
France will lose out in its bid to win a multi-billion-dollar fighter jet contract with Brazil, the Folha de Sao Paulo daily reported over the week-end. It said France’s 4 billion dollars proposal for 36 Rafale fighter jets, from a consortium led by French giant Dassault, will be shot down for cost reason.

Brazil trusts Mercosur and the European Union can exchange the proposed tariff lists for a free trade agreement keeping to the original schedule, before the end of the year, according to the country's foreign ministry.

Brazil's state-owned telecom provider Telebras signed a 560m dollar contract to deliver a satellite for secure communications on Thursday, following months of outrage over revelations of US cyber spying. A statement said a joint venture between Telebras and Embraer would deliver the geostationary satellite for strategic communications by late 2016.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is reluctant to allow the country's oil corporation Petrobras to increase the price of fuels this year, which would have an immediate impact on gasoline, transport and inflation, according to Folha de Sao Paulo.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Tuesday the government will remove some subsidies and delay tax breaks to keep the country's fiscal policy sound. Likewise the state development bank, BNDES, will stop funding lines for regional government next year.

Brazil on Thursday paid homage to Joao Goulart, ousted as Brazilian president ahead of the 1964-85 military dictatorship, after his remains were exhumed to determine if he was poisoned. The exhumation took place at the Sao Borja cemetery near the Uruguayan and Argentine border, and flown to the capital Brasilia.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and Brazil's Dilma Rousseff agreed on Monday to promote regional integration and trade as they marked the 10th anniversary of the bilateral strategic alliance. Rousseff arrived Monday in Lima on her fourth visit to Peru since Humala took power.

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica decided to advance Monday's ministerial cabinet for Saturday so that he can fly to Brazil and Venezuela where he is scheduled to meet with Dilma Roussefdf and later Nicolas Maduro. Mujica on Friday al last moment cancelled his trip to Brasilia but will be meeting Rousseff in the southern city of Porto Alegre.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is approaching an election year as clear favorite, but she must do more to curb violence and corruption to maintain her popularity, according to a public opinion poll conducted by MDA and commissioned by the private transport sector lobby CNT.

Mercosur negotiations, disputes with Argentina and economic complementation with Brazil are among the main issues of a long agenda that Uruguay and Brazil will address when President Jose Mujica visits his Brazilian peer Dilma Rousseff on Friday in Brasilia.