International
Brazilian unemployment rate drops slightly from record level

AFP
Brazil’s unemployment rate pulled marginally back from record levels to 14.6 percent in the rolling March to May quarter, according to official figures released on Friday.
Unemployment in Latin America’s largest economy had been at a record 14.7 percent since the January to March quarter.
It amounts to 14.8 million people being out of work, the IBGE statistics institute said.
Compared to the March to May period in 2020, when the rate was 12.9 percent, there are 2.1 million more people unemployed.
Experts believe the only way to reactivate the economy would be through progress with the country’s coronavirus vaccination program.
Over the past 18 months since the pandemic appeared, more than 550,000 Brazilians have died of Covid-19.
However, it will take time for economic activity to catch up with increased immunizations.
“In a climate of increased uncertainty … business people are postponing investments and formal contracts,” said Paulo Peruchetti, from the Brazilian institute of economics at the Getulio Vargas foundation.
“This level of uncertainty will probably remain high due to financial risks and political turmoil, which should increase in 2022 with a highly polarized presidential election.”
Far right President Jair Bolsonaro is expected to face fierce competition from leftist former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Peruchetti said the informal sector would be the one driving a recovery in employment. It includes people paid under the table, doing odd jobs, working in the street, and others who like them do not pay taxes.
The informal sector reached 40 percent of the workforce, or nearly 35 million people, in the March-May quarter.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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