International
Brazil’s Petrobras raises fuel prices
AFP
Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras announced Friday it is raising fuel prices, infuriating President Jair Bolsonaro as he faces an inflationary spike and a re-election bid in October.
Painful price increases, especially for food and fuel, have emerged as a key weak spot for the far-right incumbent.
Petrobras, the largest company in Latin America, said it will hike gasoline prices by 5.18 percent and diesel prices by 14.26 percent starting Saturday.
It blamed “a challenging scenario in Brazil and the world,” the latter a reference to the war in Ukraine, which has triggered higher oil prices around the world.
Brazil has already seen fuel prices surge by over 33 percent in the past year, according to official figures — with the last spike in gasoline and diesel rates coming three months ago.
Bolsonaro reacted angrily saying Petrobras “could sink Brazil in chaos.”
In May, Bolsonaro dismissed the president of Petrobras, who had been in the job for just 40 days, with the country’s energy ministry saying “Brazil is currently experiencing a challenging moment.”
As in many countries of the world, prices are soaring in Brazil. Inflation stands at 11.73 percent, far above the central bank’s target of 3.5 percent.
The bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the 11th straight time on Wednesday as it battles inflation.
Bolsonaro faces an uphill battle against leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), who leads in opinion polls and is remembered for presiding over a booming economy.
That is a sharp contrast to today, with Brazil’s economy struggling to bounce back from the pandemic and now reeling from the inflationary pressures unleashed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
International
Meta Says Russia Seeks to Ban WhatsApp for Defending Secure Communication
U.S. tech giant Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, said that Russia is seeking to ban the messaging app because it “challenges government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication.”
Russian authorities have encouraged citizens to switch to state-backed applications, and in August they already blocked WhatsApp’s calling feature.
On Friday, the communications regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform was being used to “organize and carry out terrorist acts in the country, recruit perpetrators, and facilitate fraud and other crimes.”
“If the messaging service does not comply with Russian law, it will be completely blocked,” the regulator warned.
WhatsApp remains one of Russia’s most widely used messaging services, alongside Telegram.
Moscow is pressuring both platforms to grant authorities access to user data upon request for investigations into fraud and activities the government labels as “terrorist.”
Human rights advocates fear the demand could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin, or the war in Ukraine.
International
Archbishop Wenski criticizes Trump’s deportation policies, calls for stronger push for reform
The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has called for increased pressure on the U.S. Congress to advance comprehensive immigration reform and criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies, arguing that they “do nothing to help.”
“We need to apply more pressure on Congress so lawmakers can make the necessary changes. It is also important for the Administration to listen to our voice. We do not want to be anyone’s enemy—we are Americans,” Wenski said in an interview with EFE.
The religious leader, who heads one of the dioceses with the largest Latino and Haitian populations in the United States, issued a call to defend the rights of migrants. He also emphasized that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has maintained a strong and public stance in favor of migrants for decades.
International
Trump relaunches diplomatic push to finalize U.S.-Backed peace plan for Ukraine War
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his diplomatic team will resume meetings with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in an effort to pressure both sides to accept the peace plan proposed by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this new round of talks, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will hold discussions with Ukrainian representatives to narrow differences on the remaining points of the agreement.
Trump also confirmed his intention to meet personally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Putin, though he emphasized that such meetings will only take place “when the agreement is fully finalized or in its final stage.”
The president claimed that his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward resolving the conflict and reiterated that the war “never would have started” if he had been in the White House at the onset of the crisis.
The U.S.-backed peace plan consists of 28 points and has been revised following feedback from both sides. According to Trump, only “a few points of disagreement” remain under active discussion.
One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region to Russia and limit the size of its armed forces. Kyiv is working closely with Washington to soften these clauses in search of an arrangement that does not compromise its sovereignty or security.
With this diplomatic push, Trump aims to solidify his role as the main mediator in the conflict and steer the war toward a political resolution after years of devastation, humanitarian crisis, and rising global geopolitical tensions.
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