At least 17 people were killed in three attacks across Colombia in regions contested by criminal groups, drug traffickers, and dissidents of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.Officials and local media reported on Saturday that the attacks occurred within 24 hours in three Colombian provinces.Colombia’s President Ivan Duque condemned the violence.”The rejection of violence is because it mainly hurts the young people of Colombia,” he said. “It hurts that in recent years we have seen that the main victims of violence are youth. It hurts that in many communities these armed groups have always tried to recruit children.”The attacks in the Columbian provinces of Cauca and Narino claimed the life of 12 people, six in each, while the attack in the province of Arauca left five people dead.Just a week ago, eight people were killed by an unidentified armed group in a contested drug trafficking area in Narino. Five other people were killed on August 11 in a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city of Cali.More than 260,000 people have been killed and millions displaced during Colombia’s decades-long drug trafficking conflicts that have involved drug gangs, other criminal groups and former members of FARC who reject the Duque’s 2016 peace deal.     
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“He’s in the next room — if he hears me, I’ll have to hang up.”That call to the FILE – An advocate works in a cubicle at the National Domestic Violence Hotline center’s facility in Austin, Texas, June 27, 2016.Hotline callsOverall, calls to domestic violence hotlines in Texas cities spiked in March as the state locked down, according to a roundup compiled by the magazine FILE – Women stay in a line to hold a banner during an action against domestic violence on the Patriarshy Bridge, with the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the background, in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 14, 2019.RussiaRussia Psychologist Daniel Ramirez from the APIS Center Foundation for Equity attends to a patient who accuses her partner of domestic abuse, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Mexico City, Mexico, April 23, 2020.MexicoIn Mexico, the secretary of the interior and civil society organizations said that violence against women was increasing during lockdowns, although President FILE – A woman stands outside the health clinic in the village of Migowi, Malawi, Dec. 10, 2019.MalawiIn Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, where 46% of girls are married before age 18 and 9% before age 15, the organization People Serving Girls at Risk (PSGR) discerned a spike in child marriages when lockdowns began in March.PSGR director Caleb Ng’ombo attributed the increase to parents thinking that marrying off their daughters would relieve them of a burden during the pandemic.“It is so horrifying,” Ng’ombo said. “It is so horrifying in the sense that the girls are being forced to get into marriage.”The loss of income also has put women and girls at a greater risk of commercial sexual exploitation and pregnancy from transactional sex.“People have to weigh their options,” Ng’ombo said. “[They think], ‘If I just stay at home and don’t go out to do anything, I’ll still be killed by hunger anyways … I still have to go and sell sex.’ ”“This is where unscrupulous people are coming in to recruit children, to steal children, to abduct children, but especially girls,” said Ng’ombo, a crusader against child trafficking.Despite “very cordial” help from government institutions and police in combating sexual exploitation during the pandemic, PSGR has laid off staffers because of a lack of funding.“And this is at a critical time when we are needed the most by the girls, by the women,” Ng’ombo said. “Because time and time again, we keep getting distressing calls from women … and they’re looking for help.”As of Saturday, Malawi had reported a COVID-19 toll of more than 5,300 confirmed cases and 166 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
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Mexico’s president on Friday called on authorities to investigate videos showing his brother receiving cash but said the money was part of fundraising and used for 2015 regional elections, not corruption.Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador made the comments to reporters after two videos were published online by a news outlet.”They’re contributions to strengthen the movement at a time when the people were the ones basically supporting it,” he said. “We have been fighting for many years and the people have financed us, just like what happened when revolutions have taken place.”The videos were published by Mexican news outlet Latinus while Mexico is conducting a high-profile corruption trial involving the former chief of Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, who has also implicated former presidents and senior politicians.”The aim (of this video) is to damage the image of the government but they will not achieve it,” Lopez Obrador said. “There are birds that go through the swamp and never get dirty. That’s what my feathers are like. I’ve always come out of slander unscathed.”The videos show David Leon, a Lopez Obrador adviser before becoming the head of Mexico’s Civil Protection agency, giving cash to the president’s brother.Asked if the money was registered as a campaign contribution with authorities, Lopez Obrador said he did not know.
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The U.S. National Weather Service is predicting that two storm systems in and around the Caribbean Sea will strengthen and could both be hurricanes next week in the Gulf of Mexico.The This satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Laura in the North Atlantic Ocean, Aug. 21, 2020.The Washington Post reports Laura is the earliest forming “L” named storm on record, beating out Tropical Storm Luis, which formed on August 29, 1995. The season has already featured the earliest-forming C, E, F, G, H, I, J and K storms on record.Meanwhile, further to the west, in the southern Caribbean, forecasters are watching Tropical Depression 14, which they say will likely strengthen into Tropical Storm Marco.Forecasters say both storms will likely move into the Gulf of Mexico and could become hurricanes by early next week. If they do, it will be the first time two hurricanes are in the gulf at the same time in the satellite era.Some computer models say both hurricanes could hit the southern United States at roughly the same time, or could interact with each other in some way, depending on their size.Tropical storm warnings have been issued across the Caribbean, including in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Haiti, the northern Leeward Islands and the southeast Bahamas. Monroe County in the Florida Keys declared a state of emergency Friday and ordered mandatory evacuations for people living in boats and mobile homes.Tropical Depression 14 is expected reach the eastern Yucatan coast of Mexico by midday Saturday, where tropical storm warnings are in effect. It is forecast to move into the south-central Gulf of Mexico by Sunday afternoon.
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The U.S. National Weather Service is predicting that two storm systems in and around the Caribbean Sea will strengthen and could both be hurricanes next week in the Gulf of Mexico.The National Hurricane Center reports Tropical Storm Laura formed early Friday just northeast of the Lesser Antilles, and by last report, was 280 kilometers east of the northern Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.This satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Laura in the North Atlantic Ocean, Aug. 21, 2020.The Washington Post reports Laura is the earliest forming “L” named storm on record, beating out Tropical Storm Luis, which formed Aug. 29, 1995. The season has already featured the earliest-forming C, E, F, G, H, I, J and K storms on record.Meanwhile, further to the west, in the southern Caribbean, forecasters are watching Tropical Depression 14, which they say will strengthen into Tropical Storm Marco later Friday.Forecasters say both storms are likely to move into the Gulf of Mexico and become hurricanes by early next week. If they do, it will be the first time two hurricanes are in the gulf at the same time in the satellite era.Some computer models say both hurricanes could hit the southern United States at roughly the same time, or could interact with each other in some way, depending on their size.Tropical storm warnings have been issued in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the northern Leeward Islands and the southeast Bahamas, where tropical storm conditions from Laura could arrive as early as Friday night.Tropical Depression 14 is expected reach the eastern Yucatan coast by midday Saturday, where tropical storm warnings are in effect. It is forecast to move into the south-central Gulf of Mexico by Sunday afternoon. 
 
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Mexico could begin testing a Russian-licensed coronavirus vaccine as early as next month.The country said Thursday it will receive at least 2,000 doses of the vaccine.Russia became the first country to license a vaccine last week when President Vladimir Putin announced its approval, although only a few dozen people have tested the vaccine.The World Health Organization is withholding approval because the Russian vaccine has not passed the extensive trials usually required before a vaccine is licensed.Mexico is also working with vaccine producers in Britain, the United States and China to acquire a vaccine soon as possible for its people.Mexico has confirmed more than 540,000 coronavirus cases, and more than 59,000 people have died.
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Mexico has issued a hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning for portions of the eastern Yucatan Peninsula northward to Cancun.The system is a remnant of Hurricane Genevieve, which weakened to a tropical storm Thursday before threatening Mexico’s Baja California with strong winds and fierce rain.Genevieve caused at least two storm-related deaths when a teenage girl was caught by high surf and the adult who tried to rescue her drowned.Another system triggered a tropical storm warning Friday for sections of Honduras and Nicaragua.Meanwhile, forecasters say two tropical depressions in the Atlantic could develop into tropical storms by Friday.Another tropical depression prompted forecasters to issue tropical storm watches for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. 
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Hurricane Genevieve weakened to a tropical storm Thursday but still threatens Mexico’s Baja California with strong winds and fierce rain.  Genevieve is forecast to drench the southern portion of the peninsula with as much as 30 centimeters of rain in some parts before weakening into what forecasters call a remnant low sometime Friday. Genevieve was at one point a powerful Category 4 hurricane but weakened before lashing Mexico’s Los Cabos resorts. At least two storm-related deaths have been reported — a teenage girl who was caught by high surf and the adult who tried to rescue her. Meanwhile, forecasters are keeping an eye on two tropical depressions that formed Thursday in the Atlantic but could build into named tropical storms by Friday. Tropical storm warnings are already out for portions of Honduras and Nicaragua.  Another tropical depression has prompted forecasters to issue tropical storm watches for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
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The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is blocking U.S. citizens in the country from leaving, rebuffing efforts by Washington to arrange humanitarian evacuation flights, a State Department spokeswoman said Thursday.”We have made offers in the past that would allow U.S. citizens to leave, but all were rejected by Maduro and his cronies,” the spokeswoman, Morgan Ortagus, said in an emailed statement, adding that Washington was looking at all options to ensure the secure return home of U.S. citizens.She did not say how many Americans were stuck in Venezuela.Washington has disavowed the government of Maduro and instead recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, even though Maduro remains in control of state institutions.Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza wrote on Twitter on Thursday that Caracas had offered to repatriate U.S. citizens via flights to the United States on state-owned airline Conviasa.That proposal would be impossible under Trump administration sanctions that bar flights between the two countries and prohibit U.S. citizens from dealings with Conviasa.U.S. diplomat James Story of the Venezuela Affairs Unit, based in neighboring Colombia, said last week that Americans were being held hostage by Maduro’s government.”I have more than 800 people who have asked for my support in helping leave the country,” Story said in an interview with Venezuelan journalist Vladimir Villegas broadcast online.He did not say how many of those were U.S. citizens. It was not immediately clear how many Americans are in Venezuela.Countries including Spain have been allowed by Maduro’s government to organize flights to repatriate their citizens.The United States and about 60 other countries recognize Guaido and regard Maduro’s 2018 re-election as a sham. But Maduro has remained in power, backed by the OPEC nation’s military as well as Russia, China, Cuba and Iran.U.S. officials say privately that Maduro’s continued rule despite heavy U.S. sanctions has been a source of frustration for U.S. President Donald Trump.
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Environmentalists are increasingly alarmed at the growing pace of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.  With the fire season under way, Brazil’s rainforests face the threat of even more destruction. The number of trees destroyed has accelerated since Jair Bolsonaro became president in 2019.  Facing criticism, the Brazilian leader is defending his policy on rainforests and countering critics by enacting what he says is a zero-tolerance campaign to stop those who are illegally burning down the country’s forests.  Edgar Maciel in Sao Paulo has the story, in this report narrated by Jonathan Spier.Camera: Edgar Maciel, TV Brazil      Produced by:  Jon Spier 
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Some inmates in Peru’s most populated prison are now acting as health care monitors, alerting doctors to possible new coronavirus infections.Just four month ago, inmates at the Lurigancho prison were demanding improvements for protection against the coronavirus when the protest ended with nine people dead and dozens more wounded.Rafael Castillo, vice president of the National Penitentiary Council said, the intent is to create an epidemiological containment ring within the prison facility.  He says this would  prevent thousands of inmates from overcrowding hospitals outside the prison.Prior to the inmates’ demand for sanitary improvements, some 2,500 prisoners had become infected with the coronavirus and 33 others died of the disease.Nationwide Peru has the third-highest coronavirus totals in Latin America behind Brazil and Mexico, with more than 500,000 coronavirus infections and more than 26,000 deaths.    
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Forecasters are keeping a close watch on Hurricane Genevieve in the Pacific, which generated rough seas and where authorities said two people drowned.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said a hurricane warning is in effect for parts of the Mexican peninsula, including the resorts of Los Cabos and the town of Todos Santos.Civil protection officials in Los Cabos are urging people to remain at home.The hurricane center said the center of Genevieve is expected to move into the vicinity of the Baja, California, peninsula Thursday.A tropical storm warning is in effect for the west coast of the Baja, California, peninsula from north of Todos Santos to Cabo San Lazaro.U.S. forecasters warn heavy rainfall from Genevieve could produce life threatening conditions, including flooding, mudslides, and rip currents in the southern end of Baja, California Sur.Genevieve formed into a tropical storm Sunday night and quickly grew into a Category 4 hurricane before losing some intensity.     
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Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley is beginning his second term as the island’s leader Thursday, a day after he and his revamped Cabinet were sworn in.The ceremony at President’s House in St. Ann’s was delayed because of requests for recounts of the ballots from the August 10 general election.The fifth and final recount was completed on Monday night and Prime Minister Rowley’s ruling People’s National Movement party won 22 seats, while the opposition United National Congress gained 19 seats.Aside from bridging the divisions, which grew out of the contentious general election, Rowley’s immediate challenges continues to be curtailing the spread of the coronavirus.Trinidad and Tobago has confirmed more than 680 coronavirus cases and at least 12 deaths.
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Firefighters in Brazil say strong winds and hot dry weather are making it difficult to battle thousands of blazes burning in the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said it spotted more than 3,100 fires in the first two weeks of August — five times as many as the same period last year. “We saw hundreds of fires along the journey throughout the day,” Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said Tuesday. “Places where the planes and firemen have fought the fires directly without stopping, but still the fires are causing great damage to fauna, flora and to the Pantanal region.”  The Pantanal is 10 times the size of Florida’s Everglades. The World Wildlife Fund says it is home to more than 4,700 plant and animal species, including some threatened animals. Experts blame the fires, in part, to higher than average temperatures and below average rainfall since mid-July.  
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Panama is resuming the gradual reopening of businesses and places of worship after five months of lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. An elderly parishioner at the Iglesia del Carmen, in Panama City told the French News Press that she was overjoyed to have mass in person for the first time in five months. On Monday, churches, hair salons, retail shops and car lots also reopened.  The hair salons and barbershops will operate with appointments only and at 50% of their capacity, as the country tries to reenergize the sluggish economy.  The government has also allowed public and private construction projects to resume and reopened non-governmental organizations to resume operations.  Panama has confirmed more than 82,000 coronavirus cases and more than 1,700 deaths. 
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Haiti school children are returning to class for the first time in five months after the government closed schools because of the coronavirus outbreak. One parent told the Associated Press, Monday’s reopening of school was good for the future of children, citing education as the basis of development for all countries. President Jovenel Moise ordered schools, airports, factories and seaports closed in late March after two people tested positive for the coronavirus.Principal Jean Marc Charles delivers face masks to pupils, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease, before attending to the first day of school after holidays, at Lycee National de Petion Ville, in Port au Prince, Aug. 10, 2020.The United Nations says the limited availability of clean water makes it difficult for people to follow recommendations of health experts to frequently wash their hands to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.  So far, Haiti has confirmed more than 7,800 coronavirus cases and more than 190 deaths.  
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Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Monday announced his resignation from the government amid mounting tensions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over spending against the pandemic. “While we are entering a new phase in the fight against the pandemic (…), it is time for a new Minister of Finance to be able to carry out this project,” Morneau said during a press conference.  “This is why I am resigning from my functions as minister of finance and member of Parliament,” he added after a meeting with Trudeau.  Morneau, who had held this post since 2015, announced that he intended to run for the post of Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For the past week, several Canadian media have reported deep differences between Morneau and the prime minister on how to revive the Canadian economy, weakened by the coronavirus pandemic, without jeopardizing public finances while the expected deficit has reached more than 340 billion dollars (216 billion euros). The minister of finance is also the target of an investigation by the Canadian Ethics Commissioner into his links with a charity that employed his daughter, and to which the government had awarded a major contract without a call for other bids. This investigation also targets Trudeau, several of his family members have also been paid by this association. Morneau revealed last month that he had reimbursed more than $41,000 in travel expenses covered by the We Charity association (United in French), shortly before being heard on the matter by a committee of the House of Communes. The Federal Ethics Commissioner has opened an investigation into Trudeau and Morneau after the government awarded a major contract to the association to manage a nearly $1 billion student scholarship program, despite ties between the families of the two leaders and the association.  This program has since been withdrawn, without ending the controversy. United had admitted having paid nearly $300,000 (189,000 euros) to Trudeau’s mother and brother for speeches in recent years. Trudeau’s wife reportedly received $1,500 (around $1,000) for an event in 2012, before Trudeau became leader of the Liberal Party.  Morneau for his part acknowledged that two of his daughters collaborate with the association, one of whom is as an employee. He apologized for participating in the discussions on the award of the government contract to the association. 
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The only Black designer belonging to Italy’s influential fashion council is demanding a “long overdue cultural reform” from her colleagues under the slogan: Do Black Lives Matter in Italy?
The conversation has gotten off to a rocky start.
Stella Jean, a Haitian-Italian designer born and raised in Rome, launched her appeal this summer. She asked the Italian National Fashion Chamber and the global powerhouses steering it, including Prada, Ferragamo and Zegna, to back their social media pledges supporting the Black Lives Matter movement  with concrete, transparent commitments toward greater racial diversity.
In response, Jean received a letter from the council president saying that addressing racial disparity within Italian fashion was not within the body’s area of responsibility, despite the fact that members had backed a diversity manifesto in December. According to the letter, such initiatives “pertain instead to parliament, the government or any other bodies.”
Exasperated, Jean has decided not to preview a runway collection at Milan Fashion Week until “they demonstrate awareness of the problem.”
”When you talk with them, they have no bad intentions, I know them. But they say something like ‘What are you talking about, Stella? We have never heard about racism in Italy. It is not an Italian story, it is about the U.S., the U.K., other countries. Not Italy,”’ Jean told The Associated Press. “My response is: ‘Why do you see all these people filling squares from the north to the south of this country for Black Lives Matter, this entire generation of invisible new Italians?”
Soccer, another important Italian cultural institution, recognized that Italy has a problem with racism and worked to eliminate it.
Racially charged gaffes by Italian fashion houses have been well-documented, from Gucci’s Blackface sweater to Prada’s Little Black Sambo bag charm to Dolce&Gabbana videos that were seen by many as mocking Asians. This summer, Marni, another major fashion house, apologized after being called out for its images of a Black man with chains around his ankles.
Jean and the co-author of her appeal, Milan-based U.S. designer Edward Buchanan, said in interviews that the issue is deeper than just culturally insensitive designs. But they say those gaffes highlight the lack of diversity in Italian fashion houses and the “pervasive racism and prejudice” in the industry despite ”significant funds allocated to provide sensitive training.”
“These ‘mistakes’ can be better recognized, labeled and addressed as ‘decisions,'” Jean asserts.
Their push is to open doors to Black Italians who would like to work in fashion but don’t see themselves represented and don’t see a way in. They also are demanding data on Black personnel employed in decision-making roles in fashion houses — not models or marketing staff who they say “are sadly more often than not displayed for show.”
”We want to send a resume to a headhunter and not have it shut down because you are a Black designer,” Buchanan said.
In their appeal, they spoke for dozens more whose names did not appear but include Italian and Italy-based Black creators like Michelle Ngonmo, who launched an AFRO Fashion Week Milano on her own after failing to get the backing of the fashion industry, and Louis Pisano, a writer and influencer who has worked in Italian fashion for a decade. Pisano cites incidents like having his fashion show invitations scrutinized while white influencers are waved into events.
Many more “are hesitant to speak out for fear of a professional lynching,” Jean said.
A frequent refrain from Black creatives in Italian fashion is that they are often the only person of color in the workplace. They also see their opportunities and access limited by their skin color.
Buchanan, the designer of his own luxury knitwear label, Sansovino 6, started out in Italy more than 25 years ago launching ready-to-wear at Bottega Veneta, and has worked with Calvin Klein and Donna Karan. Now when he is called for consulting jobs, it is exclusively for streetwear or urban brands, despite his luxury credentials. Meanwhile, white colleagues with similar resumes now hold creative director positions at major brands.
”I am absolutely happy with the scale of my career. But I can say honestly that opportunity has not come to me because of the color of my skin,” Buchanan said.
Stella chafes at the Africa Hub, which promoted five brands during Milan Fashion Week in February. She says it gave a market space but no runway visibility to brands including Ghana-based Studio 189, co-founded by Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah, which has previously shown at New York Fashion Week.
“Why do we need a special area like you are visiting a safari?” Jean asked.
The president of Italy’s fashion council, Carlo Capasa, defended the Africa Hub, saying it was set up alongside a section to support China, which was mostly missing from Milan Fashion Week due to the coronavirus pandemic, and some young Italian brands. The only Black designer to present a runway show at Milan that round, which Jean skipped, was the British brand A-COLD-WALL.
Capasa told AP that the council would produce data on diversity inside fashion houses, and that a progress report on the diversity manifesto would be made in December. He said the global Black Lives Matter protests had created a sense of urgency behind diversity pledges but added that “making deep cultural changes requires time,” citing the need for multi-year programs “to include all minorities.”
“What happens inside a fashion house mirrors the social construction of the country. Italy is different from the United States,” Capasa said. “In every country, inclusion and diversity assumes a slightly different meaning.”
Jean emphasized that she is trying to prompt change from within as the only Black designer to belong to the council since its formation in 1958. Her eponymous brand, rooted in multiculturalism, has grown steadily since her Milan runway debut seven years ago.
While she won’t show in September, she has asked Capasa to host a Black Lives Matter event to kick off “the immediate launch of a long-overdue fashion cultural reform.”
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Feminist activists took to the streets of Mexico City Sunday to protest gender violence and inequality. Miguel Barrera, founder of the human rights group Marabunta Brigade that organized the march said the demonstration was to highlight the killing of women in general and recent cases of violence against women. “This mobilization concentrates several specific complaints, which are the point of it. Meaning that it does have to do with femicide, but these are cases (of violence against women) that have been around for one or two weeks making a lot of noise (meaning getting a lot of attention) in Mexico City,” Barrera said.A demonstrator holds a flare during a protest against the violence against the women in Mexico City, Aug. 16, 2020.Protesters were holding banners reading: “Do not touch me”. “Why is violence not in quarantine?” “Femicide Mexico” and chanting slogans against sexual assaults against women.  A strong female police force that almost quadrupled that of protesters were present as the demonstrators marched through the streets of the city. Although the march was generally peaceful, a clash between some demonstrators and police erupted and at least one demonstrator was injured. According to official data, 3,825 women died because of violence in 2019, averaging more than 10 per day, an increase of 7% compared to 2018.   A significant majority of all crimes in Mexico are not unpunished. 
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Major tourist sites in Rio de Janeiro, including the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the Brazilian city, reopened to the public on Saturday after being closed for five months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
 
“The reopening of the Christ (monument) symbolizes the reopening of Brazil to tourism,” Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said at a ceremony at the base of the statue.  
 
Visitors will be required to wear masks and maintain social distancing, and will not be allowed to lie on the ground — as many do in attempting to get the best angle for photos at the feet of the huge Art Deco statue with its arms outstretched.
 
Located atop 710-meter-high (2,300-feet) Corcovado hill in the center of Rio in Tijuca national park, the monument offers a spectacular panoramic view of the city and its environs.   
 
Since social-distancing measures forced its closure in March, Christ the Redeemer has continued to function as a religious sanctuary, offering public masses and holding vigils to honor healthcare workers and victims of the pandemic.
 
Also reopening to the public on Saturday were the Pao de Acucar cable car, which offers its own panoramic view of the city, the AquaRio aquarium and the gigantic Rio Star, Latin America’s largest Ferris wheel, inaugurated only last year in the port area.
 
Brazil’s National Confederation of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) estimates that the country’s tourism sector has lost 154 billion reales ($28.4 billion) over the last five months, operating at only 14 percent of its capacity.
 
The state of Rio de Janeiro, with 17 million inhabitants, has registered more than 14,500 deaths and nearly 190,000 cases of the novel coronavirus, according to official statistics.
 
The capital itself, which in June began a gradual economic reopening, has seen 33 deaths and 1,365 new cases in just the last 24 hours.
 
Brazil, with 106,500 deaths and 3.2 million cases to date, is the second hardest-hit country in the world, after the US.
 
With no certainty about when a vaccine might be available, Rio authorities have announced a new format for the year-end celebrations that traditionally bring millions of people to Copacabana beach for a huge fireworks display.
 
This year, the authorities are working to organize a series of smaller celebrations around the city and are urging people to watch the events online.
 
Rio’s world-famous carnival, with its huge street parties, also risks being canceled by the pandemic.   
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Jean Arnault, the U.N. secretary-general’s personal envoy to Bolivia, said in a statement Friday he “welcomes the agreement” the Andean nation’s legislature reached Thursday to hold the country’s general election October 18.Arnault said the “consensus is a fundamental achievement that provides guarantees regarding the date of the elections” and “helps to overcome political divisions and the uncertainty that worried many sectors of Bolivian society.”The election had been scheduled for September 6 but was pushed back as the country dealt with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.Many Bolivians were anxious about the delayed elections, following the election last year that prompted protests around the country and the resignation of leftist President Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous leader. Right-wing lawmaker Jeanine Anez was sworn in as Bolivia’s interim president.  She will be on the October ballot.Luis Arce will be the candidate for Morales’ Movement for Socialism party.Arnault said with this week’s legislative agreement, “the path towards a reliable electoral process whose results are respected by all actors is effectively consolidated.” 
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Bahamian Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis and Deputy Prime Minister K. Peter Turnquest are self-quarantining as a precaution after their offices were exposed to the coronavirus.The Cecil Wallace-Whitefield Centre, which houses the Office of the Prime Minister and multiple agencies, is closed for cleaning and sanitizing.The Ministry of Health’s surveillance unit is conducting contact tracing to determine the level of exposure to employees and visitors to the multi-office building.It could not be immediately determined if the minsters were directly exposed to the coronavirus.The Bahamas has recorded more than 1,000 cases of the virus and 15 deaths.
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Health care workers in Peru held a demonstration Thursday demanding better pay and working conditions as more of their colleagues become infected with the coronavirus.Members of medical workers’ unions appealed for government help during a rally outside the Health Ministry.The workers’ plea for aid came on the same day President Martin Vizcarra unveiled an obelisk at the Medical College of Peru in honor of 125 doctors who have died from the coronavirus.The observance occurred on the same day Peru marked a milestone, surpassing 500,000 coronavirus cases, with Latin America’s highest fatality rate.  
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The U.S. Department of Transportation barred private charter flights to Cuba on Thursday in a move designed to put more economic pressure on the Cuban government.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted the decision.“Today, I asked the Department of Transportation to suspend private charter flights between the U.S. and Cuba. The Castro regime uses tourism and travel funds to finance its abuses and interference in Venezuela. Dictators cannot be allowed to benefit from U.S. travel.”The order was issued on the birthday of the late Cuban Communist leader Fidel Castro, who was the country’s prime minister and president. He died in 2016.The ban will go into effect for most flights on Oct. 13.The U.S. has taken similar actions against Cuba in the past year. The Transportation Department in May limited the number of charter flights to Cuba at 3,600. Last October, the U.S. also suspended regularly scheduled flights to Cuba, other than those to the capital, Havana.President Donald Trump has been increasing economic pressure on Cuba throughout his presidency.  
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