- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
Brazil's Petrobras hikes prices, ignoring Bolsonaro
Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras announced hefty fuel price increases Thursday over the Ukraine crisis, setting up potential clashes with powerful truckers' groups and President Jair Bolsonaro, whose popularity has been hit by soaring inflation.
Petrobras said it would raise the price of gasoline from its refineries by 18.8 percent and diesel by 24.9 percent from Friday, citing the "worldwide surge in the prices of oil and oil derivatives as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine."
The company said the increase was in line with those by other fuel suppliers, and emphasized that it had not raised prices in nearly two months.
But the move will likely irk Bolsonaro, who regularly criticizes Petrobras for high prices. Surging inflation in Brazil, driven in part by energy costs, are a particularly weak point for the president as he gears up to seek reelection in October.
His popularity has fallen sharply as inflation has surged to an annual rate of 10.38 percent.
Bolsonaro's fuel-fueled problems may now get worse.
A key leader of Brazil's powerful truckers' associations, Wanderlei "Dedeco" Alves, threatened a repeat of strikes that devastated the country in 2018, causing widespread shortages.
"Independent truckers and transport companies need to come together and paralyze the country," he told Brazilian media.
"No one's going to be able to survive this."
Truckers have been a bastion of support for Bolsonaro, and he is keen to keep them on his side heading into a tough reelection battle, likely against leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
- 'Large fiscal cost' -
Fuel price increases also look set to hit households hard. Petrobras announced the price of cooking gas would increase 16.1 percent.
Bolsonaro is pushing for Congress to pass legislation to bring fuel prices down, though experts say the short-term impact would be minimal.
He is also reportedly looking at decreeing emergency subsidies to lower prices.
Both measures are unpopular with fiscal conservatives.
A first bill to create a fuel-price stabilization fund passed the Senate Thursday by a vote of 61 to eight, and will now go to the lower house.
The bill would use Petrobras dividends paid to the government and several other funding sources to periodically subsidize gasoline, diesel and cooking gas prices, smoothing over market volatility.
It would also double the number of low-income families eligible for cooking gas subsidies to 11 million, and pay fuel subsidies of 300 reais ($60) a month to taxi and ride-hail drivers.
But subsidizing fuel would have a "large fiscal cost," said consulting firm Eurasia Group.
"In 2018, it cost 9.5 billion reais to cut diesel prices -- excluding gasoline -- by just 0.30 reais. A similar proposal in a context of soaring international prices due to the Ukraine war could cost many times more, widening Brazil's budget deficit," it said.
- Stock roller-coaster -
Bolsonaro has a history of attacking Petrobras's prices, which have floated in line with the international market since a 2016 policy overhaul.
He said Monday the company's policy of parity with international prices "cannot continue."
Petrobras shares dove more than seven percent following the comment.
That echoed a stock plunge of more than 20 percent just over a year ago, when Bolsonaro changed Petrobras's chief executive after saying the company should not be constantly "surprising people" with price increases.
Petrobras shares responded positively to the new price hike, gaining 3.9 percent in afternoon trading on the Sao Paulo stock exchange.
But investors fear political pressure over fuel prices could soon hurt the company, and Latin America's biggest economy more broadly.
The international oil market has been rocked by volatility since Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago.
The Brent crude price hit a peak of $139 a barrel Monday, a 14-year high, before returning to around $116 Thursday.
C.Amaral--PC