Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at an oil well of the state-owned energy firm Petrobras which unveiled the world's largest share offer last week. Photograph: Ricardo Stuckert/AFP/Getty Images
Foreign investors are flocking to the ‘country of the future’ as the former union leader presides over 6.5% growth
For years “Lula” was a dirty word at Brazil‘s main stock exchange, the Bovespa in São Paulo.
The mere mention of the fact that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former union-leader and once a ferocious anti-capitalist, had his eyes on the presidency was enough to send shivers through international markets. In the lead up to Lula‘s historic 2002 election, Brazil‘s currency plummeted as overseas investors fretted over what the country’s first working-class president might do to their balance sheets.
Times have changed – and Lula knows it. “Ten years ago I’d walk past the [stock exchange's] front door and people would shake with fear. They’d say, ‘Where is that capitalist-eater going?” Lula joked last Friday, as he returned to the Bovespa to unveil the largest share offer in world history: the sale of $70bn (£45bn) worth of shares in the Brazilian energy group Petrobras.
“[But] now that very same ‘capitalist-eater’ … [is] taking part in this most positive moment for world capitalism. Never before in the history of man have we had a capitalisation of this size,” the president boasted.
The unprecedented Petrobras flotation aims to help bankroll a massive offshore exploration project that may propel Brazil into the premier league of global oil producers. But the offering is also the clearest example of what Brazilians are calling the “new Brazil”, a booming, investment-friendly South American nation that they believe is steaming towards a future of prosperity and global clout.
“It didn’t happen in Frankfurt, it didn’t happen in London and it didn’t happen in New York,” Lula beamed last week. “It happened in São Paulo.”
Maurício Borges, business director of Apex, Brazil’s trade and investment promotion agency, says Petrobras’s mammoth offer is symbolic of a growing foreign interest and faith in his country – something the Central Bank hopes will lead to about $30bn of direct foreign investment this year up from just $10bn in 2003, the year Lula took office. (more…)
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A California judge is being asked to determine the ownership of a giant emerald, thought to be one of the largest of its kind.
The Bahia emerald - named after the region of Brazil in which it was discovered - weighs 380kg (840lb).
It is said to be worth more than $370m (£235m) - and at least six people are claiming they are the rightful owners.
A judge will hear from all the parties claiming ownership of the gem before deciding the case in October.
One those at the centre of this dispute is Anthony Thomas, a construction executive from California, who says he paid two Brazilian gem dealers $60,000 for the emerald shortly after it was unearthed nine years ago - a fraction of its current value.
Mr Thomas says he arranged to have the stone shipped to his home in San Jose, but that it never showed up.
He believes he was tricked into believing it had been stolen so it could be resold for more money. (more…)
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The latest university rankings place three Brazilian schools among the top 10 of all Latin American institutions. That puts Brazil ahead of Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, each of which have two institutions in the top 10. Uruguay has one.
The top ranked university in the region is Universidade Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), according to US News & World Report’s World’s Best Universities rankings, which it said was based on the QS World University Rankings. (The Latin American list is here and the full world list is here.)
If Brazilians are tempted to celebrate then they shouldn’t, for two key reasons.
One, Brazil is almost twice the size of Mexico, more than four times the size of Argentina, and 11 times bigger than Chile. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the world and pretends to be one of the new leaders of the globalized world.
It should have more good universities that its neighbors.
Moreover, it needs better universities and more of them if it wants to be a real player in the 21st century and challenge countries like China, India, and South Korea as an emerging powerhouse. (more…)
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Edeilson Manoel do Nascimento holds an X-ray showing a knife that was inside his head. (AP Photo/Helia Scheppa, JC Imagem)
Brazil doctors remove knife blade stuck in man’s head for 3 years
A man in northeastern Brazil is recovering after surgeons removed a 4-inch (10-centimeter) blade that had been stuck in his head for three years following a bar fight. Edeilson Nascimento, a 29-year-old tire repairman, tells reporters Friday he is feeling great after the three-hour surgery earlier this week.
He is expected to be released from a hospital in the city of Recife next week.
Nascimento says he got into a bar fight in 2007 and was attacked by assailants when he returned home.
At the time, doctors only removed the knife handle, fearing that pulling the blade from his head would cause brain damage.
But three years of intense headaches led Nascimento to take a chance on the surgery.
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A film about the life of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was chosen Thursday to represent the South American country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year’s Oscars, the culture ministry said.
‘Lula, o filho de Brasil‘ (Lula, Son of Brazil) was chosen by a committee made up of representatives of the culture ministry, the Brazilian Film Academy and the National Film Agency, among other organisations.
‘We took Brazil into consideration,’ Brazilian Film Academy President Roberto Faria said. ‘Lula is a star here and abroad.’
Faria denied that politics played a role in the selection, which comes just 10 days before presidential elections in which Lula’s hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, is the frontrunner.
‘We voted for the film we thought was best, one that honors Brazilian cinema and has an actress like Gloria Pires, who is an excellent candidate for the best-actress prize,’ Faria said. (more…)
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