Brazil

• Saturday, August 3rd 2013 - 01:53 UTC

  Brazil investment in science, via the ministerial budget reaches ‘an all time high’

  

  Brazil's investment in science has reached an all-time high, with the science ministry's budget increasing from 8.6 billion Real (about 3.8 billion dollars) in 2012 to 12.7 billion Real (around 5.6bn) this year, according to science minister Marco Antonio Raupp.

• Friday, August 2nd 2013 - 03:55 UTC

  Brazil supports IMF aid to Greece and summons delegate back home to explain

  

  Brazil on Thursday expressed support for the IMF latest aid package for Greece, disavowing its IMF delegate who abstained in a vote on the issue. Finance Minister Guido Mantega spoke with IMF chief Christine Lagarde and backed the Fund's decision to release 1.7 billion Euros in rescue loans to ailing Greece Monday, his spokesman said.

• Friday, August 2nd 2013 - 03:33 UTC

  Brazil June public accounts improve supported by state and local governments’ surpluses

  

  Brazil's twelve-month public sector primary budget surplus widened in June amid a robust surplus from state and local governments, helping bring the country's nominal deficit slightly narrower.

• Friday, August 2nd 2013 - 03:26 UTC

  Brazil's Rousseff announces billions to improve Sao Paulo transport system

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff moved quickly this week to improve bus services in the metropolis of Sao Paulo, where protests over a fare increase in June triggered an outburst of national discontent that battered her popularity and questioned the country’s infrastructure for two major world events in 2014 and 2016.

• Thursday, August 1st 2013 - 04:09 UTC

  “Not even the Pope could bring Brazil and Paraguay together”, said O’Globo

  

  Influential Latin American newspapers have been extremely critical of Brazilian diplomacy in its unsuccessful attempts to ‘subdue Paraguay’, while at the same praising the landlocked country’s dignity in demanding from Mercosur respect and compliance with the rule of the law.

• Thursday, August 1st 2013 - 03:50 UTC

  Brazilian airport workers on strike but “only 15% of flights cancelled or delayed”

  

  Thousands of Brazilian airport workers went on strike on Wednesday to demand higher wages, although contingency plans kept flights running on time, according to state airport agency Infraero. The workers' union is pressing for a roughly 16% salary bump along with improved benefits such as childcare.

• Thursday, August 1st 2013 - 02:59 UTC

  Brazil criticizes IMF for latest aid to Greece: worst fears could be confirmed

  

  A group of Latin American countries refused to back an IMF move this week to keep bankrolling Greece, citing risks of non-repayment, and the Fund itself said Athens might need faster debt relief from Europe.

• Wednesday, July 31st 2013 - 06:00 UTC

  Brazil’s next soybean crop expected to increase 9% to a record 89.1 million tons

  

  Brazil’s 2013/14 soybean crop that starts planting in September is expected to grow by 9% under normal weather conditions to a record 89.1 million tons, local crop analyst AgRural said in a release.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 21:49 UTC

  Francis speaks openly about the Church’s problems during his trip back to Italy

  

  Pope Francis said the troubled Vatican bank must become “honest and transparent” and that he will listen to the advice of a commission he has set up on whether it can be reformed or needs to be shut down altogether.

• Monday, July 29th 2013 - 06:12 UTC

  Rousseff brushes aside a ‘Lula option for 2014’ and ratifies minister Mantega

  

  Responding to claims that former president Lula da Silva ‘is returning to politics’ and thus conditioning her re-election bid next year, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said the former trade union leader ‘never left politics’ and their relation ‘can’t be dissociated’. She also ratified Finance minister Guido Mantega.