Brazil
BrazilBrazil plans internet access for 26% of the population
Brazil has 43 million Internet users, according to Ibope/NetRatings statistics for the year 2008 published in the business daily Valor. The number of cybernauts could be even greater since the statistics included only people over 16 with Web access from home, workplaces, schools, libraries and Internet cafes, the newspaper said.
Plan to encircle Rio's favelas triggers controversy
Plans to surround a Rio de Janeiro favela (slum) with a 650-metre-long concrete barrier have come under fire from environmentalists, human rights activists and residents who describe it as “discriminatory” and in the best “Gaza wall” style.
Brazil in “technical recession”; industrial output down 6.2%
Yet another bank cut the 2009 economic growth forecast for Brazil: JPMorgan Chase & Co. downed Latinamerica's largest economy expansion estimate for this year from 2% to 1.5%, as global recession takes its toll on industrial production and business confidence.
Brazil expects lower corn and soy crop because of drought
Brazil's crops of corn and soybean has been downgraded from previous forecasts because of the persistent drought in the southern states, said on Thursday the country's Ministry of Agriculture.
Five Brazilian banks concentrate 65% of financial assets
The share of total assets held by Brazil's five largest banks rose to 65.72% at the close of 2008, up more than 13 percentage points from the end of the previous year, according to Central bank figures quoted by financial and business daily Valor.
Brazil beefs up troops and forts to protect Amazon forest
Brazil plans to double the number of troops along the borders of its vast Amazon rain forest area in the framework of the “Protecting Amazon” project, reported O Estado de Sao Paulo” this weekend.
Yellow fever re-emerges in triple border area
Dead monkeys have been found in the jungle of northeast Argentina, next to Brazil and Paraguay, probably caused by yellow fever, according to local sanitary authorities. The discovery follows the confirmed yellow fever deaths of two jungle workers in the neighbouring province of Misiones.
Brazil's 2008 trade surplus still strong but drops 38%
In spite of a record year of exports, Brazil's 2008 trade surplus reached 24.7 billion US dollars which is a significant 38% descent compared to the previous year when it totalled more than 40 billion US dollars.
Brazil embraces spelling reforms
Brazilians start 2009 facing the task of learning new spelling rules that have just come into effect.
Energy: strong Big Brother Brazil medicine for Paraguay
Brazil is willing to correct with Paraguay some practical distortions in the implementation of the Itaipú shared hydroelectric dam system, but “not the Treaty”, said Marco Aurelio Garcia, President Lula da Silva's main international affairs advisor.
