Ecuador Intelligence Chief Dies in Kenya Helicopter Crash
Ecuador intelligence chief Michele Sensi-Contugi died with his wife in a Kenya helicopter crash that killed seven, as Noboa toured China.
Global Economy Briefing — August 20, 2026
Prosecutors Want Marçal Off the Ballot, and His Own Wealth Filing Changed by Billions
LatAm Pre-Open — Thursday, August 20, 2026
Market Snapshot
August 20, 2026 — 07:48 BRTLatest News
View All →Three in Ten Uruguayans Feel Poor Even as New Money Arrives
Uruguay's official income poverty rate is 16.6 percent, but about three in ten people say they feel poor....
Venezuela’s Oil Minister Went to Houston and Signed Two Deals
Venezuela oil deals were signed in Houston with SLB and Hunt Oil, as the oil minister told investors...
SQM Will Spend US$3 Billion by 2028, Most of It on One Salt Flat
The SQM investment plan puts about US$3 billion of capital spending into 2026-2028, centred on the Salar Futuro...
Brazil’s Top Court Extends Its Domestic-Violence Protections Beyond the Home
Brazil's Supreme Court ruled that Maria da Penha protective measures can apply to violence against women with no...
Argentina Just Told Banks How to Lend Dollars to Companies That Do Not Earn Them
The new Argentina dollar lending rules cap non-exporter loans at 15% of a bank's foreign-currency deposits. The central...
Zinc Gains as Smelter Tightness Meets Firm Demand
Zinc edged higher on Wednesday, with Nexa Resources jumping over 5% as investors bet that constrained smelting and...
Bitcoin Surges 7%: Trump, Stablecoins and LatAm
Bitcoin jumped 7.09% to US$69,266 and Ethereum soared 17.48% as Trump urged Senate passage of the CLARITY Act....
Vale Puts ABB Robotics Into More Iron Ore Plants After Big Gains
Vale and ABB have expanded their partnership to put automation and AI into Brazilian iron ore plants. One...
Vale Wants Porto Sudeste Without Paying Cash for It
Vale wants into Porto Sudeste without spending cash, using a long-term take-or-pay contract instead. Rival bids value the...
Argentina Approves a US$6.4 Billion Vaca Muerta Project in a Single Day of Deals
Argentina approved a US$6.4 billion Vaca Muerta RIGI project for Tecpetrol on 19 August, the same day San...
Kast Needs His Own Side to Pass His Security Reform. It Is Not Cooperating
The Kast security reform has split the Chilean right. Libertarian allies warn of a less democratic system while...
A Critically Endangered Frog Just Stopped a Chile-Argentina Power Line
A Chile Argentina power line was rejected by Maule environmental regulators over a critically endangered frog, after a...
Free Mozart Near Buenos Aires: Six Nights of The Magic Flute in La Plata
The Magic Flute in La Plata: six free performances from 21 August at the Teatro Argentino. Booking for the first weekend opened at noon today.
Panama Jazz Festival Sets Its 24th Edition for January 2027
Rio de Janeiro Daily Brief — Thursday, August 20, 2026
Market Snapshot
August 20, 2026 — 07:48 BRTLatest News
View All →Rio de Janeiro Nightlife Tonight — August 19, 2026
Rio nightlife tonight: Rio Scenarium's gafieira ball, Pedro Alvorada at Carioca da Gema, bossa nova at Bip Bip...
What Is Free in Quito This Week, Balloons Included
Free things to do in Quito from 20 to 23 August: free balloons in three city squares, a...
Free Street Art Takes Over Belo Horizonte Until August 30
CURA 2026 Belo Horizonte runs to August 30. Free murals by Ailton Krenak and Mônica Nador, plus free...
Belo Horizonte’s Cheese Bread Circuit Runs Free Until Sunday
The Belo Horizonte cheese bread circuit runs until Sunday 23 August, and most of it is free. Here...
Buying Property in Mexico as a US Retiree: How Not to Get Scammed
Buying property in Mexico means a bank trust near the coast and a notario who is not your...
Why Spending US Dollars in Costa Rica Is Harder Than It Looks
Spending US dollars in Costa Rica is possible almost everywhere, and it quietly costs you money. The colon...
Seven Costa Rica National Parks and What Each One Costs
Costa Rica national parks now sell most tickets online only, with timed entry and daily caps. Here are...
United Adds a Nonstop Dulles to Cartagena Flight in December
The new Dulles to Cartagena flight starts 17 December, four times a week, year-round. It is the first...
A Peruvian Student Built a Free ‘Tinder for Scholarships’ — 15,000 Have Used It
Becas para Migajear is a free Tinder for scholarships built by a Lima student. You swipe through funding...
Monterrey’s Free Book Fair Returns in October With a Nobel Winner
FIL Monterrey 2026 runs 10-18 October at Cintermex with free entry, a Nobel laureate, Leonardo Padura and a...
Terapia Play Havana’s Nave Oficio de Isla on Saturday
The duo Terapia perform at Nave Oficio de Isla in Old Havana on Saturday 22 August at 4pm....
Tampico Will Host a Free International Jazz Festival in October
The Tampico jazz festival returns for a second edition from 21 to 25 October, free to attend. One...
Ethiopia Birr Hits Record Low as Central Bank Sells US$500 Million in One Day
The Ethiopia birr fell to a record low near 162 per dollar, and the central bank called a US$500m special auction for 20 August after spending US$2.2bn.
Market Snapshot
August 20, 2026 — 07:48 BRTLatest News
View All →Africa’s Nuclear Plans Lack the People to Run Them, Ghana Warns
A nuclear workforce shortage threatens Africa's reactor plans, Ghana's atomic agency says. Building a plant takes a decade;...
Ghana’s Cedi Rallied 7% in a Week. Street Rates Barely Moved
The Ghana cedi gained about 7 percent against the dollar in a week on the interbank market. The...
Only a Fifth of Absa Kenya Shareholders Took the US$239m Offer
Absa Bank Kenya minority holders took up barely a fifth of a US$239 million tender offer. The parent...
US Tariffs Cut South African Car Exports by 83% in One Year
South African vehicle exports to the US fell 83 percent after a 25 percent tariff landed. AGOA duty-free...
Why Senegalese Pilgrims Travel to a Forest Clearing in Gabon
The Cheikh Amadou Bamba exile site in Gabon draws Senegalese pilgrims each year. It marks a colonial deportation...
Tanzania and Congo Bet on One Rail Route to Move Their Minerals
The Central Corridor is the rail and road route from Dar es Salaam to the Congolese copper belt....
Sudan Says It Is Ready to Buy Kenyan Tea Again
Sudan's ambassador says the Sudan tea market is ready to reopen to Kenya. No decree has been published,...
Morgan Stanley Bets Bigger on Morocco as Factory Exports Jump
Morgan Stanley Morocco exposure is rising as the country's factory exports climb. Cars and aerospace now outsell phosphates,...
Central Africa Licences Its First Credit Rating Agency
The CEMAC credit rating licence went to Geneva Investment Corporation on 7 August. It is the first ever...
South Africa’s Unemployment Rate Climbs to 33.6% in the Second Quarter
South Africa unemployment rose to 33.6 percent in the second quarter, up 0.9 points. On the wider measure...
Meta Deletes 756,000 Australian Teen Accounts Before a New Ban
Meta removed 756,000 Australian teen accounts from Instagram and Facebook before an under-16 ban starts. Here is what...
Africa Intelligence Brief August 19, 2026: South Africa Gets Relief, Kenya Gets A Charge Sheet
Africa Intelligence Brief August 19: South African inflation fell to 4.3% in July as a Nairobi court heard...
From the Week
Colombia Colombia Airports After the Quake: What’s Open and What’s Closed 7 days ago Peru Lima Floods: A Few mm of Rain Exposes a City Not Built for Water 3 days ago Colombia Colombia Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 289 4 days ago Expats & Nomads System of a Down and Faith No More in Rio: 2027 Maracanã Ticket Guide 3 days ago Chile Chile Declares a Disaster Zone After Rain Hits the Driest Desert 1 day agoAll articles, market reports, intelligence briefs, and the Morning Call.