Brazil

• Friday, March 17th 2017 - 06:51 UTC

  Brazil reports 424 cases of yellow fever, 127 dead and 900 under investigation

  

  Brazil’s Health Ministry says 424 people have been infected with yellow fever in the largest outbreak the country has seen in years. Of those, 137 have died. An update published Thursday said that more than 900 other cases are under investigation.

• Thursday, March 16th 2017 - 12:12 UTC

  Temer coalition determined to pass major pension reform despite street protests

  

  Brazil's president Michel Temer and senior lawmakers were unwavering in their support for a major pension reform on Wednesday despite nationwide protests against the proposal and the dramatic expansion of a graft probe threatening the ruling coalition.

• Thursday, March 16th 2017 - 04:56 UTC

  Political seism in Brazil: prosecutor asks Supreme Court to open 83 new graft investigations

  

  Brazil's top public prosecutor seismically expanded a corruption probe of the country's political establishment on Tuesday, asking the Supreme Court to open 83 new investigations of politicians named in explosive plea bargain testimony. Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot also requested that the Court send 211 other requests to lower courts based on much-anticipated testimony by executives of engineering group Odebrecht implicated in Brazil's biggest-ever graft scandal.

• Wednesday, March 15th 2017 - 08:04 UTC

  Lula da Silva denies all charges in court; “I have been a victim for three years”

  

  Brazil's former president has appeared in court to deny allegations he was part of a plot to obstruct a massive corruption probe by keeping a former Petrobras executive from revealing what he knew. News media websites in Brazil published Tuesday's testimony by Lula da Silva, who told a federal court in Brasilia that he didn't even know Nestor Cervero, a former director of the State oil company.

• Wednesday, March 15th 2017 - 06:52 UTC

  Temer moved out of the presidential palace because of “bad energy and ghosts”

  

  Brazilian president Michel Temer confessed in an interview with the leading news magazine Veja that he and his family moved out of the nation’s Alvorada Palace, the official presidential residence, over bad energy and “ghosts” that kept him and First Lady Marcela Temer from sleeping well at night.

• Tuesday, March 14th 2017 - 06:49 UTC

  Argentina protests with Brasilia over Falklands RAF flights calling in Brazil

  

  The Argentine government reiterated on Monday its disappointment with the UK military flights linking with the Falkland Islands and calling in Brazil. “We made a complaint to Brazil regarding flights and we have also instructed our embassy in the UK”, said Malcorra speaking to the media.

• Monday, March 13th 2017 - 08:46 UTC

  Brazil ready to launch satellite to protect transfer of national security information

  

  Brazil will launch its first own satellite to protect the transfer of privileged national security information while boosting the broadband capacity of the country later this month. The Geostationary Satellite Defense and Strategic Communications Satellite (SGDC) will be launched on March 21 from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana. The event is taking place nearly a year after the original launch plan of April 2016.

• Thursday, March 9th 2017 - 21:41 UTC

  Brazil denies plans to raise taxes on forex transactions to help meet fiscal target

  

  Brazil's central bank and finance minister denied a report that the government could raise taxes on foreign exchange transactions to help reach this year's fiscal target. Bloomberg News had reported the move was “among the options being considered” by the Brazilian government to meet its fiscal target, citing a source with direct knowledge of the issue.

• Thursday, March 9th 2017 - 13:55 UTC

  Temer launches 55 infrastructure projects to boost private investment and create 200.000 jobs

  

  Brazil's President Michel Temer launched an infrastructure concessions program on Tuesday that he said should raise 45 billion Reais (US$14.43 billion) in investment in building and operating roads, port terminals, railways and power transmission lines. Temer said the program was key to restoring an attractive business environment as Brazil struggles to emerge from its worst-ever recession.

• Thursday, March 9th 2017 - 11:32 UTC

  Brazil's fertilizer market picks up strongly as sowing area expands

  

  Brazil's fertilizer market, having recovered to set a fresh all-time high last year, will expand further in 2017, Fertilizantes Heringer said, as it unveiled a jump in corn nutrient volumes, but a fallback in sales to coffee growers.