Brazilian lawmakers are split whether to support impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff over allegations that range from doctoring last year’s fiscal accounts to being negligent while chairman of Petrobras. Right now, there are 10 such requests pending, according to the lower house of Congress. Impeachment proceedings only start if the house accepts what it... Continue Reading →

Vice President Michel Temer is increasingly seen as the man who could lead Brazil out of political crisis if President Dilma Rousseff is forced from office, but people who know him say he will do all he can to see her serve out her term. Even members of Temer's PMDB party who want Rousseff to... Continue Reading →

The biggest threat to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's hold on office may come not from a corruption scandal that has ensnared the country's business and political elite but from a less-heralded probe into accounting practices led by a computer science graduate turned lawyer. Julio Marcelo de Oliveira, a prosecutor at Brazil's Federal Accounts Court, known... Continue Reading →

The president of Brazil's Senate said on Monday that attempting to impeach President Dilma Rousseff was not a priority and warned that seeking her removal in Congress would "set the country on fire." Renan Calheiros, who is often critical of the administration, struck a more positive tone amid a deepening political crisis after seven months... Continue Reading →

When the financial crisis brought the global economy to its knees, Norway was largely unscathed. But oil under $50? That's another story. Unemployment peaked at about 3.7 percent in 2010 in the post-crisis aftermath. Falling oil prices already pushed the jobless rate to 4.3 percent in May, the highest in at least 11 years, and that... Continue Reading →

Alberto Youssef, a convicted money launderer and former bon vivant, sat in a Brazilian jail cell in March of last year, getting ready to tell his lawyers a story. It was about an elaborate bribery scheme involving Petrobras, the government-controlled oil giant. He opened with a dire prediction. “Guys,” Mr. Youssef said, “if I speak, the... Continue Reading →

Dilma Rousseff said attempts to undermine her legitimacy as Brazil’s president won’t stand following reports that a growing number of lawmakers support impeachment. “This country is a democracy, a democracy that respects above all else one thing: direct election by popular vote,” she said Friday during a speech in northern Brazil. “Nobody can take away... Continue Reading →

Brazilian prosecutors on Thursday presented formal charges against Jorge Zelada, the former head of state-run oil firm Petrobras' international division, and five others, saying they favored U.S. company Vantage Drilling in a rig contract. The most recent charges presented in Brazil's largest-ever corruption scandal included money laundering and corruption, and Zelada will stand trial with... Continue Reading →

Brazil’s embattled state oil company is deriving more gains from crude below $65 than at any point of the commodities super-cycle. A combination of lower international prices and a slumping domestic economy turned Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s money-losing refining unit into a profit center, second-quarter earnings published Thursday show. That’s because it was selling imported fuel... Continue Reading →