International
Brazil unemployment drops under 10%

AFP
Unemployment in Brazil, Latin America’s biggest economy, fell below 10 percent for the first time since January 2016 for the three months of March to May, the government statistics institute said Thursday.
The rate of 9.8 percent was 1.4 percentage points lower than for the three preceding months, the IBGE agency said.
The figure, which bested analyst expectations, was sharply lower than the 14.7 percent recorded for the same quarter a year earlier, when the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the country of 213 million people.
“With the improvement in the pandemic context, with the advancement of vaccination and the relaxation of social distancing measures, in-person services — which had been greatly affected — have started recovering, especially… accommodation and food, domestic services, transportation,” the IBGE’s Adriana Beringuy said in a statement.
However, the average income of workers decreased by about 7.2 percent from a year earlier, even as inflation reached 11.7 percent in May.
The number of people employed in the informal sector, often without contracts or job security, remained high at 39.1 million — 40.1 percent of Brazil’s working population.
The drop in unemployment is good news for President Jair Bolsonaro, who will seek reelection in October but is trailing in opinion polls behind leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
On Twitter, Bolsonaro celebrated the “creation of 277,000 jobs in May.”
International
Erin brings strong winds and storm surge despite weakening offshore

Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 2 storm on Tuesday but continues to pose a threat to parts of the U.S. East Coast with potentially dangerous flooding, according to meteorologists.
Although the hurricane’s eye is expected to remain offshore, experts are concerned about Erin’s size, as strong winds extend hundreds of kilometers beyond the storm’s center.
In its 18:00 GMT bulletin, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) lifted tropical storm warnings for the Bahamasand Turks and Caicos Islands, but kept them in effect for parts of North Carolina.
Erin was located several hundred kilometers southeast of North Carolina and was moving northwestward.
“This means there is a risk of potentially life-threatening flooding of 60 to 120 centimeters above ground level,” said NHC Director Michael Brennan.
He also warned of the possibility of destructive waves, combined with storm surge, that could cause severe damage to beaches and coastal areas, making roads impassable.
International
Three U.S. Warships deploy near Venezuela to combat drug trafficking

Three U.S. naval vessels are moving toward the coasts of Venezuela, according to international media reports on Tuesday, after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump is ready to combat and curb international drug trafficking.
Reports indicate that the ships will reach Venezuelan waters within the next 36 hours as part of a recent U.S. deployment aimed at countering international narcotics operations.
The announcement coincides with Leavitt’s statement that Trump is prepared to “use the full extent of his power” to halt drug flows into the United States. The naval deployment involves approximately 4,000 military personnel.
“The President has been clear and consistent. He is ready to use every element of U.S. power to prevent drugs from flooding our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela—it is a narco-terror cartel,” the spokesperson said during a press conference.
International
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing

Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
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