Elite police commando units fanned out across the streets of the Brazilian southern state of Santa Catarina over the weekend in an attempt to contain a wave of violent attacks over the past two weeks.
Brazilian businesspeople and diplomats expressed their disappointment with Mercosur and said it was crucial for Brazil to sign free trade agreements on its own with third countries, which under current rules of the South American trade block are not allowed.
Apple Inc, which lost the rights to its iPhone trademark in Brazil this week, is challenging the ruling by Brazil's copyright regulator to prevent local firm Gradiente Eletronica SA from using the iphone brand name.
Brazilian defence contractor Avibras will join plane maker Embraer SA and the local unit of Israeli Defence Company Elbit Systems in developing unmanned aircraft in Brazil, the companies said on Tuesday.
Brazil’s government managed oil and gas corporation Petrobras posted a net benefit of 21.182 billion Reais (approx 10.6bn dollars) in 2012, which is 36% below 2011, reported the company in a filing, but in the fourth quarter profits totalled 7.747bn Reais (approx 3.9bn dollars) 53% higher than in the same period in 2011.
The lower chamber of Brazilian Congress voted overwhelmingly on Monday for Henrique Alves to become its speaker, even though he is under investigation for graft. The selection of Alves came after the Senate chose a new leader who is also accused of corruption.
After months of delays, the P-63 floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) has made its temporary home in Brazil's Port of Rio Grande, Petrobras and the Quip consortium said on Thursday.
Brazil on Thursday exempted foreign investors from paying a financial transaction tax on purchases of real estate investment trusts traded on the country's stock exchange. Since early last year the government of President Dilma Rousseff has aimed to develop funding alternatives for local builders, many of which are overly dependent on loans from state development bank BNDES, the main source of long-term corporate financing in Brazil.
Brazil failed to reach its primary budget surplus goal last year posting a primary surplus of 104.951 billion Reais (53 billion dollars), the equivalent of 2.38% of GDP, according to central bank data released this week, which was below the annual target of 139.8 billion Reais, approx 3.1% of GDP.
Italy’s AgustaWestland looks set to cash in on an oil-driven Brazilian helicopter sales bonanza through a joint venture with Embraer that could lead to production of its rotorcraft in the country.