Brazils

SÃO PAULO—Brazil’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate as expected Wednesday, the 12th consecutive time, and said it would consider another rate increase at its next meeting in September. The bank’s monetary policy committee, or Copom, raised the Selic lending rate by a half point to 13.75%, the highest level in more than five years. The bank said in a statement that uncertainty about the global and domestic scenarios requires “additional caution” regarding its next steps.…

Pigprox -- ShutterstockBrazilian challenger bank Nubank has reached 1 million cryptocurrency customers in Brazil in less than a month since the launch of its crypto offering at the end of June. The milestone was reached three weeks after the neobank started to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum, the most popular cryptocurrencies, to its entire base of 60 million users. In an interview with Brazilian website Neofeed, Nubank CEO and co-founder David Vélez said that reaching 1 million crypto users was a goal for a year from…

Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) will gain independence from the presidency. The data protection body was elevated to the special authority status under a provisional measure published today.According to the text, ANPD will be transformed into an autarchy of a special nature while still maintaining the organizational structure and competences of the law that created it in 2018. The provisional measure notes that, considering the scope of the powers of the authority, which oversees both the public and…

“Alter do Chão has a history of being a matriarchal village,” Neca explains. “If you did a survey here, you’d see that 70 percent of households are run by women.” Dona Lusia never married. “She never let herself be subjugated by a man,” her daughter says. “She raised us all on her own.”Dona Lusia occupied a position of importance when it came to communal ceremonies, cooking, rituals, craftwork, and storytelling. Neca says her mother was both festive and a fighter. Rituals are part of the intense life of these people, and…

Getty Images/iStockphotoAccording to the country's Central Bank, the project to introduce a digital currency in Brazil has had its introduction delayed its introduction. According to the new plans around the Digital Real project, the tests that were supposed to commence later this year have been pushed to 2023. This is due to a workers' strike at the Central Bank, which impacted the original schedule. During an event about the topic promoted by the Brazilian Banking Federation (Febraban) on Monday (30), the bank's…

A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 376, Issue 6596.Download PDF Carefully stowed away in a locker, Evlyn Novo keeps a collection of framed plaques honoring her time as a researcher at the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Novo joined the institute as a young remote sensing specialist in 1975 to work on a pioneering effort to use satellite data to monitor deforestation in the Amazon. Over her career, she helped INPE develop…

Elon Musk is due to arrive in Brazil on Friday to discuss "connectivity and protection of the Amazon" with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's government, Communications Minister Fábio Faria announced in a tweet.Musk's visit is a boost for Bolsonaro, who has found himself increasingly isolated on the global stage since former US President Donald Trump lost his re-election bid in 2020The visit by Musk, the SpaceX, and Tesla chief executive who is in talks to buy social network Twitter, comes after he met with Faria in…

A diagram of the different interpretations for Monthly and Daily Precipitation sampling. The monthly precipitation data are based on classic isotopic effects, such as location, e.g., a tropical or continental climate. However, measuring isotopic composition every day reflects the fingerprints of moisture transport and convective activity. Credit: Didier Gastmans An isotope of a chemical element contains the same number of…