Brazil

• Monday, June 29th 2020 - 10:25 UTC

  Controversy deepens in Rio de Janeiro following the re-opening of the football season

  

  The Rio de Janeiro state football championship restarted once again on Sunday as Botafogo - one of the clubs opposed to what they see as a premature resumption of top-level football - took the field with a banner protesting the decision.

• Monday, June 29th 2020 - 07:23 UTC

  Brazil signs agreement to purchase millions of AstrZeneca Oxford University vaccine to fight Covid-19

  

  Brazil announced over the weekend that it had signed a US$ 127 million agreement to start producing locally an experimental vaccine developed by AstraZeneca that has shown promise to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Saturday, June 27th 2020 - 08:14 UTC

  Brazil fears the Covid-19 “boomerang effect” from smaller towns to major cities

  

  The novel coronavirus, now spreading through the smaller towns of Brazil's interior, risks returning to major cities in a so-called “boomerang effect,” as a lack of specialized medical treatment forces patients into larger urban centers.

• Saturday, June 27th 2020 - 08:10 UTC

  Bolsonaro appeals court ruling requiring him to wear a face mask

  

  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro appealed a court ruling on Friday that requires him to wear a face mask in public during the coronavirus pandemic, calling it “unnecessary.” The attorney-general's office, which represents the government in legal matters, said the ruling was redundant since face masks are already mandatory in Brasilia.

• Saturday, June 27th 2020 - 06:45 UTC

  Brazil recorded longest lightning bolt, 700km and Argentina a lighting megaflash of 16,7 seconds

  

  The UN's weather agency announced this week the longest lightning bolt on record -- a single flash in Brazil on October 31, 2018 that cut the sky across more than 700 kilometres.

• Friday, June 26th 2020 - 10:52 UTC

  Huge 15 sq km locust swarm threatens Mercosur agriculture

  

  Argentina and Brazil are monitoring the movement of a 15-square-kilometer locust swarm in Argentina’s northeast, though authorities and specialists said so far it had not caused significant damage to crops in the South American countries.

• Friday, June 26th 2020 - 10:06 UTC

  Brazil confirms budget primary deficit at 11% of GDP; economy set to shrink 7%

  

  Brazil’s economic growth and fiscal outlook this year are shaping up to be worse than official government forecasts, making a return to austerity and reforms next year all the more pressing, Treasury Secretary Mansueto Almeida said

• Friday, June 26th 2020 - 10:04 UTC

  World Bank staff reject Brazil's nomination to executive director over his racial comments

  

  The association representing staff at the World Bank asked that Brazil’s nomination of Abraham Weintraub to be executive director be reviewed over his past racial comments and other concerns, according to a letter circulated in the bank on Wednesday.

• Friday, June 26th 2020 - 09:23 UTC

  Sao Paulo University to test a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by Italian lab

  

  The Federal University of Sao Paulo (Unifesp) is in talks to test a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by Italian researchers, the dean of the Brazilian university revealed.

• Thursday, June 25th 2020 - 09:20 UTC

  Falklands Airbridge, strict measures for travellers; no Latam flights for at least the next two months

  

  The Falkland Islands currently have an only air link which is the air bridge with the United Kingdom twice a week, since the commercial flights from Chile and Brazil managed by Latam, have been suspended at least until the end of July.