Brazil

• Friday, January 12th 2018 - 10:26 UTC

  Brazilian inflation ends 2017 at 2.95%, below the bottom of central bank target

  

  The annual inflation rate in Brazil increased to 2.95% in December, from 2.50% in November, rising above economists' projections of 2.80%, but ending the year below the bottom of the central bank's target for 2017, which ranged from 3% to 6%.

• Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:19 UTC

  Brazil looks into the past to implement legislation punishing political “fake news”

  

  Brazil is the latest country to unveil plans to censor the Internet, following in the footsteps of Germany, France, and other European countries. Earlier this week the country’s official Twitter account for the Federal Police, (equivalent to FBI), announced efforts to “punish” anyone who disseminates political content it deems “false.” The federal government of Brazil is extending its ability to enforce regulation and control of its sector of the Internet.

• Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:12 UTC

  Weddel seal ends on the mid Atlantic Brazilian island of Trindade

  

  The Brazilian Navy spotted something unusual in the azure waters of the South Atlantic. In 2015, at a remote outpost and biological research station on the island of Trindade, 1,100 kilometers off central Brazil, sailors spotted a small gray seal swimming in the waves. Two days later, they found its body on the island’s Catelha beach. Scientists who went to take a closer look made an astonishing discovery—the corpse was a young Weddell seal.

• Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:11 UTC

  US, via Paraguay, largest source of guns entering Brazil

  

  The United States is the largest source of guns entering Brazil that end up in the hands of armed bandits and drug traffickers, according to a Brazilian Federal Police report. Roughly 1,500 guns originated in the United States out of a study of more than 10,000 arms seized by police since 2014, mostly in Rio de Janeiro, the December 2017 report said, although the guns often traveled through a third country before arriving in Brazil.

• Wednesday, January 10th 2018 - 10:14 UTC

  Blue tongue outbreak among sheep in Brazil

  

  Uruguayan animal health authorities are on the alert following the outbreak of a blue tongue focus among sheep in south Brazil. The outbreak has been located in Santa Maria, in central Rio Grande do Sul, and Uruguay's Agriculture and Livestock ministry has strengthened controls along the border which divides the rich farmland region.

• Wednesday, January 10th 2018 - 10:03 UTC

  Brazilian politics at its best: nepotism and a sentenced rapist to Congress

  

  Brazilian president Michel Temer's latest cabinet reshuffle has not been very encouraging or in accordance with his survival abilities so far. In effect the candidate named as future minister of Labor had to reach a debt payment deal with a driver that provided services to the family, and the politician who will be replacing her in Congress was sentenced for raping minors.

• Tuesday, January 9th 2018 - 10:01 UTC

  Brazilian stocks edge higher convinced Lula will be barred from running in election

  

  Brazilian stocks edged higher to mark a record close on Monday, underpinned by optimism over the nation's fiscal outlook as well as a strong flow of international investment. The benchmark Bovespa stock index continued its climb following a seven-day string of gains.

• Tuesday, January 9th 2018 - 09:55 UTC

  World's largest party: New Year celebrations in Rio beaches attracted 2.4 million people

  

  Where was the best New Year party in the World? At Times Square New York in below zero temperature or on a sunny summer beach day in Rio De Janeiro with 2.4 million happy tourists and locals going wild. On Sunday, December 31st, 2.4 million people gathered on Copacabana’s beach to welcome 2018. According to Riotur, this is the largest audience ever registered in Copacabana’s New Year’s Eve celebration, considered one of the best in the world.

• Tuesday, January 9th 2018 - 09:50 UTC

  Brazil moving to clean-energy: 51 wind farms planned with 1.450 MW

  

  Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA is in final negotiations to supply about 700 megawatts of wind turbines for power plants in Brazil. The deal are to supply equipment for projects that Voltalia SA, EDP Renovaveis SA, Enel Green Power SpA, and Neoenergia SA are developing in northeast Brazil. The orders are all for wind farms that won government-organized power auctions in December.

• Tuesday, January 9th 2018 - 09:41 UTC

  Temer investigated on decree allegedly benefitting Santos port operator

  

  Brazilian police have requested that President Michel Temer answers 50 questions as part of an investigation into alleged corruption involving a decree regulating the country's ports, a government spokesman said.