Brazil’s poor squeezed by less virus aid, surging food costs

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s government is winding down its monthly pandemic cash transfer program through year-end, with unemployment still high, and millions of people who benefited will slip back into poverty. The program, which started in April, has been the main driver behind lifting 15 million people from poverty, including 2 million from July to August, according to a report published Friday morning. But the Brazilian government lacks the fiscal space to maintain the costly