Brazil

• Thursday, March 27th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Dengue death toll in Rio do Janeiro: 54 and 60 suspects

  

  Rio de Janeiro state officials admitted on Thursday that the mosquito transmitted dengue epidemic has claimed at least 54 lives January, health officials said Thursday. Hospitals have reported a total of 114 deaths from the mosquito-borne disease, but 60 of those cases are still being investigated.

• Wednesday, March 26th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela will help Mercosur become continental block

  

  Mercosur with Venezuela included has “the potential of becoming a trade block of the whole of South America” said Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Ceslo Amorim who also insisted that keeping out of the Washington inspired Free Trade Area of the Americas, FTAA, “has been positive”.

• Wednesday, March 26th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil, Spain's main destination of net investment in 2007

  

  Brazil became in 2007 Spain's second most important trade partner in the region (behind Mexico) and the main destination for Spanish net investments, according to official figures released this week in Madrid.

• Wednesday, March 26th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Sao Paulo's “Nova Bolsa”, becomes world's third largest

  

  The merger of the Brazilian Bolsa de Valores de Sao Paulo and the futures Bolsa de Mercaderias & Futuros-BM&F SA confirmed the creation of the world's third-biggest publicly traded securities exchange and the largest in Latin America.

• Saturday, March 22nd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Military helps Rio State tackle dengue

  Brazil's Defence Minister Nelson Jobim says the military is ready to help the city of Rio de Janeiro deal with rising numbers of dengue fever cases.

• Friday, March 21st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Rio do Janeiro faces “dengue epidemic”, claim doctors

  

  Rio do Janeiro faces a dengue epidemic claims the physicians association of the Brazilian state which anticipated that next Monday they will make a formal claim against municipal, state and federal authorities for neglecting the spread of the disease that so far this year has caused 30 deaths.

• Thursday, March 20th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil trade surplus rapidly shrinking by flood of imports

  

  Brazil's trade surplus shrank to 882 million US dollars in February, less than one third of the same month a year ago 2.9 billion US dollars, according to the country's Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

• Thursday, March 20th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil offering frigates and subs to Middle East

  

  Encouraged by Brazil's resurgent economy, ship builders are making a strong bid to enter the naval market in the region with an array of weaponry including submarines. A leader in naval technology, Rio-based, Emgepron (Empressa Gerencial De Projetos Navais) is displaying its products at the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition Conference (Dimdex 2008).

• Wednesday, March 19th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil considering higher taxes for new oil explorations

  

  Brazil is considering raising taxes paid by companies to explore for new oil and gas fields in the country to take into account recent big finds in the sub-salt cluster, Brazilian energy Minister Edison Lobao said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, March 19th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Dengue panic in Brazil: 19.169 cases and 30 deaths in 2008

  

  Six children have died of the mosquito transmitted disease in the last 24 hours reported Brazilian health authorities from Rio do Janeiro, totaling 30 fatal cases so far this year which is almost the 31registered in the twelve months of 2007.