The Brazilian judge presiding over criminal proceedings against charismatic entrepreneur Eike Batista, once Brazil’s richest man, was seen driving a Porsche belonging to the fallen tycoon that had been seized by the court.

Rescue workers found dozens of bodies as they dug desperately through the wreckage of homes engulfed by mudslides in southern Brazil, boosting the death toll from rain-spawned hillside collapses and floods to 84.

Wall Street extended its February rally today, growing confident that interest rates will hold steady even as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke tempered his forecast of slowly cooling growth and inflation with a reminder that price pressures remain a concern.