Weekly Report - 18 May 2004

That President Lula da Silva's drinking habits were a `national concern', as claimed by a foreign correspondent, came as news to most Brazilians. What did become a widespread, if not national, concern, was Lula's intemperate reaction to the report: using residual legislation from the period of military rule, he ordered the journalist expelled - only to back down after three days on the grounds that the journalist had issued a `rectification', which he hadn't.