Brazil

• Wednesday, March 7th 2012 - 02:54 UTC

  Blatter apologizes to Brazil; requests interview with President Rousseff

  

  FIFA president Sepp Blatter sought on Tuesday to defuse a war of words between FIFA and Brazil by personally apologising for disparaging remarks made by a top official about the country's slow progress in preparing for the 2014 World Cup.

• Tuesday, March 6th 2012 - 17:27 UTC

  Brazil’s reviewing its foreign policy but South America remains the “anchor”

  

  Brazil will keep its foreign policy ‘anchor’ in South America but will review the international because of the latest global changes such as the European Union crisis and the Arab spring.

• Tuesday, March 6th 2012 - 17:06 UTC

  Brazil growth in 2011, slowest since 2003, but 2 million jobs were created

  

  The Brazilian economy last year registered its second-worst performance since 2003 as higher borrowing costs and a currency that rallied to a 12-year high led it to under-perform emerging-market peers China and India.

• Tuesday, March 6th 2012 - 05:23 UTC

  Rousseff and Merkel exchange ideas on ‘monetary tsunami’ and ‘protectionism’

  

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel replied on Monday to Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff claims that Europe is involved in a “monetary tsunami” arguing that developed countries are very concerned with Brazil’s protectionist measures.Merkel and Rousseff met at Hannover where the Brazilian president was invited to open a high technology event.

• Tuesday, March 6th 2012 - 05:06 UTC

  FIFA yields and Valcke apologizes to Brazil for his comments

  

  FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke apologized to Brazil on Monday after the country's government officially informed FIFA that it would no longer deal with him because of his remarks about its preparations for the 2014 World Cup.

• Monday, March 5th 2012 - 23:58 UTC

  Brazil sends letter to Blatter: no dealings with FIFA’s Valcke: he’s a bum

  

  Brazil's Sports minister says he has delivered a letter telling FIFA that it won't deal with Secretary General Jerome Valcke during the country's preparations for the 2014 World Cup.

• Monday, March 5th 2012 - 23:42 UTC

  Brazil 2011/12 soy and corn crops estimates slightly lower to 69.5m and 60.4m tons

  

  Brazil’s 2011/12 soybean and corn crops are forecasted to be slightly lower than the original February estimates according to the latest release from industry and market analyst.

• Monday, March 5th 2012 - 06:10 UTC

  Mercosur countries to agree on a common protocol for vessels from the Falklands

  

  Mercosur country members are scheduled to hold a meeting in Rio do Janeiro to agree on a common protocol for all vessels originating in the Falkland Islands and calling at regional ports, announced Uruguay’s Defence minister Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro.

• Friday, March 2nd 2012 - 05:55 UTC

  Brazil claims rich countries “tsunami” of cheap money triggers “currency war”

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff slammed rich nations on Thursday for unleashing a “tsunami” of cheap money that was “cannibalizing” poorer countries such as her own, forcing them to act to protect struggling local industries.

• Friday, March 2nd 2012 - 05:41 UTC

  US remains interested in purchase of Brazilian attack aircraft for Afghanistan

  

  United States remains interested in a possible purchase of light attack aircraft made by Brazil's Embraer despite cancelling a contract this week, a top US official said Thursday.