Brazil

BRASILIA, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's financial market slightly upgraded its economic growth forecast for 2023, from 0.84 percent to 0.85 percent, the Central Bank of Brazil said Monday.

It was the third time in a row that top financial analysts surveyed by the bank for its weekly report upgraded their growth forecast for this year, though they maintained their 2024 forecast at 1.5 percent.

Last week, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said the country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.9 percent in 2022, after rising 5 percent in 2021.

27 Feb 2023; MEMO: Two Iranian warships docked in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday after Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government granted permission, despite pressure from the United States to bar them, Reuters reports.

The "IRIS Makran" and "IRIS Dena" warships both arrived on Sunday morning, Rio's port authority said in a statement.

SAO PAULO, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in southeast Brazil's flood-ravaged Sao Paulo state rose to 48 as rescuers continued to search for missing people, local authorities said Wednesday.

Sao Paulo's state government said 47 victims were in the municipality of Sao Sebastiao, and one was in Ubatuba.

Some 40 people are still missing, and most are believed to be buried under a mountain of mud left by landslides in the state.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides that have killed 36 people in Brazil’s north Sao Paulo state, officials said Sunday, and the fatalities could rise.

Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that 35 died in the city of Sao Sebastiao and a 7-year-old girl was killed in neighboring Ubatuba.

The cities of Sao Sebastiao, Ubatuba, Ilhabela and Bertioga, some of the hardest hit and now under state of calamity, canceled their Carnival festivities as rescue teams struggle to find missing, injured and feared dead in the rubble.

BRASILIA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Thursday the minimum monthly wage will increase from the current 1,302 reais to 1,320 reais (251 U.S. dollars) starting May.

Lula said his administration would set a new rule for the minimum salary taking into account inflation compensation and GDP growth, saying "it is the fairest way to distribute economic growth."

10 Feb 2023; MEMO: Brazil bowed to US pressure and declined an Iranian request for two of its warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro at a time when Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was planning his trip to Washington to meet US leader Joe Biden, sources said.

(AP) --- Brazil’s Federal Police performed eight searches Friday targeting money laundering derived from illegal gold mining in Roraima state, where Indigenous Yanomami people are in a health crisis.

A police statement said the criminal organization targeted in the raids carried out transactions worth 64 million reais ($12 million) over a two-year period.

While this is a fraction of the total value of gold mined in Yanomami territory during that time, the police operation represents part of the fresh effort by authorities to crack down on the illicit activity.

BRASILIA, Feb 4 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The Secretary of Public Security of the Federal District (DF), Sandro Avelar, affirmed that the police forces deployed to contain the coup attempt last January 8th are being investigated to determine failures and possible omissions.    

“In 2013, there were several episodes with protesters in a much higher number than on January 8th, and the Military Police (PM) behaved very well, and nothing more serious happened on those occasions,” Avelar said during an interview.

BRASILIA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Brazil sank a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off its northeast coast, the Brazilian Navy said, despite warnings from environmentalists that the rusting 1960s French-built ship would pollute the sea and the marine food chain.

The 32,000-tonne carrier had been floating offshore for three months since Turkey refused it entry to be scrapped there because it was an environmental hazard and the ship was towed back to Brazil.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian magazine on Thursday released audio of a senator claiming then President Jair Bolsonaro sought help in a plot to annul the October elections and keep himself in power.

In the recording, Sen. Marcos do Val tells the magazine Veja that the idea was discussed when he met with Bolsonaro and lawmaker Daniel Silveira on Dec. 9 at the presidential residence, three weeks before leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was set to take office.