Brazil

• Monday, April 8th 2019 - 10:00 UTC

  Bolsonaro's first 100 days: not much to show and but his lack of government experience

  

  President Jair Mesias Bolsonaro decision to mark the symbolic milestone of 100 days in office next Wednesday has come with not few comments: analysts say the euphoria of his October victory that ended decades of centre-left rule is evaporating.

• Saturday, April 6th 2019 - 09:58 UTC

  Heavy rains with flash floods in northeast Brazil and in Paraguay

  

  Civil defense officials have reported that heavy rains in northeastern Brazil have killed at least three people and displaced 3,600, while apparently unrelated flooding far to the south in Paraguay has forced some 20,000 people from their homes.

• Saturday, April 6th 2019 - 09:16 UTC

  Lula's to mark one year in prison next Sunday; all legal appeals rejected so far

  

  
Since entering prison a year ago, Brazil's former president Lula da Silva has been spending his days working out in his cell and fighting to prove his innocence.

• Saturday, April 6th 2019 - 08:43 UTC

  Bolsonaro argues that Brazil's 1964 coup was really a “democratic regime of force”

  

  Days after celebrating the anniversary of the military coup that led to Brazil's last dictatorship, the government of President Jair Bolsonaro is pushing for a revision of the history curriculum for the country's schools.

• Friday, April 5th 2019 - 09:37 UTC

  Brazilian markets react positively on hopes of progress on pension reform

  

  Most Latin American stock markets and currencies rose on Thursday, with assets in Brazil gaining on hopes of smooth progress on pension reform. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro met fellow politicians in a bid to build support to pass his government's proposal to reform the country's bloated pension system, seen by investors as crucial to trim Brazil's wide fiscal deficit.

• Friday, April 5th 2019 - 09:33 UTC

  Brazil automakers confident of domestic market despite collapse of exports to Argentina

  

  Automobile production in Brazil fell 0.6% in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period last year, the national automakers’ association said on Thursday, as an economic crisis in Argentina continued to weigh on output.

• Thursday, April 4th 2019 - 09:41 UTC

  Petrobras finally shows positive results and with strong growth prospects

  

  Petrobras has finally announced a positive annual result, five years after the Lava Jato corruption probe left the Brazilian state-controlled company with spiraling debts. The firm closed the year with a US$ 25.8bn net profit, the highest figure in seven years, and a total of R$20.2bn (US$ 5.27bn) in asset sales.

• Thursday, April 4th 2019 - 09:37 UTC

  Outbreak of African swine fever in China, a great opportunity for pork producers

  

  Brazil is in a position to step up pork exports to China where an African swine fever outbreak has become a “transformational event” for the global meat industry, Pedro Parente, chief executive of Brazilian food processor BRF SA, said on Wednesday.

• Thursday, April 4th 2019 - 09:34 UTC

  Combative exchanges as Brazilian congress debates the pensions' system reform

  

  Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes on Wednesday put up a vigorous defense of the government’s proposed pension reform, insisting it is critical to fixing the country’s “doomed” social security system but opening the door to some concessions.

• Thursday, April 4th 2019 - 09:30 UTC

  Brazilian economy picking up but employment remains flat

  

  Growth in Brazilian economic activity picked up to its strongest in over a year in March, driven by solid increases in domestic new orders across both the manufacturing and services sectors, IHS Markit Insight said on Wednesday.