The bill was approved by Brazil’s Senate in December and is expected to be easily passed by the lower house of Congress on Tuesday. It would then go to President Dilma Rousseff, who has said she opposes parts of the reform and has promised to use her line-item veto powers on the proposed legislation.

Brazil’s banks have consistently argued that with Brazil’s central bank cutting its key interest rate, non-performing loans shouldn’t be worrisome. The central bank has slashed its Selic rate by 2.75 percentage points since late August, to 9.75%, and is expected to cut the rate again next week.

“For Brazil it’s very important what we are doing here,” she said in an appearance with MIT president Susan Hockfield to announce an education initiative she said will be sure to grow further.

With 800 days to go until the World Cup, the government said Tuesday that five stadiums have more than 50 percent of work completed, while another five have more than 30 percent of construction ready. Two are just 20 percent completed – the Beira-Rio stadium in the southern city of Porto Alegre and the Arena das Dunas in northeastern Natal.

Rousseff has struggled since taking office last year with unrest among the 17 parties that make up her coalition in Congress. The latest conflict followed Rousseff’s decision to freeze about $30 billion in funds in this year’s budget, a move which she hoped would contain inflation while allowing Brazil’s high interest rates to keep falling in coming months.

Army colonel Sebastiao Curio Rodrigues de Moura, better known as “Dr Luchini,” was charged over the unresolved kidnapping of five militants captured during a crackdown on leftist guerrillas in the 1970s and still missing today, prosecutor Tiago Rabelo told a press conference.

In a letter sent to Brazilian sports minister Aldo Rebelo, Blatter said: “Both as FIFA president and personally, I would like to apologize to all those – above all the Brazilian government and president Dilma Rousseff – who feel that their honor and pride has been injured.”

Edward Robinson Cavalcanti, 68, and his 64-year-old wife Miriam were stabbed to death on Sunday in their home in the city of Olinda, a spokeswoman for the state’s public safety department said. She spoke on condition of anonymity, citing internal regulations.

She said the couple’s adopted son Eduardo is suspected of killing them “for reasons that remain unclear.”

She said the son stabbed his father during a heated argument and when his mother tried to stop him he plunged the knife into her.

The son was hospitalized after he tried to commit suicide by drinking poison, she added.

Police inspector Joao Brito Alves told the Globo television network that he had learned that the son had a “violent temper and was frequently under the influence of drugs.”

Cavalcanti headed the Philosophy and Human Sciences Department of the Federal University of Pernambuco.

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Rev. Fernando Saburido, said Cavalcanti’s death was a “loss for Christianity.”

“He was sensitive to social issues and concerned with problems that affected the poor,” Saburido told G1, Globo TV’s Internet portal. “He will be sorely missed.”

Anglican pastor Miguel Uchoa told G1 that Cavalcanti “had a brilliant mind” and said, “He taught me everything I know about the church. He always defended the creation of a more just society.”

The killing shocked Cavalcanti’s neighbors.

It had recently been reported that JLo would attend the event, and now Washington Post reports she was in fact there. According to their article, Lopez was there thanks to the promotions of beer company Brahma. Meanwhile, Fergie was there for Head and Shoulders. Apparently, neither of the two singing stars were part of the parade, but JLo was seen waving to the people on hand from high up in her VIP seats.

Other celebs who have attended this event in the past include Beyonce, Paris Hilton, Kevin Spacey, Madonna and Pamela Anderson. While Jennifer Lopez wasn’t necessarily part of the parade, she was required to appear in localized TV ads for Brahma beer. In the ad, she is seen doing the samba. The commercial’s director said of JLo’s ability to pick up the fancy footwork fast:

“On the day of the shoot, Jennifer arrived, went to makeup and then learned to samba in half an hour. She has this Latin swing, and it was really easy for her to learn.”

It can’t be all that hard for Lopez to learn to samba. After all she’s been dancing in her own music videos for years, was a backup dancer for MC Hammer, and also one of the Fly Girls on In Living Color. So there’s no surprise that she’d pick up these dance moves so quick. She may not currently be dancing so much as she’s sitting down watching people sing, but don’t let that fool you.

It’s great to see the celebrity involvement in the 2012 Brazil Carnival as well. One of the biggest guests of them all was none other than “MacGyver” actor Richard Dean Anderson who was a guest in Salvador’s celebratory parade. The fact that such a wide variety of US stars comes out to support this event in Brazil shows the magnitude of the celebration which reaches all corners of the world.

Up to 30 people were killed execution-style out of the 180 murdered during violence that hit the state during the 12-day strike, said Arthur Gallas, head of the police department’s homicide department, during a late Monday briefing for reporters.