Brazil

• Thursday, February 26th 2015 - 04:14 UTC

  Brazilian lawmaker wants closer ties with 'Falklands' and even considers 'a friendship forum'

  

  Brazilian federal Deputy for the southern state of Santa Catarina Celso Maldaner who last week visited the Falkland Islands said he wants to 'influence and push' for a commercial opening of Brazil with the Islands, since he believes there is great potential for making business particularly regarding fisheries and tourism.

• Wednesday, February 25th 2015 - 04:23 UTC

  HSBC singles Brazil, Mexico and U.S. as 'problem areas': 12/24 months to prove their worth

  

  HSBC singled out three large markets in the Americas, Brazil, Mexico and the U.S., as problem areas in which its businesses need to shape up or face restructuring, including possible asset sales. “We're talking of 12 to 24 months”.

• Tuesday, February 24th 2015 - 04:46 UTC

  Brazil expects to bolster growth with fiscal discipline starting 2016

  

  Brazil needs to act quickly to stabilize its finances and get rid of measures used to stimulate growth during the global downturn in order to bolster expansion in 2016, Finance Minister Joaquim Levy said on Monday.

• Friday, February 20th 2015 - 07:44 UTC

  Beija-Flor, the top samba group this year in Rio's Carnival, but who's behind?

  

  The Beija-Flor samba group was declared the champion of Rio de Janeiro's hotly contested Brazilian Carnival parade competition on Wednesday. However the group stoked controversy by staging a presentation focusing on Equatorial Guinea, run by Africa's longest-ruling dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

• Thursday, February 19th 2015 - 05:23 UTC

  Levy tells US investors Brazil is on track to correct the fiscal slippage

  

  The government of President Dilma Rousseff is working to meet its primary budget surplus goal of 1.2% of GDP in 2015, pledged Finance minister Joaquim Levy on Wednesday to an audience of investors in New York.

• Wednesday, February 18th 2015 - 04:05 UTC

  Web-campaign to impeach Rousseff gains ground with 2million e-petitions

  

  Calls are growing in Brazil to impeach President Dilma Rousseff over a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal involving the state-run oil giant Petrobras. While the country celebrates its annual Carnival, with the 2015 Samba Competition wrapping up in Rio de Janeiro, there has been a growing clamor on the web and in the streets, with millions of Brazilians asking for the impeachment of their president.

• Wednesday, February 18th 2015 - 03:56 UTC

  Brazil's corn and soybean crops flattening out influenced by climate conditions

  

  Brazil's sowings of safrinha corn are to fall for the first time in seven years, Conab (National Supply Co.) said, cutting its forecast for the country's overall production of the grain, and lowering hopes for the soybean harvest too.

• Tuesday, February 17th 2015 - 05:13 UTC

  Brazil and Argentina agree accords signed with China will not affect Mercosur

  

  Brazilian foreign minister Mauro Vieira discarded that the recent agreements reached by Argentina with China can interfere with Mercosur, while his Argentine counterpart Hector Timerman said that the package of accords with Beijing will “actually benefit Mercosur”.

• Tuesday, February 17th 2015 - 05:09 UTC

  Rolls-Royce allegedly caught in the Petrobras bribery scandal

  

  Rolls-Royce has said it does not “tolerate improper business” after the Financial Times reported that the firm had been accused of being caught up in a bribery scandal in Brazil. Ft reported allegations that the company paid bribes for a contract with Brazilian oil firm Petrobras.

• Monday, February 16th 2015 - 08:51 UTC

  Germany urges Brazil with an EU/Mercosur trade agreement

  

  Germany wants to speed negotiations for a free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, said Foreign minister Walter Steinmeier in Brasilia. The agreement has been pending since 1999 when discussions started but so far have been unable to reach a deal or commit a date because of internal problems from both sides.