Brazil

• Saturday, September 3rd 2011 - 08:04 UTC

  Lula da Silva says Dilma will complete eight years, steps down from 2014 election

  

  Former Brazilian president Lula da Silva and undisputed leader of the ruling Workers Party said on Friday that President Dilma Rousseff will be governing Brazil for the next eight years and announced he’s stepping down from any further presidential aspiration in 2014.

• Saturday, September 3rd 2011 - 07:43 UTC

  Power failure leaves 13 Brazilian states in the dark; third major outage in 3 years

  

  A failure affecting four transmission lines left four Brazilian regions (thirteen states) partially without electricity on Friday, highlighting the growing strain on the nation's power infrastructure.

• Saturday, September 3rd 2011 - 00:46 UTC

  Brazilian economy slowing down: growth drops to an annualized 3.1%

  

  Brazil's economy expanded at a softer pace in the second quarter as a strong currency fueled a flood of cheap imports and industrial activity had its worst performance since the third quarter of 2009.

• Friday, September 2nd 2011 - 08:23 UTC

  Brazil to reclaim sub-salt oil exploration blocks awarded in 2006 auction

  

  Brazil's government will reclaim promising oil exploration blocks won by companies in a bidding round five years ago but never formally leased to the winners, the country's energy minister Edison Lobao said.

• Friday, September 2nd 2011 - 05:09 UTC

  Record foreign trade activity in Brazil; 8 month surplus equals all 2010

  

  Brazil's trade surplus grew more than expected in August as the value of exports climbed to its highest this year, outpacing strong import growth.

• Thursday, September 1st 2011 - 08:11 UTC

  Brazilian catholic church loosing ground to evangelists, atheists and agnostics

  

  The Brazilian Catholic Church continues to loose ground to the evangelists and those who declare to have no religion, according to the latest survey released by the Social policies centre from the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio.

• Thursday, September 1st 2011 - 02:45 UTC

  Brazil unexpectedly cuts interest rate to 12% on risks of EU and US recession

  

  Brazil’s central bank on Wednesday unexpectedly cut interest rates as the risk of recession in Europe and the US shifted policy makers’ focus away from containing the fastest inflation in six years.

• Thursday, September 1st 2011 - 02:06 UTC

  Minister criticizes Sao Paulo police for celebrating 1964 military coup

  

  In their internet portal the ‘Rota’ elite forces from the Sao Paulo police underscore their achievements in recent history and vindicate the 1964 coup.

• Thursday, September 1st 2011 - 01:21 UTC

  The Brazilian population reached 192.37 million on July first

  

  The Brazilian population grew by 1.62 million between 2010 and 2011 according to the latest data from the country’s Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE, which means that on July first the total number of inhabitants was 192.37 million.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 08:51 UTC

  World’s largest beef producer relocates operations to save on taxes

  

  The world's largest beef producer, Brazil's JBS, will shift its meat packing operations to other locations where it operates in the country, to reap tax savings, the company said on Tuesday.