Brazil

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:21 UTC

  Several officials tested coronavirus positive after Trump/Bolsonaro meeting in Mar-a-Lago resort

  

  Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretary Marcos Troyjo, who was part of the Brazilian delegation that recently visited Florida, has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said in a statement on Monday.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:19 UTC

  Rio do Janeiro authorities order people out of the beaches and closed Christ the Redeemer statue

  

  Anyone hoping to escape wall-to-wall coronavirus coverage with a day at the beach can forget about it in Rio de Janeiro, where authorities armed with megaphones blared out messages on Monday ordering everyone home.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:15 UTC

  Brazil US$ 30bn fiscal boost to prop the economy and soften Covid-19 impact

  

  Brazil’s government on Monday announced emergency measures to inject nearly 150 billion reais (US$ 30 billion) into the economy to soften the blow from the coronavirus pandemic.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 07:58 UTC

  Hundreds flee in a major break out of four Sao Paulo jails

  

  Hundreds of prisoners broke out of four Brazilian jails on Monday, the day before their day-release privileges were due to be suspended over the coronavirus outbreak, Sao Paulo state prison authorities and local media reported.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 07:30 UTC

  Brazilian football suspended; Flamengo's coach tested positive for coronavirus

  

  Flamengo coach Jorge Jesus has tested positive for coronavirus and is under quarantine in Rio de Janeiro while doctors perform a second confirmatory test, he and his club said on Monday.

• Friday, March 13th 2020 - 08:25 UTC

  Brazilian congress and Bolsonaro clash slumps the Real to below 5 to the dollar

  

  As if things were not difficult enough for markets in Brazil, whose stocks and currency are among the world's worst-performing this year, an unexpected twist in the country's fragile politics threatens to make the situation even tougher.

• Thursday, March 12th 2020 - 07:52 UTC

  Brazilian stocks plunged on Wednesday; second day in the week trading had to be suspended

  

  Brazilian stocks plunged on Wednesday on fears about the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, leading the Sao Paulo stock exchange to suspend trading for the second time this week.

• Thursday, March 12th 2020 - 07:48 UTC

  With local elections looming, Brazilian congress overturns Bolsonaro veto on social spending

  

  Brazil's Congress overturned a presidential veto on Wednesday in an ongoing battle over appropriations with President Jair Bolsonaro, doubling social assistance for elderly and disabled people that will cost an extra 20 billion reais (US$ 4.2 billion) this year.

• Thursday, March 12th 2020 - 07:40 UTC

  Brazil February inflation, 0,25%, the lowest since the same month in 2000

  

  Brazilian inflation rose more than expected in February, official figures showed on Wednesday, although the monthly increase was still the lowest for any February in 20 years.

• Wednesday, March 11th 2020 - 08:55 UTC

  Brazil downplays the threat of coronavirus: “it is overstated”

  

  Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro minimized the threat of the new coronavirus - which has killed nearly 4,000 people in more than 60 countries and tanked global financial markets, saying its destructive power has been “overstated”.