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Latin America gave up some of the impressive gains collected yesterday when Brazil and Mexico's key indices reached new highs. Meanwhile, Argentina bucked the broader regional trend and surged on word Argentina will pay back its entire US$ 9.8 billion debt to the IMF.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa Index fell 436.20 points, or 1.30%, while Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index tumbled 131.56 points, or 0.73%. Argentina's Merval Index rallied 29.42 points, or 1.93%. Brazilian stocks gave in to profit-taking, after the benchmark Ibovespa stock index tallied record highs on both Tuesday and Wednesday. In economic headlines, the Brazilian Central Bank's monetary policy committee, or Copom, cut the reference lending rate for a fourth consecutive month. The reference Selic rate was reduced to an annual 18% from 18.50%, with no bias for rates going forward. The move was widely expected from economists. Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras announced that its November oil output rose 0.6% to 1.734 million barrels a day from 1.723 million b/d in October. The most recent results came despite a temporary halt in production in the Amazon and while an offshore well was re-established. Meanwhile, supermarket chain CBD said that its nominal same-store sales rose 1.4% in November, compared to the same month a year ago, aided by sales on non-food products. Still, same-store sales, when adjusted for inflation, tumbled 4.5% in November from a year ago. Mining firm CVRD announced that it will hold a 9% stake in the Ceará Steel joint venture project in Northeast Brazil. The project is a joint venture between South Korea's Dongkuk Steel and Italy's Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche. CVRD declined on the day. Airline Varig filed a petition today to quickly end the bankruptcy proceedings it started in July, which was subsequently denied by a local civil court. The firm has until January 8 to present a restructuring plan, under the terms set by the bankruptcy court. Mexican shares also moved lower, following three straight sessions of record gains. Investors also monitored a batch of U.S. economic reports, including a plunge in November consumer prices, which marked the largest drop in 56 years. Industrial production and capacity use also advanced ahead of expectations last month. A major investment bank raised Grupo Televisa's rating to "overweight" from "equal weight" and initiated a 2006 year-end price target of US$ 92. The broker also maintained an "underweight" rating on fixed line Telmex with a price target of US$ 19. Argentine issues rallied late in the day on speculation about the country's debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund. After the market closed, news agencies reported that Argentine President Nestor Kirchner said the country will make a US$ 9.8 billion payment by the end of the year, instead of gradually over the next four years, which is estimated to save Argentina about US$ 1 billion in interest. On the economic front, the national statistics agency, or INDEC, said that the gross domestic product rose 2.3% in the third quarter from the second quarter, and jumped 9.2% on the year, above expectations. Aluminum producer Aluar is reducing prices on aluminum for packaging of basic consumer products by 15%. The move is in line with the government's policy to lower inflation by signing sector-by-sector accords. 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.