'The age of fear'

As might be expected, two of Brazil's biggest newspapers today bear front-page pictures relating to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. O Estado de Sâo Paolo has a woman draped in the Brazilian flag in front of Big Ben, and carrying a placard which reads, in English: "Five bullets in our hearts. Who's guilty?" Meanwhile O Globo's print edition has a picture of the man's weeping parents.

Neither paper, however, makes a direct comment on the killing; they do both mention Charles Clarke's support for the police, O Globo saying he "praised the policeman who killed a Brazilian on the tube". O Estado says the British government's attitude has "irritated" Brazil.

Under the strapline "the age of fear", O Jornal do Brasil is more explicit in suggesting that the British government is treating the matter lightly. "Rather than issue a mea culpa, British authorities sprang to the defence of those responsible."

But again, there is no direct comment on the opinion pages. In one case, it is hard to tell whether the writer is commenting on the case or not: "Since September 11 ... we've all lost a little of our liberty. When these attacks occur in Muslim countries, it's a problem of policing. When they occur in the United States, or in Europe, they become a problem of civilisations. Any Muslim who lives in western society becomes a suspect."