Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff ordered the Army, which already occupies several of the favelas (shanty towns) in Rio do Janeiro to move in and take responsibility for airports and hotels that will be hosting the 32 national teams competing for the World Cup.
Brazil left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday. In a unanimous decision, the central bank's monetary policy committee, Copom, kept the Selic rate at 11%, breaking a streak of nine consecutive hikes as expected by a majority of analysts and market traders.
Brazil, Argentina and Chile presidents figure among the list of the 25 most powerful women in the world according to the latest release from Forbes. Dilma Rousseff ranks in fourth place, Cristina Fernandez 19 and Michele Bachelet, 25. Only nine heads of state figure in the 100 names list.
Brazilian World Cup host city Manaus has declared a state of emergency as the waters of an Amazon River tributary swell, although officials say they do not expect it to flood.
Fifty police officers from the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo were recently trained in crowd control strategies, the use of force, and more by the FBI. The upcoming FIFA World Cup was the driving force behind organizing the five-day workshop. Other topics addressed include decision making, interacting with media, and use of intelligence in identifying acts of vandalism.
Brazil's government is considering proposals to open operatorship of its pre-salt projects to companies other than state-run Petrobras and this change might be made, Mayer Brown partner Alexandre R. Chequer told the law's firm's annual energy conference in Houston last week.
Analysts forecast Brazil's central bank will leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 11% this week, with the world's seventh-largest economy caught between rising inflation and sluggish growth. But given the persistence of inflation it should not come as a surprise if the monetary policy committee raises Selic to 11.25% after its two-day meeting this week.
Brazil's World Cup squad were forced to avoid a group of 200 striking teachers on Monday as they headed for their tournament base camp against a backdrop of public anger over the cost of staging the event.
President Dilma Rousseff hit back over the weekend at criticism voiced by former soccer star Ronaldo over mishandled preparations for the World Cup. In an interview with Reuters Ronaldo lamented that many infrastructure projects promised for the tournament were significantly delayed, scaled-down, or canceled, while some stadiums remain unfinished just over two weeks from kick-off.
FIFA has told fans buying World Cup tickets from unauthorized sellers that they could be barred from stadiums. Three weeks from the opening match, FIFA said yesterday that it “cancels tickets discovered as illegally sold or re-sold with the bearers risking not being permitted entry.” FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil said some fans have already been affected.