Brazil

• Friday, March 16th 2018 - 09:36 UTC

  Rio's military intervention questioned following the killing of a popular councilor and activist

  

  Crying, chanting and screaming in anger, thousands gathered in front of the Rio de Janeiro state legislature on Thursday to say goodbye to a black city councilwoman shot in the head four times, a brazen murder that shocked Brazil and raised questions about the effectiveness of a military intervention in the country's second biggest city.

• Thursday, March 15th 2018 - 09:25 UTC

  Key aide of Temer indicted on corruption charges for illegal funding from Odebrecht

  

  A key aide of Brazil’s President Michel Temer has been indicted on charges of corruption and money-laundering. Senator Romero Juca, one of the major architects of the Temer administration’s reform agenda and an advocate for central bank independence, is being charged with soliciting illegal campaign funding of construction company Odebrecht in return for political favors.

• Thursday, March 15th 2018 - 09:20 UTC

  Temer insists with a vote in Congress on pensions' reform next October

  

  Brazilian President Michel Temer said that he could lift the federal military intervention in Rio de Janeiro state by October to allow for a pension reform vote in Congress.

• Thursday, March 15th 2018 - 09:13 UTC

  Brazil Electoral Court confirms transparency in election opinion polls

  

  The Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) revoked changes introduced to a resolution on election polls. The changes had been criticized by research institutes and associations which believed they could be interpreted as restrictions to the press.

• Thursday, March 15th 2018 - 09:10 UTC

  US tariffs controversy: Temer urges a “friendly” solution before filing a complaint at WTO

  

  President Michel Temer said on Wednesday that Brazil will respond with caution to planned U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum to avoid hurting ties with its second-largest trade partner. But if talks fail, the president emphasized, Brazil will not hesitate to take a complaint to the World Trade Organization.

• Wednesday, March 14th 2018 - 09:12 UTC

  Brazil forecasts 87.28 million tons of corn and 113.02 million tons of soybeans

  

  Brazil will harvest 87.28 million tons of corn in the 2017-18 season, federal government crop agency Conab said in a monthly report, down from 88 million tons in its February report. The 2016-17 harvest was 97.84 million tons.

• Wednesday, March 14th 2018 - 09:09 UTC

  Temer makes informal visit to Supreme Tribunal chief at her residence

  

  A controversial visit and meeting of two branches of government, on Saturday, was reported in the Brazilian media. In effect last Saturday afternoon president Michel Temer made a visit to the head of the Federal Supreme Tribunal Carmen Lucia at her residence, and “was not conducted as part of the President’s official schedule”.

• Wednesday, March 14th 2018 - 09:04 UTC

  Argentines tourists flocked mainly to Brazil in January 2018

  

  January is summer month in Argentina, equivalent to July in the northern hemisphere, and Argentines love to take to the beaches or travel overseas. This last January, according to the official stats office, Indec, the number of arrived tourists in Argentina increased 8.7% compared to a year ago, but Argentines tourists overseas jumped 20.5%., most probably on the back of a particularly strong Peso vis-a-vis the US dollar.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2018 - 09:24 UTC

  Brazil Finance minister Meirelles will decide in April if he runs for president

  

  Support for a presidential run by Brazil Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles is gaining strength within the country’s largest party and he could be nominated over President Michel Temer for the October presidential race, party officials said.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2018 - 09:20 UTC

  Brazil's speaker of the Lower House also wants to run for the presidency

  

  The speaker of Brazil’s lower house of Congress, Rodrigo Maia, said he will run for the presidency with a market-friendly platform advocating tax cuts and more efficient public spending. Maia’s preliminary nomination by his centre-right Democrats party, the main ally to President Michel Temer, must be formalized at a convention in late July.