Brazil

• Friday, December 7th 2012 - 05:46 UTC

  Brazil confirms Venezuela’s Chavez will be absent from the Mercosur summit

  

  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.

• Friday, December 7th 2012 - 05:22 UTC

  Brazil helped by good weather heading for record soybean and corn crops in 2012/13

  

  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.

• Friday, December 7th 2012 - 02:18 UTC

  Brazil central bank expected to keep interest rates low for a ‘prolonged period’

  

  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.

• Thursday, December 6th 2012 - 21:44 UTC

  Mercosur (as Unasur) ratifies the suspension of Paraguay until at least April

  

  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.

• Thursday, December 6th 2012 - 07:57 UTC

  Brazil anticipates Mercosur summit will confirm Paraguay’s suspension stands

  

  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.

• Thursday, December 6th 2012 - 07:45 UTC

  Brazil says President Chavez attendance to Mercosur summit is “uncertain”

  

  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.

• Thursday, December 6th 2012 - 07:36 UTC

  Spectacular Brasilia becomes the legacy of master architect Niemeyer

  

  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.

• Wednesday, December 5th 2012 - 20:06 UTC

  Brazilian industrial output expands in October, first annual increase in over a year

  

  Brazilian industrial output posted its first annual increase in more than a year in October as a tax break on autos helped support a nascent recovery in the country's beleaguered manufacturing sector.

• Wednesday, December 5th 2012 - 19:27 UTC

  Brazil confident for 2014 Cup but recalls the “national tragedy” of 1950 when defeated by Uruguay

  

  Brazil must not repeat the “national tragedy” of losing the 2014 World Cup as it did when it hosted the event in 1950, the country’s Minister of Sport Aldo Rebelo said. “We cannot repeat the national tragedy of 1950 when we lost to Uruguay” Rebelo told foreign journalists visiting Brazil as part of the build up to the finals. “It was like losing to your younger brother.

• Wednesday, December 5th 2012 - 19:02 UTC

  Paraguay furious with Brazil for confirming Unasur suspension until August 2013

  

  Paraguay declared “entirely unacceptable” statements from Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota who said that the April 2013 elections are “only an important step to re-examine” the country’s suspension from Unasur and Mercosur. Patriota’s statement was supported by Argentina.