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Latin America collectively moved higher on the day, with Brazilian and Mexican markets hitting record highs. Brazilian investors were anxiously awaiting the central bank's decision on interest rates. Argentina also moved higher, following recent weakness.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa Index leapt 209.82 points, or 0.63%, while Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index rallied 234.35 points, or 1.32%. Argentina's Merval Index rebounded 10.15 points, or 0.67%. Brazilian shares posted solid gains on the day with stocks closing at a record high ahead of an expected interest-rate cut by the Central Bank, with some analysts anticipating a cut by up to a full percentage point. At the end the Central Bank lowered the overnight interbank rate by half percent bringing it to 18%. With this cut, the Selic base rate has come down 1.75 percentage points from a two-year high of 19.75 percent in September. In other economic data, the Brazilian Census Bureau, or IBGE, said that October retail sales edged up 0.06% on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared to September. The result was below analyst expectations. Retail sales jumped 3.74% in October, compared with the year-ago result. Meanwhile, the Ibope, the Public Opinion Research Institute said that approval for the Workers' Party government fell to 42% in December from 45% in September, according to a poll. Personal approval for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declined to 43% in December from 44% in September, when the poll was last taken. Turning to corporate reports, low-cost airline Gol officially signed a deal to create a joint venture with Mexican business executive Fernando Chico Pardo and a group of partners to launch a low-cost airline in Mexico next year. Retailer CBD moved lower, after U.S.-based Wal-Mart Stores bought Portuguese retailer Sonae's Brazilian unit for 635 million euros. Elsewhere, fixed line operator Telesp announced its intentions to increase investment to 1.7 billion reais in 2006 from this year's 1.3 billion investment, as the firm expands its broadband and video services. Mexican stocks broke through the 18,000 point level for the first time, amid upbeat sentiment on falling interest rates. Similarly, U.S. markets continued to benefit from buzz that the Federal Reserve may stop raising interest rates sooner than expected. In corporate news, government-owned airline holding firm Cintra reaffirmed its plans to sell remaining airline AeroMexico in the short term. Meanwhile, the Mexican Senate approved changes in the country's energy laws, which will now allow Pemex to produce and sell electricity. The firm will be able to produce electricity through a process known as cogeneration and then sell it to CFE and LFC, two other state-run power utilities. Argentina finally managed a rebound following a string of declines. Investors indulged in some bargain hunting and were enthused by broader regional gains. Finally, Spanish-Argentine energy firm Repsol YPF announced its intention to increase the amount it invests in Argentina between 2005 and 2009 by US $700 million to US $6.7 billion. The money will partly be used to expand installed capacity at its refineries in La Plata, Lujan de Cuyo and Plaza Huincul. 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.