Brazil

• Friday, January 9th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil in “technical recession”; industrial output down 6.2%

  Yet another bank cut the 2009 economic growth forecast for Brazil: JPMorgan Chase & Co. downed Latinamerica's largest economy expansion estimate for this year from 2% to 1.5%, as global recession takes its toll on industrial production and business confidence.

• Thursday, January 8th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil expects lower corn and soy crop because of drought

  Brazil's crops of corn and soybean has been downgraded from previous forecasts because of the persistent drought in the southern states, said on Thursday the country's Ministry of Agriculture.

• Tuesday, January 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Five Brazilian banks concentrate 65% of financial assets

  

  The share of total assets held by Brazil's five largest banks rose to 65.72% at the close of 2008, up more than 13 percentage points from the end of the previous year, according to Central bank figures quoted by financial and business daily Valor.

• Monday, January 5th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil beefs up troops and forts to protect Amazon forest

  

  Brazil plans to double the number of troops along the borders of its vast Amazon rain forest area in the framework of the “Protecting Amazon” project, reported O Estado de Sao Paulo” this weekend.

• Monday, January 5th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Yellow fever re-emerges in triple border area

  

  Dead monkeys have been found in the jungle of northeast Argentina, next to Brazil and Paraguay, probably caused by yellow fever, according to local sanitary authorities. The discovery follows the confirmed yellow fever deaths of two jungle workers in the neighbouring province of Misiones.

• Saturday, January 3rd 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil's 2008 trade surplus still strong but drops 38%

  In spite of a record year of exports, Brazil's 2008 trade surplus reached 24.7 billion US dollars which is a significant 38% descent compared to the previous year when it totalled more than 40 billion US dollars.

• Thursday, January 1st 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil embraces spelling reforms

  

  Brazilians start 2009 facing the task of learning new spelling rules that have just come into effect.

• Tuesday, December 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Energy: strong Big Brother Brazil medicine for Paraguay

  Brazil is willing to correct with Paraguay some practical distortions in the implementation of the Itaipú shared hydroelectric dam system, but “not the Treaty”, said Marco Aurelio Garcia, President Lula da Silva's main international affairs advisor.

• Sunday, December 28th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil unveils plan to expand ethanol sales in Asian market

  Brazil's giant oil and gas corporation Petrobras has plans to open next year its first service stations in Japan to promote the distribution of ethanol, of which Brazil is the world's second leading producer, according to a report from O Estado de Sao Paulo. Petrobras already operates an oil refinery in Japan.

• Saturday, December 27th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Suspected killer of rainforest activist arrested in Brazil

  

  Brazilian police detained a rancher suspected of the murder of rainforest activist Dorothy Stang for allegedly acquiring titles illegally to land that the United States missionary died trying to defend.