• Sweden halts arms deliveries to Mideast states

US President Barack Obama visited a notorious favela in Rio de Janeiro Sunday as he visited emerging economic powerhouse Brazil on the first stop on a three-nation Latin America tour.

Barack Obama and President Dilma Rousseff discussed Brazil's interest in buying 36 new fighter jets, the White House said. The deal, estimated to be worth between $4 billion and $7 billion, pits the US F/A-18 Super Hornet by Boeing, France's Rafale by Dassault, and Sweden's Gripen NG by Saab against each other.

Even though Brazil on February 22 said it will make no decision in the "short term" on the jets, Rousseff raised the issue -- and Obama praised the US fighter, the White House said.