Brazil’s Supreme Court voted unanimously to permit a quota system that would favour Afro-descendants in entering universities, ending an eight-year legal battle.
A freedom of information law has taken effect in Brazil, challenging an embedded culture of secrecy and bureaucracy. Proponents, including President Dilma Rousseff, said the measure is nothing short of a revolution for a system that has kept tight control over information for decades.
Spain’s Foreign Affairs minister Jose Garcia Margallo said that Madrid supports negotiations for a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union on a “region to region” basis, back stepping from his proposal last April to exclude Argentina following the seizure of YPF from Repsol.
In a solemn ceremony Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has sworn in the seven members of a Truth commission created to look into human rights abuses committed during the nation’s long dictatorship.
Brazil this week escalated a growing trade fight with Argentina by increasing the bureaucratic obstacles for importing about 10 perishable products including apples, raisins, and potatoes, a senior Brazilian government official was quoted by the media.
The Brazilian government has plans to cut and simplify taxes for electricity producers and distributors as part of a strategy to reduce Brazil's high business costs and stimulate its struggling economy, reports Reuters.
The Brazilian Real dropped past 2 per dollars for a second day as President Dilma Rousseff said it has been “extremely overvalued,” encouraging speculation the currency of Latin America’s biggest economy may fall further.
Brazil’s Real tumbled to 2 per dollar for the first time in almost three years as Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the exchange rate doesn’t worry the government, opening expectations the currency may fall further.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff launched on Sunday, (Mother’s Day in South America) a raft of new social programs for low-income families with young children.
Brazilian police was out in full force to occupy for an indefinite period a group of favelas (shanty towns) surrounding the ‘marvellous’ city of Rio do Janeiro following the killing of the state’s most wanted drug lord.