Brazil's state-owned energy giant Petrobras said Tuesday it will deploy the world's first floating oil terminal capable of refueling tankers on the high seas.

"The new technology will ensure lower costs, by reducing the distance covered by oil transport vessels," the company said in a statement.

The beauty industry is booming in Brazil, where meticulous manicures, sophisticated scents and impeccable make-up are a must-have for women who have made the country the sector's world number three.

Last week, Sao Paulo hosted "Nails Fashion Week" -- where about a dozen domestic and foreign brands are offering up the latest trends in nail color as well as stilettos, make-up and eyewear in a bid to seduce new customers.

Paraguay's new President Federico Franco is talking tough with Argentina and Brazil, threatening not to "give away" energy to his neighbors and instead use power generated by joint projects at home.

"When are Brazil and Argentina going to respect us? When the government tells them, 'Actually, we are going to use our own energy. Paraguay is changing its position. It is no longer going to give away its energy'," Franco said.

Dozens of former party and government officials go on trial Thursday in Brazil's biggest corruption scandal, which could tarnish the ruling Workers' Party (PT) and its popular ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The 38 defendants set to appear before Brazil's Supreme Court in what the press here has billed "the trial of the century" are ex-ministers, lawmakers, businessmen and bankers linked to an alleged vote-buying scheme in Congress between 2002 and 2005.

A private twin-engine plane crashed in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais Saturday, killing all eight people aboard, firefighters said.

The Beechcraft King Air B200GT, which took off from the Minas Gerais capital Belo Horizonte, exploded after it went down near the airport of Juiz de Fora, a city located 260 kilometers away, they told the media.

arah Menezes made history by becoming the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic judo gold medal when she triumphed in the under-48kg category here on Saturday.

The second-seeded Menezes dethroned reigning champion Alina Dumitru of Romania in the final.

Researchers reported progress Monday with an experimental drug cocktail that killed a record 99 percent of TB bacteria in two weeks and costs a fraction of existing treatments.

It may also, crucially, be compatible with AIDS medicine.

Brazil must boost productivity and achieve a better balance between investment and consumption, the International Monetary Fund said in a report released Friday.

"Further efforts are needed to achieve a rebalancing of domestic demand from consumption to foster saving and provide space for investment," the IMF said in its Article IV report.

The world's first industrial plant producing biofuels from seaweed will be built in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco in late 2013, the official in charge of the project said Thursday.

The factory to be set up by Austrian firm SAT on a sugar cane plantation that yields ethanol, will produce 1.2 million liters of algae-based biofuels annually, Rafael Bianchini, head of SAT's Brazilian subsidiary, told Agence France Presse.

Backed by its gastronomy, martial arts, music and manga culture, Brazil's small but influential Japanese community is wielding soft power to assert ethnic pride and preserve century-old ties.

Japanese Brazilians are among the most successful and well-integrated of the South American giant's communities but keep in touch with their roots through events like the annual Festival of Japan, which wrapped up Sunday in Sao Paulo.