Sao Paulo - Brazilian comedians gave symbolic "bad luck presents" to British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, who is seeking the world championship title Sunday in Sao Paulo.

Hamilton's rival for the title is Brasilian Felipe Massa, so many of his compatriots are hoping for a "miracle" at the season-ender on the Interlagos circuit.

Sao Paulo - Brazilian football legend Pele made clear his scepticism as to the likelihood that Diego Maradona might be successful as coach of Argentina's senior team.

"Great stars, great players do not usually make good coaches. And sometimes a footballer that was not so brilliant in his career becomes a great coach," Pele noted, in comments that Brazilian media published Thursday.

Pele and Maradona are regarded as the two great candidates for the title of the best football players in history.

Sao Paulo - Unemployment in Brazil dropped to 14.1 per cent in September, its lowest level for that month since 1998, the trade- union research institute Dieese said Wednesday in Sao Paulo.

According to Dieese, unemployment in September in the six metropolitan regions that were studied - Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador de Bahia and Brasilia - fell by 0.4 percentage points in relation to August.

Sao Paulo - The Brazil government will not bailout large conglomerates that have lost money in foreign exchange operations, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said Monday.

These firms may have lost up to 20 billion dollars in the ongoing global financial crisis, he said, but added that this loss "is perfectly absorbable" by the companies, without help from the government.

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.