Brazil

• Tuesday, March 8th 2016 - 07:00 UTC

  With Lula a weakened myth, Rousseff is fighting for her political life on several fronts

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is fighting for her political life in Congress, the courts and streets this week, but her path to survival has got ever narrower, analysts said on Monday. Rousseff faces impeachment proceedings over alleged fiscal mismanagement, while the Supreme Electoral Court is considering possible campaign funding irregularities that could end up annulling her 2014 reelection.

• Saturday, March 5th 2016 - 10:33 UTC

  Olympics organizers in Rio do Janeiro struggling with tickets, 50% remain unsold

  

  With five months to go before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian organizers are struggling to sell tickets for South America’s first games. The IOC president Thomas Bach said the locals will buy up tickets at the last minute.

• Saturday, March 5th 2016 - 08:59 UTC

  Malcorra sides with Lula da Silva, “hard to believe” what he's going through

  

  Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra sided with former president Lula da Silva arguing that it is hard to believe that a leader with such a record is under a criminal investigation, and underlined that all the economic and political scenario of Brazil has a great impact in Argentina.

• Friday, March 4th 2016 - 21:10 UTC

  Brazil political system in shock: police question Lula da Silva for three hours and raid his properties

  

  Brazilian police on Friday questioned former President Lula da Silva for over three hours and searched his home and other properties linked to him and his family, one of the most dramatic developments yet in the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras.

• Friday, March 4th 2016 - 07:17 UTC

  Brazilian GDP contracted 3.8% in 2015, the worst among major economies

  

  Brazil's GDP fared worse than almost any other major economy in 2015, contracting by 3.8%, according to the national statistics agency IBGE. Economic growth in the world's seventh-largest economy has fallen sharply in recent months, which was due partly to low commodity prices and sluggish global growth.

• Thursday, March 3rd 2016 - 05:35 UTC

  Brazilian company admits, in plea bargain, illegal payments to Rousseff presidential campaign

  

  Executives from Brazil's second-largest engineering company, Andrade Gutierrez have testified that the company paid suppliers for President Dilma Rousseff's 2010 electoral campaign off the books, newspaper a Folha de S.Paulo reported on Tuesday.

• Thursday, March 3rd 2016 - 05:27 UTC

  Petrobras loses tax case; discussing sale of assets in Argentina to Pampa Energia

  

  Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras may be forced to pay 7.3 billion Reais (US$1.9 billion) in back taxes and fines after a decision by the country's tax authority Carf, newspaper Valor Economico reported on Wednesday.

• Thursday, March 3rd 2016 - 05:22 UTC

  Brazil will allow foreign companies to hold a 49% stake in the country's airlines

  

  The government of President Dilma Rousseff has raised from 20% to 49% the maximum stake that foreign companies can hold in Brazilian airlines, according to an executive order signed by the president and published on Wednesday in the Diario Oficial, Official Gazette

• Thursday, March 3rd 2016 - 05:03 UTC

  Brazil leaves key interest rate unchanged at 14.25% for the fifth time running

  

  Brazil's central bank kept interest rates on hold on Wednesday as widely expected, opting to avoid inflicting more harm on an economy mired in its worst recession in decades despite a surge in inflation. In a split vote, the bank's monetary policy committee, Copom, kept its benchmark Selic rate at 14.25% for the fifth straight time.

• Wednesday, March 2nd 2016 - 22:43 UTC

  US becomes a net natural gas exporter for a week with a shipment to Brazil

  

  United States turned into a net natural gas exporter for a week after the first liquefied natural gas export from Cheniere Energy Inc's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana left for Brazil. The United States however is not expected to become a net exporter of gas on an annual basis until 2017 after more pipelines to Mexico and LNG export terminals enter service, according to federal energy estimates.