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Latin American stocks were mixed to higher, with Brazilian shares gaining on benign local inflation data, while continued optimism about the first-quarter earnings season boosted Mexican issues. Profit taking dragged Argentine shares lower.
Brazil's Bovespa Index jumped 365.27 points, or 0.92%, while Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index added 113.02 points, or 0.57%, and Argentina's Merval Index fell 11.90 points, or 0.61%. Brazilian stocks rose strongly for a third straight day, as tame inflation data added to optimism about the local interest-rate outlook. The Fipe research foundation said its São Paulo consumer price index dropped 0.06% in the four weeks ended April 15, compared with a rise of 0.03% in the four weeks ended April 7. Given recent signs that Brazilian inflation is under control, investors largely expect the central bank to announce an interest-rate cut of 75 basis points after today's market close. It would be the bank's seventh rate reduction in as many months. As expected, the Copom, the Central Bank's Committee of Monetary Policy decided to make a cut, bringing Brazil's key interest rate, the Selic, to 17.75%, the lowest rate since March 2001. In other economic data, Brazilian retail sales volume dropped a seasonally adjusted 4.13% in February from January, the Brazilian Census Bureau reported. In January, retail sales volume had risen 4.12%. On the corporate front, a major brokerage upgraded Brazil's two biggest banks Banco do Brasil SA and Bradesco SA to "outperform" from "peer perform," saying "a recent sell-off creates a buying opportunity." Also, two major airlines received broker upgrades as well. Both TAM and Gol saw their shares upgraded to "buy," due to good industry prospects, an expanding Brazilian economy and difficulties faced by flag carrier Varig. Fixed-line phone company Telemar was in focus after the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission said it will investigate the company's share restructuring deal after its shares surged ahead of the deal announcement last week. Elsewhere, Mexican shares climbed for a third straight day reaching another record close. Shares have been supported in part by hopes for a strong first-quarter earnings season. A number of companies are due to report this week and next, with cement giant Cemex's results due out early tomorrow. The company is expected to report solid earnings growth. In other developments, retail association Antad said today that total sales at member establishments rose 9.8% in March, while same-store sales edged up 0.4% from the year-earlier month. Sales at self-service stores rose 5% year-on-year, while same-store sales dropped 2%. Argentine issues dipped as investors took profits following yesterday's strong gains. In economic news, Argentina posted a primary surplus of 1.404 billion pesos in March, up 13.7% from March 2005. Meanwhile, manufacturing activity climbed 7.2% in March from a year earlier and added 0.4% from February. The year-on-year increase was down from February's growth rate of 8.6%. 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.