BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian government postponed until next year increases in taxes on the sale of cars and trucks in a bid to stimulate demand for manufactured goods and spur economic growth, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday.

The IPI tax on manufactured products was reduced last year for vehicles as part of a barrage of tax breaks and other stimulus measures by President Dilma Rousseff’s government to restore life to a flagging economy in Latin America’s largest nation.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – A Brazilian doctor who was charged with killing seven patients to free up beds at a hospital intensive care unit may have been responsible for as many as 300 deaths, according to a Health Ministry investigator.

Prosecutors said Dr. Virginia Soares de Souza and her medical team administered muscle relaxing drugs to patients, then reduced their oxygen supply, causing them to die of asphyxia at the Evangelical Hospital in the southern city of Curitiba.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – A Brazilian doctor who was charged with killing seven patients to free up beds at a hospital intensive care unit may have been responsible for as many as 300 deaths, according to a health ministry investigator.

Prosecutors said Dr. Virginia Soares de Souza and her medical team administered muscle relaxing drugs to patients, then reduced their oxygen supply, causing them to die of asphyxia at the Evangelical Hospital in the southern city of Curitiba.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – A Brazilian doctor who was charged with killing seven patients to free up beds at a hospital intensive care unit may have been responsible for as many as 300 deaths, according to a health ministry investigator.

Prosecutors said Dr. Virginia Soares de Souza and her medical team administered muscle relaxing drugs to patients, then reduced their oxygen supply, causing them to die of asphyxia at the Evangelical Hospital in the southern city of Curitiba.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s capital city, struggling to finish a new soccer stadium in time for an upcoming dress rehearsal for the 2014 World Cup, is turning to a surprising partner for help: the United Nations.

The Brasilia government signed this week a 35 million reais ($17.61 million) agreement with two U.N. agencies under which they will procure services and items such as tents, generators and security cameras for the stadium, a U.N. official told Reuters on Wednesday.

BRASILIA, March 20 (Reuters) – Brazil’s capital city, struggling to finish a new soccer stadium in time for an upcoming dress rehearsal for the 2014 World Cup, is turning to a surprising partner for help: the United Nations.

The Brasilia government signed this week a 35 million reais ($17.61 million) agreement with two U.N. agencies under which they will procure services and items such as tents, generators and security cameras for the stadium, a U.N. official told Reuters on Wednesday.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian economy is hardly growing and inflation is rearing its head, but President Dilma Rousseff’s popularity continues to climb to new highs.

The personal approval rating of Brazil’s first woman president rose to 79 percent in March from 78 percent in December, according to a CNI/Ibope opinion poll released on Tuesday.

BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO, March 15 (Reuters) – Brazil’s main
oil-producing states asked their country’s Supreme Court on
Friday to overturn a new law that strips them of billions of
dollars in royalties levied on the output of rich offshore oil
fields.

The two biggest producers, Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo
states, filed challenges with the court in Brasilia arguing that
the legislation is unconstitutional because it changes existing
contracts and violates Brazil’s fiscal discipline law.

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has again delayed choosing a provider for 36 new Air Force jets, meaning the country likely won’t have any next-generation fighters available for security when it hosts the World Cup soccer tournament next year.

The Air Force sent embassies representing the three companies that are finalists for the $4 billion-plus deal a letter this week requesting they renew their applications, which formally expire on March 30.

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA, March 8 (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has again delayed choosing a provider for 36 new Air Force jets, meaning the country likely won’t have any next-generation fighters available for security when it hosts the World Cup soccer tournament next year.

The Air Force sent embassies representing the three companies that are finalists for the $4 billion-plus deal a letter this week requesting they renew their applications, which formally expire on March 30.