Brazil

• Monday, April 7th 2014 - 05:58 UTC

  Scottish oil worker killed during a carjacking incident in Rio do Janeiro

  

  The feeling of insecurity in Brazil's main cities peaked again last week when it was reported that a British oil worker had been shot dead by two men in Rio de Janeiro, a Scottish newspaper reported Saturday.

• Saturday, April 5th 2014 - 05:48 UTC

  The poll was completely wrong: Brazilians love their scantily dressed women

  

  Friday came with a relief for Brazil when a leading economic pollster admitted to having committed a serious error in interpreting results released earlier saying that a majority of Brazilians supported the idea that women in revealing clothes “deserve to be attacked”.

• Saturday, April 5th 2014 - 04:07 UTC

  Brazilian officials claim Italian cruise vessel had crew members in 'slave-like conditions'

  

  Brazilian police say they have rescued 11 crew members working in “slave-like conditions” on an Italian cruise ship. The operation was carried out the north-eastern city of Salvador, where the MSC Magnifica had docked for the day with more than 3,000 passengers.

• Friday, April 4th 2014 - 07:35 UTC

  Brazilian congress strikes down new taxes on the domestic soy market

  

  Brazil's Congress struck down this week a proposal to impose new taxes on the internal soy market after fierce opposition from the country's agricultural sector. An amendment to apply a tax known as PIS/Cofins on soybean sales to some domestic buyers had been removed from a bill to simplify taxation of Brazilian companies abroad that was passed by the lower chamber late on Tuesday.

• Friday, April 4th 2014 - 04:26 UTC

  Brazil manufacturing activity expands for the fourth straight month in March

  

  Brazil's manufacturing activity expanded for the fourth straight month in March, though at a meager pace as growth in new orders cooled, a private survey showed. The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index for the Brazilian manufacturing sector rose to a seasonally adjusted 50.6 in March from 50.4 in February. The 50 mark separates contraction from expansion.

• Thursday, April 3rd 2014 - 07:21 UTC

  Brazil central bank raises benchmark Selic rate to 11%

  

  Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark Selic rate to 11% from 10.75% on Wednesday, prolonging its tightening cycle after a surge in food prices that has stoked already high inflation in an election year. The bank's decision was unanimous and left the door open for possible further rate hikes.

• Wednesday, April 2nd 2014 - 07:56 UTC

  Brazil closes first quarter with the worst trade balance result since 1994

  

  The Brazilian trade balance posted a 112 million surplus in March with exports totaling 17.628 billion dollars and imports, 17.516 billion. It has been the worst result for March since 2001, when a 276.1 million deficit was recorded while the combined deficit for the first quarter of the year, 6.1bn dollars, is the worst result since records started being kept, in 1994.

• Monday, March 31st 2014 - 23:20 UTC

  Brazil remembers the 50th anniversary of the coup that led to 21 years of military rule

  

  President Dilma Rousseff remembered on Monday, 31 March, those who died or disappeared fighting for the return of democracy in Brazil on the fifitieth anniversary of the miltiary coup of 1964, which lasted until 1985 and had full political support from the United States, at the time under president Lyndon Johnson.

• Monday, March 31st 2014 - 19:28 UTC

  Mercosur expects to exchange tariff-reduction proposals with EU next June

  

  Mercosur expects to present a joint proposal regarding tariff reductions to the European Union during a meeting next June, according to Brazil's Minister of Development, Trade and Industry, Mauro Borges who apparently convinced a reluctant Argentina to join the group.

• Monday, March 31st 2014 - 19:25 UTC

  Brazil/Argentina agree on deal to promote bilateral trade by guaranteeing 'dollar liquidity'

  

  Brazil and Argentina signed a deal over the weekend that seeks to guarantee importers will have enough U.S. dollars to pay for exports, a move to increase trade between both nations that has been hit hard by a sharp depreciation of the Argentine peso.