Rio de Janeiro - The Workers' Party of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has suffered severe losses in mayoral elections, losing in such metropolises as Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre.

In Sao Paulo, the nation's largest city and its financial hub, incumbent Gilberto Kassab of the conservative Democrats won by a landslide with 61 per cent of the vote in Sunday's runoff against Workers' Party candidate Marta Suplicy.

Brasilia - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday called for "urgent" reform in international financial institutions as the ongoing credit crisis has put developing countries at risk.

"The progress that our countries have made is at risk. The global financial crisis can affect developing countries in an unfair and particularly harsh way," he said.

Sao Paulo/Buenos Aires - Trading at the Sao Paulo stock exchange was again suspended Wednesday, for the sixth time in three weeks, after the fall in its leading index Bovespa went beyond the 10 per cent mark that activates the circuit breaker.

The half-an-hour suspension was launched at 5:17 pm (1917 GMT), less than 45 minutes before the scheduled closing time. The Bovespa was losing 10.03 per cent at the time.

Brazilian markets were again influenced by the market drops in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Brasilia - The Brazilian government on Wednesday authorized the country's main state financial institutions - the Bank of Brazil and the Federal Economic Bank 
(CEF) - to acquire stakes in private banks as a temporary lifeline to the struggling sector.

The move - very similar to one that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown adopted recently - also allows the nationalization of banks that are facing financial difficulties in the light of the ongoing international crisis.

The new disposition authorized the Bank of Brazil and the CEF to create investment banks and subsidiaries abroad, and allows the Brazilian Central Bank to exchange reals for currency of other countries in direct negotiations with other central banks.

Sao Paulo  - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva believes the ongoing financial crisis will lead to the election of Democrat Barack Obama as US president.

"This crisis, among other benefits it will cause, will get Obama elected as president of the United States. It will get a black man elected, which is no small matter," Lula said late Monday, during an awards ceremony for outstanding personalities held in Sao Paulo and sponsored by the magazine Carta Capital.

Maputo - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva voiced his anger at the rich countries Friday, saying the current global financial crisis is due to "Western hypocrisy."

Speaking in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, on a state visit, da Silva argued that rich nations spent the last decade convincing other countries to better manage their economic and business affairs, but allowed their guard to slip when it came to their own affairs.

"The current financial crisis is due to the irresponsibility of the rich countries which, in the decades of the 80s and the 90s, spent all their time teaching how to administer our countries without properly administering their own countries".