Rio de Janeiro - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday criticised both the International Monetary Fund and the United States for their role in the ongoing global financial turmoil.

"Where is the IMF now?" Lula asked, before 3,000 metal workers at the seaside resort of Angra dos Reis.

Whenever there was financial turbulence in Brazil or Argentina, the IMF "always drew up recommendations and dictated what should or should not be done," he said.

Brasilia - Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said in no uncertain terms Monday that the current crisis in world markets is "perhaps the worst since 1929," as he announced new measures adopted by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government to increase access to loans for exporters.

"Brazil is not immune to the crisis, but this affects the countries with problems in their banks more, and countries like Brazil less," Mantega said.

Rio de Janeiro - Former guerilla and long shot Fernando Gabeira achieved a surprise showing in Rio de Janeiro's mayoral election, winning a place in a run-off on an anti-corruption, eco-friendly platform.

Gabeira, 67, of the Green Party took 25.6 per cent of the votes in Sunday's election, placing second behind Fernando Paes of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) with 32 per cent, election officials said.

In what is to be seen as a deal of profit, India's Videocon Industries Ltd, one of the leaders in India’s consumer electronics struck gold with Bharat PetroResources when the alliance found an Oil field in Brazil’s province.

The country’s second biggest refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp holds 25 percent stake in the offshore block. This partnership has already bought ten deepwater offshore exploration blocks and the newly found block is located at Campos Basin in Brazil.

On the discovery, the Videocon's Chairman Venugopal Dhoot said excitedly, "We have discovered oil in Brazil, it is a very oil-rich area. The nearby field has already declared 7 billion barrels of oil." 

Rio de Janeiro - A Boeing 777-200 operated by Alitalia, with 295 people on board, made an unplanned landing Thursday in the north- eastern Brazilian city of Recife, due to mechanical problems on the flight from Rome to Buenos Aires.

Brazil's airport authority Infraero said the landing was completed without further problems at 2:15 am (0515 GMT), after the pilot informed the control tower that he was having "technical problems." No one was injured.

New York - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday called for advanced economies to get a hold of the global financial crisis and criticized market speculators for putting global growth at risk.

Lula warned that the turmoil brought on by the "boundless greed" of investors could not be allowed to spread to the entire world, in an address before the United Nations General Assembly.