Brazil

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:55 UTC

  Controversy as Israeli Foreign Minister begins South American tour

  

  Israel's foreign minister ran into controversy on the first day of a Latinamerican trip when an official of Brazil's ruling party reportedly called him a “fascist”. Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that Valter Pomar, secretary of international relations for the Workers Party, described Avigdor Lieberman as “a racist and a fascist” during an interview

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:45 UTC

  Australia’s conflict with China favours Brazilian iron-ore sales

  

  Spot iron-ore vessel bookings from Brazil to China jumped to a record in July as Australia suspended spot sales following detentions of Rio Tinto's top sales officials in China, reports Reuters.

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:44 UTC

  Record fine on world largest brewer: 176 million USD

  

  Brazil's antitrust regulator imposed a record fine of 352 million Reais (approximately 176 million US dollars) Wednesday on beverage giant AmBev. The Cade regulator found that AmBev, brewer of Skol, Brahma and Antarctica beers, used discounts, premiums and exclusivity agreements to dissuade retailers from selling competing brands.

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:30 UTC

  World’s largest meat processor applies for listing in New York market

  

  The United States unit of the world's largest meat processor, Brazilian JBS SA, filed for an initial public offering of up to 2 billion US dollars on Wednesday, making it the largest planned offering in the US IPO pipeline.

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:25 UTC

  Brazil slows basic rate cut as the economy begins to rebound

  

  Brazil’s Central bank lowered on Wednesday the benchmark Selic rate by a half point to a record low 8.75%. The bank had cut the rate by at least a full point at all four previous policy meetings of 2009.

• Wednesday, July 22nd 2009 - 08:28 UTC

  Brazil tells Hillary of dissatisfaction with Arias mediation in Honduras crisis

  

  Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim phoned last weekend US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in New Delhi, India, to “express concern” about the slow pace and handling of the negotiations for the reinstatement of the democratic order in Honduras, reports Folha do Sao Paulo.

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 22:44 UTC

  Brazilian Senate supports Venezuela in Mercosur, but watchful of Chavez

  

  “Respect for democracy is a very important principle for those who are or want to become members of Mercosur”, said Eduardo Azeredo president of the Brazilian Senate Foreign Affairs and Defence committee.

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 10:06 UTC

  Brazil accepts discussions on Itaipú surplus power distribution and prices

  

  Brazil will allow Paraguay to openly sell to Brazilian energy distributing companies its surplus share of the power generated by the Itaipú dam, the largest of its kind in the Americas.

• Saturday, July 18th 2009 - 15:15 UTC

  Brazilian economy giving signs the worst of the recession is over

  

  Brazil’s currency Real had its biggest weekly gain in almost two months on optimism the worst of the global recession is over. The Real climbed 3.6% this week, the most since the period ended May 22 rising 0.3% to 1.9261 per US dollar on Friday. So far this year the Real has strengthened 20%.

• Friday, July 17th 2009 - 11:10 UTC

  Brazil delays licences for Uruguayan powder milk imports

  

  Uruguay is considering what steps to follow given Brazil’s long delay in extending import licences for Uruguayan dairy produce. An estimated 10.000 tons have been ready for shipping for over two months but there has been no reply from Brazilian trade officials.