Aurelia Butler

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was rushed to Sao Paulo overnight for emergency surgery to drain a bleed on his brain linked to a fall in October and he will remain in hospital for a couple more days, the government said on Tuesday.The 79-year-old Lula is “well” and being monitored in the intensive care unit after the successful operation, a medical note published by the government said. Doctors will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) to provide details.Presidential spokesperson Paulo Pimenta said in a radio interview that Lula would likely remain in the ICU for another 48 hours, with contact limited to his medical team.”He is stable, conscious and calm,” Pimenta said.There have been increasing health concerns about the aging president, a standard bearer of the Latin American left who is halfway through his third non-consecutive term. Weak results for his Workers Party in this year’s municipal elections underscored the lack of a clear leftist successor if he chooses not to run for re-election in 2026.Lula has curtailed travel in recent months while doctors monitored his recovery from trauma to the back of his head when he fell at home in late October, requiring stitches.During talks with congressional leaders on Monday evening, Lula complained of a worsening headache and ended the meeting so he could go to a hospital in Brasilia, according to a presidential aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.An MRI scan detected an intracranial hemorrhage, and Lula was transferred to Sao Paulo for surgery at the Sirio Libanes Hospital.As anesthesia wore off early on Tuesday, Lula woke up and then went back to sleep, according to the presidential aide.Vice President Geraldo Alckmin canceled plans in Sao Paulo on Tuesday to return to the capital Brasilia, his aide said, where he will assume Lula’s agenda, including a visit from Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.Pimenta said Lula may not need to formally transfer the powers of the president to Alckmin.Tests in early November showed Lula’s condition was stable and he remained active, recently traveling to Montevideo to discuss a Mercosur trade deal.The president’s injury had forced him to cancel a trip to Russia for a summit of the BRICS group of major emerging markets being held in Kazan, following medical advice to temporarily avoid long-haul flights. More

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$75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print edition More

BEIJING (Reuters) – China Everbright (OTC:CHFFF) Group’s former chairman Tang Shuangning was sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption, bribery, and abusing his position for personal gains, state broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday.Tang was arrested on suspicion of taking bribes in January, in an intensified campaign aimed at weeding out corrupt officials in the financial sector. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will warn against further tax cuts for the wealthy and a reprise of Republican “trickle-down economics” during Donald Trump’s second term in what could be his final speech on the economy on Tuesday, a White House official said.Biden will argue in the speech, which comes a month after bruising election defeats for the Democrats driven by voters’ concerns about inflation, that his push to boost investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and neglected communities averted a bigger economic crisis and laid the groundwork for continued economic growth, the official said.Enacting another major tax cut benefiting rich Americans and cutting government old age and health insurance programs would threaten those gains, Biden will argue, while acknowledging that it will take years to see the full impact of his efforts.In his remarks at the Brookings Institution, Biden plans to highlight the creation of 16 million jobs, the most in any single presidential term, the lowest average unemployment of any administration in 50 years and the smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years, the official said.The speech echoes the message Biden pushed throughout his aborted 2024 election campaign and continued by Vice President Kamala Harris after he dropped out, although neither official was able to win over voters scarred by high food and housing prices.Despite the strength of major economic indicators and a drop in inflation from a peak of 9% more than two years ago to 2.4%, voters punished the Democrats and handed the Republicans the White House and control of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.Investment banks expect Trump’s return to the White House to fuel a dealmaking revival that could boost investment banking income to $316 billion globally next year, a jump of about 5.7% on 2024, but economists warn that the Republican’s pledge to impose high tariffs could reignite inflation while further tax cuts could swell the already high U.S. deficit. More