
Brazil announced Friday it will hold military exercises next month to show its capability of defending new offshore oil reserves that could convert the country into a global energy player.

Brazil will allocate 4.5 million Reais (approx. 2.8 million US dollars) in non-refundable credits to research projects exploring the use of aquaculture or micro-algae products in biodiesel production.
Brazil's environment minister Carlos Minc announced he had granted a license for an Amazon hydroelectric dam but attached stringent conditions to protect Indian reservations and nature preserves. However environmental groups anticipated a long legal battle.

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale has ordered a dozen of the largest class of ore carriers from a Chinese shipbuilder for 1.6 billion US dollars, aiming to boost business with fast-growing Asian customers.

In an attempt to cool a controversy over punishing torturers from the 21 year military dictatorship, Brazilian president Lula da Silva said Brazilians should enshrine the heroes of that time and not only concentrate on incriminating the villains who killed them.

More than 1000 juvenile Magellanic penguins have washed-up either dead or dying along the Brazilian coast and as far north as Natal in Rio Grande do Norte, 3000 km north of Sao Paulo. IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare - www.ifaw.org ) (*) deployed a team of penguin rehabilitation experts to assist local animal centers that are handling penguins for the first time.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Friday in Beijing that Rio de Janeiro's bid for the 2016 Summer Games carries the ultimate seal of approval, reports the AP. He said, when God made the world he prepared Rio for the Olympic Games.
The Consumer Prices Index in Brazil slowed down to 0.53% in July from 0.74% the previous month, according to a release from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE.

Brazil's government managed oil and gas corporation Petrobras signed this week the purchase of ExxonMobil's assets in Esso Chile Petrolera and other associated Chilean companies.

Brazil's government managed oil and gas corporation Petrobras announced on Thursday a new discovery of light oil with an API grade of around 30 in the ultra deep Santos Basin off the Sao Paulo coast.