March 4 (Reuters) – Just past the mid-point in her first
term, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff faces several difficult
economic and political decisions that will define the rest of
her presidency:

1) GO FOR DEEPER TAX REFORM?

Rousseff has acknowledged the need to overhaul Brazil’s tax
system, which is considered by the World Bank to be the world’s
most complex. But she has so far opted for targeted tax cuts -
in part because she doesn’t think she can push a broader reform
through Congress and its 24 squabbling political parties.

BRASILIA, March 1 (Reuters) – Brazil advanced on Friday
toward its target of joining the small club of nations that have
nuclear-powered submarines with the opening of a naval shipyard
installation that will build French-designed submarines.

President Dilma Rousseff inaugurated the factory that will
make metal hull structures for four conventional diesel-electric
Scorpene attack submarines and eventually a fifth submarine
powered by a nuclear reactor developed entirely by Brazil.

BRASILIA, March 1 (Reuters) – Brazil took a major step on
Friday toward joining the small club of nations that have
nuclear-powered submarines with the opening of a naval shipyard
installation that will build French-designed submarines.

President Dilma Rousseff inaugurated the factory that will
make metal hull structures for four conventional diesel-electric
Scorpene attack submarines and eventually a fifth submarine
powered by a nuclear reactor developed entirely by Brazil.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s 2014 election season got off to an unusually early start this week with the unofficial launch of President Dilma Rousseff’s re-election campaign by her mentor and predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Celebrating his Workers’ Party’s 10th year in power, Lula laid to rest speculation that he would run again by anointing Rousseff as the party’s best option to stay in power.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday raised the monthly stipend of 2.5 million people living below the poverty line to make good on her promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Brazil, a nation with enormous income gaps between rich and poor.

She said she has almost met her anti-poverty target halfway through her four-year term, though Brazil’s last census points to 700,000 Brazilian families who still live in extreme poverty but are not registered on government social programs.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – In a country that has taken big strides toward greater transparency in government in recent years, the Brazilian Congress is out of step.

The lower chamber of Congress voted overwhelmingly on Monday for Henrique Alves to become its speaker, even though he is under investigation for graft. The selection of Alves came after the Senate chose a new leader who is also accused of corruption.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – With just 500 days to go until the 2014 World Cup kicks off in Brazil, soccer’s world governing body FIFA warned that the hosts cannot afford any further delays in getting their venues ready.

The global soccer tournament, followed by the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro two years later, will test Brazil’s aspiration to become a developed nation. But delays in building stadiums and preparing hotels and airports to receive more than half a million soccer fans could turn the event into an embarrassment.

BRASILIA, Jan 28 (Reuters) – With just 500 days to go until the 2014 World Cup kicks off in Brazil, soccer’s world governing body FIFA warned that the hosts cannot afford any further delays in getting their venues ready.

The global soccer tournament, followed by the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro two years later, will test Brazil’s aspiration to become a developed nation. But delays in building stadiums and preparing hotels and airports to receive more than half a million soccer fans could turn the event into an embarrassment.

BRASILIA, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Brazil looks less vulnerable
today to an energy crisis similar to one in 2001 that cut output
at factories, lopped about a percentage point off economic
growth, and led millions of people to spend their nights by
candlelight.

Still, the risk of a major disruption remains – in part
because the South American economic powerhouse has grown so much
since then.

BRASILIA, Jan 8 (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff cut
short her vacation on Tuesday to deal with a budding energy
crisis that could wreck her efforts to restore vitality to
Brazil’s economy this year.

Rousseff denies there is any risk of electricity shortages
or rationing stemming from a historic drought that has left
hydroelectric dams short of water. But some independent analysts
disagree, saying it depends on whether summer rains finally
arrive in coming weeks.