Brazil

• Thursday, June 6th 2019 - 09:58 UTC

  Mercosur's Common External Tax in the agenda Bolsonaro will discuss with Macri in Buenos Aires

  

  Brazil and Argentina have started discussing a reduction in the common external tariff (TEC) of the Mercosur trade block, sources in both governments revealed on Wednesday, as their market-friendly presidents look to boost economic growth.

• Thursday, June 6th 2019 - 09:56 UTC

  Banks making too much money, “more competition is needed” blasts Brazilian economy minister

  

  Brazilian banks are chalking up “excessive” profits, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said, adding that the country needs an injection of competition to end what he called the cartels that dominate many of its major sectors.

• Wednesday, June 5th 2019 - 09:50 UTC

  Brazil reluctantly recognized Venezuela opposition envoy as ambassador

  

  Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro received the diplomatic credentials of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's envoy to Brazil, formally recognizing her as the ambassador of the neighboring country.

• Wednesday, June 5th 2019 - 09:50 UTC

  Brazil: Amazon rainforest deforestation advancing at its fastest rate during May

  

  Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil sped up in May to the fastest rate in a decade, according to data from an early-warning satellite system, as experts pointed to activity by illegal loggers encouraged by the easing of environmental protections under President Jair Bolsonaro.

• Tuesday, June 4th 2019 - 09:40 UTC

  Brazil halts exports of beef: case of “atypical” mad cow disease

  

  Brazil has temporarily halted beef exports to China following an atypical case of mad cow disease in leading farm state Mato Grosso, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. China, Brazil's largest beef importer by sales, spent US$1.5 billion on Brazilian beef last year, totalling 322,400 tons or almost 20% of all shipments, according to local beef exporters association Abiec.

• Monday, June 3rd 2019 - 09:54 UTC

  Petrobras and Falklands lead in FPSO deployments in South America

  

  Globally, 67 planned and announced FPSOs (Floating, Production Storage and Offloading) are expected to start operations between 2019 and 2025. Among regions globally, South America continues to lead with 27 planned and announced FPSO additions by 2025, followed by Africa and Europe. Brazil and the Falkland Islands are the key countries in the region for FPSO deployments. Among operators, Petrobras leads South America in terms of FPSO deployments.

• Friday, May 31st 2019 - 22:18 UTC

  Thousands of students and teachers took to the streets of Brazil to protest bugget cuts

  

  Thousands of protesters took to the streets in dozens of cities in Brazil on Thursday for a second nationwide demonstration in as many weeks over the government's plan to slash education spending.

• Friday, May 31st 2019 - 09:52 UTC

  The centennial anniversary of the Sobral Eclipse, a feat of Brazilian and British astronomers

  

  May 29th marked the one hundred year anniversary of the Sobral Eclipse. Six minutes of darkness a century ago put Brazil and the UK at the heart of what was possibly one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

• Friday, May 31st 2019 - 09:20 UTC

  Brazil 's Attorney General sues Philips Morris and British American Tobacco

  

  Brazil is following the U.S. and Canada in taking on Big Tobacco, becoming the first country in Latin America to sue cigarette makers over the financial toll of smoking. Brazil’s attorney general’s office, known as the AGU, last week sued the two largest cigarette manufacturers in the country, Phillip Morris International and British American Tobacco, to cover the costs of treating patients with 26 tobacco-related diseases over the past five years.

• Thursday, May 30th 2019 - 09:59 UTC

  Bill to weaken environmental protection of the Amazon forest fails in Brazilian congress

  

  An attempt by Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and lawmakers backed by big agriculture to weaken environmental laws protecting the Amazon forest and other biomes has failed, as Congress will not vote into law a decree that weakened existing legislation.