Stories for April 13th 2020

Monday, April 13th 2020 - 10:15 UTC
Mexico has its oil protected by a sovereign hedge ensuring against low prices

While Mexico and Saudi Arabia fought over a deal to bring the oil-price war to an end, Mexico has a powerful defense: a massive Wall Street hedge shielding it from low prices. The Mexican sovereign oil hedge, which ensures the country against low prices and is considered a state secret, is a factor that may make the country less inclined to accept the OPEC+ agreement.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 10:05 UTC
On Easter Sunday, US death toll surpasses 22.000; May first, tentative date for relaxing stay at home restrictions

Americans spent Sunday on lockdown as the US toll from the COVID-19 pandemic surpassed 20,000 deaths and more than half a million confirmed cases. With almost all the country under stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the disease, many turned to online church services to mark the holiest day in the Christian calendar.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:54 UTC
Brazilian 97-old great grandmother survives COVID-19 and is discharged from hospital

When 97-year-old Brazilian Gina Dal Colleto was hospitalized on Apr first with coronavirus symptoms, few could have thought she would survive the deadly virus. But on Sunday, Dal Colleto was pushed in a wheelchair out of Sao Paulo's Vila Nova Star hospital to applause from doctors and nurses, becoming the oldest known survivor of COVID-19 in Brazil, the Latin American country worst-hit by the outbreak.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:49 UTC
US pork supply “on the edge”: Smithfield Foods shutters South Dakota major plant indefinitely

The world's biggest pork producer is shuttering a major United States plant indefinitely after a coronavirus outbreak among employees, with the company warning that closures across the country are taking American meat supplies “perilously close to the edge” of shortfalls.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:44 UTC
Assange fathered two children with one of his lawyers while in the Ecuador embassy

Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children with one of his lawyers while holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London for much of the past decade, a report on Sunday said. The 48-year-old Australian is allegedly the dad of two boys - aged two and one - born to South African-born lawyer Stella Morris, the Mail on Sunday reported.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:41 UTC
FAO: Global cereals stock to-use-ratio “comfortable”; bumper crops of corn in Southern Hemisphere

FAO's forecast for 2020 world wheat production remains unchanged in March from the previous month, at the near-record level of last year, which, coupled with ample inventories, will help shield food markets from turmoil during the coronavirus storm.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:39 UTC
Food Prices declines sharply in March except rice as countries stockpile

World food prices declined sharply in March, driven mostly by demand-side contractions linked to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in global oil prices due mostly to expectations of economic slowdown as governments roll out restrictions designed to respond to the health crisis.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:34 UTC
Pandemic doesn't stop murdering journalists in Mexico

A Mexican journalist who disappeared over a week ago in the southern state of Guerrero was found dead close to where his family last saw him, the local prosecutor said on Saturday. Forensic tests on human remains in the seaside resort of Acapulco were identified as belonging to Victor Fernando Alvarez, who disappeared on Apr 2.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 08:50 UTC
EU planning measures to prevent threat of Chinese takeovers of companies shares

The European Union's competition chief told the Financial Times that member countries should buy stakes in companies to counter the threat of Chinese takeovers, with her comments coming as the EU formulates plans to protect its businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Monday, April 13th 2020 - 08:49 UTC
Peruvian police arrest Chinese citizen illegally conducting COVID-19 tests with stolen kits

Police in Lima on Sunday arrested a Chinese citizen for illegally conducting rapid COVID-19 tests on the public with newly-delivered kits stolen from Peru's health ministry. Zhang Tianxing, 36, was arrested in the Brena district of Lima as he was about to take samples from two women at the door of their house, police said.