Brazil

• Wednesday, February 24th 2016 - 06:16 UTC

  Petrobras criminal investigation beiseging ex president Lula da Silva

  

  Brazil’s former president Lula da Silva may have known about or been involved in “criminal practices” including corruption and bribery, Federal Police said, as the widening Petrobras corruption investigation crept closer to the popular leader.

• Wednesday, February 24th 2016 - 06:05 UTC

  Homicide charges for seven top officials linked to Brazil's worst mining accident

  

  Brazilian authorities have charged the president of mining company Samarco and six others with homicide for the mining disaster that killed 19 people last November. Police in Minas Gerais State have asked for Ricardo Vescovi, along with five other Samarco executives and one contractor to be arrested.

• Wednesday, February 24th 2016 - 05:53 UTC

  Huge fireball plunged through the atmosphere into the Atlantic, off Brazil coast

  

  The biggest fireball since the Chelyabinsk explosion has plunged through the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean. The event, which has only just come to light, occurred off the coast of Brazil at 13:55 GMT on 6 February.

• Monday, February 22nd 2016 - 09:32 UTC

  Rousseff is managing to survive despite ongoing dispute with Congress

  

  President Dilma Rousseff's main coalition partner, the fractious Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PDMB), re-elected a key ally of hers as its leader in the lower house of Congress last week, enhancing her chances of blocking impeachment.

• Monday, February 22nd 2016 - 08:43 UTC

  Unemployment in Brazil reaches 9% in Sept-Nov rolling quarter

  

  Unemployment in Brazil was 9% during the September-November rolling quarter, unchanged from the August-October period, the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics reported.

• Monday, February 22nd 2016 - 08:28 UTC

  Brazil heading for a record crop of 100 million tons of soybeans

  

  As the soybean harvest gets under way in Brazil, analysts are having a clearer picture of whether the forecast record-setting crop will hit the century mark of 100 million tons despite hot and dry weather in Mato Grosso and northeastern Brazil as pods set and fill.

• Saturday, February 20th 2016 - 10:32 UTC

  Shell suggests Petrobras should cede some drilling rights to foreign firms

  

  Brazil’s government-owned oil giant Petrobras should cede some of its drilling rights to foreign firms, Royal Dutch Shell Oil CEO Ben van Beurden was quoted saying in Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.

• Friday, February 19th 2016 - 04:24 UTC

  Brazil biggest environmental disaster: compensation agreement could be signed this week

  

  The Brazilian government expects to reach an agreement by Friday with Samarco Mineração to settle a 20 billion-real (US$4.9 billion) lawsuit for damages in the deadly dam disaster which burst in inland Minas Gerais creating a tsunami of mud and waste that killed 17 people and reached the Atlantic ocean.

• Thursday, February 18th 2016 - 06:57 UTC

  S&P sends Brazil's credit rating deeper into junk territory; officials 'surprised'

  

  Standard & Poor's downgraded Brazil's credit rating deeper into junk territory on Wednesday, citing its failure to curb its fiscal deficit, in a surprise blow to President Dilma Rousseff`s bid to haul the economy out of its worst recession in decades.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2016 - 11:24 UTC

  Brazilian economy prospects worsen, says central bank survey

  

  Analysts expect Brazil's economy to contract by 3.33% this year, with the outlook worsening from last week, the Central Bank said Monday. Last week, analysts said they expected Brazil's economy to contract by 3.21% this year.