By Reuters Staff
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BRASILIA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Brazil moved a step closer on Friday to reviving pandemic emergency aid to the poor, as Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco said the chamber will prioritize approving the payments, which he expects to be granted over four months from March through June.
Speaking alongside Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and lower house leader Arthur Lira, Pacheco said emergency aid and COVID-19 vaccines are “the absolute priority,” and will remain so until the pandemic is over.
“We expect there will be emergency aid in March, April, May and eventually a fourth month of June,” Pacheco said, insisting that the package meet the government’s fiscal rules.
By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
DUBLIN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - An Irish cluster of three cases of the COVID-19 variant first discovered in Brazil has been completely contained, a senior health official said on Saturday.
All three were infected outside of Ireland and all were discovered during a 14-day quarantine following the patients’ arrival from Brazil, Cillian De Gascun, the head of Ireland’s national virus laboratory, told RTE radio.
The infections, the first of the P1 Brazil variant TO BE discovered in Ireland, were announced by health officials on Friday evening. (Reporting by Conor Humphries Editing by Mark Heinrich)
U.S. Fed officials prepared to keep monetary policy easy Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: tmsnrt.rs/3mvcUoa (Updates prices)
Feb 18 (Reuters) - Gold lingered near 11-week lows in choppy trading on Thursday as investor optimism for a global economic recovery raised U.S. Treasury yields and made the precious metal less attractive.
Spot gold inched 0.1% lower to $1,774.21 per ounce at 1:45 p.m. EST (1845 GMT), near its lowest since Nov. 30 at $1,767.20, hit earlier.
U.S. gold futures settled up 0.1% at $1,775.
Recent U.S. data, including manufacturing numbers from the New York Federal Reserve and separate economic readings from the Philadelphia Fed, were very strong and showed “things are starting to come back from the coronavirus slump,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday said that tax hikes would be needed to pay for at least part of a big infrastructure, climate and education investment package that President Joe Biden plans to introduce later this year.