Brazil

• Friday, February 26th 2016 - 11:02 UTC

  Brazil's Vale reports record losses; puts prime assets on sale to lower debt

  

  Brazilian miner Vale SA put its prime assets on the block on Thursday after taking the biggest loss in decades, but analysts said the target to make $10 billion in 18 months was unrealistic and expressed concern a fire sale could destroy equity value.

• Friday, February 26th 2016 - 06:55 UTC

  Petrobras scandal becomes a mincing machine for the political system

  

  Petrobras corruption investigation keeps gobbling Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff former cabinet members, but also political figures from other leading political parties. On Wednesday the Supreme Court authorized formal investigations into Rousseff’s former chief-of-staff, as well as the mayor of the country’s largest city and an opposition senator, for potential corruption.

• Thursday, February 25th 2016 - 06:50 UTC

  Moody's downgrades Brazil's sovereign debt to 'junk territory'

  

  Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday joined the two other major credit rating agencies in downgrading Brazil's sovereign debt to junk territory. Moody's lowered Brazil's credit rating by two notches from Baa3 (its lowest investment-grade rating) to Ba2 and changed the country's outlook to “negative,” a move that follows similar actions by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's.

• Wednesday, February 24th 2016 - 06:16 UTC

  Petrobras criminal investigation beiseging ex president Lula da Silva

  

  Brazil’s former president Lula da Silva may have known about or been involved in “criminal practices” including corruption and bribery, Federal Police said, as the widening Petrobras corruption investigation crept closer to the popular leader.

• Wednesday, February 24th 2016 - 06:05 UTC

  Homicide charges for seven top officials linked to Brazil's worst mining accident

  

  Brazilian authorities have charged the president of mining company Samarco and six others with homicide for the mining disaster that killed 19 people last November. Police in Minas Gerais State have asked for Ricardo Vescovi, along with five other Samarco executives and one contractor to be arrested.

• Wednesday, February 24th 2016 - 05:53 UTC

  Huge fireball plunged through the atmosphere into the Atlantic, off Brazil coast

  

  The biggest fireball since the Chelyabinsk explosion has plunged through the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean. The event, which has only just come to light, occurred off the coast of Brazil at 13:55 GMT on 6 February.

• Monday, February 22nd 2016 - 09:32 UTC

  Rousseff is managing to survive despite ongoing dispute with Congress

  

  President Dilma Rousseff's main coalition partner, the fractious Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PDMB), re-elected a key ally of hers as its leader in the lower house of Congress last week, enhancing her chances of blocking impeachment.

• Monday, February 22nd 2016 - 08:43 UTC

  Unemployment in Brazil reaches 9% in Sept-Nov rolling quarter

  

  Unemployment in Brazil was 9% during the September-November rolling quarter, unchanged from the August-October period, the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics reported.

• Monday, February 22nd 2016 - 08:28 UTC

  Brazil heading for a record crop of 100 million tons of soybeans

  

  As the soybean harvest gets under way in Brazil, analysts are having a clearer picture of whether the forecast record-setting crop will hit the century mark of 100 million tons despite hot and dry weather in Mato Grosso and northeastern Brazil as pods set and fill.

• Saturday, February 20th 2016 - 10:32 UTC

  Shell suggests Petrobras should cede some drilling rights to foreign firms

  

  Brazil’s government-owned oil giant Petrobras should cede some of its drilling rights to foreign firms, Royal Dutch Shell Oil CEO Ben van Beurden was quoted saying in Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.