The head of Rio 2016 communications, Mario Andrada, said he was in the stables "trying to find out what really happened".
Ever larger numbers of women are becoming entrepreneurs or have started appearing on the management boards of private businesses and, to choose among numerous examples, the CEO of Iceland's biggest insurance firm is now a woman, and so is the Icelandic head of Rio Tinto Alcan, big in the country's powerful aluminium industry.
An interesting admission was a conversation Carr records in the Diary, in which Rudd – knowing the election to be lost, the campaign in tatters, the Murdoch press savaging him every day – comments to Carr how few people actually control power in Australia: the Murdoch media, the head of Rio and BHP, a few bank chiefs and maybe a few property developers.
Several nations have dropped out of events because of concerns, according to the head of the Rio 2016 organising committee, Carlos Nuzman.
The price slump this week prompted Fortescue Metal's chairman Andrew Twiggyy" Forrest to call for a cap on iron ore production which was promptly dismissed by Rinehart and the head of Rio Tinto Sam Walsh.
"The demand outlook continues to be strong, with supply lagging elsewhere in the industry, and we are seeing new supplies proving slower to materialize than predicted," said Sam Walsh, the head of Rio Tinto's iron ore division.
Its auto market has been spurred since the government reduced by half the sales tax on small vehicles.The head of Rio Tinto's iron-ore operations in China was detained on suspicion of stealing state secrets.
Recognising this, Leigh Clifford, head of Rio Tinto's energy division, vows that his firm will show restraint: "We have learnt to be very parsimonious with our capital spending, and careful to avoid the temptation to go for volume at the margin".
The story, which spans four years, begins with Nascimento's tough, self-aggrandizing reminiscence of his tenure as the head of Rio de Janeiro's Special Police Operations Battalion, which ended with a botched raid on a prison housing members of three major drug cartels.
The opposition is shrill with charges of paralysis and ineptitude: there is a "crisis of management", says José Carlos Aleluia, a leader of the opposition Liberal Front Party (PFL).It started in February, when a top aide to Mr Dirceu was shown to have solicited bribes in his earlier job as head of Rio de Janeiro's lotteries.
Such was the case when Época, a magazine, published portions of a videotape from 2002 showing Waldomiro Diniz, then head of Rio de Janeiro's lottery, soliciting campaign contributions from a reputed boss of Brazil's illegal numbers racket (known as jogo de bicho).The government has tried to cauterise the wound.
