The Citizen (Gauteng)

Control your kids, president

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– Brazilian Vice-President Hamilton Mourao said the president will have to rein in his sons after one of them called a minister a liar on social media, exacerbati­ng tensions in a new government dealing with its first big Cabinet scandal.

In an interview with Reuters, Mourao also said far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has yet to decide whether his secretary-general, Gustavo Bebianno, should quit over accusation­s of misuse of campaign funds in the October election.

Bolsonaro resumed his duties on Thursday after more than two weeks in hospital and was confronted immediatel­y with his first Cabinet crisis since taking office on January 1.

The scandal surroundin­g one of his closest aides, who denies the allegation­s, stole the thunder from the first news of the government’s proposed pension overhaul.

After days of damaging headlines, Bolsonaro had endorsed an attack on Bebianno by his son Carlos, a Rio de Janeiro city councilman who, along with two brothers, have become high-profile figures in national politics since their father’s election.

Carlos has been the most combative family member on social media. The president’s son Flavio, a newly elected senator, has been caught up in a money laundering investigat­ion. He denies any wrongdoing.

Younger brother Eduardo, the most-voted federal lawmaker in the country, has become a foreign envoy for his father, courting allies such as American nationalis­t firebrand Steve Bannon, who told Brazilian press last week that Mourao was unhelpful and unimportan­t for Bolsonaro’s foreign policy.

Mourao told Reuters it was time for Bolsonaro to “give a unified order to the kids.” – Reuters

Brasilia

London

As the United Kingdom’s Brexit crisis deepens, two of the titans of Wall Street have starkly different views of the ultimate outcome: Goldman Sachs sees a 50% probabilit­y of a ratified deal, while JPMorgan sees a delay.

Unless Prime Minister Theresa May can get a Brexit deal approved by the British parliament, she will have to decide whether to delay Brexit or thrust the world’s fifth largest economy into chaos

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