■BRAZIL
Visitors swamp Lula blog
A new blog launched on Monday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva became inaccessible within hours after aides sorely underestimated the number of Internet readers it would attract. “We set up a structure so the blog could receive 6,000 simultaneous hits, but this forecast was greatly exceeded,” an official in the president’s communication service said. The blog is designed to showcase Lula’s comments directly to the public, bypassing the news media.
■JAMAICA
US asks for extradition
The US has asked Jamaica to extradite a suspected crime boss to face federal drug and weapons-trafficking charges in New York, officials said on Monday. A US indictment accuses Christopher “Duddus” Coke of leading the “Shower Posse” — a gang with agents in Jamaica and the US that was named in the 1980s for its members’ tendency to spray victims with bullets. The indictment has become a sensitive topic for the government because Coke, a businessman in the island’s violence-wracked capital, Kingston, is known for loyalty to Jamaica’s governing party. The political opposition says it is watching to make sure he does not receive favorable treatment. A businessman known for his work as a show promoter, Coke has kept a high public profile in the ghettos west of Kingston, reportedly handing out cash and school supplies to needy children. He is also credited with helping to keep order by using his authority to punish thieves and other criminals in an area where the government has little presence.
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