
Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad Wednesday said that the improved outlook by the risk rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) was due to the harmony between the branches of government, Agencia Brasil reported. In Haddad's view, National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF) have an important role in the S&P's decision, but the Central Bank (BCB) needs to join the effort and start reducing the interest rates.

A Sao Paulo court Wednesday froze former President Jair Bolsonaro's bank accounts over unpaid fines worth R$ 87,000 (about US$ 18,000) for failing to comply with health laws during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was reported.

The European Union (EU) finally approved a regulation prohibiting the entry of agricultural items, including coffee, soy, and beef, produced after 2020 in deforested areas, regardless of whether legally compliant with the producing country’s national legislation. The regulation will come into effect on December 30, 2024.

Brazilians have reduced their intake of red meat protein, according to a study published Monday by Agencia Brasil. Even sausages and hot dogs have lost importance on the consumer's table, it was reported.

Since some 70,000 tons of Brazilian beef are stranded at Chinese ports awaiting an official clearance resolution from Beijing since the identification of an atypical case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), known as “mad cow disease” in Brazil, President Lula da Silva revealed he contacted his counterpart Xi Jinping on Juke 6, to try and overcome the situation.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva has voiced his concern over the imminent extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from Britain to the United States to stand trial for espionage. Lula insisted Assange's arrest was against freedom of the press and the defense of democracy.

Authorities in the Brazilian southeastern State of Espirito Santo Thursday decided to ban all tourists from the islands of Vitória after confirming 20 outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, Agencia Brasil reported.

German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil and Brazilian Labour Minister Luiz Marinho signed a declaration of intent for fair immigration to promote the exchange of skilled workers.

According to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), deforestation fell 31% in the Legal Amazon, from January to May 2023, compared to the same period last year, Agencia Brasil reported.

The Port Authority of Santos (APS) has defined ten goals, approved by its Board of Directors (Consad), to improve the existing infrastructure and enhance port-city relations. These objectives include several key projects such as the construction of the Santos-Guarujá tunnel, the revitalization of warehouses 1, 2, 3, and 7, the launching of a public tender for permanent dredging services in the access channel, the remodeling of Left Bank’s Perimeter Avenue in Guarujá, the STS 10 Terminal, and the Internal Railway of the Port of Santos.