
Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets on Sunday to demand a tough stance against corruption and celebrate the recent sentencing of influential politicians who were involved in money scandals during the first government of President Lula da Silva.

Brazil's government has unveiled plans to invest 54.2 billion Reais (approx 26 billion dollars) over the next four years to modernize the country's ports, whose high costs and notorious delays are eroding the country’s competitive edge.

The former jet-setting premier of the British Overseas Territory Turks and Caicos Islands has been arrested in Brazil after disappearing a few years ago. Michael Misick was detained last Friday at the Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro, governor spokesman Neil Smith said.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez will not be attending the Mercosur summit on Friday as had been previously announced, announced on Thursday the Brazilian Foreign ministry which is hosting the event.

Brazil held forecasts for a record 2012/2013 soybean crop with the latest estimate from Conab, the Brazilian crop bureau, at 82.6m tons, towards the top of the range of 80.1m-83m tons previously anticipated and representing a jump of more than 20% year on year.

The Brazilian central bank indicated it will keep interest rates at their current level for an extended period given favourable signs for the inflation outlook.

Mercosur Foreign ministers announced in Brasilia on Thursday that the suspension of Paraguay from the group stands at least until the coming presidential election on April 2013.

Paraguay must continue suspended from Mercosur following the group’s presidential summit on Friday, anticipated the head of the Latin American desk from the Brazilian Foreign ministry, Antonio Jose Ferreira Simoes.

The presence of President Hugo Chavez at Friday’s Mercosur summit is “uncertain” reported the official Brazilian news agency on Wednesday adding that the organizers are waiting for a confirmation of his trip to Brasilia.

Oscar Niemeyer, a towering patriarch of modern architecture who shaped the look of modern Brazil and whose inventive, curved designs left their mark on cities worldwide, died late Wednesday. He was 104.