The optimistic forecast is the result of a survey among 1,068 micro and small businesses in the state of São Paulo. The conclusion is that 19.8% intend to hire new employees this year.

Foreign minister Celso Amorim said yesterday that there is strong interest in Brazilian participation in the Middle East peace process. He spoke at a seminar on the subject, in Rio.

The state bets on the culture of the local population and on the vast supply of natural resources to attract the attention of Brazil and the world. Presently, Acre receives around 200,000 tourists per

Brasília – Brazil recorded a trade surplus of US$ 653 million in the fourth week of July, from the 20th to the 26th, according to figures disclosed today (27th) by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Sales from Brazil to foreign countries totalled US$ 3.424 billion, and purchases totalled US$ 2.771 billion.

Brasília – Spending by Brazilians on international trips totalled US$ 987 million in June this year, the highest figure since September 2008 (US$ 1.124 billion), when the international financial crisis worsened. The information was disclosed today (27th) by the Brazilian Central Bank. According to the head of the Economic Department of the Central Bank, Altamir

Religion, architecture and economy were approached in dossier Arabs in Brazil, published in the History Magazine of the National Library, which will promote a debate on the matter next Tuesday in Rio.

Designer Alice Trigueiro, from the city of Fortaleza, already exports to Italy, Portugal, Chile and the United States, and is now negotiating her first purse and costume jewellery sale to the emirate.