Rio de Janeiro: The Brazilian government has nominated Maria das Graças Foster to succeed Jose Sergio Gabrielli as CEO of state-controlled oil giant Petrobras, the company said Monday. Finance Minister Guido Mantega, who chairs the Petrobras board of directors, "has already stated that he will go ahead with the proposal" [...]

New Delhi: Salman Rushdie's proposed visit to Jaipur for the Literary Festival has come under cloud with the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband saying Monday that the Booker-prize winning author should not be allowed on Indian soil because he has "hurt the sentiments of Muslims the world over". However, one [...]

Buenos Aires: Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi was named "Rosario's ambassador in the world" during a ceremony in his native town, about 300 km from Buenos Aires. "It's very nice that tourists come to visit the place where I was born," said 24-year-old Messi, who's currently visiting Argentina for the [...]

Caracas: Former Miss Venezuela Eva Ekvall died in Houston after fighting breast cancer since last year, her representatives said. She was 28. "Sadly, cancer had the last word," writer Leonardo Padron told Globovision. Ekvall, an actress and news anchor, died Saturday after "demonstrating extraordinary calm and courage in her fight [...]

Sao Paulo: Brazilian football legend Socrates, the captain of the 1982 World Cup squad, passed away Sunday of an intestinal infection. He was 57 and is survived by his wife and six children. Socrates' 1982 squad is widely regarded as the best Brazilian side not to have won the World [...]

Washington: Steve Jobs, the man who began tinkering with gadgets in his garage and then went on to power the iPod, iPad and iPhone that became a part of so many lives across the globe, has died leaving behind legions of fans. The tech legend was 56. The end came [...]