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city center from a gleaming 21st century airport in time for this year's World Cup. From the look of things, they won't be done in Cuiaba -- or in the country's other 11 host cities, where many construction plans are hopelessly behind schedule, or have been canceled.
• "This work here that's right by the stadium, I think they'll get it finished," said Atilio Martinelli, who runs a locksmith business near the building site. "It'll be done poorly and at the last minute, but they'll at least finish it. But there is no way they'll finish most of the other projects. It's going to be a great humiliation for us."
• There was a time when South America's biggest country seemed like the perfect place for football's showcase event. It is the game's lone superpower and the home of Pele, its most famous brand. Instead, the country is a logistical mess and bracing for potentially violent anti-government protests like the ones that surrounded a World Cup warm-up tournament last year.
• After Brazil was awarded the cup in 2007, politicians promised $8 billion would be spent on 56 airports, subway lines and other projects nationwide, in addition to $3.5 billion for construction or renovation of 12 stadiums for the tournament. Nine of the stadiums are finished, but just seven of the infrastructure projects have been completed with the competition three months away.
• ___

• LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Other veteran comics could head straight to "The Tonight Show" couch to banter with Johnny Carson, but David Brenner had to do a stand-up routine when he was a guest.
• Finally, Carson told a puzzled Brenner why.
• "I like to sit back, smoke a cigarette and laugh for six minutes," Brenner, in a 2013 interview with CBS, recalled him saying.
• Carson's regard for Brenner, who died in his New York City home Saturday at age 78 after battling cancer, made him one of the most frequent visitors to "Tonight" as a guest and substitute host who was on more than 150 times.
• And NBC's late-night show, in return, made Brenner's career.
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• DELMAR, N.Y. (AP) -- The Niagara River corridor from Lake Erie to Lake On

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