South America / Central America
EU drug regulator investigating 62 reports of rare clotting worldwide: chief
LONDON (Reuters) – Europe’s drug regulator is investigating 62 cases worldwide of a rare blood clotting condition which has prompted some countries to limit the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, its chief Emer Cooke said in a briefing on Wednesday. That includes 44 cases in the European Economic Area out of a total of 9.2 …
China and Brazil have world’s greenest central banks, activists say
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – China has the world’s greenest central bank, followed by Brazil, both beating richer countries thanks to concrete steps such as lower interest rates on loans for pollution-fighting projects, an activist group said on Wednesday. FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a mask walks past the headquarters of the People’s Bank of China, the …
Protesters stage jail break as demonstrations rack Haitian capital
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Protesters freed four police officers from behind bars in Haiti’s capital on Wednesday, local media reported, as demonstrations over a botched police raid on a gang stronghold and anger at state authorities roiled the city for a fifth day. A deepening economic and political crisis in the poorest country in the Americas …
Bolivian doctors demand lockdown as COVID surge threatens health service ‘collapse’
LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivian doctors are demanding a nationwide lockdown and threatening to stop taking in new patients as a surge in COVID-19 cases, which they say is killing an average of one medic per day, strains hospitals to breaking point. New daily coronavirus infections in the Andean country, which received its first batch …
Brazil registers 555 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, health ministry says
FILE PHOTO: People walk at a popular shopping street amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Sao Paulo, Brazil, July 15, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil registered an additional 555 deaths attributable to the novel coronavirus over the last 24 hours and another 24,578 confirmed cases, the health ministry said …
Non-essential travel restrictions extended at U.S. borders with Canada, Mexico
WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Restrictions on non-essential travel at U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico will be extended through Aug. 21, Canada and the United States announced on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: Two closed Canadian border checkpoints are seen after it was announced that the border would close to “non-essential traffic” to combat the spread of …
As central banks break the junk debt barrier, investors will follow
May 6 (Reuters)- Recent central bank bond-buying to calm market turmoil has breached the wall dividing top-grade debt from so-called junk-rated issues, raising the likelihood of the investment industry and even regulators eventually dismantling the barrier. FILE PHOTO: George Washington is seen with printed medical mask on the one Dollar banknotes in this illustration taken, …
Mass disinfections to combat coronavirus pose another health hazard
SURABAYA, Indonesia/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A drone dispersed clouds of disinfectant in the sky above Indonesia’s second-largest city Surabaya on Tuesday, a response to the coronavirus pandemic which is catching on around the world despite warnings from health experts. Mass disinfections, often by workers in protective gear resembling characters from the comedy film Ghostbusters, have become …
Alleged Maduro accomplice surrenders to U.S. agents, will help prosecution: sources
CARACAS/BOGOTA (Reuters) – U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents were flying back from Colombia on Friday with retired Venezuelan general Cliver Alcala in their custody, three people familiar with the matter said, after he agreed to work with prosecutors who charged him, President Nicolas Maduro and other top officials with drug trafficking. Alcala surrendered and waived …
Central banks deploy record sums to break financial logjam, but may need more
LONDON/BOSTON (Reuters) – Central banks have offered trillions of dollars of support to markets in recent days to keep them from freezing up, as investors worried about the economic damage from the coronavirus and made a chaotic dash for the exits. FILE PHOTO: A trader wears a mask as he works on the floor of …
