The Economist Latin America April 10, 2021

Brazil recorded over 4,000 deaths in a day. Jair Bolsonaro, the president, still opposes lockdowns; Brazil’s vaccine programme lags behind others in Latin America. The White House said that the government does not support vaccine passports because they intrude into the personal lives of Americans, and ruled out the possibility of a federal vaccine database. Such measures would be used unfairly, it said. Britain and the EU , by contrast, are working on plans to certify people who have been vaccinated. California will drop most of its pandemic restrictions on June 15th, if vaccines remain available and hospitalisations remain stable. The Italian government decreed that all health workers, including pharmacists, must take the vaccine, the first country to issue such an order. Those who do not could be suspended without pay. → For our…

Around 20 people were arrested in Jordan on charges of plotting against the crown. Prince Hamzah, a half-brother of the king and former heir apparent, was confined to a palace outside Amman. No evidence of an actual plot was shared by the authorities. Prince Hamzah has been a vocal critic of the government. From detention he released a video in which he assailed it for alleged corruption and repression, though he later pledged his loyalty to King Abdullah. Israel's president gave Binyamin Netanyahu the first crack at forming a government. The prime minister’s party won the most seats in an election last month, but his coalition is short of a majority. An Iranian cargo ship anchored off Yemen was damaged by an explosion. Iran says the ship is a civilian one providing…

Around 20 people were arrested in Jordan on charges of plotting against the crown. Prince Hamzah, a half-brother of the king and former heir apparent, was confined to a palace outside Amman. No evidence of an actual plot was shared by the authorities. Prince Hamzah has been a vocal critic of the government. From detention he released a video in which he assailed it for alleged corruption and repression, though he later pledged his loyalty to King Abdullah. Israel's president gave Binyamin Netanyahu the first crack at forming a government. The prime minister’s party won the most seats in an election last month, but his coalition is short of a majority. An Iranian cargo ship anchored off Yemen was damaged by an explosion. Iran says the ship is a civilian…

IN THE POPULAR imagination the past four decades were wonderful for the owners of capital and miserable for labour. The rich world’s workers endured competition from trade, relentless technological change, more unequal wages and tepid recoveries from recessions. Investors and companies enjoyed expanding global markets, liberalised finance and low corporate taxes. Even before covid-19, this caricature of broken labour markets was mistaken. Today, as the economy emerges from the pandemic, a reversal of the primacy of capital over labour beckons—and it will come sooner than you think. It might seem premature to predict a wonderful world of work only a year on from a labour-market catastrophe. But America is showing how rapidly jobs can come back as the virus recedes. In the spring of 2020 the country’s unemployment rate was nearly…

Brazil recorded over 4,000 deaths in a day. Jair Bolsonaro, the president, still opposes lockdowns; Brazil’s vaccine programme lags behind others in Latin America. The White House said that the government does not support vaccine passports because they intrude into the personal lives of Americans, and ruled out the possibility of a federal vaccine database. Such measures would be used unfairly, it said. Britain and the EU , by contrast, are working on plans to certify people who have been vaccinated. California will drop most of its pandemic restrictions on June 15th, if vaccines remain available and hospitalisations remain stable. The Italian government decreed that all health workers, including pharmacists, must take the vaccine, the first country to issue such an order. Those who do not could be suspended without…

DON’T BE FOOLED by its nickname. The Hashemite Kingdom of Boredom, aka Jordan, has had its share of palace intrigue. After surviving uprisings and assassination attempts, the late King Hussein used his dying breaths to remove his brother, Hassan, from the line of succession. That made way for Abdullah, Hussein’s son, who has just faced down a plot against the crown, or so the authorities claim. Perhaps 20 people were arrested. Prince Hamzah, a half-brother of the king and former heir apparent, was confined to a palace outside Amman, the capital. The government has provided no evidence of a plot. A pledge of loyalty from prince to king has calmed things for the time being (see Middle East & Africa section). But what of Prince Hamzah’s criticisms, declaimed on video just…