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Latin American stocks tumbled, as investors took profits and reacted to gloomy analyst commentary on emerging markets. Brazilian shares were further pressured by renewed worries about the outlook for local interest rates.
Brazil's Bovespa Index tumbled 759.50 points, or 2.04%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index dropped 197.12 points, or 1.05%, while Argentina's Merval Index fell 30.74 points, or 1.78%. Brazilian stocks sank, as investors cashed in some of the Bovespa's robust January gains, while also fretting over the implications of today's strong industrial output data for Brazilian interest rates. Fueling concerns about the direction of monetary policy, the IBGE government census bureau reported today that Brazilian industrial output surged 2.3% in December from November levels, suggesting the economy is gaining steam. Output grew 1% in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter and gained 3.1% in 2005. Some investors are concerned that signs the economy may be overheating could force the central bank to slowdown or even halt its recent interest-rate cutting campaign. The bank has lowered rates to 17.25% from a peak of 19.75% at its last five meetings. Shares were also pressured by downbeat analyst research on emerging markets. An influential investment bank downgraded emerging market equities to "neutral" from "overweight" on relative value and started U.S. equities at "overweight." The bank said flows are close to the point of pushing emerging markets and Japan "beyond fair value, creating relative value opportunity in the U.S." In corporate news, Petrobras inaugurated two heavy oil projects and a gas treatment plant in the north of Espírito Santo state, which had a combined construction cost of US$ 288 million. Meanwhile, steelmaker Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas said it inked a deal with local heavy construction firm Camargo Correa to build a $100 million power plant. A major investment bank raised its target for the American Depositary Receipts of mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) to US$ 66 per ADR from US$ 60. The bank also hiked its forecast for growth in iron ore prices to 18% in 2006 price contracts from a previous estimate of 10%. Mexican shares continued to decline today, led by the telecom sector. Investors are awaiting the quarterly financial release from America Movil later today. Meanwhile, a large investment bank reduced its recommendation on Mexican shares to "underweight" from "market weight," partly due to high valuations and a lack of industrial growth and job creation in the country. Within the financial sector, a major investment bank added banking firm Banorte to its model portfolio, sending the firm's shares higher on the day. Coca-Cola bottler Arca announced expectations for higher fourth-quarter sales and profits compared to the year-earlier period. Actual results will be released on February 21. In deal reports, chemical firm Mexichem SA is set to buy U.S.-based Bayshore Group, a maker of polyvynil chloride, for an undisclosed amount. Specifically, the Mexican firm will buy Bayshore Vinyl Compounds Inc., Bayshore Rigids LLC and Ricicla SA. Argentina moved lower, as profit-taking continued following strong gains in January. Trading volume was also notably lower. Amid few corporate news items, Argentine pilots and mechanics unions said they will put aside a planned strike for now, after they received a verbal proposal from Aerolineas Argentinas that somewhat appeased their job security concerns. Thomson Financial - 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.