Stories for March 29th 2023

Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 14:09 UTC
Pause AI development: Open letter from world's tech leaders urges labs to stop

Elon Musk and many other experts around the world have recently signed a petition requesting a six-month pause on research into artificial intelligence (AI) that is more powerful than ChatGPT 4, the OpenAI model that was launched this month.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 11:06 UTC
Fire at migrant detention center in Mexico leaves 38 dead and 28 injured

At least 38 people were killed and 28 injured in a fire at a migrant detention center in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the United States, according to the Mexican government. The fire broke out on Monday night in the facilities of the National Migration Institute (INM) in the state of Chihuahua.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 10:58 UTC
Uruguay's Executive to cover for Central Bank's deficit

Uruguay's Executive Branch Tuesday admitted the Central Bank (BCU) reserves were below their legal threshold by Dec. 31, 2022, and a capitalization plan was therefore needed.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 10:55 UTC
Argentina: “Blue” dollar reaches AR$ 397

The unofficial exchange rate -commonly referred to as “blue”- between the Argentine peso and the US dollar reached AR$ 393 / 397 (buy/sale) after an AR$ 7 jump Tuesday, thus hitting a new record, it was reported in Buenos Aires. The blue dollar went up over AR$ 20 since last month for an 84.6% gap with the official quotation, which is virtually off limits for over 95% of the population to buy but available for anyone wanting to export.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 10:53 UTC
IMF: Central Banks must enhance transparency to build trust

By Tobias Adrian, Jihad Alwazir, Ashraf Khan and Dmytro – The Bank of Canada published a detailed summary of its Governing Council deliberations for the first time last month, joining nearly two dozen other central banks in regularly releasing detailed information on monetary policy decisions.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 10:51 UTC
Global trade expected to slow down in 2023, but “green goods” will remain strong, UNTAD report

Global trade was worth a record US$32 trillion in 2022, but amid deteriorating economic conditions, financial turmoil and rising uncertainties, growth turned negative in the last half of the year and is set to stagnate in the first half of 2023.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 10:46 UTC
Boom year for Brazilian farmers with record soybean crop and drought punishing Argentine production

Brazil’s soybean output and exports in 2023 will be higher than expected, Brazilian oilseed lobby Abiove announced this week, as local farmers harvest a bumper crop. Abiove now estimates Brazil’s soy production at a record 153.6 million tons, one million more than the last projection last January.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 10:44 UTC
Brazil leading exports depend on China: 70% of soybeans and 63% of iron ore

Brazil’s main trading partner, China, is the destination for over a quarter of total Brazilian exports, involving more than US$90 billion in 2022 in transactions of commodities such as soy, crude oil, and iron ore – products that dominate the bilateral agenda between the two nations.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 10:28 UTC
Dengue kills 6 in Argentina

Health authorities in the Argentine province of Tucumán Tuesday reported three more deaths due to dengue, which after last week's casualties, brings the total number of fatalities to six nationwide.
Wednesday, March 29th 2023 - 10:24 UTC
Nashville massacre perpetrator's mother was gun ban advocate

Norma Hale, the mother of Audrey Hale, the 28-year-old transgender woman gunned down in Nashville, Tennessee, after killing 6 people in a shooting spree, is a longstanding gun control activist who has shared on her Facebook account a collection of signatures to keep firearms away from schools and ban the sale of high-capacity magazines.