MEXICO CITY — With a decisive primary victory Sunday night, Josefina Vazquez Mota became the first woman to represent a major party in the Mexican presidential election, which backers hope will excite voters weary of the drug violence and political gridlock of her party’s leader, President Felipe Calderon.

SAO PAULO, Brazil — It just made sense to be in South America’s economic heart, Jonathan Rosenthal reasoned, no matter that he had been working on Wall Street with some of the investment world’s most heady firms.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Marcio Mello often talks of eureka moments.

The veteran geoscientist’s biggest came when he decided that his petroleum research firm should become an oil producer, taking advantage of the rich sedimentary basins that have lured oil companies to Brazil.