic started in the fishing port of Chancay, Peru, when a migrant farm hand drank irrigation water.