
Brazil’s government lowered its 2020 economic outlook, forecasting a gross domestic product contraction of 4.7%, which would signal the country’s biggest economic crash in more than a century.

President Donald Trump signaled a further deterioration of his relationship with China over the novel coronavirus, saying he has no interest in speaking to President Xi Jinping right now and going so far as to suggest he could even cut ties with the world’s second-largest economy.

The Trump administration on Thursday issued guidelines to help ship owners and insurers avoid the risks of sanctions penalties, standards that maritime players and a senior State Department official said were modified following months of discussions with industry.

China's industrial output returned to growth for the first time this year in April, official data showed on Friday, as the country continued its gradual recovery after the coronavirus brought activity to a near-halt.

President Donald Trump is mobilizing the U.S. military to distribute a novel coronavirus vaccine when one becomes available and will focus first on older Americans.

The World Trade Organization chief announced on Thursday he will step down on August 31, a year before his term ends, despite the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the global economy. Brazil's Roberto Azevedo said it had been a “personal decision” reached with his family, and stressed that he was not leaving to pursue “political opportunities”.

Chile ordered a mandatory total quarantine for the capital Santiago's seven million people on Wednesday, after authorities reported a 60% spike in coronavirus infections in 24 hours, dealing a stunning blow to hopes the economy would soon reopen.

The new coronavirus may never go away and populations around the world will have to learn to live with it, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday. As some countries around the world begin gradually easing lockdown restrictions imposed in a bid to stop the novel coronavirus from spreading, the WHO said it may never be wiped out entirely.

Remittances—the money that immigrants working abroad send home to families on a regular basis—have become a major source of funding for developing countries. In 2019, total global remittances exceeded US$550 billion, putting them on a par with levels achieved by foreign direct investment.

The United States said on Wednesday it had added Cuba to a blacklist of countries that do not fully cooperate on counterterrorism, denouncing the presence of Colombian leftist guerrillas.