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Latin American markets hit record levels, with the Brazilian index leading the charge, as an interest rate cut enthused investors. Robust GDP data in Argentina and excitement over an IPO in Mexico also helped.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa Index leapt 316.25 points, or 1.09%, while Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index climbed 207.39 points, or 1.36%. Argentina's Merval Index added 10.13 points, or 0.63%. Brazilian shares surged a day after the central bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 19.5%, a move that analysts interpreted as the start of a long period of monetary loosening. In economic data, August retail sales advanced 0.31% from the prior month, or 4.50% compared with a year ago. In M&A news, shares of mining giant CVRD jumped after the company made an offer for Canada's nickel miner Canico Resources in a bid to diversify its mining portfolio. Also of note, brewing company Cervejarias Kaiser stated it was unaware of any ongoing negotiations by parent Molson Coors to sell the Kaiser and Bavaria brands. Elsewhere, Petrobras reported that its average daily domestic oil production fell 2.9% in August due to operating problems at several offshore platforms. In research, an investment bank raised Net Serviços to "overweight" from "underweight," citing solid fundamentals, growth and sensitivity to macro economic improvement. Mexican issues, meanwhile, hit another record high, thanks to a hot IPO, and despite flat to lower trading for U.S. counterparts. U.S. economic reports continued to be mixed, although inflation trends there appeared to be contained before Hurricane Katrina hit and sent oil prices to the stratosphere. In August, the U.S. consumer price index rose 0.5%, while the core index inched up 0.1%. Both figures were flat from the prior month. Analysts had expected the CPI and the core to gain 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively. Still north of the border, the Philly Fed index tanked to 2.2 in September from 17.5 in August, well below targets for 13.0, and suggesting little or no growth in the manufacturing sector in the Philly region. Separately, business inventories dropped 0.5% in July, after being unchanged the previous month. A 0.2% increase had been projected. Finally, weekly initial jobless claims soared by 71,000 to 398,000, illustrating Katrina's impact on the U.S. job market. In domestic data, Mexico's second-quarter aggregate demand jumped 4.8% year-on year, with private consumption rising 4.4%. On the corporate front, infrastructure company Ideal, spun off by financial group Inbursa, and rallied 15% in its first day of trading in Mexico. Shares were priced at 5.80 pesos a unit. In labor news, a strike of over a month was settled at Mexico's largest steel plant, the Sicartsa plant, which is operated by Grupo Villacero, as a deal was finally reached with the unions. Argentine stocks advanced on technical factors, as investors continued to cheer the Merval's record close yesterday, which was surpassed today. In today's data, second-quarter gross domestic product swelled 10.1% from a year ago, a 2.4% increase over the first quarter. In the first quarter, GDP had climbed 8.0% from the year prior. Analysts had predicted a smaller gain of 9.1%. Separately, unemployment dropped to 12.1% in the second quarter from 13% in the first quarter. Also of note, the government's 2006 budget proposal was submitted to Congress today and confirms a gross domestic product forecast of 4% for that year. Banks shares rallied today, with Banco Frances getting a lift from speculation that its Spanish majority shareholder, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, will make a tender offer for the remainder of its shares. Thomson Financial Corporate Group - www.thomsonfinancial.com
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The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.