Brazil

• Tuesday, June 28th 2016 - 06:28 UTC

  Mercosur presidential summit off, but chair transfer to Venezuela will be done at foreign ministers' level

  

  Mercosur presidential summit next July in Montevideo has been cancelled, but the six-month presidency of the group, currently held by Uruguay will be transferred as scheduled to Venezuela, although some conditions of the event are “pending discussion”, said on Monday foreign ministers Susana Malcorra and host Rodolfo Nin Novoa.

• Monday, June 27th 2016 - 08:01 UTC

  Temer will be absent from Mercosur summit; displeasure with Venezuela

  

  Brazilian interim president Michel Temer will be absent from the next Mercosur summit scheduled to take place in Montevideo, and this decision is considered a strong message to the Venezuelan government of president Nicolas Maduro that will be taking the group's chair for the next six months.

• Monday, June 27th 2016 - 07:15 UTC

  Brazil's recession greater risk than Brexit for Argentina: could chip 1.5 percentage points from GDP

  

  Argentina’s annual rate of inflation was likely to have reached an annualized 42% through May, but should begin to slow in June with a return to growth also on the horizon, Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said in an address to investors in New York. The minister also said that for Argentina, Brazil's recession had a greater impact than Brexit.

• Monday, June 27th 2016 - 07:04 UTC

  Anti-Doping agency suspends testing laboratory in Rio for coming Olympics

  

  The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has suspended the credentials of a testing laboratory in Rio de Janeiro that didn’t conform with international standards, just over a month before the city hosts the Olympic Games.

• Friday, June 24th 2016 - 22:10 UTC

  Oi telecommunications US$ 19bn bankruptcy, the largest in Brazil's history

  

  Brazilian telecoms giant Oi has filed the largest bankruptcy request in the country’s history, after failing to reach an agreement with creditors.

• Friday, June 24th 2016 - 12:02 UTC

  Ex-top minister of Lula and Rousseff arrested; Senator Gleisi Hoffmann house raided

  

  A top ex-minister of Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff became the latest official to get arrested in a sprawling corruption probe on Thursday, authorities said. Police also searched the headquarters of Rousseff's Workers Party in Sao Paulo in one of a series of raids across five states in the country.

• Friday, June 24th 2016 - 09:03 UTC

  Brazil Lower House passes bill allowing foreigners 100% stake of national carriers

  

  Brazil's Chamber of Deputies approved this week an executive order allowing foreign investors 100% ownership of Brazilian airlines, compared to the current 20% limit, although the implementation depends on approval from the Senate.

• Friday, June 24th 2016 - 08:58 UTC

  Two presidents at opening of Rio Olympics in August

  

  Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's suspended president, will be invited to the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics on August 5, the organizing committee said Thursday. Rousseff has been replaced by vice-president Michel Temer pending her impeachment trial over allegations of fiddling government accounts.

• Friday, June 24th 2016 - 08:38 UTC

  Brazilian leading contractor, in plea bargain, expected to involve Rousseff directly in campaign illegal funding

  

  Marcelo Odebrecht, the former chief executive of Latin America’s largest construction company, will admit in a plea bargain testimony that he personally oversaw illegal campaign donations for suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in the 2010 and 2014 elections, Folha de São Paulo reported.

• Wednesday, June 22nd 2016 - 05:53 UTC

  Speaker of Brazil's Lower House will feel “proud” if Rousseff is impeached

  

  The speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress, currently sidelined pending trial on corruption charges, said Tuesday that he will feel “proud” if the case against suspended President Dilma Rousseff ends with her impeachment.