Brazil halted talks with private bankers on...

Brazil halted talks with private bankers on restructuring its $121-billion foreign debt because of what it called misunderstandings over the International Monetary Fund’s role and a clause regarding seizure of Brazilian assets. However, Brazilian officials said there was no impasse in the talks and negotiations were expected to continue later. Brazil’s two main negotiators returned from New York, where talks were nearly finished with a committee of 14 banks representing Brazil’s 700 creditors.