Politics

Thursday, December 17th 2020 - 10:00 UTC
IMF chief says 62% of lending has gone to 21 countries in Latin America

Sixty-two percent of the International Monetary Fund’s lending in response to the coronavirus pandemic has gone to 21 countries in hard-hit Latin America, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.
Thursday, December 17th 2020 - 09:59 UTC
Trump administration designated Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators; China in monitoring list

U.S. Treasury Department designated Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators for the first time, while keeping China on a watch list, in the Trump administration’s final foreign-exchange policy report.
Thursday, December 17th 2020 - 09:52 UTC
Argentina's GDP contracted 10,2% in the third quarter, Indec

Argentina’s gross domestic product contracted 10.2% in the third quarter of 2020 versus the same 2019 period, the government’s Indec statistics agency said on Wednesday, amid uncertainty about a possible retightening of COVID-19 lockdown measures.
Thursday, December 17th 2020 - 09:40 UTC
Argentine oil seed crushing workers strike continues; 130 ships waiting to load

Argentine oilseed workers are expected to continue the strike actions that are currently hitting activity at most of the country’s crushing capacity until at least next week after last-ditch salary talks with the sector’s chambers failed, Daniel Yofra, the secretary-general of crushers’ union FTCIOD has told Agricensus.
Thursday, December 17th 2020 - 09:03 UTC
Merkel implores Germans to reduce social contacts during Xmas; lockdown until January 10

Chancellor Angela Merkel banged the podium in frustration as she implored Germans this month to reduce social contacts to curb the spread of COVID-19. At one point in her unusually passionate address to parliament, during which she was heckled, she brought her hands together as if in prayer. At others, she shook her fist.
Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 09:29 UTC
Putin, Bolsonaro and Lopez Obrador finally congratulate Joe Biden

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday congratulated US president-elect Joe Biden on his victory, more than a month after the Nov 3 election.
Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 09:08 UTC
Food companies and grocers urge commodity suppliers to refuse soybeans from deforested areas in Brazil

Some of the world’s largest food companies and grocers urged commodity suppliers including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co. to stop trading soybeans associated with deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region, a savanna that is a hive of biodiversity and one of the country’s most important carbon sinks.
Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 08:57 UTC
New Chilean constitution will reserve 17 of 155 congressional seats for indigenous communities

Chilean lawmakers late on Tuesday approved a bill to reserve 17 of 155 seats for representatives of indigenous communities in its upcoming constitutional convention, a measure lauded as “historic” by the government of center-right President Sebastian Piñera.
Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 08:55 UTC
Bolsonaro administration says Brazil has guaranteed access to 300 million Covid-19 vaccines

The government of President Jair Bolsonaro said that Brazil has guaranteed access to 300 million vaccines, mainly those developed by Oxford University along with AstraZeneca pharmaceutical and Brazil's Fiocruz foundation, as well as vaccines from the Covax Facility international initiative.
Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 08:51 UTC
Brazil's health regulator ANVISA considers Chinese Covid-19 vaccine process non transparent

Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa said China’s health authorities are not transparent in their authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, a statement that may further inflame political tension in the country.