Halfway into a 24-hour worker strike, Brazil’s biggest cities have partially shut down — with many major thoroughfares clogged and businesses shuttered for the day. The nationwide strike mounted by unions aims to unravel a set of measures supported by President Michel Temer, legislation that would loosen labor laws and roll back pension regulations. NPR’s Philip Reeves reports, “As darkness… Read more »
President Trump is seeking to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. In an interview with NPR’s John Burnett, Mexico Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo says Mexico is anxious to retool the 23-year-old agreement in areas as varied as energy and telecom. John Burnett speaks with Audie Cornish about what he’s learned. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: After months of bashing the North… Read more »
Pope Francis has called for the respect of human rights and an end to violence in Venezuela, where nearly 30 people have died in unrest this month. Francis, speaking to tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square on Sunday for his weekly address, decried a “grave humanitarian, social , political and economic crisis that is exhausting the population”…. Read more »
A judge in Brazil has jailed eight men for plotting attacks during the 2016 Rio Olympics last year and for using the internet to promote the Islamic State (IS) militant group. The men were arrested shortly before the beginning of the Games, in August, after the FBI alerted the Brazilian authorities. They are all Brazilian nationals. The ringleader, Leonid El… Read more »