Brazil

• Friday, January 13th 2017 - 08:33 UTC

  Lula da Silva is “preparing” to run for the presidency in 2018

  

  Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, confirmed Wednesday that “he is preparing” to run for the presidency in 2018, should it “be necessary.”

• Thursday, January 12th 2017 - 11:05 UTC

  Brazil inflation at its lowest in years ends 2016 within the official target range

  

  Brazil's inflation finished 2016 within the official target range, government data showed on Wednesday. Consumer prices rose 6.29% last year slowing from an increase of 10.67% in 2015 and below the 6.5% ceiling of the official goal.

• Monday, January 9th 2017 - 10:46 UTC

  Brazil top official who praised mass killings in prison uprisings resigns

  

  The Brazilian government’s national secretary of youth has resigned after celebrating the deaths of inmates killed in prison uprisings. Youth Secretary Bruno Julio resigned Friday.

• Thursday, January 5th 2017 - 09:54 UTC

  Olympic Games help Brazil break record of visitors last year: 6.6 million, 2 million from Argentina

  

  Brazil saw a record number of international tourists in 2016, boosted by the first Olympic Games held in South America, official data showed on Wednesday. A total 6.6 million international travelers visited Brazil last year, the tourism ministry said, 4.8% higher than the year before.

• Wednesday, January 4th 2017 - 11:12 UTC

  Good weather prospects for Brazil's anticipated record soybean crop

  

  Rain showers forecast for this week should benefit soybean crops across Brazil and should not be heavy enough to hamper harvesting of the first shipments of the 2016-17 season, meteorologists said on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2017 - 19:47 UTC

  Gang war in prison riot causes at least 56 deaths in the Amazon city of Manaus

  

  A prison riot has left at least 56 dead, with decapitated bodies thrown over prison walls in the bloodiest violence in more than two decades in Brazil’s overcrowded penitentiary system, officials in the Amazon city of Manaus said on Monday.

• Saturday, December 31st 2016 - 15:57 UTC

  Brazilian presidency caught red-handed cancels luxurious catering for Força Aérea 01

  

  Following public embarrassment the Brazilian government canceled a tender for the purchase of luxurious food items to supply Michel Temer's presidential airplane with a total value of more than R$ 1.7 million (US$ 520.000).

• Saturday, December 31st 2016 - 06:38 UTC

  Death of Greek ambassador to Brazil seemingly a crime of passion arranged by his wife

  

  Greece's ambassador to Brazil, Kyriakos Amiridis, was assassinated in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, apparently in a “crime of passion” planned by his wife - of Brazilian origin - and her lover, a military policeman who is suspected of having actually committed the murder, police said this Friday.

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:49 UTC

  Petrobras sale of assets still US$ 1.5bn short of 2015/16 divestment target

  

  Brazil's oil and gas corporation Petrobras announced this week the sale of ethanol and petrochemicals assets for US$587 million, but said it would still fall US$1.5 billion short of its divestment target for the 2015-2016 period.

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:18 UTC

  Brazil's unemployment rate reaches a record high of 11.9%: this means 12.1m out of a job

  

  Brazil's unemployment rate from September to November reached a record high of 11.9%, the country's statistics agency IBGE said. This new rate is a significant year-on-year hike over the same period in 2015, when it stood at 9%.