Brazil

• Friday, January 20th 2017 - 12:42 UTC

  Brazil in shock: Justice investigating country's major corruption dies in air crash

  

  Brazil's President Michel Temer on Thursday evening made an official statement to mourn the death of Supreme Court judge Teori Zavascki, who was killed earlier in the day in a plane crash. Temer declared three days of national mourning in Brazil for the death of the Justice, who was in charge of the court's investigation into a wide-ranging corruption scandal.

• Thursday, January 19th 2017 - 08:00 UTC

  Brazil confident in “recovery curve” coming from a very low level, says Meirelles

  

  Brazil's Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles has admitted that the government is going to revise its official forecast for this year's GDP growth, but gave no details as to the extent of the change. In its latest forecast, the government had estimated the economy was going to grow 1% in 2017.

• Monday, January 16th 2017 - 17:46 UTC

  Airbags maker Takata agrees to pay US$ 1bn in penalties for concealing defects

  

  The Japanese car parts maker Takata has agreed to pay US$1bn in penalties in the US for concealing dangerous defects in its exploding airbags. The firm, which also has assembly plants in Brazil and Uruguay, also pleaded guilty to a single criminal charge, the company and the US Department of Justice said..

• Monday, January 16th 2017 - 17:35 UTC

  Prison massacres (and beheading) continues in Brazil, this time 30 inmates in Natal

  

  The latest in a string of brutal prison massacres involving suspected gang members in Brazil has killed at least 30 inmates, most of whom were beheaded, officials said on Sunday. The bloodbath erupted Saturday night in the overcrowded Alcacuz prison in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte. Similar violence at other jails in Brazil left around 100 inmates dead in early January.

• Monday, January 16th 2017 - 09:50 UTC

  Azul to operate daily Belo Horizonte-Ezeiza nonstop flight

  

  Over 1,200 reservations were registered during first week after services were made available, Fabián Lombardo, the company's representative in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, announced. The company will fly daily from Belo Horizonte to Buenos Aires (Ezeiza) starting March 6.

• Monday, January 16th 2017 - 08:38 UTC

  Doktor Mengele's bones useful to medical students in Brazil

  

  The bones of Josef Mengele, an infamous German doctor who conducted horrific experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II to the point of becoming known as “Angel Of Death,” are now at the service of Brazilian medical students.

• Friday, January 13th 2017 - 12:37 UTC

  Brazil retakes wheat imports, the highest in three years

  

  Brazilian officials ditched expectations of a tumble in wheat imports to a multi-year low after a surprisingly strong finish to 2016 for buy-ins, encouraged by a recovery in the real and state purchases of domestic supplies. Conab - which a month ago slashed its forecast for Brazil's wheat imports in 2016-17 [on an August-to-July basis] to 5.10m tonnes, the lowest since at least the mid-1990s – this week revised its forecast sharply upwards, to 5.95m tonnes.

• Friday, January 13th 2017 - 11:19 UTC

  Petrobras pre-salt oil production set a new record in 2016

  

  Petrobras’ average oil production in Brazil in 2016 went up 0.75% in comparison to the previous year and reached 2,144,256 barrels per day. According to the company, the result was in line with the established target of 2.145 million and represents an annual all-time high.

• Friday, January 13th 2017 - 11:12 UTC

  Corruption charges against Decal do Brasil for bribing Petrobras top manager

  

  Brazilian prosecutors on Thursday filed corruption charges against Decal do Brasil co-founder Mariano Marcondes Ferraz, accusing him of bribing a former executive at state-run oil company Petrobras to win contracts for Ferraz's own firm.

• Friday, January 13th 2017 - 08:33 UTC

  Lula da Silva is “preparing” to run for the presidency in 2018

  

  Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, confirmed Wednesday that “he is preparing” to run for the presidency in 2018, should it “be necessary.”