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Brazil’s Petrobras hikes prices, ignoring Bolsonaro

AFP

Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras announced hefty increases in gasoline and diesel prices Thursday in response to the Ukraine crisis, ignoring President Jair Bolsonaro’s criticism of what he calls excessive prices.

Petrobras said it would raise the price of gasoline from its refineries by 18.8 percent and diesel by 24.9 percent from Friday, citing the “worldwide surge in the prices of oil and oil derivatives as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine.”

The company said the move was in line with increases by other fuel suppliers, and emphasized that it had not raised prices in nearly two months.

But the move will likely irk the far-right president, who has been trying to rein in surging fuel prices and inflation more broadly, phenomena which are hurting his popularity as he gears up to seek reelection in October.

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Bolsonaro, who regularly criticizes Petrobras for high prices, said Monday the company’s policy of parity with international prices “cannot continue.”

Petrobras shares dove more than seven percent following the comment.

That echoed a stock plunge of more than 20 percent just over a year ago, when Bolsonaro changed Petrobras’s chief executive after saying the company should not be constantly “surprising people” with price increases.

Bolsonaro is pushing for Congress to pass legislation to bring fuel prices down, though experts say the short-term impact would be minimal.

He is also reportedly looking at decreeing emergency subsidies to lower prices.

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Both measures are unpopular with fiscal conservatives.

Surging prices in Brazil, where the annual inflation rate stands at 10.38 percent, are a weak spot for Bolsonaro as he eyes a tough reelection battle in seven months, likely against leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The international oil market has been rocked by volatility since Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago.

The Brent crude price hit a peak of $139 a barrel Monday, a 14-year high, before falling to around $116 Thursday.

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International

White House considered dropping leaflets over Caracas to pressure Maduro

The White House recently proposed a plan to drop leaflets from U.S. military aircraft over Caracas to further pressure Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to sources familiar with the matter cited by The Washington Post.

The operation — which as of Saturday had not yet been authorized — considered dropping the leaflets this Sunday, the day of Maduro’s 63rd birthday. The materials were expected to highlight the $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, a bounty the White House doubled in August on the grounds that the Venezuelan leader is involved in “narcoterrorism.”

The proposal represents an escalation in Washington’s efforts to oust Maduro, a goal Trump pursued during his first term (2017–2021) and one that remains a priority for several of his top advisers.

Since the summer, the United States has carried out a large-scale military deployment in the southern Caribbean aimed at pressuring Maduro and, according to the White House, combating drug trafficking. This operation has resulted in the destruction of roughly twenty boats allegedly carrying narcotics and the deaths of 83 people on board.

In mid-November, Trump said he had made a decision regarding a possible military action in Venezuela, further raising tensions with Caracas.

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On Friday, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an advisory urging commercial flights to “exercise extreme caution” when flying over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean due to the “potentially hazardous situation” linked to increased military activity in the region.

This prompted several European and American airlines to cancel flights to the Caribbean nation.

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International

Trump attacks Europe and Biden on Truth Social ahead of talks on Ukraine peace plan

In a message posted on Truth Social, the U.S. president also targeted European nations, “which continue buying oil from Russia,” as well as his predecessor, Joe Biden, whom he accused of inaction at the start of the conflict.

“I inherited a war that never should have happened, a war in which everyone is losing,” the president wrote in all caps on his social media platform.

“The Ukrainian leaders have shown zero gratitude for our efforts, and Europe keeps buying oil from Russia.”

“The United States continues to sell massive quantities of weapons to NATO for distribution to Ukraine (corrupt Joe gave everything away — free, free, free — including large sums of money!),” he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet with a Ukrainian delegation in Geneva this Sunday in hopes of advancing Trump’s plan for Ukraine.

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Washington now presents Trump’s 28-point proposal as a “framework for negotiations” aimed at ending the conflict, though it is viewed with concern in both Kyiv and Brussels.

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International

Tatiana Schlossberg reveals aggressive leukemia diagnosis in personal New Yorker essay

In a deeply personal essay published in The New Yorker, Tatiana Schlossberg revealed her diagnosis: acute myeloid leukemia with a rare genetic mutation known as Inversion 3, a variant that responds poorly to standard treatments.

The 35-year-old journalist explained that the disease was discovered shortly after the birth of her second daughter in May 2024, when doctors detected an extremely high white blood cell count. Schlossberg said she was in complete shock upon receiving the diagnosis, noting that she “didn’t feel sick” and had experienced a healthy pregnancy.

Her treatment since then has been intense. She has undergone chemotherapy, at least two bone marrow transplants, and is participating in clinical trials involving CAR-T therapy, an advanced form of immunotherapy. In one of these trials, her doctors told her they might be able to “keep [her] alive for a year, maybe less.”

Schlossberg reflected on her fears for her children, her husband, George Moran, and her parents, and on the emotional weight of becoming part of the Kennedy family’s long history of tragedy. She also criticized her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for political decisions that she argues have harmed medical research that could benefit cancer patients like her.

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