Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Latin America & Caribbean

Hard Numbers: Big Biz funds Net Zero, ANC on the ropes in South Africa, Brazil COVID deaths drop, Asia’s mega-trade deal

Hard Numbers: Big Biz funds Net Zero, ANC on the ropes in South Africa, Brazil COVID deaths drop, Asia’s mega-trade deal
Paige Fusco
Make us preferred on Google

130 trillion: A group of the world's top banks, insurance companies, and asset managers will raise an astounding $130 trillion worth of private capital to help the world achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The initiative, launched at COP26 by former Bank of England boss Mark Carney and known by its somewhat odd acronym Gfanz, bans its members from funding any fossil fuel projects.


50: With three-quarters of votes counted, South Africa's ruling ANC party looks set to win less than 50 percent in Monday's local elections for the first time since the end of apartheid. The final result has been delayed due to power outages that the government promised to fix before the vote.

2,188: Brazil's weekly COVID death toll has fallen to 2,188, the lowest figure since the start of the pandemic. Latin America's largest nation has now fully vaccinated more than half the population, and a higher percentage of Brazilians have gotten a first shot than Americans.

53: Australia and New Zealand have ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which will become the world's largest trade agreement — covering 53 percent of global exports — when it goes into effect next year. The RCEP also includes China, Japan, South Korea, and the 10 ASEAN member countries.

More For You

Cuba's Trump standoff and economic crisis with Michael Bustamante
This week, Ian Bremmer sits down with University of Miami historian and Cuba expert Michael Bustamante to make sense of the US-Cuba standoff. [...]
Will Trump actually try to "take" Cuba?
- YouTube
Trump says he will have "the honor of taking Cuba." While a military intervention seems unlikely for now, US pressure has pushed Cuba's economy into freefall, and Trump wants to be the president who finally delivers what no one else could. The problem: Cuba has no political alternative to replace the Castro government, and even an economic deal [...]
​Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez attends a meeting with Colombia's Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez and Colombia's Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 13, 2026.

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez attends a meeting with Colombia's Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez and Colombia's Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio after a planned meeting between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Rodriguez was postponed, at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 13, 2026.

REUTERS/Gaby Oraa
First Colombia-Venezuela summit since Maduro’s ousterColombian President Gustavo Petro meets in Caracas today with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, their first encounter since the US deposed Rodríguez’s former boss, Nicolás Maduro, and effectively installed Rodríguez as a viceroy. Petro, a left-winger who has clashed repeatedly with [...]
China plays the long game, Cuba faces mounting US pressure
- YouTube
In the first edition of “ask ian” Live, Ian Bremmer takes questions directly from the GZERO community on two geopolitical flashpoints: China’s strategic patience and the US campaign to squeeze Cuba economically. [...]