Brazil

• Tuesday, August 8th 2017 - 17:12 UTC

  Brazilian Attorney General describes president Temer as a “thug”

  

  Brazil’s attorney general strongly criticized Congress’ lower house on Monday for voting against putting President Michel Temer on trial for bribery, adding that plea bargains being negotiated could lead to charges of racketeering and obstruction of justice.

• Monday, August 7th 2017 - 21:14 UTC

  Brazilian army troops storm Rio favelas to crack crime gangs

  

  Thousands of Brazilian army troops raided Rio de Janeiro slums in a pre-dawn crackdown on crime gangs over the weekend, leaving parts of the city looking like a war zone on the first anniversary of the opening of the Olympic Games. Five favelas were targeted by around 1,300 police and 3,600 troops in a sweep starting at 4 a.m., the Rio state security service said in a statement.

• Sunday, August 6th 2017 - 22:38 UTC

  Bumper crops anticipate tough corn battle between leading exporters US and Brazil

  

  Brazilian farmers are in the midst of collecting their biggest corn harvest ever, and American supplies are also plentiful -- setting the stage for a stiff battle to win world buyers in the second half of the year.

• Saturday, August 5th 2017 - 07:55 UTC

  Mercosur foreign ministers will discuss the Venezuela situation in Brazil

  

  Mercosur foreign ministers are scheduled to meet this Saturday in Sao Paulo to decide on to how to address latest events in Venezuela, the fifth member of the group which remains suspended, and so far has not replied to calls to cancel the constituent assembly procedure and attempt some form of dialogue with the political opposition.

• Friday, August 4th 2017 - 08:09 UTC

  Temer expected to retake reforms agenda with Congress, but how strong is he?

  

  Brazil's Congress is expected to reopen the door for a modest pension overhaul as soon as October, lawmakers said before returning to normal business on Thursday following a vote to block a corruption trial against President Michel Temer. Still, legislators warned that Temer must spend some of his newfound political capital either on measures raising tax revenue or a new, less ambitious 2017 budget target.

• Thursday, August 3rd 2017 - 23:14 UTC

  Brazilian economy struggling to climb out of deep recession

  

  Brazil revealed mixed economic reports: record trade surplus, slight drop in unemployment and a stable industrial output. The July trade surplus was US$6.298, according to government data. Exports totaled US$18.769 billion and imports US$12.471 billion. This follows a surplus of US$7.195 billion in June.

• Thursday, August 3rd 2017 - 21:45 UTC

  Brazil's Judge Moro claims there is lack of interest from the political establishment to fight corruption

  

  Brazilian federal judge Sergio Moro, the man behind Brazil's largest ever corruption investigation, said there is still lack of interest from the country's political establishment to fight corruption, despite the political and economic crisis the practice sent the country into.

• Thursday, August 3rd 2017 - 21:34 UTC

  Private investors decide to return Brazilian airport concession: business half of what was projected

  

  Shareholders of a company set up to run Brazil's Viracopos airport have decided to return the concession to the government to seek other bidders in a new auction, they said, citing unexpectedly low passenger traffic.

• Thursday, August 3rd 2017 - 07:01 UTC

  Canny Temer survives vote in the Lower House: “a clear undisputable victory”

  

  Brazilian lawmakers tossed out a corruption charge against scandal-plagued President Michel Temer on Wednesday, saving the conservative leader from becoming the country’s second leader in 12 months to be forced from office. Despite hugely embarrassing bribery allegations, Temer had been expected to survive.

• Wednesday, August 2nd 2017 - 07:12 UTC

  To save or not to save Temer, Brazilian lawmakers' challenge in an televised live vote on a bribery charge

  

  August has been a devastating month for Brazilian presidents, 31 days in which they have been impeached or resigned. One even committed suicide, Getulio Vargas in 1954, and for Michel Temer's own predecessor, ex president Dilma Rousseff, it was her demise when she was removed last Aug. 31 for breaking fiscal rules in her management of the budget.