Vatican City - School certificates from Catholic schools and church weddings officiated by priests will receive legal recognition in Brazil under an accord reached Thursday between Brazil and the Vatican.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Foreign Minister Celso Amorin inked the accord for Brazil in a Vatican City signing ceremony. Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and the Holy See's "foreign minister" Dominique Mamberti signed the agreement for their side.

Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in talks Tuesday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, relaunched his proposal to expand the Group of Eight (G8) to include emerging nations from Africa, Latin America and Asia.

To date, most members of the G8 - which includes the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia - have reacted lukewarmly to the proposal. Berlusconi next year plays host at the group's scheduled summit in Italy.

Rio de Janeiro - Away from football stadiums since he resigned as South Africa coach in April, Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira admitted Monday that he misses the thrill of the sport, but noted that he is no longer willing to work away from Rio de Janeiro, where his family lives.

Sao Paulo  - Finance ministers of the world's 20 leading economies agreed Sunday in Brazil that global stability and growth must be the cornerstones of any plan to bring volatile markets under control and fight off worldwide recession.

While emerging economies demanded a greater voice in any new regulations or systems that may emerge from the emergency finance summit planned for Saturday in Washington, the European Union had a different opinion.

Sao Paulo - Developing countries need a greater say in the global economy, said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Saturday.

"Developing country participation in (international) decision- making mechanisms needs to be strengthened," he said in his opening speech before a two-day summit of representative of the G20 nations. The meeting is to prepare for a global financial summit next weekend in Washington.

Rio de Janeiro - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Friday that US president-elect Barack Obama could lose the political capital he has gained if the financial crisis extends for another year.

Obama faces the "greatest responsibility" to solve the widening credit crunch, Lula said.

"Obviously he will have to make moves to solve it, because that crisis cannot extend much longer. All the political capital he gained can be lost if the crisis extends for one or two years."