Havana - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with the ailing former Cuban president Fidel Castro, whom he said he found "very lucid and active."

Lula and the elderly Castro - who formally stepped down from the Cuban presidency in February to pursue his recovery for unspecified health problems - met for some two hours just before the end of the Brazilian's less-than-24-hour visit to Cuba.

Havana - Cuban President Raul Castro is set to visit Brazil in December for a summit between Latin America and the Caribbean in the north-eastern Brazilian city of Salvador.

"(Castro) is finally going to Brazil," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in confirming the upcoming visit in Havana, where Lula and Raul Castro presided over bilateral agreements Friday.

This is to be Raul Castro's first trip abroad since he took over power from his brother Fidel Castro over two years ago, before he formally became Cuban president in February.

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.