Brazil

SAO PAULO (AP) — A panel of judges voted Friday to render far-right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ineligible to run for office again after concluding that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

The decision, once all judges have voted, will forbid Bolsonaro from running until 2030, upending the 68-year-old’s political future and likely erasing any chance for him to regain power.

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 29. /TASS/: The Bolivian state-owned lithium company YLB and Uranium One, an affiliate of Russia’s Rosatom, signed an agreement on lithium carbonate production in the southwestern region of the country.

"The agreement unveils new prospects of long-term cooperation between Russia and Bolivia. This is the first large-scale overseas projects in the lithium production sphere for Rosatom," First Deputy CEO of the Russian company Kirill Komarov said.

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s top electoral court on Thursday began hearing a case that could torpedo the political future of former President Jair Bolsonaro by rendering him ineligible for public office for eight years.

Judges are evaluating a case filed by Brazil’s Democratic Labor Party, which claims the far-right leader abused his power by using government communication channels to promote his campaign and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

BRASILIA, June 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian authorities said they confiscated nearly 29 tonnes of illegal shark fins bound for Asia, in what they described as possibly the largest such seizure ever.

Environmental protection agency Ibama estimated around 10,000 shortfin mako and blue sharks were killed to harvest the fins, which are considered a delicacy in Asia.

“It is possibly the largest seizure in history of this type of product,” Ibama environmental protection director Jair Schmitt said in a statement.

BRASILIA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's financial market has upgraded forecast for the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year from 1.84 percent to 2.14 percent, the Central Bank of Brazil said on Monday.

This marks the sixth week in a row that analysts have improved projections for Brazil's 2023 economic growth.

Analysts consulted by the bank for its weekly survey, however, cut growth expectations for next year from 1.27 percent to 1.2 percent.

BRASILIA, June 3 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Brazil’s Senate approved the bill making equal pay for men and women mandatory when they perform work of equal value or the same function, Agencia Brasil reported. The document is now ready for President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva to sign it into law.

BRASILIA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday highlighted a "sense of urgency" among South American leaders to strengthen regional integration.

"What brings us together today in Brasilia is the sense of urgency to collectively look at our region again," he said at the summit in Brazil's capital Brasilia where leaders from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) gathered to "relaunch" the regional bloc.

BRASILIA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the South American countries reached the Brasilia Consensus on Tuesday at the regional summit here convened by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, seeking to facilitate regional integration.

Twelve leaders of the former and current member states of the regional bloc the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) attended the summit with the aim of relaunching the languished organization.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government announced Friday that a U.N. Latin America regional group has endorsed a Brazilian city in the Amazon region to host the 2025 U.N. climate change conference, though the world body has not yet publicly confirmed the venue.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially said Brazil will hold the conference, known as COP 30, in the city of Belem, state of Para, in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest, reflecting his intention to bring attention to the Amazon.

SAO PAULO, May 26 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday he had a phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and reaffirmed his willingness to establish peace talks with both sides of the war in Ukraine.

Lula tweeted he had also thanked Putin for an invitation to attend an economic forum in Saint Petersburg, but had to decline it as he "can't visit Russia at the moment."