The national government has reached an agreement with the business chambers, unions and film industry on coronavirus protocols to enable the re-opening of cinemas. Having put together a sanitary protocol that each movie theatre will have to follow, the national government is preparing a decree that will enable moviegoers to see films on big screens … Read more
The government has confirmed it will introduce new restrictions on nighttime activities and the movement of people to halt the spread of Covid-19 during the summer vacation season, though on Friday officials stopped short of branding it a curfew. Details of the new measures have not yet been confirmed, but officials said that the restrictions … Read more
Ford Motor Company is ceasing manufacturing operations in Brazil after more than 100 years of building cars in the country as part of a restructuring that will eliminate 5,000 jobs and result in about a US$ 4.1 billion charge. The automaker said Monday it will close two factories in Brazil immediately and a third by the … Read more
Argentina registered cumulative inflation of 36.1 percent in 2020, with product prices rising fast in the final months of the year, the INDEC national statistics institute reported Thursday. In December, inflation was four percent, the highest monthly rate of the year and worst since November 2019. In the last month of the year, food and … Read more
The shift to home-working triggered by the coronavirus pandemic looks set to endure long-term, making it vital to protect employees’ rights and avoid blurred lines between on-the-clock hours and personal time, the United Nations said Wednesday. Issues facing home workers and their employers need greater attention, including better safeguards and more awareness of the rights … Read more
Argentina, the world’s third-largest corn exporter, ended the temporary ban on grain exports and will instead set a daily sales limit to guarantee domestic supply. In late December, the country suspended export licences until March to maintain adequate availability of animal feed before the next harvest. The government will lift the measure following talks between … Read more
When Jair Bolsonaro became Brazil’s president in January 2019 he nurtured relationships with other like-minded, far-right governments, but as the political tide turns he now finds himself and his country increasingly isolated. Boasting close ties with US President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro was emboldened and unapologetic for a worldview often criticised as sexist, racist and homophobic, … Read more
When the arrival of coronavirus and the application of lockdown forced President Alberto Fernández into a total rewrite of the 2020 road map, which he had laid down only three weeks previously in his state-of-the-nation address to Congress last March, he faced the same cruel choice as all his colleagues worldwide between sacrificing the lives … Read more
Spain’s Telefónica said Wednesday it will sell its telephone masts in Europe and Latin America to US-based telecom infrastructure firm American Towers Corp for 7.7 billion euros (US$ 9.4 billion) in cash. The sale of the nearly 31,000 mobile phone masts which its Telxius unit owns in Spain, Germany, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Argentina will generate … Read more
THE WEEK IN CORONAVIRUS The lives lost to Covid-19 crossed the 40,000 threshold on Tuesday, climbing from 39,512 to 40,431 between the end of last week and yesterday while the confirmed cases of contagion rose from 1,454,631 to 1,482,216 in the same period. Coronavirus debate tended to focus on the upcoming summer holidays ahead of … Read more