
Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisas Agropecuarias) created tropical agriculture in Brazil, thus allowing the country to become the giant food producer it is today. Hailed for the work done in adapting soybeans to the hot, humid, acidic climes of the Cerrado savannah, where nearly 17% of the world's beans are now cultivated, the state-run research company is a national treasure.

Paraguay reiterated on Tuesday that if Venezuela assumes as pro termpore chair of Mercosur, it is not interested in returning to the group and discarded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pledge to ensure Paraguay is fully reincorporated.

Brazilian authorities decided the exhumation of former president Joao Goulart remains to determine whether he was poisoned as part of the Plan Condor implemented by the Southern Cone military regimes to eliminate opponents during the seventies and eighties.

The US State Department spokesperson during the daily briefing declined to comment on the alleged intelligence activity in Brazil but admitted dialogue with the Brazilians through normal diplomatic channels, but those conversations ‘of course we would keep private’.

Brazil began an investigation Monday into whether telecommunications firms operating in the country cooperated with the U.S. as part of a spying program that has collected data on billions of telephone and email conversations. Anatel, the government agency that regulates the telecom sector in Brazil, said in a note that it's working with federal police and other government agencies on the investigation.

The Brazilian government, under pressure to improve public health services, has dropped plans to import a contingent of Cuban doctors and is instead looking to hire physicians in Spain and Portugal, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

Lawmakers in Brazil said Monday they want to question Washington's ambassador here about revelations that the United States has collected and stored the e-mail and telephone records of millions of Brazilians.

Brazil will demand an explanation from the United States over reports its citizens' electronic communications have been under surveillance by US spy agencies for at least a decade, foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on Sunday.

Inflation in Brazil slowed to 0.2% in June compared to the month before, but, at 6.7% over 12 months, was still well above the government's target of 4.5%, according to the latest official figures released on Friday.

Brazil announced on Friday it will immediately cut government spending by 6.65 billion dollars to balance the budget and achieve the goal of a primary fiscal surplus of 2.3% of GDP. The decision is seen as a strong signal to recover investors’ confidence following weeks of turmoil and poor performance of the economy.