South America

BOGOTA, June 8. /TASS/: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is convinced that Russia, China, Iran and Ciba are real friends of the country as they provide all-round help to Caracas, he said in the Venezuelan capital Sunday.

"Humanitarian aid is coming from China, Russia, Iran and Cuba. They are [Venezuela’s] true friends," Maduro said in a speech broadcast by the state TV.

He recalled that the US was offering $20 million worth of help, "but not a single dollar came through".

BRASILIA, June 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilians took to the streets in Sao Paulo and Brasilia for rival demonstrations for and against President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been widely criticised over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hundreds of people banging drums and setting off flares marched through the capital to denounce the far-right president.

Demonstrators, many dressed in black and wearing face masks, held banners saying: “Everyone for democracy”, “Against racism and fascism” and “Terrorism is the government’s policy of extermination.”

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 7. /TASS/: The Johns Hopkins University, which publishes statistics on new type of coronavirus infection and the number of deaths due to infection worldwide, deleted data on Brazil from its website on Saturday.

7 June 2020; AFP: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reappeared in the street in videos distributed Saturday by his team and parliamentary allies, after foreign minister Jorge Arreaza claimed he had taken refuge in the French embassy in Caracas.

"They are the ones who are hiding... $15 million reward for them. I am showing my face," said Guaido in one of the videos, which show him wearing a mask and gloves to protect himself from COVID-19 as he walks down a line of cars, greeting and chatting with drivers.

CARACAS, June 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reappeared in the street in videos distributed Saturday by his team and parliamentary allies, after foreign minister Jorge Arreaza claimed he had taken refuge in the French embassy in Caracas.

“They are the ones who are hiding… $15 million reward for them. I am showing my face,” said Guaido in one of the videos, which show him wearing a mask and gloves to protect himself from COVID-19 as he walks down a line of cars, greeting and chatting with drivers.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s government has stopped publishing a running total of coronavirus deaths and infections in an extraordinary move that critics call an attempt to hide the true toll of the disease in Latin America’s largest nation.

The Saturday move came after months of criticism from experts saying Brazil’s statistics are woefully deficient, and in some cases manipulated, so it may never be possible to gain a real understanding of the depth of the pandemic in the country.

6 June 2020; AFP: A Brazilian Supreme Court justice banned police raids Friday in the slums of Rio de Janeiro during the coronavirus pandemic, amid growing criticism of recent cases of police violence.

Judge Edson Fachin ruled police raids on the city's impoverished "favelas" could only be used in "absolutely exceptional" cases, and only with prior authorization from the state prosecutor's office, for the duration of the health crisis.

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday threatened to withdraw Brazil from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Bolsonaro said Brazil will consider leaving the WHO unless it stops being a "partisan political organization."

Earlier, the WHO showed an opposite view against Bolsonaro's efforts to lift lockdowns, as the COVID-19 epidemic was still plaguing the country.

Replying to loosen the social distancing order, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said a key criteria for lifting lockdowns should be slowing transmission.

5 June 2020; AFP: France on Friday denied that Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido had been given refuge at its mission in Caracas, after Venezuela's foreign minister claimed he was hiding at the embassy.

"Mr Juan Guaido is not at the French residency in Caracas. We have confirmed this to the Venezuelan authorities several times," ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - One of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, a paralyzed economy sending investors fleeing for the exit, and accusations that he has undermined Brazil’s young democracy have not loosened President Jair Bolsonaro’s grip on power.

As of Thursday, Brazil had nearly 615,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, second only to the United States. With 34,021 COVID-19 fatalities, its death toll overtook Italy’s.