Brazil

• Thursday, December 19th 2013 - 06:06 UTC

  Brazil surprises and hands Sweden Gripens the contract for 36 new fighters

  

  Sweden's Saab AB prevailed over U.S. giant Boeing and French manufacturer Dassault Aviation in a competition to supply the Brazilian air force with 36 aircraft to replace its aging Mirage 2000s, Brazil said Wednesday.

• Tuesday, December 17th 2013 - 02:18 UTC

  US insists Obama remains open to a state visit from Brazil's Dilma Rousseff

  

  The new US ambassador in Brazil Liliana Ayalde said President Barack Obama is prepared to receive his Brazilian peer Dilma Rousseff. The statement comes weeks after a state visit planned for last October was suspended by Dilma in protest over revelations of extensive US spying of Brazilian communications including the mobiles of the Brazilian leader.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 17:19 UTC

  Brazil again delays fighter jet contract; France rapidly losing ground in the bid

  

  France will lose out in its bid to win a multi-billion-dollar fighter jet contract with Brazil, the Folha de Sao Paulo daily reported over the week-end. It said France’s 4 billion dollars proposal for 36 Rafale fighter jets, from a consortium led by French giant Dassault, will be shot down for cost reason.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 17:01 UTC

  Following another death, Brazilian labor court orders partial stop in Amazon stadium

  

  A Brazilian labor court ordered a partial stop to construction on the Arena Amazonia in the jungle city of Manaus after the death of a worker who fell off the stadium's roof again raised safety concerns ahead of the 2014 soccer World Cup.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 16:52 UTC

  UN research panel says 'institutionalized racism' persists in Brazil

  

  Institutionalized racism persists in Brazil despite government efforts to tackle the issue, according to members of a United Nations panel examining conditions among black Brazilians in five cities. However Brazilian blacks ``still suffer from structural, institutional and interpersonal racism.''

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 09:30 UTC

  Brazilian economy walking on “two crippled legs” argues Minister Mantega

  

  The Brazilian economy is walking with “two crippled legs” according to Finance Minister Guido Mantega who put the blame on the effects of the international slowdown with different rates of recovery, and the lack of credit to prop consumer spending.

• Friday, December 13th 2013 - 13:04 UTC

  Brazil to lower economy stimulus beginning with subsidized credit lines

  

  Brazil will raise interest rates on some state-subsidized credit lines in 2014 withdrawing part of the stimulus that helped boost investments but also hurt public finances this year. Interest rates on loans for the purchase of capital goods and trucks will climb to 6% per year, from 4%, while a special credit line for exports will climb to 8% from 5.5%.

• Thursday, December 12th 2013 - 06:47 UTC

  Brazil expects a 90 million tons soybean crop, making it the world's top producer

  

  Brazil's government food supply agency Conab forecast record soybean output of 90.03 million tons, near the top of its previous forecast of 87.9 million to 90.2 million tons, as farmers finish planting new fields.

• Wednesday, December 11th 2013 - 06:23 UTC

  Paraguayan Senate accepts Venezuela as full member of Mercosur; praise from Brazil

  

  The Paraguayan Senate finally passed on Tuesday afternoon, with a large majority a protocol for including Venezuela as full member of Mercosur. The protocol, which was submitted to Congress by President Horacio Cartes, was supported 29-10.

• Wednesday, December 11th 2013 - 00:00 UTC

  World and FIFA shocked by violent incidents at a Brazilian championship match

  

  Shocking violence at a Brazilian championship match is not an indication of what can be expected when the South American country hosts next year's World Cup, FIFA and Brazilian government officials have declared.