International
Brazil’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday named new commanders of its armed forces, a day after the previous three chiefs were sacked as part of President Jair Bolsonaro’s unprecedented attempt to meddle in the military.
Paulo Sergio Nogueira de Oliveira will take over the army, Almir Garnier the navy and Carlos Almeida Baptista Júnior the air force, said Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto in his first news conference since assuming his new role this week.
As he announced the names, Braga Netto said the armed forces remained faithful to their constitutional mission.
“The military has not been found wanting in the past and will not be found wanting when the country needs it,” he said.
Business
Investors on Wednesday tallied more fallout from Archegos Capital’s dramatic meltdown, with Nomura and Credit Suisse shares losing a collective $9 billion in value this week as the market penalized their exposure to the hedge fund.
The downfall of Archegos, a family office run by former Tiger Asia manager Bill Hwang, has rocked a handful of stocks that have been linked to the fund’s massive margin call while weighing on shares of banks that did business with the New York-based fund.
Investors said it could also increase scrutiny of family offices while making money managers more wary of holding stocks that have experienced large, unexplained moves like many of the shares linked with Archegos’ margin call did.
International
Italy expelled two Russian diplomats on Wednesday after police said they had caught an Italian navy captain passing secret documents to a Russian military official in return for money.
The Italian captain and the Russian embassy staff member were arrested in a car park in Rome and accused of “serious crimes tied to spying and state security” after their meeting on Tuesday night, Italian Carabinieri police said.
The suspects were not officially identified. A police source said the captain was called Walter Biot and had accepted 5,000 euros ($5,900) in return for the information.
It was not immediately possible to contact Biot, who was in custody, and the name of his lawyer was not disclosed.
Business
U.S. airline executives on Monday pointed to concrete signs of a domestic leisure travel recovery as a slowing pandemic drives spring and summer bookings, pushing shares to their highest level since the coronavirus crisis hit the sector a year ago.
“We certainly are seeing the beginning of what feels like a very large uptick,” said American Airlines Chief Executive Doug Parker, one of several CEOs speaking at a J.P. Morgan conference.
Ted Christie, CEO of budget carrier Spirit Airlines, said the recovery appeared to “have legs.”
Executives cited data showing that U.S. COVID-19 vaccinations are accelerating and have outstripped the number of positive cases, which are on the decline.
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