Brazil

BRASILIA, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Brazil expressed concern on Friday after Venezuela complained about the deployment of a British warship off the Guyana coast, raising tensions in a border dispute over the oil-rich Esequibo region of the former British colony.

"The Brazilian government believes that military demonstrations of support for any party must be avoided, so that the ongoing dialogue process can produce results," the Brazilian foreign ministry said in a statement. It urged all parties to "contain themselves" and resume talks.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s lower house has approved a major reform of the nation’s notoriously complicated tax system in a major victory for leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who threw his weight behind the proposal.

The long-awaited tax reform aims to simplify the system, widely considered overly burdensome for both individuals and businesses, and boost economic growth that has drifted between downturns and doldrums for the last decade.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 9 (NNN-CMA) – Brazil is expected to yield 306.2 million tonnes of grains, cereals and legumes in the 2024 harvest, 3.2 percent less than the expected output in 2023, the state-run Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), reported.

According to IBGE forecasts, Brazil’s 2023 harvest will reach a record 316.3 million tonnes, 20.2 percent more than last year.

This year’s cultivated area will reach 77.8 million hectares, or 6.3 percent more than that in 2022.

BRASILIA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Brazil rejects any use of force by Venezuela to occupy the Esequibo territory in Guyana and will urge the Caracas government not to threaten its neighbor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's top foreign policy advisor said on Wednesday.

Celso Amorim, who traveled to Venezuela as Lula's special envoy last month, told Reuters that Brazil opposes "the use of force or threat thereof."

"I conveyed our very serious preoccupations," he said of his visit to Caracas ahead of a public referendum on the Esequibo.

BRASILIA, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will unveil a plan at the UN’s upcoming COP28 climate summit to increase Brazil’s available agricultural lands by 60 percent without contributing to deforestation, his government announced Thursday.

The South American country will move to convert degraded grazing areas into farmland, the government announced a week ahead of the climate summit, set to kick off in Dubai on Nov 30.

BRASILIA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva extended best wishes to the newly elected government in Argentina, without making direct mention of President-elect Javier Milei, who has previously criticized Lula and labeled him an "angry communist."

"I wish good luck and success to the new government. Argentina is a great country and deserves all our respect. Brazil will always be available to work together with our Argentine brothers," he wrote on Sunday on X, formerly Twitter.

BELEM (Brazil), Nov 11 (NNN-AGENCIA BRASIL) — The Culture Ministers of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) signed a declaration in Belém condemning racism, thus reaffirming the bloc’s commitment to promoting ethnic-racial equality and combating racism in the region, Agencia Brasil reported.

The proposal, penned and put forward by Brazil’s Minister Margareth Menezes, who is acting as Pro Tempore President of Mercosur Cultural, considers that racial inequality is a structural problem to be tackled throughout the region.

10 November 2023; MEMO: During a session on Gaza in the Brazilian Parliament yesterday, police expelled pro-Israel Congressman, Abilio Brunini, after an argument broke out between him and pro-Palestinian Brazilian congressmen.

Brunini said he supports Israel’s genocidal bombing campaign in Gaza, which led other participants to interrupt him and ask him to leave the session...