Less work, more play at ports, offices

[SAO PAULO] Football fever is so intense in Brazil, the host of the World Cup soccer tournament, that even the main shipping ports in the commodity-exporting powerhouse are shutting down when the national team plays.

In Paranagua, Brazil's No 2 soy exporting port, the dock workers' union negotiated an ordinance that lets them stop working an hour before the match and resume work an hour afterward for a total of around four hours to relax and watch the Brazilian team. "This is unprecedented," said the port's press representative, Samar Razzak, who added that the port usually operates even during the New Year's and Christmas holidays.

Brazil has not hosted a World Cup since 1950.