Brazil

• Monday, May 10th 2010 - 05:45 UTC

  Serra Wants Mercosur With Member Vote Linked to GDP and Population

  

  Leading Brazilian presidential candidate José Serra said it was “very good” for his campaign that Venezuela’s leader Hugo Chávez should openly support his main competitor incumbent hopeful Dilma Rousseff and again warned about the shortcomings of Mercosur.

• Saturday, May 8th 2010 - 06:33 UTC

  Petrobras Sets Monthly Record Oil Production in April: 2.033 Million bpd

  

  Brazilian government managed oil and gas corporation Petrobras (SAO:PETR3) set a monthly record for oil production in April with 2.033 million barrels per day topping the previous record of 2.004 million bpd from September 2009, the company said Friday.

• Saturday, May 8th 2010 - 06:28 UTC

  Brazil’s Bovespa Confirms Biggest Weekly Decline since February

  

  Brazil’s Bovespa stock index fell for a second day on Friday closing with the biggest weekly decline since February 2009, on concern that Europe’s debt crisis is worsening and rescue packages could have to be extended to Portugal and Spain.

• Saturday, May 8th 2010 - 06:22 UTC

  Brazilian Farmers Prospect for Phosphates to Cap Fertilizer Suppliers’ Dependence

  

  Farmers in Brazil have teamed up to drill an area the size of New York for phosphate-based fertilizers, seeking to cut dependency on producers including Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) and Mosaic Co. (NYSE:MOS) after prices surged.

• Friday, May 7th 2010 - 21:40 UTC

  Brazil Will Not Allow Drug Cartels or Armed Groups from Taking Over Paraguay

  

  Brazilian Senate president José Sarney said there are serious risks of a “Colombianization” of Paraguay given the recent actions of an armed group self proclaimed the Paraguayan People’s Army, EPP, and called for strong support for President Fernando Lugo.

• Friday, May 7th 2010 - 05:27 UTC

  Brazil’s Bovespa Plunges to a 3 Month Low and the Real to January 09 Level

  

  Brazil’s Bovespa stock index plunged Thursday to a three-month low, extending its drop in the past month to 12%, and the Real tumbled as concern Europe’s debt crisis will spread prompted investors to sell higher-yielding assets.

• Friday, May 7th 2010 - 01:16 UTC

  Brazilian Bishops Distance Peer who Argues Adolescents are “Spontaneously Homosexual”

  

  Brazil’s Catholic bishops rejected statements from their Porto Alegre peer, Monsignor Dadeus Grings who—in the midst of a global scandal over priests’ sexual abuse of minors—argued that modern society is naturally “paedophile”.

• Thursday, May 6th 2010 - 05:35 UTC

  Brazil Announces Financial Institution to Promote and Finance Exports

  

  Brazil on Wednesday announced long-awaited measures to boost exports at a time when the trade surplus in Latin America's largest economy is shrinking rapidly on a yearly basis. The government will create a lender, named EXIM Brasil, to help finance exports.

• Wednesday, May 5th 2010 - 21:41 UTC

  Brazil “Blackmails” Paraguay to Approve Venezuela’s Mercosur Annexation

  

  Paraguayan opposition and media strongly criticized Brazilian president Lula da Silva’s for not keeping his Itaipú dam-controversy promises and allegedly for conditioning further assistance to the approval by the Paraguayan congress of Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur.

• Wednesday, May 5th 2010 - 21:26 UTC

  Homosexuals Campaign Against Lula da Silva’s Visit to Iran

  

  A Brazilian non government organization which defends the rights of homosexuals launched a campaign to protest President Lula da Silva’s visit to Iran scheduled for next May 15.