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☆ LGBT Brazilians compete in country's first drag king contest
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Steven Grattan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Egon Maurice LaSand poses with a crown after winning the King of Kings contest, a drag king competition that reunites 15 artists from all over the country, in Sao Paulo, Brazil February 5, 2023. King is taking part in Brazil's King of Kings competition, the first of its kind where 15 drag kings from around the country compete to win the title. Drag kings are mostly female or transgender performers playing exaggerated male characters, but the contest is open to anyone. "It's historic, because we don't have a contest or an event dedicated to drag kings in Brazil," said 43-year-old drag king Lorde Lazzarus, who organized the event. Many of the acts carried messages about social issues affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community through artistic performances.

☆ Powerful quake rocks Turkey and Syria, kills more than 3,400
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

A man carries a girl following an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria February 6, 2023. People search through rubble following an earthquake in Diyarbakir, Turkey February 6, 2023. Rescuers carry out a girl from a collapsed building following an earthquake in Diyarbakir, Turkey February 6, 2023. He said their shared four-story building collapsed just as he, his wife and three children ran toward the exit. Rescuers stand on rubble of a collapsed building, following an earthquake, in Latakia, Syria, February 6, 2023 in this handout image.

☆ Brazil's police carry out fresh raids as part of Jan. 8 riots probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police on Friday carried out fresh raids as part of a probe into the Jan. 8 insurrection, when supporters of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in Brasilia. Police said in a statement they were serving three preventive arrest warrants and 14 search and seizure warrants ordered by the Supreme Court in five states and the federal district, where Brasilia is located. The new efforts represent the fourth phase of an operation launched last month aimed at identifying people who participated in, funded or fostered the riots, in which a mob invaded and ransacked the Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court. The Brasilia demonstrators were protesting Bolsonaro's defeat by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in an October election and calling for a military coup to oust Lula and restore the far-right leader. Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazilian justice confirms senator told him about election conspiracy meeting with Bolsonaro
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON/SAO PAULO, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes confirmed on Friday that Senator Marcos do Val told him about an election conspiracy meeting he allegedly attended with former President Jair Bolsonaro and former lawmaker Daniel Silveira last year. Moraes said during an event held in Lisbon that Do Val approached him to talk about the meeting. The justice said he then asked the senator to testify formalizing the allegations, but Do Val declined to do so. Do Val told reporters on Thursday that Bolsonaro, narrowly defeated by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in an October vote, "sat in silence" while Silveira laid out the plot against Moraes at the meeting. Silveira was arrested by police on Thursday on a warrant issued by Moraes, who accused him of disobeying court rulings.

☆ Santander Brasil's Q4 net profit slumps as loan-loss provisions bite
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAO PAULO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Banco Santander Brasil SA (SANB3.SA) on Thursday posted a slump in fourth-quarter net profit as loan-loss provisions rose against a backdrop of higher interest rates and deteriorating credit conditions. The bank's quarterly net profit reached 1.69 billion reais ($334.3 million), down 56% from the previous year, as provisions for bad credit nearly doubled amid higher interest rates. He said net interest income came under pressure from changes in the product mix and higher interest rates, a trend set to persist throughout this year. Santander Brasil's loan-loss provisions reached 7.36 billion reais, pressured by bad credit in loans to individuals, the bank said. In the full year of 2022, its net profit dropped 21.1% from the previous year to 12.9 billion reais, while full-year provisions rose 72.7% and net interest income fell 6.8%.

☆ Brazil senator says he attended election conspiracy meeting with Bolsonaro
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Ricardo Brito | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BRASILIA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A Brazilian senator said on Thursday that a close ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro tried to persuade the senator to join a conspiracy to overturn the far-right leader's electoral loss last year. Senator Marcos do Val told a news conference that he had been invited to a meeting on Dec. 9 with then-President Bolsonaro by his associate, former lawmaker Daniel Silveira. At the meeting, Silveira asked the senator to try to get the head of the electoral court to make compromising comments in a taped conversation that could lead to the judge's arrest, Val said. The senator told reporters that Bolsonaro "sat in silence" while Silveira laid out the plot against Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court judge running Brazil's top electoral authority (TSE). Silveira told the former president that Val, a Bolsonaro supporter, could be trusted and asked Bolsonaro to present "the idea that would save Brazil" to him, according to the Veja report.

☆ Mastercard, Binance launching prepaid card in Brazil
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Representations of cryptocurrencies are seen in front of displayed Binance logo in this illustration taken November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoSAO PAULO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Mastercard Inc (MA.N) and Binance said on Monday they are lauching a prepaid card in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, as part of the crypto giant's efforts to "broaden the connection between traditional finance and crypto". According to a statement, the so-called Binance Card is currently in beta testing and should be widely available in the next few weeks, making Brazil the second country in Latin America to receive it after Argentina. Brazil is one of Binance's ten-largest markets, the crypto said, adding that the prepaid card will all new and existing Binance users in the country to shop and pay bills with cryptocurrencies at Mastercard merchants. Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazil's central govt posts 54.1 bln reais surplus in 2022, first in 9 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The central government, comprising Brazil's Treasury, central bank and Social Security, posted a 54.1 billion reais ($10.7 billion) budget surplus before interest payment in 2022. It followed a 4.4 billion reais surplus in December, which came higher than the 2.8 billion reais expected in a Reuters poll. Private economists polled weekly by the central bank expect 2022 GDP to rise 3%, from just 0.3% they had forecast when last year began. Surging expenses led the primary deficit budgeted for 2023 to reach impressive 232 billion reais. ($1 = 5.0783 reais)Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Mark Porter and Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazilian ex-senator takes over as Petrobras CEO; shares fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Marta Nogueira | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Prates was unanimously approved by the board, on which he will also hold a seat, Petrobras said in a securities filing. He has said the Lula government would not take an aggressively interventionist approach to Petrobras. Petrobras made bumper payouts in recent quarters, but Prates has said the company cannot "just keep tapping sub-salt oil and paying dividends". Prates, who was a senator for the past four years, is the first politician in several years to hold a high-ranking office at Petrobras. Earlier in the day, the Brazilian Senate's official gazette published the resignation of Prates as a lawmaker.

☆ Russia, South Africa and a 'redesigned global order': The Kremlin's hearts and minds machine is steaming ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Pretoria as part of an African tour, his second since the invasion, which will also reportedly take him to Botswana, Angola and Eswatini. On Feb. 24 2022, shortly after the Ukraine invasion, South Africa urged Russia to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine. South Africa was one of 15 African nations to abstain from the subsequent U.N. vote in March to condemn Russia's war of aggression. watch nowShe emphasized the multilateral responsibilities of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc of leading emerging economies in a changing global landscape. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that "the United States has concerns about any country … exercising with Russia as Russia wages a brutal war against Ukraine."

[1/4] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana attend bilateral talks, at the treasury offices in Pretoria, South Africa, January 26, 2023. Nevertheless Lavrov made a stopover after visiting South Africa, which his counterpart Thulisile Dladla described as a "profound honour." Eswatini relies on the United States for aid, but its absolute monarchy has suffered U.S. criticism on human rights. South Africa, alongside Russia and China, is pushing for a "multipolar" world in which geopolitical power is less concentrated around the United States. "It hasn't delivered the kind of benefits South Africa was hoping to get."

Annual headline inflation in the first half of the month reached 7.94%, beating both the 7.77% recorded in the month of December and economists' forecasts of 7.86%, though still below the two-decade high of 8.70% registered in August and September. That means annual inflation remains far above the Bank of Mexico's target rate of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point. It is unlikely that the bank will make any cuts to the interest rate in the next six months, Bank of Mexico board member Jonathan Heath said in an interview last week. In the first half of January, according to statistics agency INEGI, consumer prices rose 0.46% compared to the previous two-week period, while the core index rose 0.44%, both also exceeding market estimates. Mexico's Latin American peer Brazil, where monetary tightening is on pause, also released mid-month inflation data on Tuesday, with prices slightly beating market forecasts.

☆ Venezuela calls off Maduro meeting with Lula, Brazil govt says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Venezuela has decided to call off a previously arranged meeting between President Nicolas Maduro and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday, Lula's press office said. Later, however, Lula's team released a new update of his agenda saying the meeting would no longer take place as Venezuela canceled it. Lula, who took office on Jan. 1, asked his foreign relations minister to restore relations with Venezuela. Diplomatic relations between the countries were broken in 2020 by Brazil's former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Mexican central banker says 'it is clear' economy is slowing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Mexico's economy is slowing, Bank of Mexico deputy governor Jonathan Heath said on Friday after official data showed economic activity shrank in November and December. Economic activity in Latin America's second-largest economy slipped 0.4% in December from November and contracted 0.1% in November from October in seasonally-adjusted terms, according to a preliminary estimate from national statistics agency INEGI. "It is clear that we are facing a slowdown in economic activity," Heath said. The data from INEGI also showed that economic activity likely grew by 2.7% in the 12 months through December and by 4.1% in the 12 months through November. Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Steven Grattan and Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A weaker dollar is great news for copper, asset manager says — and names 3 stocks to buy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Weizhen Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Glass highlighted three copper or copper-related stocks that could get a boost from the weaker dollar. Glass also named Chilean copper mining group Antofagasta , and metals and mining firm Boliden. "There just has not been enough investment in copper," Glass told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Tuesday. Glass isn't the only one bullish on copper. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading around $9,418 a metric ton on Wednesday, up from around $8,000 a metric ton in November.

☆ Brazil police raid governor's house over capital riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The raid targeted Rocha's house and workplaces, police said. Rocha was not on site during the raid, which was followed by lawyers from his defense team. This raid it is unnecessary and fruitless," his lawyer Cleber Lopes said, adding that the governor had no connection to the violence. The operation drew criticism from lawyers, as Rocha was head of the Brazilian Bar Association before he became governor. It included 24 warrants covering five states and the capital Brasilia, it said in a statement.

☆ Embattled U.S. Rep. Santos was drag queen in Brazil pageants, say associates
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Steven Grattan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The embattled freshman congressman has also faced calls from fellow New York Republicans to step down over fabrications about his career and history. Three years later, Santos competed in a drag beauty pageant in Rio, Rochard said. Another person from Niteroi who knew the congressman but asked not to be named said he participated in drag queen beauty pageants and aspired to be Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro. Santos is the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat in Congress as a non-incumbent, but has positioned himself as a staunch conservative on many social issues. Santos competed in a drag beauty pageant that year but lost, Rochard said.

☆ Brazilians work to restore relics damaged in Congress riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Adriano MachadoBRASILIA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A restorer in Brazil's capital gently scrapes off dirt from an ornate vase, just one of the relics damaged earlier this month when right-wing rioters stormed the country's most important institutional headquarters. Supporters of Brazilian far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro invaded and defaced the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court on Jan. 8. Rioters threw furniture through the smashed windows of the presidential palace, flooded parts of Congress with a sprinkler system, and ransacked ceremonial rooms in the Supreme Court. As soon as Sa's team was able to enter the buildings, they collected whatever they could to put some of the relics back together. "Assets inside the (presidential) palace are the history of Brazilian art itself, the history of Brazil."

☆ Guatemala summons ambassador in Colombia for consultations in defense minister tussle
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Guatemala summoned its ambassador in Colombia for consultations, Guatemala's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, a day after Colombia did the same in regard to a conflict over Colombia's defense minister. Guatemala on Monday accused Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, who led a United Nations anti-corruption unit in the Central American country, of committing illegal acts. Colombian President Gustavo Petro came out to defend the minister, saying he would not accept any "order for the arrest" of Velasquez. Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei told Spanish news agency EFE on Tuesday that Velasquez was not facing "criminal prosecution." Arrest warrants were issued for several others as part of the investigation, including former Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana.

☆ Want a Tesla alternative? Analysts and fund managers reveal their top EV stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Zavier Ong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Now, a precipitous plunge in its share price in 2022 puts its value well under $400 billion. At the end of last week, the EV maker cut prices in the U.S. and throughout Europe in what's being viewed as an effort to boost sales volumes. But there have also been some self-inflicted pains too: the long-running Twitter saga ; Musk's massive sale of Tesla shares ; and a capacity expansion in the face of slowing demand. Tesla alternatives For Deutsche Bank, Chinese EV maker Nio is the only pure-play name among its top automotive picks for 2023. Nio shares ended Friday at $11.81, down over 60% over the last year.

☆ Venezuelan teachers march for better pay amid sky-high inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 16 (Reuters) - Teachers, retirees and workers' unions marched in at least six Venezuelan cities on Monday to demand better salaries, as the government of President Nicolas Maduro faces renewed challenges in its attempt to fight inflation. The minimum monthly salary for a public school teacher is about $10, while university professors earn between $60 and $80. I earn 460 bolivars a month (about $23)," said Odalis Aguilar, a 50-year-old teacher who marched in the city of Maracay. In the central state of Carabobo, teachers and public employees also held demonstrations, saying salaries do not cover the cost of food and medicine. Over the weekend the government paid public employees a bonus equivalent to $29.80.

[1/4] LNG Canada site construction activities are held, in Kitimat, Canada, September 2022. LNG Canada, in which Japan's Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) owns a 15% stake, is set to be Canada's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal. LNG Canada has previously described this approach as only one of the options it was considering. LNG Canada has full environmental permits from both governments to use natural gas turbines for Phase 2, making it unclear what leverage governments have to force electrification. But buyers may pay more for LNG produced with lower emissions, Klein said, noting that some buyers already purchase carbon offsets for LNG cargoes.

☆ Brazil's BTG Pactual appeals decision protecting billionaire-backed Americanas from creditors
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Tatiana Bautzer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SAO PAULO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Brazilian bank Banco BTG Pactual SA has appealed a court injunction that protected billionaire-backed retailer Americanas (AMER3.SA) from creditors on Friday, documents seen by Reuters show. In an appeal filed on Saturday, BTG lawyers argue the court injunction orders illegaly the reversal of a payment made by Americanas to BTG. Americanas and BTG did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bolsonaro's ex-justice minister arrested in Brazilian capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRASILIA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Brazil's former Justice Minister Anderson Torres, who was in charge of public security in Brasilia during the invasion of government buildings a week ago, was arrested in Brasilia on Saturday on suspicion of "omission" and "connivance". Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Torres' arrest on Tuesday. According to Anderson Torres, the document was "leaked out of context" after being seized when he was not at his residence, and was probably part of a pile of papers for disposal. "Everything would be taken to be shredded in due course," the former minister said in a post on Twitter on Thursday. Justice Minister Flavio Dino had given Torres until Monday to return, after which he said he would have started extradition procedures.

☆ Brazil's govt formalizes Prates nomination as Petrobras CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Companies Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras FollowSAO PAULO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) said on Friday the government has officially nominated Jean Paul Prates to serve as its chief executive officer and board member. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had already announced he would appoint Prates for the top job. Reuters reported earlier on Friday, citing sources, that the nomination had been formalized. Reporting by Marta Nogueira and Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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