Cuba's best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, was greeted on Monday by a small group of protesters calling her a CIA agent upon arriving in Brazil, the first stop on a whirlwind tour that will take her to a dozen countries.

Prosecutors in southern Brazil, where 235 people died when a fire ravaged the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria last weekend, are investigating whether city leaders and inspectors were negligent in allowing the club to operate.

Brazilian police on Monday detained the owners of the nightclub where a fire killed 231 people as well as two band members whose pyrotechnics they say triggered the blaze as the focus turned to finding those responsible for the tragedy.

Relatives of the 231 people who died in a Brazilian nightclub fire demanded answers on Monday as to how it could have killed so many people, while police questioned the club's owner and members of the band whose pyrotechnics show allegedly caused the tragedy.

Group 1 Automotive agreed to buy Brazilian automotive retail firm UAB Motors Participacoes S.A for about $146 million in cash and stock on Thursday.

After years of gains against destruction of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil appears to be suffering from an increase in deforestation as farmers, loggers, miners and builders move into previously untouched woodland, according to data compiled by the government and independent researchers.

Brazil is urging Venezuela's government to hold elections as quickly as possible if President Hugo Chavez dies, senior officials told Reuters on Monday, a major intervention by Latin America's regional powerhouse that could help ensure a smoother leadership transition in Caracas.

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.

Brazil's government has proposed changes to a fiscal responsibility law that set the foundation for a decade of economic prosperity in Latin America's largest economy, two local newspapers said on Saturday.

Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said on Friday that the country had registered no cases of mad cow disease, denying reports on some local media websites that said the disease had cropped up in the southern state of Parana two years ago.

President Dilma Rousseff's government has pulled out all the stops to persuade Brazilianbanks to lend more - pushing interest rates to an all-time low, leaning on state-run lenders, and even publicly shaming the industry for its high profits.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez will travel to Brazil for a regional summit at the end of this week despite cancer-related medical treatment inCuba, Brazil's ambassador said on Monday.

Chevron Corp received a boost to its efforts to restart oil output in Brazil after a court overturned a ban on its operating in the country and the company agreed on a plan to improve safety procedures after an oil spill last year.

Brazil's economy posted extremely disappointing growth in the third quarter, piling pressure on President Dilma Rousseff to make deeper structural reforms and adding to fears that big emerging markets are getting dragged into the stagnant morass of the global economy.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) sees a strong government presence in Brazil as a source for new business leads, a senior banker said on Thursday, highlighting the growing clout of the nation's public sector as an investment-banking client.

Lewis Hamilton will say an emotional farewell to McLaren in Brazil next weekend as a winner, even if Formula One's season-ending race is all about someone else taking the title.

A massive blackout left as many as 53 million Brazilians in the dark late Thursday and early Friday, the latest in a string of energy shortages that have raised questions about whether Brazil's infrastructure is keeping pace with economic growth.

German automaker BMW (BMWG.DE) plans to invest 800 million reais ($395 million) to build a new assembly plant in Brazil, sources with direct knowledge of the project told Reuters on Friday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron had oil and sports on his mind when he visited Brazil this week seeking business opportunities in the South American nation that overtook Britain last year to become the world's No. 6 economy.

Google Inc's most senior executive inBrazil was questioned by police and released on Wednesday after the company failed to take down YouTube videos attacking a mayoral candidate in violation of local electoral law.

Vale (VALE5.SA), the world's second-largest mining company, is likely to make its $19.5 billion Serra Sul iron ore mine project in Brazil a priority over a similar development in the West African nation of Guinea, a source with knowledge of the firm's strategy said.

Latin America's two largest economies should be expanding rather than curbing trade flows, Mexico's President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto said on Thursday in veiled criticism of a Brazilian restriction on Mexican car imports.

Brazil's petroleum regulator ANP appealed an injunction on Monday banning Transocean Ltd (RIG.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) from operating in Brazil on the grounds the ban would harm oil exploration in the country, ANP chief Magda Chambriard said.

Brazil's bank workers will take to the streets next week to demand higher pay, the latest in a spree of labor disputes afflicting Latin America's largest economy.

To many in this coastal metropolis, Rio de Janeiro has never had it so good.

Brazil's government is exploring ways to ease immigration rules in order to attract up to 10 times more foreign professionals and help spur economic growth, a senior official told Reuters.

An injunction banning No. 2 U.S. oil company Chevron Corp and its drilling contractor Transocean Ltd from operating in Brazil was upheld by a panel of three Brazilian federal judges on Tuesday while charges over a November oil spill are being considered.

Brazil appears to have the best long-term prospects among rising economic powers, thanks to its stable policy framework, ample natural resources and good relationship with its neighbors, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Tuesday in a ringing endorsement of an economy that has struggled lately.

Norway's environment minister on Friday urged Brazil and Indonesia to avoid backtracking on policies to protect tropical forests, saying up to $2 billion in aid promised by Oslo hinged on proof of slower rates of forest clearance.

Brazil's government is exploring ways to ease immigration rules in order to attract up to 10 times more foreign professionals and help spur economic growth, a senior official told Reuters.