The Economist Latin America December 10, 2022

China began dismantling its “zero-covid” policy, which was struggling to contain the Omicron variant and had become a source of widespread frustration. The state will no longer force people with mild cases to enter government-run quarantine centres. They can now isolate at home. It also lifted many testing requirements and said lockdowns should be more targeted. The changes come as the official number of new cases is falling. That is probably because fewer people are being tested. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Omicron variant is spreading. Unsafe sex Indonesia’s legislature passed a sweeping new criminal code that outlaws sex outside marriage, making it punishable by a stiff prison sentence. President Joko Widodo has not signed the new code into law, but has suggested he will. It applies to foreigners as well as…

Meta’s oversight board recommended that the company review its procedures on handling content from celebrities and politicians, following revelations that harmful content that is posted by the rich and famous is often allowed to stay online, contravening the rules for other users. The board told Facebook’s owner that it “should prioritise expression that is important for human rights”. Separately, Facebook threatened to remove news content from its American site if legislation demands that it pay news organisations for the use of their material. Facebook prefers to make its own deals. Foxconn on the run Foxconn reported a sharp drop in revenue for November, which is normally a boom time for the electronics contract manufacturer. It noted the impact that covid-19 restrictions have had on its hub in Zhengzhou, where workers have clashed…

WELCOME TO THE end of cheap money. Share prices have been through worse, but only rarely have things been as bloody in so many asset markets at once. Investors find themselves in a new world and they need a new set of rules. The pain has been intense. The S&P 500 index of leading American shares was down by almost a quarter at its lowest point this year, erasing more than $10trn in market value. Government bonds, usually a shelter from stocks, have been blasted: Treasuries are heading for their worst year since 1949. As of mid-October, a portfolio split 60/40 between American equities and Treasuries had fallen more than in any year since 1937. Meanwhile house prices are falling everywhere from Vancouver to Sydney. Bitcoin has crashed. Gold did not…

China began dismantling its “zero-covid” policy, which was struggling to contain the Omicron variant and had become a source of widespread frustration. The state will no longer force people with mild cases to enter government-run quarantine centres. They can now isolate at home. It also lifted many testing requirements and said lockdowns should be more targeted. The changes come as the official number of new cases is falling. That is probably because fewer people are being tested. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Omicron variant is spreading. Unsafe sex Indonesia’s legislature passed a sweeping new criminal code that outlaws sex outside marriage, making it punishable by a stiff prison sentence. President Joko Widodo has not signed the new code into law, but has suggested he will. It applies to foreigners as…

DOES CHINA still have covid-19 under control? In keeping with its flawed recent handling of the virus, the answer is surely that it does not. The official tally of cases is falling, but that is probably because people are being tested less often. Not long ago the aim was to suppress every infection chain. Today social media suggest that an alarming and rapidly growing number of Chinese people know someone who has caught the disease. If the virus is indeed spreading, watch out. Once Omicron gets going, it burns through a population like a forest fire. It may now move especially fast in China, because the virus is transmitted more easily during winter. Next month millions will return to their villages and hometowns to celebrate the lunar new year. Many could…

Meta’s oversight board recommended that the company review its procedures on handling content from celebrities and politicians, following revelations that harmful content that is posted by the rich and famous is often allowed to stay online, contravening the rules for other users. The board told Facebook’s owner that it “should prioritise expression that is important for human rights”. Separately, Facebook threatened to remove news content from its American site if legislation demands that it pay news organisations for the use of their material. Facebook prefers to make its own deals. Foxconn on the run Foxconn reported a sharp drop in revenue for November, which is normally a boom time for the electronics contract manufacturer. It noted the impact that covid-19 restrictions have had on its hub in Zhengzhou, where workers…