
UK small firms have been hit with blue Monday as new costs and tax reporting requirements kick in. While some firms in England will benefit from cuts in business rates, other changes mean additional costs. These include new rules on accounting under the Make Tax Digital program and auto-enrolment pension costs.

A new massive blackout was recorded this weekend in Venezuela after a nationwide interruption of electricity service this Friday, which was slowly restored in main cities as Caracas. However, a new relapse of the supply occurred on Saturday night, affecting 16 states of the country - more than half.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday mulled a possible fourth attempt to get her Brexit agreement through parliament, faced with the growing risk of a chaotic no-deal exit in less than two weeks' time. MPs on Friday resoundingly rejected May's deal, although by a substantially lower margin than on two previous occasions in January and March.

The poverty rate in Argentina during the second half of 2018 rose to 32%, or six percentage points from the same period the previous year, while 6.7% of citizens are living in a state of extreme poverty or indigence. The data was released by the INDEC Argentina's official statistics bureau on Thursday.

Argentina will increase spending on energy subsidies by more than US$ 100 million this year to compensate gas companies hit by delayed domestic price increases, a source at the nation's energy secretariat said.

Business groups have said they are devastated after Parliament's latest rejection of the prime minister's EU withdrawal plan. They urged MPs and the government to find a solution and stave off the nightmare of a no-deal Brexit.

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei said revenues topped US$ 100bn in 2018 despite a US-led campaign against the business on fears it poses a security threat. The firm said revenue for 2018 hit 721.2bn yuan (US$ 107bn), while net profit jumped 25% to 59.3bn yuan.

Brazil’s central bank will take its time analyzing the economic impact from an increasing number of shocks from abroad and rising political tension at home that appear to be slowing the government’s reform process, its president said.

Brazil’s jobless rate rose in February for the second straight month, government data showed on Friday, adding to pressure on new President Jair Bolsonaro to reignite a sluggish economic recovery.

The Uruguayan capital is the most expensive and the best to live in the region. At least that's what the studies of The Economist, which positioned Montevideo behind Mexico City in terms of cost, and the consultancy Mercer, which places the capital at the top of Latin American quality of life ranking, revealed in publications made this month. El País (Madrid) explains that Montevideo has a “crazy decadent charm”. However, why does this phenomenon occur?