
São Paulo, Latin America's most populous metropolitan area, is facing a historic hydrological crisis as three consecutive years of drought have pushed critical reservoirs to near-depletion. With the Jaguari-Jacareí dam —the primary source for nine million residents— dropping below 18% capacity, authorities have escalated contingency measures to prevent a total system failure.

Bolivia's Supreme Court (TSJ) Chief Justice Romer Saucedo and his family were robbed on Dec. 6 while vacationing in Guarujá, on the coast of São Paulo, Brazil, it was reported this weekend in La Paz.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been recommended for surgery after an ultrasound conducted on Sunday confirmed he was suffering from two inguinal hernias, his defense team announced.

Brazil's Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services, Geraldo Alckmin, stated on Friday that France was attempting to delay the signing of the long-negotiated Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).

Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes and his wife -lawyer Viviane Barci de Moraes- have been removed from the list of individuals sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act, it was announced in Washington on Friday. In addition, the Lex Institute, linked to the judge's family, and its members were also suppressed from the infamous roll carried by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the US Department of the Treasury.

Around 1,000 police officers from the Military and Civil Police forces of Rio de Janeiro were deployed on Thursday in the Complejo do Salgueiro favelas in São Gonçalo to chase leaders of the Comando Vermelho (CV), one of Brazil's largest and most influential criminal organizations.

Millions were left without power, and air traffic around the airports of Congonhas and Guarulhos became chaotic after a massive blackout hit São Paulo for more than 24 hours following a severe extratropical cyclone that swept through the metropolitan area.

The Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of Brazil's Central Bank (BCB) unanimously decided on Wednesday to keep the economy's base interest rate known as Selic at 15% per annum, in accordiance with market expectations, given the current declining inflation and economic slowdown.

Heavy rainfall triggered by an extratropical cyclone battering Southern Brazil caused widespread flooding on Tuesday, turning streets into rivers and hillsides into waterfalls across Florianópolis, São José, Palhoça, and Biguaçu.

A Datafolha poll released this weekend showed that incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would beat Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, -a son of the incarcerated former President Jair Bolsonaro- by at least 15 percentage points in a potential runoff: 51% to 36%.