Argentina's Bail Out Benefits One Billionaire

Trump’s Argentina bailout enriches one well-connected billionaire A $20 billion taxpayer-funded rescue package for Argentina is a gift for a hedge fund manager with personal and professional ties to the Treasury Secretary Judd Legum Sep 29, 2025 Hedge fund manager Rob Citrone attends a charity dinner in New York City on November 15, 2022. (Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a $20 billion package to rescue the Argentinian economy. The risky taxpayer-financed deal, which involves trading U.S. dollars for Argentine pesos, has little upside for ordinary Americans. Argentina is not a significant U.S. trading partner, and its economy, long in turmoil, has little impact on the United States. However, Bessent’s announcement had massive economic benefits for one American: billionaire hedge fund manager Rob Citrone, who has placed large bets on the future of the Argentine economy. Citrone, the co-founder of Discovery Capital Management, is also a friend and former colleague of Bessent—a fact that has not been previously reported in American media outlets. Citrone, by his own account, helped make Bessent very wealthy. Since Javier Milei, a right-wing populist, became president of Argentina in December 2023, Citrone has invested heavily in Argentina. Citrone has bought Argentine debt and purchased equity in numerous Argentine companies that are closely tied to the performance of the overall economy. Due to Argentina’s massive debt load and chaotic economic history — in 2023, Argentina’s inflation rate was over 200% — Citrone purchased Argentine bonds with an interest rate of nearly 20%. (Citrone has declined to detail exactly “how much of the $2.8 billion he manages is invested“ in Argentina.) Citrone, who is also a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is effectively betting on Milei’s right-wing economic program, which emphasizes deregulation and sharply reduced government spending. Citrone viewed “the probability of default as minuscule,” even though Argentina has defaulted on its debts many times in the past. In the short term, this appeared to be a savvy investment. After taking office, Milei fired tens of thousands of government workers, cut spending on welfare and research, and achieved fiscal balance. Inflation was reduced to around 40%, which spurred economic growth and foreign investment. Argentina’s economic rebound contributed to Discovery Capital’s 52% return in 2024. Then it all came crashing down. The austerity measures slowed economic growth, and unemployment spiked to nearly 8%. Millions had a harder time making ends meet after Milei reduced or eliminated subsidies for transportation, medicine, and other necessities. Milei’s popularity slumped, leading to speculation that his party could be routed in the 2025 midterm elections, which would hamstring Milei’s ability to implement his agenda. This created an economic panic, with investors dumping the peso and liquidating other Argentine assets. Milei has desperately attempted to keep inflation in check. Last week Argentina’s “central bank spent more than $1 billion to shore up the peso.” But Argentina was running out of foreign currency. That spelled trouble for Citrone. Then Bessent and the Trump administration came to the rescue, floating a $20 billion economic package that helped stabilize the Argentine peso and functioned as a political lifeline for Milei. In early September, days before Bessent’s announcement, Citrone purchased more Argentine bonds. Bessent’s personal and professional relationship with Citrone has spanned decades. In a May 14 appearance on the “Goldman Sachs Exchanges” podcast, Citrone revealed how he delivered a financial windfall for Bessent. They were both working for investor George Soros in 2013 when Citrone convinced Bessent and Soros to bet on the U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen. I think there’s special times every five or ten years where there’s a really spectacular trade in investment that we then will concentrate in a meaningful way. 2013, the dollar-yen, where we made over a billion dollars long dollar-yen. And, in fact, you know, we discussed it quite a bit with George, and I kind of convinced George and Scott Bessent at the time to go big in that. And, you know, Scott says I’m responsible for 75% of his bonus at Soros, kind of jokingly, over that time. CE Noticias Financieras, a leading Latin American economic publication, describes Citrone as “a friend of the Secretary of the Treasury.” El Cronista, citing government sources, reported that Citrone “has a personal relationship as well as a past working relationship” with Bessent. Citrone has also reportedly leveraged his relationship with Bessent to gain access to Trump. According to CE Noticias Financieras, in November, “Citrone gave a case of four red wines to Javier Milei during his visit to Mar-A-Lago, in Palm Beach, in his first meeting with Trump.” When Argentina’s economy began to falter in April, it was Citrone who “intervened before Scott Bessent…to advocate for an IMF agreement with Argentina,” CE Noticias Financieras reported. Bessent subsequently played a key role in convincing the IMF to extend a separate $20 billion currency stabilization package. (That package ultimately proved insufficient to stabilize the Argentine peso.) Shortly after the IMF deal was secured, Bessent traveled to Argentina to meet with Milei and other top Argentine officials. It was an unusual choice for the Treasury Secretary’s first foreign trip. Citrone arrived in Argentina at the same time as Bessent, meeting with Milei just before Bessent. During those meetings, Bessent emphasized U.S. support for Argentina’s economic agenda. Bessent’s September 24 announcement, thus far, has had the desired impact, increasing the value of Argentine assets, including bonds, stocks, and the peso. “It has helped tremendously that the US has come in to support Milei, and it will pay dividends for the US strategically,” Citrone said in an interview with Bloomberg. Whether the U.S. improves the prospects over the long term is a separate question. Propping up the value of the Argentine currency beyond what the market will support with yet another influx of foreign currency gives wealthy Argentines an opportunity to cash out. The Argentine elite now have the ability to convert their peso assets into dollars and move them abroad. This phenomenon, known as “capital flight,” is why the previous IMF bailout package proved insufficient. Discovery Capital did not immediately return a request for comment about Citrone’s role in securing the U.S. assistance package for Argentina. Popular Information has produced original accountability journalism since 2018. If you value this reporting and want to see more of it, you can support our work by upgrading to a paid subscription. ohomen171@gmail.com password ohomen171@gmail.com Subscribe Argentina’s MAGA lobbyists Another overlooked aspect of the U.S. rescue package for Argentina is the role of the organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an influential right-wing political group. In November 2024, shortly after Trump’s election, key CPAC officials, including Matt Schlapp and Mercedes Schlapp, founded a new lobbying firm called Tactic Global. This is the same group that organized CPAC Argentina in December 2024, an event that featured Milei, Lara Trump, and other right-wing luminaries. CPAC has long played a key role in Trump’s political operation. In February 2025, Tactic Global began representing the Argentine government as a foreign agent. According to the filing, “Tactic will serve as a liason [sic] between Presidencia de la Nacion de la Republica Argentina and its counterparts in the U.S. Tactic will coordinate meetings between officials of the two countries and offer strategic counsel to the Secretaria de Inteligencia de Estado.” The contract specifies that Argentina pays Tactic $10,000 per month. Tactic Global’s official name is Tactic COC because its parent company is COC Global Enterprise. Leonardo Scaturice, an Argentinian businessman and lobbyist who lives in the United States, is the chairman and CEO of COC Global Enterprise and a principal at Tactic Global. In April 2025, Matt Schlapp traveled with Citrone to meet with Milei and other top Argentine officials, according to news reports. They arrived together in Scaturice’s private jet, a striking black Bombardier Global 5000. Also participating in the meetings was Soledad Cedro, the Managing Director of Tactic Global and the CEO of CPAC Latin America. Scaturice once worked for Argentine intelligence, which may explain why Tactic Global’s contract was routed through the Argentine Secretariat of Intelligence. More recently, CE Noticias Financieras reported that Barry Bennett, a former Trump advisor and current Tactic Global principal, “became directly involved” in securing the U.S. rescue package. Although CPAC promotes itself as an “America First” organization, Tactic Global represents not only the government of Argentina but also Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam. After Bessent announced his rescue package for Argentina last week, CPAC promoted the deal on its social media accounts.

Prarguay: Generation Z Protestes against Corruption,

Gen Z Protests Against Corruption Erupt in Paraguay Paraguay Protesters gathered on Monday in front of police and court buildings in the Paraguayan capital of Asunción to demand the release of young people arrested the day before in the Generación Z Paraguay march against corruption, Paraguayan newspaper El Nacional reported. Holding signs reading “Freedom for those imprisoned for fighting,” they demanded the immediate release of those arrested, most of whom had no criminal record, saying the crackdown on the protest by police was a violation of their assembly rights. On Sunday, authorities arrested more than 30 people in Asunción after anti-corruption demonstrations turned violent, MercoPress reported. The march was organized by the youth group Generación Z Paraguay to protest government corruption and demand greater transparency, as well as more funding for education and healthcare. The protests began peacefully, but quickly escalated after a violent police crackdown that continued into the night, according to local media. Dozens of protesters were wounded during the clashes, while eight police officers were injured as protesters smashed store windows and threw objects at law enforcement. Video footage posted on social media showed police, including cavalry and specialized units like the Grupo Lince motorcycle unit, aggressively chasing and detaining civilians, even those walking on sidewalks. The protest is part of a broader wave of public discontent and protests in the country of Paraguay over the past year, with demonstrators demanding transparency, justice, and institutional accountability. Analysts say that Paraguay is now dealing with its most severe institutional crisis since the democratic transition of 1989, following revelations of deep-rooted corruption and collusion between public officials and organized crime networks, implicating top officials, including President Horacio Cartes. Share this story

LATAM Looks For Quick Enbraer Deliveries To Add Up to 30 New Brasil Destinations

LATAM looks for quick Embraer deliveries to add up to 30 new Brazil destinations By Luciana Novaes Magalhaes and Gabriel Araujo September 26, 202512:40 PM PDTUpdated September 26, 2025 LATAM airlines logo, is seen inside of the Commodore Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago LATAM Airlines logo, is seen inside of the Commodore Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago, Chile April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Summary Companies LATAM to receive Embraer jets quickly, expand Brazil routes Order marks milestone for both companies Carrier expands workforce, invests in new hangar SAO CARLOS, Brazil, Sept 26 (Reuters) - LATAM Airlines (LTM.SN), opens new tab will receive the E195-E2 jets it ordered from Embraer (EMBR3.SA), opens new tab "relatively quickly" and expects them to allow the carrier to add 25 to 30 new destinations in Brazil, an executive said on Friday. "An important portion of them will be delivered next year, by the end of the year, and then another portion in 2027," LATAM Brasil CEO Jerome Cadier told Reuters, adding the airline would decide within six months which routes the jets should serve. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad The Brazilian unit of Chile-based LATAM is the country's No. 1 airline by market share. The carrier announced on Monday a firm order for 24 E195-E2 aircraft, with purchase options for another 50. The deal was a milestone for both firms, with Embraer notching a long-awaited order for its second-generation jets in Brazil, and LATAM adding the regional planes to complement a fleet of Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab narrowbodies and Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab widebodies. AIRBUS COMPETITION Cadier first revealed last year that LATAM was considering purchasing smaller jets and cited Embraer's E2 and Airbus' A220, direct competitors in the up-to-150-seat segment. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad The A220 would have offered more seats and longer range, placing it closer to the narrowbodies LATAM already flies, while the smaller, 136-seat E2 better fits the carrier's needs for the Brazilian market, Cadier noted. "When you look at the destinations, the distance between the cities we operate in, the potential markets and demand from those cities, the E2 fits very well," he said. "If there were many large cities, maybe the A220 would be more suitable." Cadier did not provide further detail on the destinations LATAM could add to its domestic roster. EXPANSION PLANS Following the new orders, LATAM will keep expanding its workforce and expects to match its 2024 hiring levels of about 1,000 employees this year, including pilots and cabin crew members. The firm invested 40 million reais ($7.49 million) in a new hangar designed for heavy maintenance at its Sao Carlos base. 00:09 How banana waste is being turned into sustainable clothing The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard The facility was inaugurated on Friday, a day after rivals Azul and Gol (GOLL54.SA), opens new tab ended talks on a merger that would have created Brazil's largest airline by market share, surpassing LATAM. Cadier said the tie-up would not have been worrisome, as antitrust watchdog CADE would likely have imposed restrictions on the deal. "We never considered a scenario in which such a merger would be approved without mitigation measures," he said. ($1 = 5.3392 reais)

The Unique Language Of The Inca Empire

Knots of the Empire The Inca Empire of South America left behind some of the most striking monuments of the ancient world, from the soaring stone terraces of Machu Picchu to a vast road network crisscrossing the Andes. But perhaps its most enigmatic legacy is the “khipu,” a system of knotted cords that encoded information without a written alphabet. Long assumed to be the exclusive domain of the elite, new evidence suggests these records may have been created by ordinary people as well. The findings center on a recently analyzed khipu with a primary cord made entirely of human hair. Radiocarbon dating places it as being made around 1498, decades before the Spanish conquest. Lead author Sabine Hyland wrote in the Conversation that she initially thought the strands came from alpacas or llamas, until her colleagues corrected her. The cord in this case measured around three feet in length and took more than eight years to complete. That length provided scientists with a unique archive of the individual’s life: Analysis of the sample showed that the individual lived in the highlands of southern Peru or northern Chile and mainly subsisted on a modest diet of tubers, legumes, and grains. These foods were not the typical diet of an elite Incan, which included meat and especially maize beer. “It’s not really possible to escape drinking (maize beer),” Hyland told NPR. “Even today, in the Andes, when you participate in rituals, you have to drink what you are given.” She explained that in Inca cosmology, hair carried a person’s essence. Incorporating it into a khipu could act as a signature, embedding the maker’s identity into the record. Museums hold hundreds of khipus that remain unstudied. If others are found with similar signatures, they could challenge many of the records of Spanish colonizers to reveal a more complex history of Inca recordkeeping. “This hair analysis adds another piece of evidence to the growing belief that khipu production and literacy might have been more widespread in the Inca Empire than the Spanish colonizers assumed,” co-author Kit Lee told NPR. Harvard researcher Manny Medrano, who was not involved in the work, said the findings will help broaden the narrative around the Inca civilization. “Ultimately, this gets us closer to being able to tell Inca histories using Inca sources,” he added. “We need to tell a story of literacy and of writing and of recordkeeping in the Inca Empire that is way more plural, that includes folks who have not been included in the standard narrative.”

Lula Tells UN That Attacks On Brasil's Institutions Are Unacceptable

Lula tells UN that attacks on Brazil's institutions are unacceptable By Reuters, 1 days ago (Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that recent "unilateral attacks" against his country's institutions and economy were unacceptable, in a stern rebuke of U.S. foreign policy. Lula's comments echoed his running criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump for imposing tariffs, visa restrictions and financial sanctions in response to the trial and conviction of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election. "Attacks on sovereignty, arbitrary sanctions and unilateral interventions are becoming the rule," Lula said, without naming Trump. "There is no justification for the unilateral and arbitrary measures against our institutions and our economy." On Monday, Washington imposed sanctions on the wife of the judge who presided over the Supreme Court trial of Bolsonaro, which Trump called a "witch hunt," and revoked the visas of six high-ranking Brazilian officials. The Trump administration had previously sanctioned Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes under the Magnitsky Act and slapped a 50% tariff on U.S. imports of many Brazilian goods. Lula also defended the investigation and due process resulting in the conviction of Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting the coup to stay in power. "He had full rights to defense," Lula said. "Before the eyes of the world, Brazil sent a message to all aspiring autocrats and their supporters: our democracy and our sovereignty are non-negotiable." (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo in Sao PauloEditing by Brad Haynes and Deepa Babington)

Avelo Airline's Large Embrear Order Is Good News

https://simpleflying.com/right-sizing-avelo-airlines-huge-embraer-e2-order/

LATAM Orders 24 Embraer E195-E2 Jets Growing Its Brasil Presence

LATAM orders 24 Embraer E195-E2 jets, growing Brazil presence By Gabriel Araujo September 22, 20257:28 AM PDTUpdated 12 hours ago 55th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris An Embraer E195-E2 Profit Hunter jet is displayed at the 55th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Summary Companies LATAM to deploy new jets for Brazilian operations Embraer's shares rise nearly 4% after order announcement Brazil's government supports deal to boost regional aviation SAO PAULO, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's Embraer (EMBR3.SA), opens new tab secured a landmark deal in its home market on Monday as LATAM Airlines (LTM.SN), opens new tab announced a firm order for 24 E195-E2 aircraft, with purchase options for another 50, lifting the planemaker's shares. The deal marks a long-awaited new order for Embraer's second-generation jets in Brazil, whose government had been lobbying for the sale. Chile-based LATAM will initially deploy the new planes for its Brazilian operations. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. Advertisement · Scroll to continue U.S. Bank Sponsored by U.S. Bank Smart money management. Real rewards With checking, savings & credit card in one place the U.S. Bank Smartly® suite gets you rates & rewards on any dollar amount. Member FDIC. Learn more Report This Ad Deliveries of the 24 firm orders, worth about $2.1 billion at list prices, will begin in the second half of 2026, the companies said in a joint statement. LATAM will join rival airline Azul in flying Embraer's E195-E2 in Latin America's largest economy. Azul last placed a firm order for the jets in 2018. Embraer Chief Executive Francisco Gomes Neto first revealed in an interview with Reuters last year that the company had been in talks with LATAM for a potential order. The carrier later confirmed it was considering new, smaller jets in its fleet. It cited Embraer's E2 and Airbus' A220, which directly compete in the regional segment with up to 150 seats per aircraft. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad Embraer's shares rose almost 4% in Sao Paulo morning trading. JPMorgan analysts said the announcement reinforces their bullish views on the planemaker, as its commercial backlog continues to grow at a strong pace. "We are extremely proud that the LATAM group has made the best choice to advance the region's connectivity," Gomes Neto said on Monday. The Brazilian unit of LATAM, the country's No. 1 airline by market share, has been looking for ways to expand its fleet in light of lengthy delivery times for narrow-body planes from larger manufacturers Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab and Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab. The E195-E2s will join the carrier's fleet of 362 aircraft, which includes Airbus narrow-bodies and Boeing wide-bodies. The airline's decision was based on the "excellent economics and versatility" of the E195-E2, which allow for the opening of new destinations, LATAM CEO Roberto Alvo said. 00:08 Inside ETFs: 'Effectively creating an income machine' The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard Brazil's government, which had been urging local carriers to buy Embraer aircraft to boost regional aviation and strengthen the manufacturer, cheered the deal. "It's a historic purchase. ... A milestone for regional aviation," Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho said. The LATAM order follows another landmark deal for Embraer earlier this month, as a firm order for 50 E195-E2s from budget carrier Avelo Airlines marked the first U.S. deal for the plane. Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Additional reporting by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Brad Haynes and Mark Porter Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics: Gabriel Araujo Gabriel Araujo Thomson Reuters Gabriel is a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based reporter covering Latin America's financial and breaking news from the region's largest economy. A graduate of the University of Sao Paulo, joined Reuters while in college as a Commodities & Energy intern and has been with the firm ever since. Previously covered sports - including soccer and Formula One - for Brazilian radios and websites. Read Next

Argentina Markets Soar After US Treasury Pledges Support

Argentina markets soar after US Treasury pledges support The city of Buenos Aires gets ready for the runoff election · Reuters Rodrigo Campos Mon, September 22, 2025 at 8:02 AM PDT 3 min read 4 In this article: DX-Y.NYB +0.02% By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) -Argentine financial assets rallied on Monday, with stocks rising the most in six months, international dollar bonds up more than 6 cents and the peso strengthening after Washington pledged full support for Argentina's right-wing government ahead of key midterm elections next month. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "all options" are on the table for stabilizing Argentina, including swap lines and direct currency purchases, while underscoring President Donald Trump's confidence in Argentine President Javier Milei and his economic team. Bessent told reporters after earlier announcing support for Argentina on social media that any U.S. action would be "large and forceful," but said no steps would be taken until after he and Trump meet with Milei in New York on Tuesday. Argentine markets have fallen sharply in recent weeks, with international bonds down more than 20% for the year through Friday. The peso has been pressing against the weaker limit of a band set months ago, as corruption allegations inside Milei's circle and a larger-than-expected loss in a local election in Buenos Aires triggered investor concern over Milei's ability to reshape the economy. "Argentina's assets were in desperate need of a circuit breaker — and they just got one," said Alejo Czerwonko, CIO for emerging markets in the Americas at UBS. "Bessent's intervention carries outsized weight at this fragile juncture. It provides the Milei administration with a critical window to reorient ahead of October's midterms." A favorable political outcome for the government in the October election would go a long way toward containing investor anxiety ignited by the Buenos Aires vote earlier this month, Czerwonko added. MARKET RALLY IS A REBOUND An index of Argentine stocks traded in U.S. exchanges rose 14%, and the local benchmark gained 7% Monday after falling more than 15% over the past two weeks. Earlier, the Argentine government said it would remove export taxes on all grains through next month, aiming to increase sales and boost the supply of dollars to meet demand from institutional investors. That means the tax will be removed past the midterm election on October 26. "Is this the 'whatever it takes' moment for Argentina?" said Armando Armenta, senior economist at AllianceBernstein, alluding to pivotal support from former ECB chief Mario Draghi to the euro experiment back in 2012. "Seems like Milei is getting the support to avoid a financial crisis ahead of the midterm election and ensure a smoother transition into 2026."

Brasil's Azul Airlines Wants To Return 20 Embrear Airliners

https://simpleflying.com/brazil-azul-20-planes-restructuring-us/

Brasil's Regulator Sees Realistic Embrear Flying Taxi Certification In 2027

Brazil regulator sees realistic Embraer flying taxi certification in 2027 FILE PHOTO: The electric aircraft maker Eve Air Mobility showcases for the first time the full-scale prototype of its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft at an event in Gaviao Peixoto · Reuters Allison Lampert and Gabriel Araujo Mon, September 22, 2025 at 9:41 AM PDT 2 min read In this article: EMBR3.SA +4.63% By Allison Lampert and Gabriel Araujo MONTREAL, SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil's Embraer could get certification of its electric aircraft in 2027, but the new president of the country's aviation regulator told Reuters he would like to hit that milestone a year earlier. Embraer's subsidiary Eve is among several firms developing battery-powered aircraft that can take off and land vertically to ferry travelers on short city trips, a segment seen as key to future growth for the world's third-largest planemaker. Eve, which has amassed nearly 3,000 potential orders ahead of production, currently expects its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to enter service in 2027, a year later than initially planned. Tiago Faierstein, the recently appointed president of Brazil's civil aviation regulator ANAC, said in an interview on Sunday afternoon that the regulator would do what it could to help Embraer certify the aircraft next year. "Let's work with 2027, but our goal, our desire is to be in 2026," Faierstein said on the sidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organization's Innovation Fair in Montreal, which ends on Monday. Certification of the eVTOL aircraft is the top priority for ANAC, he said, but the timing would depend on Embraer as "their technology has to be mature" to be certified. Eve's entry into service depends on the development of infrastructure like vertiports and tackling challenges such as power grid infrastructure and air traffic management, not just the certification of the so-called flying taxis. "We are focused on deploying in the market, not just the certification," Faierstein said. Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto told Reuters last month that he had been in touch with ANAC, and "everything was well controlled" ahead of the eVTOL certification. "At the moment, the plan is for the end of 2027," he said when asked about entry into service. "The whole team is committed and working with that timeline." Eve has preorders for the eVTOL from about 28 customers in nine countries, ANAC said, which is creating a challenge for regulators to come up with common rules so the eVTOLs could cross borders. The regulator would first collect data in Brazil and then share it with partners and the UN's ICAO, which is holding its triennial assembly starting on Tuesday. "First we are focused on the data that we are acquiring in Brazil," Faierstein said. "Then we will share the data with ICAO and other countries to harmonize the regulations."

US Revokes Visa For Brasilian Solicitor General, Other Officials

Exclusive-US to revoke visas for Brazilian solicitor-general, other officials By Gram Slatter, 12 hours ago By Gram Slattery WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government is revoking the visas of Brazilian Solicitor-General Jorge Messias and five other former and current Brazilian judicial officials, a senior Trump administration official told Reuters on Monday. The move represents a significant escalation in the ongoing feud between the U.S. and Brazilian governments that has intensified since the criminal conviction of former President Jair Bolsonaro earlier in the month. U.S. President Donald Trump and his political allies have denounced Bolsonaro's conviction as the fruit of a political witch-hunt and more broadly accused Brazil's judiciary of censoring conservatives. Brazilian authorities have vigorously rejected those assertions. They say there is ample evidence that the right-wing former leader - a close ally of Trump - attempted to overturn his 2022 election loss to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In addition to Jorge Messias, the official said the Trump administration is revoking the visas of former Solicitor-General Jose Levi, former electoral court justice Benedito Goncalves, auxiliary judge and Supreme Court aide Airton Vieira, former electoral court aide Marco Antonio Martin Vargas and Rafael Henrique Janela Tamai Rocha, another high-ranking judicial aide. It was not possible to immediately reach those figures for comment. Several of them are current or former aides or allies to Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the recent trial of Bolsonaro, and has received the brunt of the Trump administration's ire. In July, Moraes was sanctioned by the Trump administration. He has had his visa revoked, along with several other Brazilian Supreme Court justices. The U.S. Treasury has also sanctioned Moraes' wife. (Reporting by Gram Slattery, Editing by Don Durfee and Rosalba O'Brien)

Brasil Lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro Charged With Coercion

Brazil lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro charged with coercion By Reuters, 8 hours ago SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil's Prosecutor General charged federal lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro with coercion, according to a statement on Monday, in a case linked to the one in which his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was convicted for plotting a coup. The younger Bolsonaro has "repeatedly sought to subordinate the interests of Brazil and the entire society to his own personal and family agenda," the prosecutor general's office said in the statement. Eduardo Bolsonaro moved to the U.S. earlier this year to seek support from President Donald Trump to stop criminal proceedings against his father, and has claimed credit for pushing the White House to announce 50% tariffs on most Brazilian goods. The lawmaker linked the charge to fresh sanctions imposed by the U.S. on wife of Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the former president's trial, calling the staff of the Prosecutor General's office "Moraes' lackeys". Eduardo Bolsonaro added that he received news of the "bogus accusation" from the press, and would wait for the legal case to be communicated through official channels before making a formal statement. (Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes; Writing by Isabel Teles; Editing by Gabriel Araujo, Chris Reese and Chizu Nomiyama )

Anti Government Protests In Peru Turn Vviolent!

Anti-Government Protests in Peru Turn Violent Peru Hundreds of anti-government protesters clashed with police in Peru’s capital of Lima over the weekend, the latest unrest to affect the South American country over organized crime, government corruption, and a recent pension reform program, Agence France-Presse reported. On Saturday, around 500 demonstrators marched in Lima’s center under heavy police presence. Violence broke out as protesters tried to get close to the executive and congressional buildings. Police said at least three officers were wounded. The weekend protests were organized by a youth collective called “Generation Z” targeting the administration of President Dina Boluarte, whose approval ratings have dropped to single digits amid rising cases of extortion and violence due to organized crime in the country. Opinion polls show that a majority of Peruvians see the government and the conservative-majority congress as corrupt. Boluarte’s term ends next year. Analysts said the demonstrations are partially in protest of a pension reform plan passed by the legislature last week. The new law requires young adults to join a private pension fund, even though many face employment and wage uncertainty as gig workers and other forms of self-employment.

Brasilians Protest In The Thousands Against Bolsonaro Amnesty

Brazilians protest in their thousands against granting Bolsonaro amnesty By Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro, Updated 07:44 PM PDT, Sun September 21, 2025 The Guardian Follow In São Paulo, tens of thousands gathered outside the city’s art museum and hoisted a giant Brazilian flag over their heads. Photograph: Isaac Fontana/EPA Tens of thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to demand no amnesty be granted to their country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro after he was convicted of plotting a coup. The far-right populist was sentenced to 27 years in prison earlier this month for illegally attempting to cling to power after he lost the 2022 presidential election to his leftwing opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On Sunday, huge crowds packed the squares and beaches of some of Brazil’s biggest cities to voice their opposition to rightwing endeavors to help Bolsonaro escape jail for his failed power grab, which included a plan to assassinate Lula, the vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin, and a supreme court judge. The pro-democracy protests were spearheaded by some of Brazil’s best-loved musicians, including a trio of legendary songwriters who were at the forefront of the fight against the country’s brutal 1964-85 military dictatorship: Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil. “The Brazilian people elected Lula – and that’s why democracy in Brazil endures,” Veloso, 83, told tens of thousands of demonstrators who had braved plus-35C temperatures to pack Rio’s Copacabana beach. As Veloso, Buarque and Gil performed a series of dictatorship-era classics from a sound truck by the sand, the crowd chanted: “Sem anistia” (“No amnesty”). “We have to go out on to the streets, as we have in the past, to say that we – as a people, as a nation – will not accept this,” Veloso said on the eve of the march. Protesters also voiced anger at how Brazil’s conservative-dominated lower house had this week approved draft legislation – denounced by critics as the “Bandit’s Bill” – that would make it harder for lawmakers to be charged or arrested for alleged crimes. Stars of stage and screen turned out at marches in other major cities to decry that bill and congressional efforts to reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence as part of a supposed attempt to “pacify” the politically divided South American country. “Long live democracy! Long live Brazil!” the Golden Globe-nominated actor Wagner Moura told a sea of protesters in Salvador, the capital of his home state, Bahia. Moura, the star of the Netflix drama Narcos, hailed the “extraordinary moment” his country’s democracy was experiencing after Bolsonaro’s historic conviction – a contrast with the democratic backsliding in the US under Bolsonaro’s re-elected ally Donald Trump. In São Paulo, tens of thousands gathered outside the city’s art museum and hoisted a giant Brazilian flag over their heads – a patriotic response to Trump’s unsuccessful attempts to interfere in Bolsonaro’s trial with a pressure campaign of tariffs and sanctions. At a rally in Belo Horizonte, local singer Fernanda Takai denounced the “shameless” manoeuvres to help Bolsonaro dodge jail and politicians avoid being held to account for their misdeeds. “We need to take a stand, to show how angry we are,” Takai told the newspaper Estado de Minas. In the capital, Brasília, where Bolsonaro is currently under house arrest, thousands assembled near the congress and supreme court buildings that were trashed by rightwing radicals on 8 January 2023 at the climax of the former president’s coup attempt. There were also protests overseas, including in Berlin, Lisbon and London, where demonstrators gathered outside parliament to demand Bolsonaro be jailed. Before the rallies – Brazil’s largest pro-democracy demonstrations in years – Buarque, who was forced into exile in Italy in the late 1960s during the military dictatorship, spurned the idea of an amnesty for Bolsonaro. “We do not want a repeat of the 1979 amnesty … which meant that nobody was punished [for the regime’s crimes],” the celebrated singer-songwriter told the news website UOL. Buarque rejected the idea that granting Bolsonaro and his seven co-conspirators an amnesty would reduce political tensions. “It was the putschists who committed the crime. We [democrats] owe them nothing,” the singer said. Subscribe to Middle East News Digest's newsletter to receive the latest news and updates directly in your inbox.

Uruguay: What $550,000 Buys You In Montevideo

What You Get $550,000 Homes in Uruguay A top-floor loft near the beach, a renovated 1950s apartment in a busy neighborhood and a penthouse with a popular beach at its doorstep. Share full article 18 By Michael Kaminer Sept. 19, 2025 Pocitos | $500,000 A top-floor loft near Montevideo’s architecture school This two-bedroom, one-bathroom loft is on Bulevar Artigas, the 6.5-mile-long thoroughfare that bisects central Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital. With 12-foot ceilings and original brickwork, the loft is on the top floor of a four-story 1940s house that the seller acquired in 2017 and carved into three apartments. Pocitos, one of Montevideo’s most densely populated neighborhoods, has a mix of midrise buildings from the mid-20th century and new developments. The area’s dwindling stock of detached homes is getting demolished or converted to multiunit residences. Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo, the architecture and design school of the national Universidad de la República, is across the street. Pocitos Beach and Montevideo’s waterfront are a mile and a half south. Estudio Café, a fashionable coffee spot with a minimalist concrete interior, is just south. Carrasco International Airport, with nonstop flights across Central and South America and to Miami, is 15 miles east. Foreigners can buy property in Uruguay without restrictions. Transaction costs total 7 to 9 percent of the purchase price, including 3 percent broker fees, 0.55 percent notary charges, and a 2 percent transfer tax. Foreigners who invest approximately $540,000 in real estate and stay in Uruguay at least 60 days a year qualify for permanent residency and a 10-year tax exemption on foreign-sourced income. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Size: 1,614 square feet Price per square foot: $310 Indoors: The loft’s open living and dining area features a fireplace, restored original pine floors and peaked ceilings crisscrossed with white beams. The kitchen, integrated into the living room, features a built-in oven, a gas cooktop, and an extractor hood. There is a full bathroom on one side of the apartment, and a half-bathroom on the opposite end. The glassed-in bedroom, up a short flight of stairs, overlooks the living area. The building’s lobby features checkerboard tile floors and glass doors onto the street. An elevator serves all three apartments. The owner, a German national who splits his time between Uruguay and his home country, is building a home elsewhere in Montevideo. Furniture — including a white fabric sofa, glass dining table and rattan seating — is included in the sale. Outdoor space: A tiled terrace, with space for a small table and chairs, overlooks neighboring trees between surrounding buildings. Costs: Annual property taxes, which combine municipal taxes and a school tax, are $1,650 (66,000 Uruguayan pesos). Monthly common charges are $300 (12,000 pesos). Editors’ Picks How to Cook (Better) With Butternut Squash From Bi to Beige and Back Again Many Minor Hits Can Damage an Athlete’s Brain SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Contact: Carlos García Arocena | +598-9944-6083 | Montevideo Sotheby’s International Realty Cordón | $560,000 A renovated 1950s apartment in the central business district This sprawling five-bedroom, four-bathroom apartment is in a 1950s building in Cordón, a busy downtown neighborhood of Montevideo with several Art Deco and midcentury buildings. Puro Verso, a multilevel bookstore with a basement wine bar, is a mile west. The Tristan Narvaja Market, a century-old Sunday street market that now covers 50 blocks, takes place around the corner. The Oso Pardo bar, popular for artisan beers like a passion fruit I.P.A., is a short walk east. The sellers renovated much of the apartment two years ago; previous owners refurbished the kitchen 15 years ago. Tired of commuting, the sellers are moving closer to their workplaces on the other side of Montevideo. Furniture is not included. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Size: 2,670 square feet Price per square foot: $210 Indoors: The unit is on the fifth floor of a 12-story building with a daytime concierge. The apartment opens to a living room with hardwood floors and full-length, north-facing windows. The adjacent dining room connects to the long kitchen, which features granite countertops and wooden cabinets, along with a wood-burning stove. Ceilings throughout the apartment are more than 10 feet high. French doors connect the living spaces. The principal bedroom features a renovated en suite bathroom with a double sink and glassed-in shower. Another bathroom was redecorated to include sleek black fixtures and an oval basin sink. The other two bathrooms have also been renovated. Outdoor space: A broad balcony off the living room overlooks Constituyente Street. There is a smaller terrace with checkerboard tiles off the main bedroom. Both terraces offer panoramic city views. Costs: Annual property taxes are $2,400 (96,000 pesos) Common charges for the unit are $600 (25,000 pesos). Contact: Moira Schurmann | +598-9124-4333 | Team Haverkate/Engel & Völkers Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Pocitos | $550,000 A seaside penthouse and former home of a noted decorator This ninth-floor penthouse, atop a 1955 building by the Uruguayan architect Raul A. Sichero Bouret, was home to Raquel Armas, a noted Montevideo-based interior designer who died in 2024. Her family is selling the apartment, which Ms. Armas renovated in 1990 with features including a front door sourced from Montevideo’s now-demolished Punta Carretas prison. With a popular beach at its doorstep, the building is on La Rambla de Pocitos, a section of the 14-mile boulevard along the Río de la Plata, one of the world’s largest rivers. Cafes, restaurants and parks line the boardwalk, a longtime gathering spot for locals. Cultural Alfabeta, which hosts film, music and arts events, is a few blocks north. Expreso Pocitos, which has served traditional chivitos beef sandwiches since 1910, is just west. Size: 1,969 square feet Price per square foot: $279 Indoors: The penthouse opens to a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows and restored herringbone hardwood floors. A brick wall divides the living room from the dining room, which features recessed lighting in hardwood ceilings that extend through the kitchen. The kitchen, which needs updating, includes granite countertops, a double sink and a long wooden island. There is one bedroom with an en suite bathroom and walk-in closet, and a half-bathroom next to a small laundry area near the kitchen. Brick columns, added by Ms. Armas, line one side of the apartment. Furniture, including twin sofas and a long wooden dining table, is included in the sale. Outdoor space: An 860-square-foot balcony with ocean views spans the length of the apartment. The sale includes an underground parking spot. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Costs: Annual property taxes are $2,500 (100,000 pesos). Common charges are $900 (36,000 pesos) monthly. Contact: Carlos García Arocena | +598-9944-6083 | Montevideo Sotheby’s International Realty Read 18 Com

Argentina: Mass Protests Intensify While Milei Attempt to Soften Austerity Measures

Mass Protests Intensify in Argentina While Milei Attempts to Soften Austerity Measures Argentina Tens of thousands of people Wednesday took to the streets of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, calling for increased funding for universities and pediatric hospitals, sectors hard hit by libertarian President Javier Milei’s sweeping austerity measures, despite his newly announced plans to boost social spending next year, France 24 reported. Protest organizers said their intention was to pressure legislators to overturn Milei’s recent vetoes of laws that would have increased funding of public universities and pediatric hospitals. The president said the laws would harm the country’s fiscal balance. Congress’s lower house voted on Wednesday to reject both vetoes. Now, the Senate would need to do the same for it to take effect. Milei’s popularity has taken a steep dive following his severe budget cuts: Since taking office in December 2023, he has slashed public spending and successfully brought down monthly inflation from double to single digits, France 24 reported separately. However, the moves have triggered massive ongoing protests. In late August, demonstrators threw stones at Milei and his sister during a campaign appearance in Buenos Aires, with clashes breaking out among supporters and opponents. Part of his sinking popularity is due to a corruption scandal involving his sister. Earlier this month, his party had a legislative defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. With legislative elections approaching in October – where half of the lower house and a third of the Senate will be up for grabs – Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), hopes to win enough seats to keep the opposition-controlled Congress from overriding his vetoes. As a result, on Monday, Milei presented a proposal for next year’s budget that includes plans to boost social spending. The new budget plans for a 5 percent increase for spending on pensions and another 5 percent for disability pensions, 17 percent for healthcare, and 8 percent for education above inflation. Nevertheless, Milei insisted that balancing the budget remains “non-negotiable.”

Argentina: The Intact Remains Of A Prehistoric Crocodile Are Discovered In Patagonia

Big, Bad Croc There was something more dangerous than dinosaurs lurking in the region that is now Argentina around 70 million years ago. Scientists in the country recently uncovered the remains of Kostensuchus atrox, a hypercarnivorous reptile that likely feasted on dinosaurs and rivaled other predators in southern Patagonia during the Cretaceous period. The fossil, unearthed in 2020 from the Chorrillo Formation in southern Argentina, is so well-preserved that researchers could piece together much of its anatomy, including a skull, jaws, and several bones. Its name is a combination of “Kosten,” the Tehuelche word for Patagonian wind, and Suchus, the Egyptian crocodile-headed god Sobek. The species name atrox means “fierce” or “harsh,” the Independent noted. Estimated to be 11.5 feet long and weighing in around 550 pounds, K. atrox wasn’t the largest predator of its time, but it was certainly among the deadliest. The creature had a broad snout, robust forelimbs, and big, sharp teeth that point to a mainly carnivorous diet – likely including medium-sized dinosaurs. “These extinct crocodyles competed and preyed upon dinosaurs, and played an important role in the structure of vanished ecosystems,” lead author Fernando Novas explained to Live Science. The animal belonged to a now-extinct group of reptiles called peirosaurid crocodyliforms – relatives of today’s crocodiles and alligators. Its discovery also sheds light on the diverse and surprisingly crocodile-rich world that dinosaurs inhabited. “In particular, terrestrial (crocodilians) were notably diverse and abundant during Cretaceous times in South America and Africa, including small and large, meat-eating and plant-eating forms, revealing that these continents were ‘land of crocs,’” Novas added. In the same fossil beds, scientists previously uncovered Maip macrothorax, a massive, 30-foot-long megaraptor. While Maip was bigger, K. atrox held its own as the second-largest predator in the area – reminding us that dinosaurs didn’t always rule the neighborhood.

Brasil Just Succeeded Where America Failed

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/15/Tv/video/amanpour-brazil-bolsonaro-conviction-petra-costa

Brasil Keeps Telling Trump To Get Lost

Brazil Keeps Telling Trump to Get Lost By Jack Nicas, 1 days ago Supporters of Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, at a rally ahead of his Supreme Court trial, in Brasilia, Brazil. Sept. 7, 2025. The conviction of Bolsonaro for trying to overturn the 2022 election by the South American country’s highest court, despite President Donald Trump’s imposition of extra tariffs, sanctions and a trade investigation, is shaping up as a test case on how to defy Trump. (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) BRASÍLIA, Brazil — President Donald Trump made his demands to Brazil very clear: Drop the charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro of attempting a coup. To show he was serious, he hit Brazil with punishing tariffs, launched a trade investigation and imposed some of the most severe sanctions at his disposal against the Supreme Court justice overseeing the case. Brazil responded Thursday by convicting Bolsonaro anyway, sentencing him to more than 27 years in prison for overseeing a failed plot to stay in power after losing the 2022 elections. Defiance has defined Brazil’s response to Trump since he began trying to bully the country. So far, it hasn’t resulted in disaster. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has watched his poll numbers rise as he has denounced his American counterpart. Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court justice targeted by sanctions, has been fiercely backed by Brazil’s democratic institutions. And last month, when Trump’s 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports took effect, Brazil said its global exports actually rose 4% because of increased purchases by China. “Does anyone believe that a tweet from a foreign government official will change a ruling in the Supreme Court?” Justice Flávio Dino said as he cast his vote this past week to convict Bolsonaro. In response, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted: “The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt.” How much further Washington is willing to go in its fight with Brazil is unclear. The U.S. government has used some of its most powerful tools. Its latest actions focused mostly on revoking the visas of some Brazilian officials. If the tariffs last — or even increase — it may eventually prove difficult to explain to American voters why they should pay more for beef, coffee and sugar to intervene in Bolsonaro’s case. An attendee holds a candle at a vigil for Charlie Kirk at a city park in Provo, Utah, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. The first few minutes of President Trump’s Oval Office address after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week followed the conventional presidential playbook at first. Then he tossed the playbook aside, angrily blaming the murder on the American left and vowing revenge. (Loren Elliott/The New York Times) U.S. officials have said their problems with Brazil go beyond Bolsonaro. They accuse de Moraes of censoring free speech by ordering social networks to block accounts that often he alone decides threaten Brazil’s democracy. His actions have indeed been harsh at times and lacked transparency, prompting criticism within Brazil, too. He and fellow justices have argued that the Brazilian right’s recent attacks on democracy — including a plot to assassinate de Moraes — have required a firm response. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, was asked this past week about de Moraes’ approach to the internet. Her response, delivered as the judge was voting to convict Bolsonaro, raised eyebrows: “The president is unafraid to use the economic might, the military might of the United States of America to protect free speech around the world.” Brazil’s government condemned the statement, and Lula later told a radio station, “The U.S. needs to know it’s not dealing with a banana republic.” Trump, for his part, did not seem to be revving for a fight when asked Thursday if he would respond to Bolsonaro’s conviction with more sanctions. “It’s very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it,” he said. He did not mention any retaliation. What is clear is that the White House’s campaign against Brazil did not stop Bolsonaro’s conviction, but it did hurt America’s image in the country and push its largest ally in the Western Hemisphere closer to China. Lula has spoken with President Xi Jinping of China at least twice since the U.S. tariffs took effect — but not once with Trump. China, Brazil’s largest trading partner ahead of the United States, is becoming even more central to Brazil’s economic plan. China bought 31% more from Brazil in August, when the tariffs kicked in, compared with a year before. At the same time, Brazil’s sales to the United States dropped 18.5%. Public perceptions in Brazil of the United States and China have been following a similar pattern. The percentage of Brazilians who said they had a positive image of the United States fell to 44% in August, from 58% in February 2024, according to a survey. Over the same period, those with a positive image of China jumped to 49% from 38%. FILE — Immigration officers take a man into custody during an arrest operation in Pompano Beach, Fla., May 1, 2023. President Donald Trump has walked back some significant immigration policies that collide with his economic agenda, angering his far-right allies. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times) U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote online Thursday that Bolsonaro’s conviction drove “relations between our two great nations to their darkest point in two centuries.” Many on the left in Brazil would argue that the United States’ support for the 1964 military coup that led to a 21-year dictatorship in Brazil was a darker moment. They see the current U.S. policy as another intervention from Washington on behalf of the plotters of a coup. U.S. officials, however, say they are saving Brazil’s democracy. That vast divide could be difficult to bridge. “As long as Brazil leaves the fate of our relationship in Justice Moraes’ hands,” Landau wrote, “I see no resolution to this crisis.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Some of the recent extra security outside the Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 3, 2025. The South American country’s highest court, which has convicted its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, despite President Donald Trump’s imposition of extra tariffs, sanctions and a trade investigation, is shaping up as a test case on how to defy Trump. (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) FILE — Members of the National Guard patrol the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington on Sept. 3, 2025. Campaigning last year to reclaim power four years after his re-election defeat, Trump dispensed with the usual bromides about national unity, and instead declared that the biggest threat to the United States was “the enemy from within.” (Alex Kent/The New York Times) President Donald Trump talks with media member while departing the White House in Washington on Sept. 11, 2025. The first few minutes of President Trump’s Oval Office address after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week followed the conventional presidential playbook at first. Then he tossed the playbook aside, angrily blaming the murder on the American left and vowing revenge. (Kenny Holston/The New Times0 People visit a memorial for Charlie Kirk in Orem, Utah on Sept. 13, 2025. The first few minutes of President Trump’s Oval Office address after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week followed the conventional presidential playbook at first. Then he tossed the playbook aside, angrily blaming the murder on the American left and vowing revenge. (Loren Elliott/The New York Times) FILE — President Donald Trump speaks alongside Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox church of the U.S. during a Greek Independence Day celebration in the East Room of the White House in Washington, March 24, 2025. Hyundai Motor said in March that it would invest $21 billion to expand manufacturing in the United States. President Trump said the move was proof that his tariff policies were creating jobs. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) Brazil’s president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva and first lady Janja da Silva wave during a parade on the country’s Independence Day, in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 7, 2025. The conviction by the Supreme Court of the South American country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, for trying to overturn the 2022 election, despite President Donald Trump’s imposition of extra tariffs, sanctions and a trade investigation, is shaping up as a test case on how to defy Trump. (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) FILE — Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, greets supporters in Rio de Janeiro, March 16, 2025. The conviction of Bolsonaro for trying to overturn the 2022 election by the South American country’s highest court, despite President Donald Trump’s imposition of extra tariffs, sanctions and a trade investigation, is shaping up as a test case on how to defy Trump. (Dado Galdieri/The New York Times) FILE — President Donald Trump meets with his advisors in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Aug, 26, 2025. Campaigning last year to reclaim power four years after his re-election defeat, Trump dispensed with the usual bromides about national unity, and instead declared that the biggest threat to the United States was “the enemy from within.” (Doug Mills/The New York Times For more stories,subscribe to The New York Times. (c) 2025 The New York Times Company. 1.8K

Brasil: Police Seize Drug Laden Aircraft From Venezuela As US Presses Anti-Narcotics Mission In The Caribbean

Brazilian Police Seize Drug-Laden Aircraft From Venezuela as U.S. Presses Anti-Narcotics Mission in Caribbean By Pedro Camacho, 1 days ago Brazilian authorities seized 380 kilograms of marijuana from a small aircraft that entered the country’s airspace from Venezuela Brazilian government's official website Brazilian authorities said on Thursday they had seized 380 kilograms of marijuana from a small aircraft that entered the country's airspace from Venezuela and attempted an emergency landing in the Amazon region. The incident comes amid heightened U.S. military operations in the Caribbean aimed at counter-narcotics enforcement and increased scrutiny of Venezuela's alleged ties to drug trafficking. According to Brazil's Federal Police, the twin-engine Beechcraft 58 Baron was detected on radar after crossing into Brazilian territory without authorization on September 10. Venezuelan new site El Pitazo reports that the Air Force then scrambled two A-29 Super Tucano jets to intercept the aircraft. The pilot refused orders to divert to a nearby landing strip and instead descended to tree-top level before ditching the plane into the Balbina reservoir near Presidente Figueiredo, Amazonas state. Federal Police officers arrived by helicopter and recovered the marijuana, described as a high-potency variety known as skank, from inside the aircraft. The pilot evaded capture and remains at large. The seized drugs were transferred to police headquarters in Manaus for further investigation. The episode follows recent regional tension after the United States increased its military presence in the Caribbean. Washington has deployed eight missile-equipped naval vessels, a nuclear-powered submarine, and F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico as part of what it describes as an expanded counter-narcotics mission. Last week, U.S. officials said they struck a boat carrying alleged members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua criminal group, prompting sharp condemnation from Caracas. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva voiced opposition to the U.S. deployment earlier this week. In remarks at a virtual BRICS summit on September 8, Lula said that "the presence of armed forces of the world's greatest power in the Caribbean Sea is a source of tension incompatible with the region's vocation for peace."

Argentina: After Looted Art Found In Home Experts Warn That Many Other Art Treasures Are Being Hoarded

After Nazi looted art surfaces in Argentina, experts warn Van Gogh, Raphael and 100k other works still being hoarded By Isabel Vincent, Updated 03:25 PM PDT, Wed September 10, 2025 New York Post Follow A real estate listing in Argentina shook the art world last month when it revealed a painting hanging in pride of place in the living room was actually an Italian Old Master stolen by the Nazis. Art buffs say it highlights how other important works by luminaries including Vincent Van Gogh, Raphael and Monet suffered the same fate and are still being illegally hoarded by non-rightful owners. The Argentine artwork — “Portrait of a Lady” by 18th century Italian artist Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi — could be worth more than $500,000. It went “missing” at the end of the Second World War and turned up in the seaside resort home of Patricia Kadgien, daughter of Nazi officer Friedrich Gustav Kadgien. The real estate ad which shows the Italian Old Master work above the sofa in the home of Patricia Kadgien, daughter of Nazi officer Friedrich Gustav Kadgien. Robles Casas & Campos In addition to that painting, Argentine authorities found 22 other works, including some by Henri Matisse, during multiple raids on homes connected to Patricia Kadgien. “There is a lot of Nazi looted art throughout the world that has been concealed from public view,” said Jonathan Petropoulos, a professor of European history at Claremont McKenna College in California and the author of the 2021 book “Goering’s Man in Paris: The Story of a Nazi Art Plunderer and His World.” He commended the find — by dogged Dutch investigative journalist Cyril Rosman, who has spent a decade searching for the storied collection of Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker — but the picture is just one of an estimated 100,000 valuable works of art looted by the Nazis which remain unaccounted for. “There have been restitution claims for famous artworks in museums, but a far greater number of looted and non-restituted works remain in private hands around the world,” he said. Name of new Astoria sports bar causes outrage for being identical to Hitler HQ Among the most valuable missing works is Raphael’s “Portrait of a Young Man.” Argentine police officials also seized 22 other works in raids. Among the works were pieces attributed to French artist Henri Matisse. Policia Federal Argentina. That piece, painted by the Italian master between 1513 and 1514, was looted by the Nazis from the Princes Czatroyski Museum in Krakow, Poland and was last seen at a German castle in 1945, according to a list of missing Nazi loot compiled by the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, a nonprofit that works to help recover art stolen by the Nazis. Individual works by Raphael have sold at auction for tens of millions of dollars. Many paintings by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele are also missing, including “Boats Mirrored in the Water,” one of more than 80 of the artist’s works expropriated by the Nazis from their owner, the Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer Fritz Grunbaum, according to the foundation. Raphael’s “Portrait of a Young Man” was last seen in 1945, and could be worth tens of millions of dollars. Grunbaum died at the Dachau concentration camp in 1941. Recently recovered Schiele works have also fetched millions at auction. In addition, Vincent van Gogh’s “The Painter on the Way to Tarascon,” is missing. It was painted in 1888 and last seen in 1945 at the Neu-Stassfurt salt mine, where the Nazis stored stolen works to protect them from Allied bombing raids. The painting by the Dutch master could fetch more than $100 million. “Orchard with Cypresses,” painted in the same year by Van Gogh fetched $117 million at auction — a record for the artist — in 2022. Some of the other missing paintings include works by some of the most recognizable names in 19th and 20th century art, including Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin,Claude Monet and Camille Pissaro. Daughter of Nazi who stole Jewish family’s painting charged with crimes linked to genocide “Boats Mirrored in the Water,” by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele was part of the collection belonging to Austrian-Jewish cabaret performer Fritz Grunbaum who was killed at the Dachau concentration camp. “The Painter on the Way to Tarascon” by Vincent Van Gogh was last seen in 1945 in a German salt mine where it was stored along with thousands of other looted works by the Nazis. Although most of the pillaging was conducted by high-ranking officials, such as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Gestapo head Hermann Goering, some pieces were also taken by lower ranking functionaries, Petropoulos said. He helped compile the list of missing artworks stolen by the Nazis for the Presidential Commission on Holocaust Assets, created by President Bill Clinton in 2000. The commission found the Nazis stole more than 600,000 artworks during their 12 years in power. “Portrait of a Lady” was in the collection of Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam whose trove of 1,300 works was looted when the German army invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, according to historians. It was acquired by Kadgien in 1944 from the Goudstikker gallery in Amsterdam. At that time he was in charge of securing stolen Jewish assets to sell and rebuild Germany’s military arsenal. Allied forces recovered some of the art stolen by the Nazis before and during the Second World War. Experts say that 100,000 works of art are still “missing.” Getty Images Patricia Kadgien was arrested after she allegedly tried to conceal the 18th century painting that a Dutch journalist traced to her home after seeing it in a real estate ad. AFP via Getty Images Goudstikker died after a shipboard accident when he tried to flee to England in May, 1940. Kadgien’s daughter Patricia, 59, and her husband Juan Carlos Cortegoso,62, were charged by local authorities with “concealment” of the artwork earlier this month after they allegedly hid it, replacing it with a tapestry following inquiries by Rosman. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR MORNING REPORT NEWSLETTER Friedrich Gustav Kadgien fled to Switzerland, Brazil and Argentina. He established companies in South America and owned a massive cattle ranch. Their lawyer then handed over the painting to authorities last week, according to press reports. Still, Kadgien and her husband face up to six years in prison if they are found guilty of hiding the works. Kadgien fled Germany after the war, escaping to Switzerland and then South America with the help of business associates. By the early 1950s, he was living in Argentina along with Nazi war criminals Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele — all of them protected by the regime of fascist leader Juan Peron and by 1954 he had a 200,000 acre ranch with a herd of 20,000 cattle. Kadgien became an Argentine citizen and lived under his real name. He also had numerous business dealings with the Argentine government andhelped Germans move stolen assets out of the country, according to a Swiss commission set up in 1996 to examine the country’s role during the Second World War. Argentine Prosecutors with the portrait of Contessa Colleoni by Ghislandi, which was recovered from the private residence in the country’s Mar del Plata seaside location. REUTERS Police raided Patricia Kadgien’s home in Mar del Plata, in search of Nazi looted art earlier this month. AFP via Getty Images He also sold armaments to the Brazilian military government and helped to fund coups in both Guatemala and Colombia in the early 1950s. He died in 1978. For Petropoulos, who has spent decades shedding light on Nazi looted art, the action by Argentine police should serve as an example to the rest of the world. “The Argentine police are the first since World War Two to employ criminal statutes to arrest possessors of Nazi looted art and to use the criminal proceedings against possessors to ensure the return of the artwork,” he told The Post, referring to recent legal cases in the US in which museums have been sued for the return of Nazi looted works hanging in their galleries. In other cases involving Schiele works, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seized eleven from US museums in 2023. Nobody was arrested or criminally prosecuted in that case. “This case reminds us that private individuals in possession of Nazi stolen art also have an obligation to restitute,” he said. For top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com. Subscribe to Movie News Digest's newsletter to receive the latest news and updates directly in your inbox.

Brasil: Former President Bolsonaro Sentence To 27 Years In Prison

Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison for Attempted Coup By CTN News, 2 hours ago Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison by Brazil's Supreme Court. He was found guilty of orchestrating an attempted coup to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which saw Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ascend to the presidency. This landmark decision marks the first time in Brazil's political history that a former president has been tried and convicted for actions aimed at undermining the country's democracy, notes The Guardian. The trial, conducted before a panel of five judges, resulted in a majority of four votes in favor of Bolsonaro's conviction, while one judge voted for his acquittal. The charges against him included leading an armed criminal organization, attempting to dissolve democratic institutions, and inciting violence to overthrow the elected government. Among the co-defendants were members of his government, including his running mate and Defense Minister, as well as high-ranking military officials, according to AP News. This conviction follows the events of January 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in Brasília, seeking to overthrow newly inaugurated President Lula in his second term. The riots resulted in significant property damage and over 1,400 arrests. Investigations revealed these actions were part of a broader conspiracy involving military and government members to nullify the presidential election results. Currently under house arrest, Bolsonaro has the option to appeal the decision. His lawyers might also request continued house arrest due to his reportedly fragile health condition, according to The Guardian. Despite his conviction, he remains an influential figure in Brazilian politics, and his supporters continue to denounce what they view as political persecution. Calls for amnesty are circulating within certain political circles, although the possibility of such a measure remains uncertain. This case represents a major turning point for Brazilian democracy, demonstrating the judiciary's willingness to hold leaders accountable for their actions, regardless of their status or popularity. It also sends a strong message against impunity and in support of fundamental democratic principles. https://ctninfo.com/?p=36788&preview=true 5

CIA Secretly Runs Narco-Hunting Units In Mexico

Report: CIA Secretly Runs Narco-Hunting Units in Mexico 15 hours ago (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) A Reuters investigation has found that the CIA has been running covert operations in Mexico for years to track down the country's most-wanted drug traffickers. The secret: The U.S. spy agency works closely with special narco-hunting units inside the Mexican military. In January 2023, the Mexican government deployed helicopter gunships and hundreds of soldiers into rural Sinaloa to capture Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of the imprisoned cartel kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. In the hunt for the young capo, the mission's architects worked hand-in-glove with a powerful American backer: the Central Intelligence Agency. Ahead of the raid, America's premier spy agency leveraged its vast eavesdropping apparatus to surveil the communications of Guzmán's associates to locate him in his mother's hometown in the western Sierra Madre mountains, according to four former U.S. intelligence and law enforcement sources. CIA analysts assembled a detailed dossier, known as a "targeting package," on El Chapo's flashy son. The CIA was helped by intel from a member of Ovidio's circle who had secretly flipped, three of the sources added. Finally, to carry out the arrest itself, the Mexican Army deployed an elite unit that was trained, equipped, and vetted by the CIA, a dozen current and former U.S. and Mexican officials said. With the permission of the Mexican government, the CIA gives training and equipment to these outfits, as well as financial backing for activities like travel. The U.S. spy agency also screens their members with U.S.-administered polygraph tests, which is why the groups are often called "CIA vetted units." Today, there are at least two such CIA vetted military units operating in Mexico. In addition to the Mexican Army group that nabbed Ovidio, there's a special Mexican Navy intelligence outfit, according to eight current and former Mexican and U.S. officials. In the past, the CIA also had vetted units within Mexico's now-defunct federal police, a state-level police force, and the federal attorney general's office, according to two former senior U.S. and Mexican officials. These CIA vetted units, the details of which Reuters is reporting for the first time, fall under the agency's covert operations. Such activities are generally classified, and their budgets and staffing are kept secret. To detail the CIA's activities in Mexico, Reuters spoke to more than 60 current and former U.S. and Mexican security sources, including former CIA officers, diplomats from both countries, U.S. anti-narcotics agents, and Mexican military leaders who worked closely with the U.S. spy agency. The majority spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence agency's activities. The CIA has a long history of operations in Latin America, particularly during the Cold War, when the agency worked with military juntas and dictators to counter leftist governments and guerrillas. The agency also helped topple South America's cocaine trafficking empires at the end of the 20th century. But the U.S. spy agency's secret fight against Mexico's cartel leaders has gone largely unreported. The CIA vetted Mexican army and navy units have played key roles in planning or executing the majority of captures of high-profile narcos in recent years. The army outfit is comprised of hundreds of CIA-trained special forces and is seen as the military force in Mexico most capable of nabbing heavily armed drug lords holed up in fortified mountain hideouts, security sources say. That has turned the CIA into the gatekeeper of American anti-narcotics operations in Mexico, according to current and former U.S. security sources. "The CIA is the facilitator and the coordinator on some of the most important anti-narcotics issues in Mexico," said a recently departed senior official in the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. "Those units are extremely important." For decades the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has been the face of U.S. anti-narcotics efforts in Mexico. The DEA and other U.S. law enforcement agencies, such as Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), lead the U.S. effort to investigate suspected drug traffickers and gather evidence that is admissible in U.S. courtrooms. These agencies also work with Mexican counterparts to execute complex capture operations. But inside the U.S. embassy, the CIA spearheads the high-level coordination between the myriad U.S. agencies working on anti-narcotics, the American security sources said. To some, the embassy's seating arrangement symbolizes the power dynamic: CIA analysts – and those of other U.S. intel agencies – sit on the same floor as the ambassador. DEA, HSI and other law enforcement agents have their desks on the floor below. In response to detailed questions from Reuters, the White House said in a statement: "The United States and Mexico are working as sovereign partners to successfully stop the illegal flow of deadly narcotics across the border and eliminate the cartel networks responsible." "Thanks to the leadership and partnership" of U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum, "the threat posed by transnational terrorist organizations armed with illicit narcotics diminishes by the day and efforts will not cease until American communities are safe from the scourge of drugs and cartels," the statement said. CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons said in a statement that Mexico's cartels have become a significant focus for the agency. "From day one, Director (John) Ratcliffe made securing our southern border and countering drug cartels in Mexico and regionally a top Agency priority to support President Trump's directive to end narco-trafficking," she said. The Mexican government did not respond to detailed questions for this report. The new insights into the CIA vetted units and the U.S. spy agency's extensive anti-narcotics activities come as the Trump administration is weighing a dramatic escalation of the U.S. drug war in Mexico, one that could strain the bilateral relationship. The CIA and U.S. law enforcement have long operated south of the border solely at the discretion of Mexico's government, which greenlights all capture operations and uses Mexican forces to execute them. But Trump has said publicly that Washington may take unilateral military action in Mexico if the Mexican government failed to dismantle drug cartels. His administration has designated several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which former national security officials say lays the groundwork for military action inside the country. Case in point: Last week, the U.S. military killed 11 people in a strike on a vessel in the southern Caribbean that allegedly departed Venezuela carrying illegal narcotics. Without publicly offering evidence, U.S. officials said that those killed were members of a Venezuelan cartel that the Trump administration has also designated as a foreign terrorist group. As for Mexico, U.S. military and intelligence officials have in recent months discussed options for carrying out deadly strikes against drug cartels inside the country, according to two U.S. officials involved in the talks. What role the CIA could play in such a campaign is unclear. The CIA and U.S. special operations forces often work side-by-side on complex operations, particularly since the U.S. war on terror began a generation ago, former CIA and elite military officers said. Inside its headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the CIA is moving resources and personnel to amp up counter-cartel efforts, including through the creation of a new Americas and Counternarcotics Mission Center, its leadership has said. Top counterterrorism officials have been reassigned to work on Mexican cartels, according to three intelligence sources. The agency has increased its drone surveillance flights south of the border, other former intelligence officials say. CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis has said the agency is applying lessons learned from the global war on terror to the Mexican cartels. "We have built a finely tuned machine at the CIA over the past 20 years since 9/11 to find, fix, and finish terrorist targets, and now we are going to be taking that machine and turning to the cartels," he said in a May episode of the podcast of Tudor Dixon, a U.S. conservative commentator. The phrase "find, fix, finish" is used in national security circles to refer to the process of locating a target and then capturing or killing that person. The CIA declined to elaborate on Ellis' comments. The Trump administration's increasingly aggressive approach to fighting the region's drug traffickers has created a high-stakes balancing act for President Sheinbaum of Mexico's ruling leftist Morena party. With Mexico facing economic pressure from Washington over tariffs and the prospect of U.S. military intervention, Sheinbaum has increased her government's efforts to combat organized crime. She has presided over a nearly year-long offensive against the Sinaloa Cartel. And she has approved two, unprecedented mass expulsions of more than 50 suspected drug traffickers to the U.S. These measures have won her praise from top U.S. officials. But Sheinbaum has stated repeatedly that unilateral U.S. action in Mexico is a red line. "We will not accept any violation of our territory," she said in a news conference last week. "We do not accept subordination, but simply collaboration between nations on equal terms." Some CIA veterans of the U.S. war on terror are likewise wary of the prospect of Washington taking a more militaristic approach to fighting drug trafficking in Mexico, a U.S. ally, neighbor and top trading partner. Ralph Goff, a former CIA operations officer with extensive experience in covert and paramilitary operations, cited the potential of civilian casualties, cartel retaliation and diplomatic fallout. "Sicario is a good movie, but bad U.S. policy," he said, referring to a 2015 thriller about a CIA-led paramilitary operation inside Mexico. "Drugs are a consumption problem, not a production problem. We can't just kill our way out of this." The U.S. track record in Mexico thus far has cast doubt on whether a more muscular role will yield the desired results. The CIA's vetted military units have become Mexico's most successful forces for hunting down suspected traffickers. But the capture of drug kingpins has fractured cartels and sparked bloody power struggles. Some 30,000 Mexicans are murdered each year, according to Mexico's national statistics agency. Many of those killings stem from cartel-related violence. Meanwhile, narco-hunting did little to stop the flood of fentanyl on American streets and Mexico's ascension as the world's top producer of the synthetic opioid. Over the last five years, some 50,000 to 75,000 Americans have died annually from synthetic opioid overdoses, almost exclusively from Mexican-made illicit fentanyl. To be sure, the CIA is just one of several anti-narcotics actors. The Mexican government sets its own national security strategy, decides on the top targets, and approves capture operations. U.S. law enforcement – including the DEA – has for decades followed the so-called kingpin strategy of tracking and taking down cartel leaders. But by acting in secret, the CIA has largely escaped scrutiny for its role in the troubled drug war. In the mid-1990s, Roberto Aguilera Olivera was the leader of a virtually unknown Mexican Army unit called "Special Intelligence Issues." Its main adversary was the Zapatistas, a leftist indigenous group that staged an uprising in 1994. Then the CIA arrived, looking for a local partner to help it hunt down drug traffickers. The Mexican Army repurposed the group as the Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Center in 1995. The CIA gave the team hack-proof computers and a portable eavesdropping machine, said Aguilera, who helped set up the unit before being posted to London as Mexico's military attaché. The CIA flew the unit's officers to the U.S. for training in espionage and surveillance. CIA specialists designed prosthetic mustaches, wigs and fake scars for the Mexican soldiers to use as undercover disguises. Jack Devine headed the CIA's then-recently created counternarcotics center in Langley in the early 1990s. He helped build out the CIA's network of vetted anti-narcotics units in key Latin American countries. "The decision was made to create units where we're really going to give them state-of-the-art technical equipment and we're going to give them state-of-the-art intelligence collection capabilities," Devine said. In Mexico, the Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Center quickly emerged as Mexico's premier narco-hunting outfit. Aguilera returned to Mexico and led the unit from 2000 to 2006. Now retired, he recounted how its soldiers, traveling in disguise on the CIA's dime, fanned out across Mexico to surveil, film and wiretap drug lords and their confidants. In 2000, the outfit was renamed the Drug Trafficking Information Analysis Group (or GAIN, for its acronym in Spanish). "The CIA helped massively," Aguilera said. Mexico's Army did not respond to a list of detailed questions about the history of GAIN and its relationship with the CIA.

Argentina's Markets Plummet After Milei's Local Election Loss

Argentina’s Markets Plummet After Milei’s Local Election Loss Argentina Argentina’s markets tumbled Monday after right-wing President Javier Milei’s party lost a provincial election in the capital of Buenos Aires, a setback that calls into question public support for his austerity measures and pro-market overhauls, the Wall Street Journal reported. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (Liberty Advances) party won about 34 percent of the vote in Sunday’s legislative elections in Buenos Aires province, where nearly half of the country’s population resides. Meanwhile, Milei’s left-wing Peronist opponents won about 47 percent in what has long been regarded as their stronghold. The election marked Milei’s first test at the polls since taking office in late 2023, vowing to curb government spending and reduce the country’s gargantuan debt and inflation rate. The libertarian leader inherited triple-digit inflation from former Peronist president Alberto Fernandez. Even as Milei admitted that his party’s performance at the election was “a clear defeat,” he vowed to continue with his agenda after his policies of cutting public spending successfully brought down inflation for the first time in years, Al Jazeera noted. While Milei’s success in lowering inflation has won him praise from investors, Argentines continue to struggle economically: Economic growth has not increased significantly amid a decline in consumer spending and failure to generate jobs – Argentina’s unemployment rate is currently at its highest level since 2021. As a result, demonstrators have regularly taken to the streets to protest budget cuts. Meanwhile, Milei’s loss also follows recent corruption and bribery scandals linked to his sister, Karina Milei, and close advisers. Sunday’s vote was considered a test of public support for Milei’s free-market policies ahead of October’s congressional elections, where half of the lower house and a third of the Senate will be up for grabs. Congress is already dominated by opposition parties, and Milei’s latest loss in Buenos Aires has dealt a blow to Milei’s hopes of expanding his influence, said analysts.

Guyana Holds Critical Vote As Oil Boom Looms

Of Victors and Spoils: Guyana Holds Crucial Vote As Oil Boom Looms Guyana Last week, Guyanese police and soldiers were escorting election officials and ballot boxes on the Essequibo River along the Venezuelan border to a remote area for Monday’s general elections, when they came under fire from their neighbor. No one was injured, and the ballot boxes made it safely to three polling stations in the disputed Essequibo Region. “The patrol immediately returned fire and successfully maneuvered the escort team out of danger,” police said. The incident, however, highlighted the stakes of the election that was held on Sept. 1, when thousands of voters in Guyana went to the polls to choose their leader, lawmakers, and local representatives in what many say was the South American country’s most consequential election in decades. “The electoral choices are stark,” Christopher Ram, a Guyanese analyst and columnist, told the Financial Times. “Historians will describe this as the mother of all elections in Guyana.” At stake is control over $10 billion in annual revenue from offshore oil and gas production, a new bonanza for a small, poor country of around 800,000 people that was, until recently, dependent on gold, sugar, rice, bauxite, and timber. Now, it produces nearly 900,000 barrels of oil a day, and that amount is growing. As a result, it is slated to surpass Iran’s production in two years and has the highest projected growth in oil production in the world through 2035. But the country’s resources are also putting it in the crosshairs of Venezuela and in the middle of the global competition between the United States and China, both of which eye the country’s resources and have invested in the country. Venezuela claims the oil-rich Essequibo Region, which has prompted fears of a military clash breaking out over it. Earlier this year, it held an illegal election for the governor of Essequibo and has made threatening incursions into Guyana’s territory. The dispute over Essequibo, which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and has been administered by Guyana for more than a century, intensified in 2015 after the discovery of oil deposits by US-based energy giant ExxonMobil. Guyana, a former British and Dutch colony, says that Essequibo’s borders were decided by an arbitration panel in 1899. However, Venezuela counters that the Essequibo River to the region’s east has historically formed a natural border recognized in 1777. The dispute is currently before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In the meantime, the US has deployed more than 4,000 troops to the region, as well as at least three destroyer warships and a guided-missile cruiser, ostensibly to fight the Cartel of the Suns: This is allegedly a criminal drug trafficking network that the US government says is led by members of Venezuela’s armed forces. The US presence in the region is likely to deter the Venezuelan threat, analysts said. The geopolitics playing out over the small, yet highly diverse country with the world’s fastest growing economy – the World Bank estimates its gross domestic product growth at around 15 percent annually – has overshadowed its vote. Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that preliminary results showed that the governing Indo-dominated People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of President Irfaan Ali won handily over the Afro-supported main opposition party, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). The upstart newcomer mixed-race party, We Invest In Nationhood, led by US-sanctioned Guyanese businessman Azruddin Mohamed, who comes from one of the country’s wealthiest families, came in second. Ali’s party also trumped the APNU in the 2020 elections. The elections had mostly been about the spoils of the country’s newfound wealth, how they would be spent, and the inflation they are causing. Some voters said they wanted a change from the two traditional parties, the PPP and the APNU, which have governed Guyana since even before its independence from the UK in 1966. Others said the government has not distributed the wealth sufficiently – despite its public works projects and initiatives to lift citizens out of poverty in what was, until recently, one of South America’s poorest countries. “What they give us is not enough,” Evelyn Crawford, a 75-year-old retiree who voted for the opposition, told the Associated Press, referring to her pension of $200 a month. “I would like to see that people are lifted out of poverty.” Some say they see evidence of the change the government has made already. “(The government has been) helping the people and giving us what we need,” Omadai Persaud, a bus driver, told the Guardian. “We have free education, free university … hospitals and all resources.”

Brasil's Nuclear Submarine Program Advances With New Contract For Naval Group

Brazil’s nuclear submarine program advances with new contract for Naval Group Published on 05/09/2025 By João Paulo Moralez In News SN-10 Álvaro Alberto nuclear powered submarine Illustration of the nuclear-powered submarine SN-10 Álvaro Alberto is scheduled for delivery from 2034 onwards. Share Two contracts totaling more than €526 million have been signed with Naval Group under the scope of the Brazilian Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine program. Brazil and France, which maintain a long-term strategic partnership through the Submarine Development Programme (PROSUB), have entered into two further significant agreements. According to the Diário Oficial da União, published on 28 August 2025, the Navy’s Directorate-General for Nuclear and Technological Development (DGDNTM) established contract no. 21/2025 with Naval Group, valued at €246.3 million. The agreement covers the provision of special engineering services, procurement and construction for the electromechanical assembly of the Controlled Auxiliary Building (PAC) of the Nuclear Power Generation Laboratory (LABGENE). The contract has a duration of 72 months from its signing on 4 June 2025. The second agreement, contract no. 20/2025, is valued at €282.1 million and includes specialised technical consultancy services for the Additional Systems of the Conventionally Armed Nuclear Submarine (SNCA). This contract is expected to last 54 months, also beginning in June. Understanding the PROSUB program PROSUB is one of the most important strategic initiatives of the Brazilian Navy. Launched in 2008, it involves the acquisition and production of four Scorpène-class submarines and one nuclear-powered submarine derived from the same class. The programme aims to modernise Brazil’s naval industry, generate jobs and strengthen the local workforce through a comprehensive technology transfer agreement. It also encompassed the construction of infrastructure at the Naval Complex of Itaguaí (Complexo Naval de Itaguaí, CNI), Rio de Janeiro, which hosts Itaguaí Construções Navais, responsible for submarine construction. The complex also includes the Metal Structures Manufacturing Unit (UFEM), dedicated to structural assembly and welding; a specialised maintenance centre; piers; two dry docks each measuring 140 metres in length; workshops; administrative areas; 13 berths; and a shiplift measuring 110 metres by 20 metres with a load capacity of up to 8,000 tonnes. Brazil has also procured F-21 heavyweight torpedoes from Naval Group. LABGENE, the Nuclear Power Generation Laboratory, is a land-based facility located in Iperó, São Paulo, designed to test and optimise nuclear propulsion systems prior to their integration into PROSUB submarines. Of the four conventionally powered submarines, two are already in service (S-40 Riachuelo and S-41 Humaitá). The third, S-42 Tonelero, is undergoing sea trials, while the fourth, S-43 Angostura, is expected to be completed soon. The nuclear-powered submarine SN-10 Álvaro Alberto is scheduled for delivery from 2034 onwards.

Argentina: More Valuable Artwork Stolen By The Nazis Are Being Recovered In Argentina

Hunt for Nazi painting 'looted' by Hitler's financial adviser may have led to more stolen art By Germania Rodriguez Poleo, 1 days ago Argentinian officials might have found more art looted by the Nazis during World War II as they hunt down a famous painting in Buenos Aires. The new works were discovered as officials searched for an 18th century masterpiece stolen from a Jewish collector by SS officer Friedrich Kadgien, who fled to Argentina after the war. Kadgien's daughter Patricia and her husband Juan Carlos Cortegoso were placed under house arrest after the painting went missing from her home in Mar de Plata, near Buenos Aires. The painting, Portrait of a Lady, by Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi, was missing for 80 years before it was spotted on a real estate website last month by Dutch journalists. Prosecutors said they raided the homes of several of Kadgien's relatives as part of the search and discovered two paintings from the 19th century in the home of Kadgien's sister. They also found a series of drawings and engravings from the same time period, authorities added. The art pieces will be analyzed to determine if they were also looted by the Nazis. Friedrich Kadgien was described as a 'snake of the lowest sort' by American interrogators Friedrich Kadgien was a financial adviser to Hermann Göring, the right-hand man of Adolf Hitler and an art aficionado who plundered famous paintings through the forced sale of Jewish-owned galleries in the Nazi-occupied Europe. Kadgien was never charged with crimes related to the Nazi regime during decades after he fled to Argentina. He died in 1978 in Buenos Aires. Reporters for the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad spotted the Portrait of a Lady. on a real estate listing for Kadgien's home while searching for stolen artwork from the Netherlands. The portrait, listed as missing on international and Dutch databases of Nazi-confiscated works, was one of more than 1,000 pieces stolen by Göring from prominent Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker. Acting on an alert from Interpol, Argentine authorities entered the house with a search warrant on Tuesday. To their surprise, hanging on the wall behind the green velvet sofa where the painting had been pictured was a large pastoral tapestry of horses, the public prosecutor said Wednesday. Investigators also noticed a hook and marks on the wall, suggesting that a framed painting had been removed recently, the statement said. Carlos Martínez, the prosecutor who is in charge of the investigation, told The Associated Press that he accused the couple of obstructing the investigation and ordered their detention at home for at least 72 hours pending a hearing. It once belonged to Dutch Jewish collector Jacques Goudstikker, a successful art dealer in Amsterdam who helped his fellow Jews flee the Nazis before he died at sea while trying to escape to Britain aboard a cargo ship Portrait of a Lady, a portrait of Contessa Colleoni created by Fra Galgario in the 18th century, was pictured hanging over a sofa in a real estate listing posted by Robles Casas & Campos Martínez said Kadgien family’s defense team had offered to hand over the painting but has not done so yet. The developments reopened a shadowy chapter in the history of this South American nation, which sheltered scores of Nazis who fled Europe to avoid prosecution for war crimes, including high-ranking party members and notorious architects of the Holocaust like Adolf Eichmann. Under the government of Argentine General Juan Perón, whose first tenure lasted from 1946 until his overthrow in 1955, fugitive German fascists brought plundered Jewish property with them, including gold, bank deposits, paintings, sculptures and furnishings. The fate of those items continues to make news as the painful process of restitution drags along in Argentina and beyond.