
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday postponed the general election by four weeks to Oct 17 but ruled out delaying it any further, as the country tackles a new outbreak of the coronavirus.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro received the best approval rating of his term on Friday, boosted by his popularity among recipients of COVID-19 stimulus payments despite the carnage the pandemic has caused in Brazil.

Health care workers in Peru held a demonstration demanding better pay and working conditions as more of their colleagues become infected with the coronavirus. Members of medical workers’ unions appealed for government help during a rally outside the Health Ministry.

Falklands Day is the celebration of the first sighting of the Falkland Islands by John Davis in 1592 and is commemorated on 14 August. It was once seen as the National Day of the Falklands but has largely been replaced by Liberation Day which commemorates the end of the Falklands War.

Spanish authorities ordered the closure of nightclubs, banned drinking in outdoor public areas, and smoking when keeping a safe distance from people is impossible, among other measures imposed on Friday to try to stem a coronavirus resurgence.

Argentina extended until Aug 30 restrictions taken against the coronavirus, President Alberto Fernandez said on Friday, underlining that the country's lockdown would continue in its current form in and around capital city Buenos Aires.

Taiwan finalized the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from US aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin on Friday, in a US$62 billion, a 10-year deal sure to anger Beijing. Underscoring the sensitivity of the transaction, the Pentagon announced the contract without specifying the buyer, but a source confirmed it was Taiwan.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said on Friday that more than one million people had received the government's US$ 626 spot payment aimed at staving off the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and it had approved more than 550,000 requests for soft loans of up to US$ 815.

The US Department of Homeland Security said on Friday that a COVID-19 ban on non-essential travel through border crossings with Canada and Mexico was being extended until Sep 21.

By Christopher Sabatini (*) The Trump administration’s intemperate, partisan crusade against international institutions has extended to the Western Hemisphere’s most important multilateral bank.