Ecuador announces major cuts in public spending

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s president announced Tuesday he will reduce the salaries of government employees, shut down some embassies and sell off a handful of state-owned enterprises in a bid to save $4 billion while confronting the coronavirus pandemic. The South American nation has been hit hard by COVID-19 and the global fall of oil prices, one of its main exports. President Lenin Moreno said that the spending cuts are necessary to…