International fears of a pandemic rose Monday as the number of people killed by the swine flu in Mexico climbed to 149. At least four other countries have confirmed cases and many others have stepped up testing as well as issuing advisories about traveling to Mexico and the United States. By the afternoon, the World Health Organization had raised its threat level of a pandemic alert, and markets in Europe and Asia had been unnerved by the concerns. In raising its threat level to 4 from 3, a decision likely to prompt more travel warnings, the W.H.O. emphasized that “a pandemic is not considered inevitable.” But the new threat level was an acknowledgment that containment of swine flu now moot, and mitigation is its main concern. “The situation is fluid and will continue to evolve,” it said in a statement.

If there is anything President Rafael Correa has mastered in his two years in office, it is how to win elections. From his victory in the presidential election in 2006 to the national referendums on his agenda to create a new constitution, Correa has faced the judgment of his people repeatedly and come away validated. On Sunday, Ecuadorans will vote again -- the fifth national vote since 2006 -- and polls predict that Correa will have little trouble winning reelection. "We have a president with enormous personal charisma," said Alberto Acosta, who was the president of Ecuador's Constitutional Assembly. "There are many reasons that Correa continues to be popular. An important one is that he is a president that has followed through on a large part of his promises."

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- President Barack Obama scored high marks in his first meeting with Latin American and Caribbean leaders, but the 34-country Summit of the Americas was largely inconsequential, and its final resolution a joke. Unlike recent hemispheric summits, where Venezuela's narcissist-Leninist leader Hugo Chávez stole the limelight, Obama was the undisputed star at this one. Perhaps sensing that he would be left isolated if he attacked a popular U.S. president -- a poll by Ibero-barometro released over the weekend shows that Obama is the most popular leader in Latin America -- Chávez toned down his anti-American rhetoric, and kept a low profile by his standards.

In the final three months of last year, the once-robust Brazilian economy contracted 3.6 percent over the previous quarter, on par with some of the largest declines in emerging-market countries around the world. Unemployment has risen. And the government launched a program to build 1 million houses to jump-start the economy. But despite the ongoing hardship, Brazilian leaders and economists are relatively optimistic about the region's largest economy. Brazil, they point out, has stable banks, high levels of reserves and sturdy domestic demand for products that keeps many businesses humming along.