Brazil

• Tuesday, April 19th 2016 - 00:44 UTC

  Brazil's steep recession forecasted to continue in 2017 as economic pessimism deepens

  

  As the political battle to remove president Dilma Rousseff rages on, with both sides seeming to ignore the necessary confidence and certainty for normal business, economists are becoming increasingly pessimistic about Brazil's economic outlook.

• Monday, April 18th 2016 - 17:34 UTC

  Rousseff loses crucial impeachment vote; Senate decides as economic uncertainty worsens

  

  President Dilma Rousseff lost a crucial impeachment vote in Brazil’s lower house on Sunday evening, making her removal ever more likely and deepening the country’s political crisis. Rousseff’s opponents easily obtained the two-thirds majority of votes in the 513-member Chamber of Deputies needed to pass the impeachment measure.

• Monday, April 18th 2016 - 09:46 UTC

  Mercosur/EU trade deal is “no bed of roses” and “we're just beginning”

  

  Despite growing optimism among Mercosur member countries of reaching a trade agreement with the European Union, Argentine minister of foreign affairs Susana Malcorra has cautioned that the road ahead is not “a bed of roses”, and the coming exchange of goods and tariff reduction proposals “will not satisfy any of the two sides”, but that is where “serious discussions begin”.

• Saturday, April 16th 2016 - 09:38 UTC

  Rousseff forced to cancel speech to the nation; defense with state resources argued the opposition

  

  Embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff canceled a scheduled address to the nation on Friday night, ahead of a looming impeachment vote in the lower house of Congress. The lower house will vote Sunday on whether Rousseff should be impeached by the Senate for allegedly breaking financial laws.

• Saturday, April 16th 2016 - 08:45 UTC

  OAS chief meets Rousseff and disagrees with the impeachment process

  

  Brazilian president President Dilma Rousseff received on Friday in Brasilia the Organization of American States, (OAS), Secretary General Luis Almagro to discuss on the current situation in the country, some regional issues and the role played by OAS.

• Friday, April 15th 2016 - 18:14 UTC

  Rousseff to address the nation Friday evening while Congress debates her impeachment

  

  President Dilma Rousseff is scheduled to address Brazil on national television Friday evening, the same day that Congress started a three-day debate to decide whether there are enough arguments to begin the impeachment process that could lead to her removal from office. She is charged with manipulating budget accounts that helped her government present balanced accounts for the 2014 presidential elections.

• Friday, April 15th 2016 - 09:29 UTC

  Roussef asks the Supreme Court for an injunction to suspend impeachment vote

  

  Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff resorted to the Supreme Court on Thursday in a last ditch attempt to avert a critical impeachment vote in Congress that could lead to her removal from office. Rousseff's attorney general, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, asked the top court for an injunction to suspend Sunday's Lower House vote until the full court can rule on what he called procedural flaws in the impeachment process.

• Thursday, April 14th 2016 - 05:27 UTC

  Temer preparing to take over…”I will be ready” as Rousseff's coalition melts

  

  President Dilma Rousseff pledged on Wednesday to form a government of national unity if she survives an impeachment vote in Congress this weekend, but the odds of became steeper as allies continued to desert her. In effect a stream of defections from Rousseff's coalition makes it increasingly likely she will lose Sunday's ballot in the Lower House of Congress.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2016 - 05:56 UTC

  Rousseff brands vice president Temer “a traitor” and ''coup plotter'' with no respect for democracy

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff branded her vice president a traitor Tuesday, saying that he was a conspirator in a “coup” that aimed to use impeachment proceedings to bring down a popularly elected government.“If there were any doubts about my denunciation that a coup is underway, there can't be now. The coup plotters have a leader and a deputy leader,” Rousseff said in a blistering attack in Brasilia.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2016 - 05:43 UTC

  Rousseff suffers another blow: the second major party of the coalition steps down

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s suffered another blow to her hopes of surviving impeachment three days ahead of a crucial vote in the full Lower House: the second major party withdrew from the ruling coalition.