To the Point
Brazil and the Politics of Corruption
As Brazil prepares to host this summer's Olympic Games, it's transfixed by a spectacle of a different kind. A divided legislature is ousting the President of a beleaguered country about to host international athletes and the crowds who want to see them.
By Warren Olney • • 52m ListenAs Brazil prepares to host this summer's Olympic Games, it's transfixed by a spectacle of a different kind. A divided legislature is ousting the President of a beleaguered country about to host international athletes and the crowds who want to see them.
Later on the program, we update the ban on Russia's track-and-field athletes and new charges of Russian doping at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Photo: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (R) with Michel Temer, December 16, 2015. (Antonio Cruz/Agência Brasil)
In this episode
3 storiesSupreme Court Punts Birth Control Case to Lower Courts
All remaining eight members of the US Supreme Court today refused to decide the latest case against Obamacare and sent it back to the lower courts for reconsideration. It involves contraception. Today's action is evidence that, with the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a divided court is trying to avoid formal deadlocks.
Read the story7 minBrazil's Political Crisis and the Olympic Games
The upcoming summer games have turned a global spotlight on Brazil, as the elected President is being impeached by legislators more corrupt than she is. Dilma Rousseff's leftist administration is being taken over by a highly unpopular, conservative Vice President, Michel Temer, who's talking about austerity.
Read the story33 minRussian Sports Doping and the Rio Olympics
Russia's elite athletes are involved in alleged doping scandals in track and field — and at the last winter games in Sochi.
Read the story10 min
