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A fresh political crisis. An embattled president. Tumbling markets.

Sound familiar? It’s not the U.S. this time. Brazil is reeling after allegations President Michel Temer approved secret payments to a disgraced lawmaker (Temer has denied any wrongdoing). It’s the latest twist in a sprawling corruption scandal that has reached the top levels of the country’s financial and political elite and helped bring down the former president, Dilma Rousseff. The resulting furor caused Brazilian assets from stocks to currency to plunge Thursday as investors worried about what it would mean for Temer’s ambitious agenda to shore up the nation’s fiscal footing. —Katie Robertson

 

ceo-in-chief

Of all the ways to measure President Trump, judging him as a chief executive would seem the fairest. As Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait writes: “The Comey fracas is the latest in a long list of apparent transgressions for which a normal CEO might lose his job… This CEO-in-chief has failed to get things done; he has failed to build a strong team, especially in domestic policy; he hasn’t dealt with conflicts of interest; and his communications is in shambles.”

 

 
Here are today's top stories...
 

A car plowed into a Times Square crowd, killing one pedestrian and injuring about 20 others. The crash happened midday Wednesday in the prime New York tourist location after a man who appeared intoxicated drove a vehicle the wrong way up a street and plowed into people on the sidewalk. The 26-year-old driver was taken into custody. Police do not suspect a link to terrorism.

 

Real estate deals vanish in New York. Landlords are cutting rents and prices, spooked lenders are holding back, and the industry is losing hope for Trump’s promised tax cuts. Commercial real estate investment has slowed to a near standstill—especially in Trump’s hometown, the nation’s largest market.

 

Former Fox chairman and CEO Roger Ailes has died at age 77. Ailes started Fox News in 1996 for media mogul Rupert Murdoch and built in into the most-watched U.S. cable news network. He resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal last year.

 

Why Delta decided to stop being the mean airline. The cruelty of U.S. airlines has lately become a sore point for travelers. Within the industry, however, Delta has spent the last year under new CEO Ed Bastian trying to shake its reputation as a bruising antagonist that fought with other airlines and bureaucrats alike.

 

Student debt is eating your household budget. The loans now represent 11 cents of every dollar Americans owe, more than tripling as a share of total debt owed by U.S. households in less than 15 years. Pay raises for those with college degrees have barely outpaced inflation in recent years, leaving a generation of young workers with debt burdens that far exceed what their predecessors had to repay.

 
 
 

Q&A

When it comes to Israel and Palestine, even the food is fraught. Now, as Israeli chefs gain prominence, Palestinian cuisine is getting some of its own well-deserved time in the sun. London chef Joudie Kalla talks to Bloomberg about her new cookbook Palestine on a Plate: Memories From My Mother’s Kitchen, which is steeped in tradition and finished with just a dash of politics.

 

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