
United States President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence have tested negative for the novel coronavirus after a member of the US military who works at the White House as a valet came down with the virus.

Venezuelan state television broadcast on Wednesday a video of captured American Luke Denman, in which he said he was instructed to seize control of Caracas' airport and bring in a plane to fly President Nicolas Maduro to the United States.

Several hundred activists blocked this week one of Buenos Aires' main avenues for hours to demand food for soup kitchens that feed hundreds of thousands in poor neighborhoods during the mandatory lockdown aimed at preventing the spread of the new coronavirus.

Chile’s economic activity dropped 3.5% in March from a year earlier, the central bank said. The bank’s IMACEC economic activity index declined 5.7% compared with the previous month, as the country went into an economic and social shutdown after the arrival in Chile of the new coronavirus.

By Joseph Stiglitz, Edmund S. Phelps, and Carmen Reinhart (*) – Argentina's creditors are being asked to accept a proposal that would reduce their revenue stream but make it sustainable. A responsible resolution will set a positive precedent, not only for Argentina but for the international financial system as a whole.

Brazil, one of the world's emerging coronavirus hot spots, registered a record number of cases and deaths on Wednesday, prompting the health minister to flag the possibility of strict lockdowns in particularly hard-hit areas.

The United States will use all options to free two Americans said to be detained in a failed mercenary attack in Venezuela, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. “If the Maduro regime decides to hold them, we will use every tool that we have available to try to get them back,” Pompeo told reporters.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his coronavirus task force would shift its primary focus to reviving US business and social life while acknowledging that reopening the economy could put more lives at risk.

Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said that according to initial estimates, the country's economy would shrink 6% as a result of the recession caused by the new coronavirus pandemic, but now, thanks to the increase in exports to China, expectations are of a retraction of only 4% this year.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday he could begin to ease a nationwide coronavirus lockdown next week, but warned he would do nothing that would risk a new surge of cases.