
Instead of attending Monday's Mercosur Summit in Asunción, Argentine President Javier Milei chose to spend the weekend in southern Brazil with his friends the Bolsonaros, including the former head of state Jair, with whom he watched their national team eliminated from the Copa America by Uruguay on penalties on Saturday.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attended this week the laying of the foundation stone for the Orion Project, a laboratory complex specialized in disease-causing pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites to be built in Campinas, in the State of São Paulo. According to Agencia Brasil, the facility is expected to be the most advanced in Latin America and one of the most important in the world.

Bolivia's Deputy Communications Minister Gabriela Alcón announced Friday that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would be arriving in Santa Cruz de la Sierra next Monday for meetings with local authorities and businessmen. It will be the first visit of a foreign head of state since Bolivia's full Southern Common Market membership President Luis Arce Catacora signed into law this week.

Brazil's Federal Police (PF) accused former President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday of money laundering and conspiracy to commit a crime in the attempted misappropriation of jewelry gifted by Saudi Arabia while he was in office.

Despite Mercosur partners with significant flocks, Brazil has reopened its market for Australian mutton and lambt, including sheep meat by-products and edible offal, the Australian Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry announced this week.

The first semester of 2024 ended in Brazil with 6.1 million probable dengue cases and 4,250 deaths with other 2,730 fatalities still under investigation, Agencia Brasil reported Monday citing the federal Health Ministry's arbovirus monitoring panel. The malady's incidence rate is now 3,033 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and the lethality rate is 0.07.

Argentine President Javier Milei will not be traveling to Asunción for the upcoming Mercosur Summit in the Paraguayan capital on July 8 in a move to avoid meeting face-to-face with his Brazilian colleague Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom he dubbed a corrupt Communist during his campaign last year and who insists an apology is in order. Last week the Argentine leader claimed there was nothing to be sorry for and that he would not go back on telling the truth. Foreign Minister Diana Mondino will represent Milei at the regional bloc's gathering.

Areas in southern Brazil recorded subzero temperatures Sunday as a strong and broad mass of polar air hit the States of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, Agencia Brasil reported citing data from the National Meteorological Institute (Inmet) as well as from Epagri/Ciram, an agency of the Santa Catarina state government.

The economy in South America's largest country is taking a shaky turn as Friday's figures would indicate. The exchange rate between the local real (R$) and the US dollar (US$) went up 15.15% over the past six months, closing at US$ 1 = R$ 5.58 while the Stock market fell 0.32% for a 1.49% monthly gain. On the brighter side, unemployment in the quarter ending in May stood at 7.1%, according to Brazil's Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), a considerable improvement from February's 7.8% and the yoy 8.3%.

The foodstuff industry accounted for the largest number of jobs (22.8%) in South America's largest country, according to a study released Thursday by Brazil's Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The clothing and accessories industry represented 7% of workplaces, and the manufacture of metal products (machinery and equipment not included), 5.9%.