Brazil

• Thursday, January 5th 2017 - 09:54 UTC

  Olympic Games help Brazil break record of visitors last year: 6.6 million, 2 million from Argentina

  

  Brazil saw a record number of international tourists in 2016, boosted by the first Olympic Games held in South America, official data showed on Wednesday. A total 6.6 million international travelers visited Brazil last year, the tourism ministry said, 4.8% higher than the year before.

• Wednesday, January 4th 2017 - 11:12 UTC

  Good weather prospects for Brazil's anticipated record soybean crop

  

  Rain showers forecast for this week should benefit soybean crops across Brazil and should not be heavy enough to hamper harvesting of the first shipments of the 2016-17 season, meteorologists said on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2017 - 19:47 UTC

  Gang war in prison riot causes at least 56 deaths in the Amazon city of Manaus

  

  A prison riot has left at least 56 dead, with decapitated bodies thrown over prison walls in the bloodiest violence in more than two decades in Brazil’s overcrowded penitentiary system, officials in the Amazon city of Manaus said on Monday.

• Saturday, December 31st 2016 - 15:57 UTC

  Brazilian presidency caught red-handed cancels luxurious catering for Força Aérea 01

  

  Following public embarrassment the Brazilian government canceled a tender for the purchase of luxurious food items to supply Michel Temer's presidential airplane with a total value of more than R$ 1.7 million (US$ 520.000).

• Saturday, December 31st 2016 - 06:38 UTC

  Death of Greek ambassador to Brazil seemingly a crime of passion arranged by his wife

  

  Greece's ambassador to Brazil, Kyriakos Amiridis, was assassinated in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, apparently in a “crime of passion” planned by his wife - of Brazilian origin - and her lover, a military policeman who is suspected of having actually committed the murder, police said this Friday.

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:49 UTC

  Petrobras sale of assets still US$ 1.5bn short of 2015/16 divestment target

  

  Brazil's oil and gas corporation Petrobras announced this week the sale of ethanol and petrochemicals assets for US$587 million, but said it would still fall US$1.5 billion short of its divestment target for the 2015-2016 period.

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:18 UTC

  Brazil's unemployment rate reaches a record high of 11.9%: this means 12.1m out of a job

  

  Brazil's unemployment rate from September to November reached a record high of 11.9%, the country's statistics agency IBGE said. This new rate is a significant year-on-year hike over the same period in 2015, when it stood at 9%.

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:15 UTC

  Temer will not bail out heavily indebted Brazilian states

  

  After months of bailing out Brazil's most iconic city and state, Rio de Janeiro will not be getting their debts renegotiated anytime soon. Brazil president Michel Temer said he will veto plans to renegotiate loans with Rio, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul states. All three states are economic powers of Brazil and have fallen on hard times over the last three years.

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:12 UTC

  Brazilian banks drastically cutting costs to lower interest rates

  

  The Brazilian government has not pressured state-run banks to free up credit and reduce their spread, but interest rates are likely to fall as the central bank's benchmark Selic rate continues to drop, state-controlled Banco do Brasil Chief Executive Officer Paulo Rogerio Caffarelli said.

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:04 UTC

  Odebrecht bribes' return ratio: for each million paid out it earned US$ 4m in contracts

  

  According to the Swiss Public Prosecutor, Odebrecht regularly paid Brazilian politicians and political parties from secret accounts in Geneva. For every US$1 million that the company paid out to politicians, it earned back US$4 million in contracts.