Brazil’s Land Protected From Foreigners
By Michael Royster, Senior Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – On August 23rd the Diário Oficial da União published an order signed by President Lula, approving a formal Opinion (Parecer CGU/AGU No. 01/2008) issued by the government’s lawyers the A.G.U. (Advocacia-Geral da União), reinstating the validity of a law from 1971 which placed limits on the [...]
Inside the Business of Expat Relocation
By Doug Gray, Senior Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – With companies like Shell, BG and Halliburton placing growing numbers of engineers and executives in Rio ahead of the huge pre-sal drilling operations, the rental market in the city is buoyant. However, rocketing prices, insufficient supply and a largely inefficient real estate industry make the [...]
Leblon’s New Mekong Restaurant
By Doug Gray, Senior Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – A new addition to Leblon’s rua Dias Ferreira gastronomic delights was unveiled last month by a Carioca-London couple looking to make their mark on the neighborhood’s famous dining. Having determinedly broken through the city’s notorious red tape, Mekong is the product of three years of [...]
Englishmen’s New Tailor-Made Course
By Sibel Tinar, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – The one-size-fits-all model of the business of teaching has fresh competition in Rio de Janeiro, as Tailor-Made English, a boutique school recently set up by two Englishmen, offers fully customized education to its students. Damian Williams and Stephen Greene came up with the idea a year [...]
U.S. Based NGO Educating in Brazil
By Mira Olson, Senior Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – Whilst private initiatives to better the lives of Brazil’s poor have grown abundantly in recent decades, relatively few do so effectively from abroad. An extraordinary exception to this is Blessings for Brazil, a New York-based grassroots organization dedicated to helping Brazil’s children by supporting educational [...]
Petrobras Face Rig Safety Problems
By Jewellord T. Nem Singh, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO - Petrobras President José Sérgio Gabrielli admitted this week that there are problems with his company’s platform in the P-33 drilling block which could endanger workers’ safety and operational security. Throughout the week news wires have reported that the platforms are susceptible to corrosion and serious [...]
Mercosur Summit ‘Best In 15 Years’
By Jaylan Boyle, Senior Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – The 39th summit of South America’s co-operative trade bloc, Mercosur, ended last week in San Juan, Argentina, with many involved praising the conclusion to a constructive and amenable conference. Brazilian President Luis Inácio da Silva went as far as to label the San Juan meeting [...]
Retalhos Cariocas-Favela High Fashion
By Felicity Clarke, Senior Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – You could say that Ipanema, with its beautiful daily parade of glossy beach glamor, is the living catwalk of Rio fashion, but plenty of Rio fashion magic takes place some distance inland from Posto 9 in the North Zone neighborhood of São Cristóvão. Hundreds of [...]
Brazil vs. Portugal in Race for Vivo
By Jaylan Boyle, Senior Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – The covert battles among the venerable and respected brand names of Europe in the scramble to get a foot-hold in booming Brazil inevitably claims casualties, and this week saw Spanish telecommunications giant Telefônica emerge as a distinct loser at the conclusion of a deal in [...]
June’s Record Current Accounts Deficit
By Jewellord T. Nem Singh, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil has registered a deficit of USD$23.76 billion in its current accounts for June, corresponding to 2.47 percent of the country’s GDP. At a time of general economic optimism in the country this is the worst performance in its balance of payments since 1947 [...]