Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The coronavirus outbreak hammered Brazil on Wednesday, crushing local markets, infecting more members of the country’s political elite and prompting loud protests against President Jair Bolsonaro, whose son waded into a diplomatic spat with China.

Bolsonaro’s national security adviser, the mines and energy minister and the head of the Senate all tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, as the death toll rose to four dead with 428 people infected.

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro called on his backers to take to the streets next weekend to show their support for him, even as critics said such a demonstration would be anti-democratic.

“This is not a movement against the Parliament or the judicial branch, but for Brazil,” Bolsonaro said in northern Boa Vista state before heading to Florida for a dinner meeting with Donald Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The World Economic Forum (WEF) has postponed a Latin America conference set to be held in Brazil at the end of April as a precautionary measure, with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rising on Friday to 13.

Public events are being called off around the world as the coronavirus spreads and people seek to avoid gatherings that could provide a venue to spread the disease.

5 March 2020; AFP: The Brazilian economy slowed in President Jair Bolsonaro's first year in office, according to official data released Wednesday, disappointing news for markets that bet on the far-right leader to engineer an economic take-off.

And the outlook for Latin America's biggest economy is not much better for this year, given the damaging impact of the new coronavirus, analysts warned.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and at least 16 others remained missing on Saturday after a shipwreck in northern Brazil.

According to local authorities, some 60 to 70 people were traveling in the ship, which was sailing on the Amazon River from Amapa state to its neighboring Para state.

The ship's maximum capacity was 242 and authorities confirmed that it was a registered vessel for transporting both passengers and cargo.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian Senator Cid Gomes was shot in the chest in the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceara on Wednesday, as he tried to intervene in a strike by military police demanding higher salaries.

Gomes, a former governor of Ceara state, opposed the strike and tried to drive a backhoe through the gate of a police base. He was shot while storming the barricades, reportedly by one of the officers.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 18 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Rio de Janeiro will receive one billion reais (232 million U.S. dollars) in revenue, from the upcoming Carnival holiday, the Rio Trade Federation (Fecomercio-RJ) estimated, on Monday.

According to Fecomercio-RJ, Rio is consolidated as a cultural and entertainment destination for the Carnival period, with the local tourism agency, Riotur estimating seven million people to attend Carnival festivities all over the city.

BRASILIA, Feb 17 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro celebrated after a crime index showed homicides fell to their lowest level in more than a decade during the first year of his term.

Brazil had 41,635 killings in 2019, down 19% from the prior year and the least number of homicides since 2007, when the so-called Violence Monitor index was launched.

It is a partnership between the non-profit Brazilian Forum of Public Security, the University of Sao Paulo’s Center for the Study of Violence, and news website G1, which published the data.

Vatican City, Feb 15 (AFP/PTI) In quashing the idea of married priests in the Amazon, Pope Francis has appeased traditionalists while disappointing progressives who had hoped for a historic turning point in the Catholic church.

In his "apostolic exhortation" on the Amazon basin published Wednesday, Francis slammed the door on a progressive proposal offered by the region's bishops during a synod on the region in October.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday nominated General Walter Souza Braga Netto as his new chief of staff.

Braga Netto, who was in charge of security in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics and then the officer in charge of the security intervention in Rio de Janeiro state, is now chief of staff of the Brazilian Army.

Braga Netto will replace Onyx Lorenzoni, who will be the new Minister of Cities. He has held the chief of staff position since the beginning of the current administration.