Brazil

• Saturday, August 7th 2010 - 05:56 UTC

  Dilma/Serra debate was “boring” and unable to distract Brazilians from soccer

  

  The first television debate between the Brazilian leading presidential candidates, Dilma Rousseff and Jose Serra had one of the lowest ratings Thursday night and analysts defined it as ‘boring’ and a at the most, ‘a test for future duels’.

• Friday, August 6th 2010 - 00:34 UTC

  IMF praises Brazil’s “carefully calibrated” policies and forecasts 7.1% growth

  

  The International Monetary Fund reiterated its forecast for Brazil’s economy to expand 7.1% this year, as result of capital inflows and the expansion of credit. However the IMF also cautioned about the official credit policy of the country’s development bank.

• Friday, August 6th 2010 - 00:28 UTC

  Chinese auto maker planning a plant with a production capacity of 170.000 units

  

  Chinese auto-maker Chery Automobile Co. will spend 700 million US dollars on a plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil's wealthiest state, the local newspaper o Estado de S. Paulo reported in its Thursday edition.

• Thursday, August 5th 2010 - 05:00 UTC

  Snow in Brazil, below zero Celsius in the River Plate and tropical fish frozen

  

  For a second day running it snowed Wednesday in Southern Brazil and in twelve of Argentina’s 24 provinces including parts of Buenos Aires as a consequence of the polar front covering most of the continent’s southern cone with zero and below zero temperatures.

• Wednesday, August 4th 2010 - 22:00 UTC

  Brazil ready for first television clash between Dilma Rousseff and Serra

  

  Brazil’s main presidential candidates will be holding their first televised debate Thursday evening less than two months to voting day October 3. The debate has been organized by Bandeirantes Television and will also include two other candidates with lesser chance, so all eyes will be set on incumbent Dilma Rousseff and opposition leader Jose Serra

• Wednesday, August 4th 2010 - 02:42 UTC

  Lula da Silva’s double challenge as Mercosur chair

  

  Consolidating Mercosur as an “undisputed irreversible” integrated block will be Brazilian president Lula da Silva challenge as the pro-tempore chair of the group in the last leg of his eight years in office.

• Tuesday, August 3rd 2010 - 15:28 UTC

  Brazil greens claim 300.000 sharks have been killed for their fins

  

  Demand for shark fin soup in Asia has been blamed for the illegal killing of nearly 300,000 sharks off Brazil, an environmental group has alleged. The Environmental Justice Institute in Brazil has accused a seafood exporter (Siglo do Brasil Comercio) of illegally killing nearly 300,000 sharks.

• Saturday, July 31st 2010 - 19:51 UTC

  Brazil’s incumbent presidential candidate takes the lead over main rival

  

  Brazil's ruling Workers' Party presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff, has a five percentage-point lead over her main rival Jose Serra, according to the latest opinion poll released Friday.

• Saturday, July 31st 2010 - 19:47 UTC

  Uribe most probably will have Lula da Silva at his table in next Friday’s banquet

  

  The Brazilian Executive spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said on Saturday that President Lula da Silva had a long conversation on the phone with Colombian president-elect Juan Manuel Santos and they talked about the diplomatic crisis with Venezuela.

• Saturday, July 31st 2010 - 18:56 UTC

  Mujica and Lula da Silva reiterate commitment to Mercosur and Unasur

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Uruguay’s Jose Mujica on Friday defended South America’s integration as a peace zone and reiterated the two countries commitment to Mercosur and Unasur.