Brazil

• Thursday, June 10th 2010 - 06:07 UTC

  Brazil expects 145.8 million tons crop in 2010; soybeans area up 7.2%

  

  Brazil's crop will reach 145.8 million tons in 2010, up 8.8% from 2009, according to a May projection released on Tuesday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The projection is 0.5% lower than April’s, released in May.

• Wednesday, June 9th 2010 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil’s tightest presidential election formally takes off this weekend

  

  Brazil’s most influential parties will be holding this week their national conventions, which is the previous step to the formal launching of the October presidential election campaign considered one of the tightest races in recent electoral history.

• Wednesday, June 9th 2010 - 01:29 UTC

  Brazil GDP expands at ‘Chinese pace’9%; rates increase forecasted

  

  Brazil’s economy grew at its fastest annual rate since 1995 in the first quarter anticipating expectations that the central bank will raise interest rates 0.75 percentage point Wednesday to prevent overheating.

• Tuesday, June 8th 2010 - 03:53 UTC

  Petrobras controls spill at offshore rig while transferring oil to ship

  

  Brazil’s government managed oil and gas corporation Petrobras announced Monday it had controlled an oil leak at an offshore platform in the Campos Basin, 160 kilometers from Rio do Janeiro.

• Monday, June 7th 2010 - 09:22 UTC

  Incumbent Brazilian presidential campaign accused of spying on adversary

  

  A member from the campaign team of Brazilian presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff was forced to resign over the weekend because of an alleged espionage plan to tap information from the main opposition hopeful Jose Serra.

• Saturday, June 5th 2010 - 00:51 UTC

  President Lula da Silva admits he would consider running again in 2014

  

  Brazil’s president Lula da Silva confirmed he is seriously considering running again in 2014 when Brazil will be hosting the World Football Cup. The Brazilian president made the announcement during an interview with Bandeirantes television.

• Thursday, June 3rd 2010 - 05:51 UTC

  Brazil grants construction light for third nuclear power plant

  

  Angra III nuclear power plant has been granted a construction license by the Brazilian National Nuclear Energy Commission, regulators said.

• Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 - 03:13 UTC

  Brazil suspends exports of processed meat to US over residues controversy

  

  Brazil will send a team of experts to the United States next week to seek clarification on methods used to test processed meat imports for residues, which have suspended export to the US, the Agriculture ministry said on Monday.

• Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 - 02:36 UTC

  Brazilian press calls Paraguay “rich beggar”, superb actor in asking for alms

  

  One of Brazil’s most influential weekly magazines with strong penetration in political and business circles, ‘Veja’ has a main article this week calling neighbouring Paraguay the “rich beggar”, a role which the successive Paraguayan governments “have played to success attracting significant international aid and grants”.

• Tuesday, June 1st 2010 - 02:46 UTC

  Major Brazilian airports on the verge of a “logistics blackout”

  

  Airports in the major cities of Brazil that will be hosting the World Cup in 2014, and the Olympic Games in 2016, are working at their maximum capacity and eight of them are described as “in the edge of operational collapse” according to a report from the Applied Economics Research Institute in Sao Paulo, IPEA.