Hanged, drawn and quartered (2024)

02/03/2022

Chile’s vaccination campaign against the coronavirus has been one of the world’s quickest and most extensive, but a recent surge in infections has sparked concern beyond its borders.
Almost 40% of the South American country’s total population have now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to statistics compiled by Our World in Data, reflecting one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.
Only Israel and the U.K., respectively, have inoculated a larger share of their population with at least one dose.
Nonetheless, Chile has endured a sharp uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, even with its world-renowned vaccine rollout and strict lockdowns in place for much of its 19 million inhabitants.
The Pan American Health Organization’s regional director has since emphasized that for most countries in the region, vaccines won’t be enough to prevent rising infection rates.
The number of daily cases in Chile rose to a record high on April 9, climbing above 9,000 for the first time since the pandemic began and significantly higher than the peak of almost 7,000 recorded last summer.

01/03/2022

In Colombia, the process announced by President Ivan Duque in February to grant temporary protected status to over a million Venezuelans has already started. Grandi met the President and other national and local authorities and thanked them and the people of Colombia for this generous move, that will pave the way to the full inclusion of refugees and migrants from Venezuela. He also met with Venezuelan refugees and migrants to hear from them about their needs and concerns.
Grandi then travelled to Ecuador, where President Guillermo Lasso announced a new regularization process for Venezuelans in the country. Ecuador plays host to an estimated 430,000 Venezuelan refugees and migrants and has a long tradition of asylum and has recognized over 70,000 refugees, the majority from Colombia. In the capital, Quito, Grandi met the Vice-President and other government officials, members of civil society, including refugee and migrant associations. He also joined the private sector in the launch of a new strategy to integrate those forcibly displaced in the labour market in order to support their socio-economic integration.
'Refugees and others displaced can become real agents of change and contribute to the communities hosting them if given a chance and the tools to thrive,' Grandi said. 'In this sense, the rest of the world can learn a great deal about the inclusion and integration of refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean.'

27/02/2022

SANTIAGO, June 24 (Reuters) - With copper prices soaring and Chile's economy reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers want to fund recovery efforts by hiking royalties on the booming mining sector but the drive could flounder because of deals that previous governments signed decades ago to freeze tariffs on the biggest miners.
Major foreign miners operating in the world´s largest copper producer obtained tax stability agreements that maintain payment regimes, and a Reuters review shows these do not expire for two to 15 years.
The deals, meant to buffer investors from political or economic upheaval, helped attract investments in some of Chile's largest mines.
Experts interviewed by Reuters said that even after likely passage of a law outlining a royalty as high as 75% on copper sales, the agreements could diminish Chile's windfall.
Some lawmakers want to push to renegotiate the stability clauses, taking a cue from nearby Peru, the world's second-largest copper miner. There, Pedro Castillo, who pledged to boost social spending to help the poor, is on the verge of being confirmed as president after a disputed election. read more
Castillo's team has suggested he will seek to circumvent any delays to a plan to raise taxes on miners by renegotiating tax stability agreements covering 25 operators including major Chinese mines. read more
Among those in Chile who want to take a similar tack is Catalina Perez of the radical-left Democratic Revolution party. She and other opposition lawmakers, many representing mining areas, co-authored the mining royalties bill.
Nonetheless, miners and Pinera's administration will seek to modify the bill as it moves through the senate, with more than a month of evidence-gathering sessions starting this week. read more
But industry analysts warned that trying to override tax stability agreements could damage Chile's business-friendly reputation and bring legal action.

27/02/2022

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said China’s anti-COVID vaccine did not fully work and questioned whether Russia’s Sputnik jab would ever get approval from European regulators.
'The Chinese vaccine... has shown itself not to be adequate. You can see that from Chile’s experience of tackling the epidemic,' Draghi told reporters at the end of a European Union summit.
Chile has relied heavily on the COVID-19 shot developed by China’s Sinovac, but health authorities in the South American country have questioned how effective it is against more transmissible virus variants and are also looking into how long it remains effective once injected.
A study published in April said the Chinese vaccine proved minimally effective at preventing illness after one dose. With a second jab, it was 67% effective in preventing symptomatic infection, 85% effective in preventing hospitalizations and 80% in preventing deaths.
Draghi also questioned Russia’s Sputnik vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had been expected to conclude its review of the Russian jab and issue a decision in May or June. However, approval was delayed because the makers missed a June 10 deadline to submit data, sources told Reuters earlier this month.
“The Russian vaccine Sputnik has never been able to get approval from EMA and perhaps it never will,” Draghi said.

25/02/2022

Chileans favored left-leaning independent candidates in electing an assembly that will draft a new constitution, replacing the one imposed in the 1980s during the military dictatorship.
In a major blow to the traditional political forces in Chile, weekend voting for the 155-member constitutional assembly gave 48 seats to independent candidates, most of them identified with leftist ideology, according to official results announced Monday.
The next biggest group was the governing center-right coalition, with 37 seats, and then the Communist Party with 28. Twenty-five seats went to another leftist coalition, and 17 were reserved for Indigenous people.

25/02/2022

Beauty and health secret. Add Flax to Your Food. Sprinkling a little flaxseed into your favorite smoothie might just be the easiest way to fend off the ravages of time. This high-fiber addition to your diet can not only improve the health of your gut bacteria, thus reducing your Alzheimer's risk, the omega-3s found in flaxseed can prompt your body to create new collagen cells, making your skin smooth and line-free.

23/02/2022

This week we will take a look at prices and volumes of kiwifruit in the U.S. market.
In a recent article, we discussed how Chilean kiwifruit production had decreased due to labor shortages as a result of the pandemic, and how Northern California, whose season has already ended, also saw a drop in production. Add this to the increase in consumption of fruits rich in vitamin C, and you get high kiwifruit prices in the market.
To the above, we must add the fact that kiwifruit stocks in the Northern Hemisphere (United States, Italy, Greece, France) are lower compared to previous years, and that there are also delays in Chilean production. Let us also remember that the majority of kiwifruit volumes from New Zealand go to the Asian market and to Europe.
As we mentioned, and as can be seen in the graph below, the reported average prices of kiwifruit in the North American market have been the highest in recent years. The average reported price in May was US$25.68 for containers of nine kilograms or 19.8 pounds, which represents a 15 percent increase year-on-year.

23/02/2022

Wholesome Meals, Any Night of the Week. Healthy eating can mean a lot of different things. For some of us it means incorporating more low-carb or Whole30-friendly meals into our weekly routine. For others it's all about following a Mediterranean diet or committing to meal prep and eating more plant-based foods. However you define it and put it into practice, we can all agree on two things: healthy eating nourishes us and fills our plates with plenty of wholesome ingredients. That’s the idea behind these quick and easy any-night dinner recipes, including this fun take on enchiladas. It has the same great smoky spicy, sweet flavor you'd find in the classic version — but this one will fill up on squash, broccoli and black beans (instead of cheese and tortillas). Serve with a garnish of cilantro, fresh lime juice, diced avocado and a bit of shredded cheese for maximum enchilada feels.

21/02/2022

Chile’s air force said it lost radio contact with a transport plane carrying 38 people on a flight Monday evening to the country’s base in Antarctica.
It said the military had declared an alert and activated search and rescue teams.
The C-130 Hercules carried 17 crew members and 21 passengers, including three civilians. The personnel were to check on a floating fuel supply line and other equipment at the Chilean base.
President Sebastian Pinera said via Twitter that he was with his defense and interior ministers at the air force headquarters monitoring developments

20/02/2022

Nigerians have been justifiably confused by conflicting poverty data presented by the Muhammadu Buhari administration and the World Bank. According to Buhari, his administration has lifted 10.5 million Nigerians out of poverty within the past two years. But no sooner had he made the statement than the World Bank asserted that inflation has plunged seven million Nigerians into poverty.
These statements might seem to be contradictory to non-economists. But closer analysis suggests that Buhari and the World Bank are right - depending on how poverty is measured.
The first is income or monetary measure of poverty, what economists refer to as the 'headcount index'. It measures the proportion of the population that is poor based on a minimum personal income - for example $1.90 per day. This minimum amount is deemed adequate to maintain an acceptable living standard, given the cost of living in a given country.
Based on this measure, Buhari is right to claim that - by transferring cash to 12 million households during the past five years - a majority of these Nigerians have exceeded the income threshold. Therefore, they have escaped poverty.
The other measure is known as the multidimensional poverty measure. It measures poverty by income, and by the access people have to health, education and living standard indicators. These include sanitation, drinking water, electricity, and housing. It is therefore possible for someone to be regarded as non-poor under Buhari's calculations, but poor when this measure is used.
This is the measure the World Bank appears to be applying. By this measure 47.3% Nigerians, or 98 million people, live in multidimensional poverty. Most of them are located in northern Nigeria. This poverty rate does not include Borno State, where insurgency has prevented data collection.
Aware of this, the Buhari administration has set the very ambitious goal of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030. This is a tall order, considering that another five million more Nigerians are expected to become poor as a result of COVID-19 in 2020.
The administration's cash transfer programme is commendable. But Buhari should turn his focus more on promoting structural transformation. This would move millions of poor Nigerians from low-productivity agricultural and informal-sector activities to high-productivity sectors such as manufacturing, agro-processing, as well as information and communication technologies.

Hanged, drawn and quartered

02/03/2022

01/03/2022

27/02/2022

27/02/2022

25/02/2022

25/02/2022

23/02/2022

23/02/2022

21/02/2022

20/02/2022

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