Brazil

• Tuesday, June 28th 2011 - 16:26 UTC

  Japan interested in closer links with Mercosur attends summit in Paraguay

  

  Japan is attending the Mercosur summit in Paraguay with an eye on proposing the launch of a dialogue to boost bilateral economic relations and explore the possibility of signing a free trade agreement, reports the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

• Tuesday, June 28th 2011 - 06:37 UTC

  Brazil strikes natural gas onshore in the northeast of the country

  

  Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petrobras discovered natural gas in an onshore field near an area where Brazil plans to auction exploration licenses later this year.

• Tuesday, June 28th 2011 - 06:34 UTC

  South Brazil freezing: temperatures below zero force closure of schools

  

  Several cities in the south of Brazil recorded on Monday temperatures below zero Centigrade which caused the death of a man and forced the closure of schools, according to official reports.

• Tuesday, June 28th 2011 - 06:22 UTC

  Brazil Supreme judge contrary to full disclosure of past governments’ records

  

  Brazil highest magistrate, president of the Federal Tribunal (Supreme Court) Cezar Peluso said he was contrary to the disclosure of records from the recent military dictatorship (1964/1985) as was proposed by President Dilma Rousseff.

• Tuesday, June 28th 2011 - 06:12 UTC

  Mercosur summit begins Tuesday among controversy over its effectiveness

  

  The Mercosur summit will be an opportunity to solve asymmetry problems and social inequalities in the region, said Paraguay’ Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Lara Castro. The South American customs union is meeting this week in Asuncion for the first of two annual summits when the rotating chair will be passed on to Uruguay.

• Tuesday, June 28th 2011 - 04:28 UTC

  Almost 40 million Brazilians climbed to middle class in the last eight years

  

  An estimated 39.5 million Brazilians climbed to the middle class between 2003 and May 2011 according to a report from the Getulio Vargas Foundation, FGV, released Monday and which underlined inclusion and inequality reduction as the main forces.

• Monday, June 27th 2011 - 06:48 UTC

  Brazil’s former Food Security minister voted next FAO Director General

  

  The United Nations’ food agency, FAO, elected Brazil’s Jose Graziano da Silva as its Director General, the first new leader in almost two decades as the world faces near-record food prices that are driving millions into poverty.

• Monday, June 27th 2011 - 06:24 UTC

  Parlasur member claims Mercosur summits have become ‘display of empty rhetoric’

  

  Mercosur summits have become a display of empty rhetoric, full of protocol and ‘family photos’ but with no full hearted willingness to achieve a solid, fair integration, claimed the head of the Paraguayan delegation before Parlasur, the Mercosur Parliament.

• Monday, June 27th 2011 - 05:33 UTC

  Sao Paulo celebrates Gay Pride Day with the largest world turnout

  

  Hundreds of thousands of people dancing and wearing costumes packed on Sunday the streets of Sao Paulo, South America's biggest city to celebrate June 26 gay pride day and call for an end to homophobia.

• Saturday, June 25th 2011 - 07:49 UTC

  Brazil preparing to licence 45 ports to operators; the first Amazon city of Manaus

  

  Brazil's government, which has already begun the process of handing over airports to private investment, is now preparing 45 ports to be licensed to operators, Estado de S Paulo newspaper reported Friday.