Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilians began voting Sunday morning in a polarizing presidential runoff election that pits an incumbent vowing to safeguard conservative Christian values against a former president promising to return the country to a more prosperous past.

The runoff shaped up as a close contest between President Jair Bolsonaro and his political nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Both are well-known, divisive political figures who stir passion as much as loathing.

(AP) --- Pivotal elections in Brazil and the United States will present an early test to Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk and his promise to ease up on the platform’s policies on misinformation.

Voters in both nations have already faced a torrent of misleading claims about candidates, issues and voting. That torrent could become a deluge if Musk makes good on his vows to roll back Twitter’s rules just as millions of voters prepare to cast a ballot.

ARAÇUAI, Brazil (AP) — After Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro boosted welfare payments in August by 50%, many people in the Jequitinhonha Valley, one of the poorest regions of the country, felt they could once again afford some meat, keep electricity running and repair leaky roofs.

Even if it was an obvious election-year gambit, needy Brazilians are grateful for the extra 200 reais ($38) per month -- but perhaps not enough to switch their political allegiance to the far-right leader in large numbers.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva published an open letter to evangelicals on Wednesday aimed at countering claims he would persecute their faith and at winning votes among a large and growing part of the population.

The letter, read at a gathering with evangelical leaders at a Sao Paulo hotel, promised he would respect religious freedoms if elected — as he did during his 2003-2010 presidency.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A rescue dog turned police mascot has become one of Brazil's most beloved furry internet sensations.

Dubbed "Corporal Oliveira," the dog was taken in by Rio police officer Cristiano Oliveira, who found him in 2019 near his police station abandoned, injured and hungry.

The dog - decked out in a police uniform with a toy gun strapped in and sunglasses - has become the official mascot of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police's 17th batallion, patrolling alongside his officer and running beside motorbikes.

BRASILIA, Oct 16 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Brazilian oil company Petrobras Friday announced its intention to leave Argentina and has therefore launched the sale of its stake in Posa, its local subsidiary, which holds a 33.6 % of the Río Neuquén Field.

The move to quit natural gas operations comes after Petrobras has already left its fuel retail activity in the country.

BRASILIA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Brazil plans to nominate former central bank governor Ilan Goldfajn to head the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday, as Latin America's largest economy seeks to secure its first presidency of the institution.

The development bank will elect its next president on Nov. 20 after the ouster of Mauricio Claver-Carone in an ethics scandal.

BRASILIA, Oct 6 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — As India, the world leader in exports restricts rice shipments, Brazil signaled at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that together with Mercosur partners, it is ready to expand exports and help with global food security.

The Brazilian Rice Industry Association (Abiarroz) said that the country, which has exported up to 1.5 million tons of the cereal a year, has the capacity to add another 2.5 million tons, including stocks that come from neighboring Mercosur countries.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Jair Bolsonaro outperformed the polls in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, forcing a runoff while proving that the far-right wave he rode to the presidency remains a force and giving the world yet another example of surveys missing the mark.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Unemployment in Brazil fell to 8.9 percent in the quarter ending in August, the lowest level in seven years, the state-run Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said Friday.

From June through August, the unemployment rate in the South American country dropped 0.9 percentage points compared to the March-to-May period, and decreased by 4.2 percentage points year on year.

According to the IBGE, the drop of the unemployment rate means that the number of unemployed people in August were 937,000 fewer than that in May.