Brazil

• Monday, March 28th 2011 - 01:09 UTC

  Brazil only country that retains 1979 Amnesty law dictated by the military

  

  Contrary to the rest of Latin American countries, Brazil is the only where an amnesty law sanctioned by the military dictatorship in 1979 remains effective, ignoring a ruling from the Inter American Court of Human Rights, according to jurist Helio Bicudo.

• Saturday, March 26th 2011 - 08:57 UTC

  Brazil expected to raise benchmark interest rate as inflation “worsens”

  

  Brazilian Central bank President Alexandre Tombini admitted inflation forecasts may “worsen”. Consumer prices in the 12 months through mid-March rose 6.13%, the biggest jump in more than two years.

• Saturday, March 26th 2011 - 08:53 UTC

  WTO rules US is illegally taxing imported Brazilian frozen orange juice

  

  The World Trade Organization ruled Friday that the United States is illegally taxing about 2 billion US dollars a year of imported Brazilian frozen orange juice.

• Saturday, March 26th 2011 - 08:20 UTC

  Brazil’s UN vote on Iran marks first great difference between Dilma and Lula da Silva

  

  Brazil’s vote in the UN Human Rights Council in support of a rapporteur to monitor human rights in Iran, proposed by the US, signals the first great divergence in foreign policy between the current administration of President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor and mentor Lula da Silva.

• Friday, March 25th 2011 - 01:14 UTC

  Brazilian government wants to sack CEO of the country’s largest corporation

  

  Brazilian government is facing a political backlash over its apparent efforts to force out the head of mining giant Vale, the world’s largest iron ore miner. Opposition leaders on Thursday demanded Finance Minister Guido Mantega explain reports he asked a shareholder of Vale to help seek a replacement for CEO Roger Agnelli.

• Thursday, March 24th 2011 - 18:05 UTC

  US must be more pro-active if it wants access to Brazilian oil, says Petrobras

  

  The United States must pay more importance to its strategic alliance with Brazil if it really wants to benefit from Petrobras’ recently discovered deep-water oil and natural gas reserves in the Atlantic Ocean, the company’s CEO, Jose Sergio Gabrielli, said.

• Wednesday, March 23rd 2011 - 02:44 UTC

  Brazil reiterates significance of Mercosur and strategic relation with Argentina

  

  Brazil reaffirmed the significance of Mercosur for President Dilma Rousseff administration’s foreign policy and underlined the strategic relation with Argentina, Brazil’s main associate in the trade block.

• Tuesday, March 22nd 2011 - 22:17 UTC

  Brazilian president conditions pending visit to Paraguay

  

  President Dilma Rousseff will not be visiting Paraguay until the Brazilian Congress approves the Itaipú reversal notes which establish a greater compensation for surplus power purchased from Paraguay by Latin America’s energy hungry largest economy.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 21:52 UTC

  US Export-Import bank loans Brazil 3 billion USD for oil and World Cup

  

  The US government's export credit agency has authorized $3 billion in financing for Brazil, including 2 billion US dollars for the Brazilian government-managed oil company Petrobras.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 21:50 UTC

  Speculation that Brazil’s s steel industry is in the process of consolidation

  

  Brazil’s biggest maker of steel products for the auto and construction industries, Gerdau SA, plans to sell as much as 4.2 billion Real (2.5 billion USD) of stock, boosting speculation that it has plans to buy a stake in a Brazilian rival, most probably Usiminas.