Brazil

• Thursday, August 20th 2015 - 06:42 UTC

  Brazilian major contractor admits guilt in Petrobras' massive corruption scheme

  

  Camargo Correa Construcoes e Participacoes, one of Brazil's largest construction companies, has admitted its role in a massive scheme to overcharge state-controlled oil company Petrobras and agreed to cooperate in the investigation as part of a leniency deal, anti-trust agency Cade said Wednesday.

• Thursday, August 20th 2015 - 06:32 UTC

  Brazil in recession, according to the Central Bank's economic activity index

  

  Economic activity in Brazil fell more quickly than expected in June, central bank data showed on Wednesday, adding to evidence that the once-booming economy is suffering a painful recession. The Brazilian central bank's IBC-Br economic activity index fell 0.58% in June from the prior month, the bank said in a report released on Wednesday.

• Tuesday, August 18th 2015 - 09:28 UTC

  Former Petrobras top official sentenced to 12 years in prison

  

  A Brazilian judge sentenced Nestor Cervero, former international chief of state-run oil firm Petrobras, to just over 12 years in prison on Monday for corruption and money laundering related to a bribe allegedly paid to the speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress.

• Tuesday, August 18th 2015 - 09:15 UTC

  Markets estimate Brazil's recession will spill over to 2016, says Central bank

  

  The Brazilian Central Bank weekly Focus Bulletin released on Monday indicates, for the first time, according to the prevailing opinion among financial institutions that the current recession of the country's economy will extend well into 2016. According to Focus the market forecasts a retraction of the Brazil's GDP of 0.15% in 2016.

• Monday, August 17th 2015 - 06:21 UTC

  “Dilma Out”, was voiced by hundreds of thousands across Brazil

  

  Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Brazil to call for the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, whom they blame for a vast corruption scandal and the economy's worst slump in a quarter-century. Less than a year into her tumultuous second term, the president's support has dwindled to single digits in recent polls, while two in three support calls for her impeachment.

• Saturday, August 15th 2015 - 08:50 UTC

  Uruguay says Brazil rejects idea of leaving Mercosur, but agrees that deep changes are urgent

  

  Uruguay's foreign minister said on Friday that “nobody” supports the proposal from the Brazilian Senate president Renan Calheiros to put an end to the Mercosur customs union. However he did point out that he proposal exposed that the block effectively is 'not working' and needs to have its foundations reviewed.

• Saturday, August 15th 2015 - 07:27 UTC

  Massive protest turnout on Sunday could decide Brazilian president's future

  

  Hundreds of thousands of angry of citizens are expected to take to the streets of more than 114 Brazilian cities on Sunday as allegations of corruption and incompetence swamp the government, and plummeting commodity prices sap its economy, posing a key test for President Dilma Rousseff.

• Saturday, August 15th 2015 - 07:08 UTC

  Twenty people killed overnight in Sao Paulo, in what seems rogue police vengeance

  

  A least twenty people were killed and seven injured in a wave of Thursday/Friday overnight shootings in Brazil's biggest city, Sao Paulo, some of them gunned down in cold blood as they sat in a bar.Alexandre de Moraes, head of the Sao Paulo state security department, announced the death tally -- originally placed at 20 -- Friday after media reports of a deliberate massacre in the suburbs, possibly by rogue police.

• Friday, August 14th 2015 - 09:23 UTC

  Political ally who can save Rousseff from impeachment wants Brazil out of Mercosur

  

  Renan Calheiros, president of the Brazilian Senate, and the man who could help President Dilma Rousseff avoid impeachment in Congress, has proposed a package of measures to rescue Brazil from its current stagflation, but among his demands is “an end to the customs union of Mercosur”.

• Thursday, August 13th 2015 - 07:32 UTC

  Rousseff gets an extra 15 days to explain she did not doctor public accounts

  

  President Dilma Rousseff got an extra 15 days on Wednesday to respond to allegations that she doctored public accounts last year, delaying a decision by a court that could pave the way for the populist leader's impeachment.