NEWSWORTHY
Bolsonaro says Brazil must reform or it will become the next Venezuela
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro pledged swift and sweeping measures to fix the economy and ward off what he said was a risk that Latin America's largest nation turns into a Venezuela-style regime. Plans to sell a large number of state-owned companies are nearly ready, and ...
Rio authorities arrest five leaders of militia gang and seizes evidence of extortion
Rio de Janeiro civil police have arrested five leaders of a militia gang after an operation in the western part of the city. Public prosecutors in Brazil said Tuesday they are analyzing seized documents that show an illegal real estate scheme and the systematic extortion ...
Facebook's WhatsApp limits users to five text forwards to curb 'misinformation and rumors'
Facebook Inc.'s WhatsApp is limiting worldwide the number of times a user can forward a message to five, starting on Monday, as the popular messaging service looks to fight "misinformation and rumors," company executives said on Monday. Previously, a WhatsApp user could forward a message ...
Gaffes and missteps mar start of Brazil's far-right Bolsonaro presidency
A few days after being inaugurated, new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced a tax increase, only to have his chief-of-staff say hours later that the boss "had been wrong." The former army captain also said he would be open to putting a U.S. base in ...
Brazil may drop visas for U.S., Australian and Japanese visitors in bid to boost tourism
Brazil is considering dropping visas for visitors from the U.S., Australia, Canada and Japan to boost its tourism industry, media reported Thursday. Tourism Minister Alvaro Antonio told reporters the measure could be adopted soon, with the aim of tripling annual revenues from foreign tourists to ...
Brazilians split over Bolsonaro's easing of gun laws, but many want to have firearms at home
Silvana Tavares, a long-time sports shooter who is a vendor in a firearms store in Sao Paulo, says she has never brandished a weapon at anyone, and she does not want to kill anyone. But she is determined to keep a gun at home. "Nobody goes ...
The conservative leaders of Argentina and Brazil threw more support Wednesday to opponents of Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Argentina's President Mauricio Macri became the first head of state to visit Brasilia since the Jan. 1 inauguration of Jair Bolsonaro and the crisis in Venezuela ...
Brazil's Bolsonaro decrees eased gun laws and woos weapons makers
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree loosening the country's restrictive gun regulations, and hinted at further measures to arm law-abiding citizens to combat rampant crime. The decree, which does not require congressional approval, scraps the requirement that Brazilians need to prove their 'effective need' ...
Gang-linked violence rages in northeastern Brazil despite key police deployment
The attacks and fire-bombings sweeping Brazil's northeastern state of Ceara continued unabated Sunday despite the deployment of at least 300 members the elite, military-style National Police Force to help bring an end to the violence. The state's public security department said that buses and cars ...
Brazilian troops deployed to stop violence by criminal gangs in northern city of Fortaleza
A special deployment of Brazilian troops was fanning out in the northern city of Fortaleza on Saturday with orders to stop days of violent attacks by criminal gangs against banks, buses and shops, officials said. By the end of the weekend, 300 soldiers should be ...
Brazil's 'Chicago Oldies' team aims to revive Pinochet-era economic playbook
Brazil's new Economy Minister Paulo Guedes worked in Chile 40 years ago after earning his doctorate at the University of Chicago, giving him a front-row seat to dictator Augusto Pinochet's economic shock treatment. Even as Pinochet's authoritarian regime left a brutal human rights legacy — ...
'Trump of the tropics' Bolsonaro seen rushing to dismantle Brazil's past progressive achievements
The new government of Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro hit the ground running on its first day of business Thursday, rushing through changes to put a conservative stamp on the country by trashing progressive achievements of past administrations. The quick reshaping of Brazilian politics spoke ...
