Brazilian authorities have declared a state of emergency for six months in Mato Grosso do Sul in a move to facilitate help against the fire in the Pantanal, a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest flooded grasslands, where flames reached 627,000 hectares this year, according to the Laboratory of Environmental Satellite Applications (Lasa) of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Experts believe the main cause for this phenomenon was the extreme drought coupled with human action, especially agricultural expansion.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was strongly critical of his country's Central Bank's (BCB) decision not to lower the benchmark Selic interest rate this week and leave it at 10.5% per annum instead.
Argentina's Foreign Ministry sent a note to its Brazilian counterpart explaining the situation of 83 asylum seekers from that country who had fled to avoid jail following their alleged involvement in the Jan 8., 2022, riots in Brasilia, it was reported Thursday in Buenos Aires after some government officials denied these refuge requests existed. Buenos Aires' note was in response to a requirement from the Supreme Federal Court (STF).
Montevideo remained South America's most expensive place to live according to the Mercer Ranking released this week, closely followed by Buenos Aires, a place that has been moving up fast since President Javier Milei's Dec. 10, 2023, inauguration. The list helps multinational employers plan their strategies regarding compensations and other expenses, it was explained. Hong Kong stayed at the top, followed by Singapore, and Sitzerland's Zurich, Geneva, and Basel.
With budget overspending and prospects of higher inflation in weeks ahead, the Brazilian central bank, independent from the Executive, kept the Selic rate unchanged at 10.50%. This means there are no expectations for a resumption of the rates easing cycle this year.
Despite being de-facto the new CEO of Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras for a while, Magda Chambriard took her oath of office Wednesday during a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Agencia Brfasil reported. In her speech at the event attended among others by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Chambriard insisted that oil would lead the way into energy transition progressively reducing carbon emissions and zeroing them by 2050.
According to an updated report on the floods in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul released Tuesday, 177 people had perished while 37 others were still unaccounted for. Agencia Brasil also said some 10,000 people were still in shelters as Civil Defense authorities issued a new heavy rain alert after at least 19 municipalities were damaged by new floods this past weekend.
While Brazil welcomed a 14.8% growth in the number of foreign tourists in May this year from the same month of 2023, Argentina's domestic leisure travel showed a decline of nearly 65% during this past three-day weekend encompassing the June 17 National Holiday.
Brazil has joined the Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Convicted Persons applying to any requests involving countries that have ratified the treaty. The agreement seeks to facilitate the social reintegration of the convicted person, giving foreigners who have committed crimes in other jurisdictions the possibility of serving their sentence in their countries of origin, Brazil's Justice Ministry explained.
According to a report released this week by the Swiss Business School's Institute for Management Development (IMD), Brazil ranked 62nd this year after falling two notches in the list drawn considering statistics and opinion polls among businesspeople.