Rio de Janeiro - Three days before its "official" beginning, the world-famous Brazilian Carnival started Thursday in the historic city of Salvador, in the northeatern state of Bahia.

According to municipal tourism body Salvatur, over 650,000 tourists were expected in the city for the event, where hotels showed an occupancy rate of over 90 per cent.

Rio de Janeiro  - Young foreign tourists who travelled to Brazil for the world-famous Rio de Janeiro Carnival were facing an unexpected threat Thursday: the raids of criminal gangs on youth hostels in the city.

In just 24 hours, police investigated two such raids, affecting at least 50 tourists, most of them foreigners.

London, Feb.

Zurich - A Brazilian woman who claimed she was attacked in Zurich by racists is herself being investigated, the Swiss police said Wednesday, on suspicion of misleading the authorities about the incident.

The 26-year-old had alleged that she was attacked at a train station by three neo-Nazis, who cut her body and caused her to miscarry twins.

Pictures of the woman that circulated after the incident showed the wounds, which included an etching of the letters SVP, the initials in German of the right-wing Swiss People's Party, into her legs.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim had said the case appeared to have been sparked by xenophobia.

Brasilia  - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is scheduled to hold three meetings with US President Barack Obama in March and April, Lula's senior foreign policy advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia said Monday.

The first meeting is to take place in Washington on March 17, Garcia said in an interview with the Sao Paulo radio station, Eldorado.

The two leaders had decided on the meeting during a 25-minute phone conversation last month, Garcia said.

Brasilia - The referendum victory that enables Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stand for re-election in 2012 revealed that the country is "obviously divided," said a senior foreign policy advisor to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In an interview with Sao Paulo radio station Eldorado on Monday, Marco Aurelio Garcia said that the fact that Chavez's proposal was passed in a referendum Sunday did not guarantee his re-election.