Brazil

• Friday, April 7th 2017 - 12:14 UTC

  Temer accepts to water down landmark pensions' reform to ensure congressional approval

  

  Brazilian President Michel Temer plans to water down its landmark pension reform proposal to ease lawmakers' resistance to the controversial bill key to rebalance the government's depleted finances. Temer said in a radio interview on Thursday he has authorized the lawmaker sponsoring the plan to alter its terms as long as he maintains the bill's minimum retirement age. He did not specify what changes could take place.

• Wednesday, April 5th 2017 - 21:06 UTC

  Over 55% openly disapprove of president Temer's performance

  

  The approval rating for the government of Brazil's President Michel Temer has fallen to just 10%, with 55% actively disapproving of its management of the country, a new poll by the Ibope polling company showed on Friday.

• Wednesday, April 5th 2017 - 19:27 UTC

  Brazil industrial output still virtually flat; central bank says inflation expectations are “well anchored”

  

  Industrial output in Brazil barely grew in February, government data showed on Tuesday, throwing cold water on hopes of a quicker recovery from a two-year recession. Industrial production rose 0.1% in February from January, government statistics agency IBGE said, short of expectations for a larger increase.

• Tuesday, April 4th 2017 - 20:09 UTC

  Brazil's Temer strategy to fend off electoral trial on campaign funding is working

  

  Brazil's top electoral court on Tuesday delayed proceedings in a landmark trial about illegal campaign funding that could lead to the removal of President Michel Temer less than a year after he took over from impeached leftist Dilma Rousseff, and 18 months before the 2018 presidential election.

• Monday, April 3rd 2017 - 13:52 UTC

  Brazil rapidly becoming global supplier of light crudes

  

  Brazil is poised to sharply increase oil exports this year as heavy investments spur new output and demand for its lighter crudes win more buyers, especially in China and India. Production is projected to rise 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2017, second only in the size of additional supply to the United States among non-OPEC producers.

• Monday, April 3rd 2017 - 13:39 UTC

  Mexico planning to purchase Brazilian rice ahead of a clash with Trump over a Nafta review

  A move announced recently by Mexican diplomats may be a precursor of what could be happening in the coming months with the trading of major commodities involving the country’s trade war talks with the U.S.

• Sunday, April 2nd 2017 - 08:34 UTC

  Electoral Court decides this week on continuity of Temer's presidency

  

  Brazilian President Michel Temer is facing a terrible week, with a court theoretically annulling his presidency and forcing him to step down from office. Temer is widely expected to find a way to escape this. But the mere fact that a court is considering such a thing shows the depths of uncertainty in Latin America’s biggest country as it tries to survive in a huge corruption scandal, a two-year recession and record unemployment.

• Friday, March 31st 2017 - 07:40 UTC

  WHO dispatched 3.5 million doses of yellow fever vaccine for outbreak in Brazil

  

  In response to the yellow fever outbreak currently on-going in Brazil some 3.5 million doses of vaccine from the emergency stockpile were deployed to the country through the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision for yellow fever.

• Friday, March 31st 2017 - 05:05 UTC

  Odebrecht insists Rousseff was aware of slush funds provided for the presidential campaign

  

  One of Brazil's leading newspapers, Folha de Sao Paulo, reported that the Odebrecht family group confessed to have provided the 2014 presidential ticket campaign, Dilma Rousseff-Michel Temer with millions of dollars in slush funds for the campaign.

• Friday, March 31st 2017 - 04:39 UTC

  Rousseff's “hangman” sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption

  

  A federal court sentenced Brazil’s former speaker of the Lower House, Eduardo Cunha, to more than 15 years in prison on Thursday for corruption, making him the highest-profile political conviction yet in the “Operation Car Wash” scandal. The former politician’s defense team said they would appeal the decision but Cunha will remain imprisoned pending appeal.