Brazil’s beef exports to China are on the rise as part of the Asian nation’s larger strategy to avoid agricultural goods from the United States amid their ongoing trade dispute.
Brazil’s beef exports to China rose 38.3 percent in September from a year earlier, reaching 187,340 tonnes, the industry group Abrafrigo said on Wednesday, helping push total monthly exports to a record high.
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Global demand for beef has helped Brazil offset the impact of US tariffs on its exports, Abrafrigo said. In August, the administration of US President Donald Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on several Brazilian goods, including beef, which already had a 26.4 percent levy.
Latin America’s largest economy has been expanding exports to both new and traditional markets amid a global trade reshuffle triggered by US tariffs with similar trends also seen in soya bean exports, which also reached record volumes.
Total beef exports, including fresh and processed meat, edible offal and tallow, generated $1.92bn in revenue in September with volumes reaching 373,867 tonnes, up 49 percent in value and 17 percent in volume year-on-year.
“This strong performance came in the second month of additional tariffs imposed by the US on Brazilian products, showing the sector’s resilience and ability to seize new commercial opportunities,” Abrafrigo said.
Exports to the US, Brazil’s second largest beef market, fell 41 percent year-to-date in September to $102.9m.
The European Union became the second largest destination last month, led by Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. EU purchases totalled $131.7m, up 106 percent from a year earlier.
Washington, DC – Dozens of United States-based human rights, faith and policy groups have criticised President Donald Trump’s expansion of military operations in the Caribbean, warning that his administration’s new campaign could result in “a full-blown limitless war with one or more countries in the region”.
In a letter written to Congress on Wednesday, the signatories condemned a series of recent US strikes on boats in the Caribbean, including at least three originating from Venezuela, that have killed more than 20 people since September. The strikes are the first lethal US military operations in the Caribbean in decades, part of what the Trump administration calls a fight against “narcoterrorism”.
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“The Trump administration has not provided any valid legal justification for these strikes or any evidence to substantiate its claims that the victims were an imminent threat to the security of the United States,” the letter said.
Signed by nearly 60 organisations – including Oxfam America, Human Rights First, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns and the American Friends Service Committee – the letter called on members of Congress to block what it described as unauthorised and illegal uses of force.
“We fear, barring decisive action by members of Congress, there will be more strikes, more extrajudicial killings, and potentially a full-blown limitless war with one or more countries in the region, with likely devastating humanitarian and geopolitical consequences,” the letter said.
The appeal was issued before a War Powers Resolution introduced by Senators Tim Kaine and Adam Schiff was expected to reach the Senate floor on Wednesday. Schiff said he and Kaine will force a vote to block the government from carrying out lethal strikes against vessels in the Caribbean.
“If a president can unilaterally put people or groups on a list and kill them, there is no meaningful limit to his use of force,” Schiff said.
The measure seeks to halt unauthorised US military activity in the Caribbean and reassert Congress’s authority over the use of force.
Escalation and legal concerns
The New York Times reported in July that Trump signed a secret directive authorising the possibility of “direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels”.
Within weeks, US Navy warships and aircraft and more than 4,000 soldiers were deployed to the southern Caribbean. Two weeks later, the first of four strikes occurred.
To justify the escalation, the administration labelled certain regional groups like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang as “foreign terrorist organisations” and “specially designated global terrorists”. However, legal experts noted these designations do not authorise the use of military force overseas.
Administration officials have defended the escalation as a counternarcotics mission, insisting that the targeted vessels were linked to drug trafficking and “terrorist organisations”.
But according to the Washington Office on Latin America and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, about 90 percent of US-bound cocaine transits the eastern Pacific and western Caribbean, not near Venezuela’s coast. The Drug Enforcement Agency likewise reported that fentanyl entering the US is produced in Mexico using precursor chemicals from China, not Venezuela.
At the Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia this week, Trump told reporters that if traffickers “aren’t coming by sea any more”, US forces might “move the fight onto land”.
Two screengrabs from a video posted on the X account of the White House on September 15, 2025, depict what President Donald Trump says was a US military strike on a Venezuelan drug cartel vessel on its way to the US [Handout/White House via Reuters].
Regime change fears
As the administration’s rhetoric has increasingly blurred the line between targeting drug traffickers and targeting the Venezuelan state itself, civil society groups are arguing that the strikes are part of a broader strategy aimed at regime change in Venezuela. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long advocated for regime change there, has referred to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government as a cartel “masquerading as a government” and branded him a fugitive from US justice, offering up to a $50m reward for his capture.
However, internal documents obtained by the Freedom of the Press Foundation confirmed that US intelligence agencies acknowledged Maduro’s government is “not directing [Venezuela’s] Tren de Aragua’s operations in the United States”.
Alex Main, director of international policy of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, warned that Trump’s campaign “could soon be directed at Venezuela in an attempt to incite violent regime change” and other countries, such as Mexico or Panama, could also face US intervention with “potentially disastrous consequences” for the region.
Democrats on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives have also stated that “Trump and Rubio are pushing for regime change in Venezuela,” adding: “The American people don’t want another war – and Congress can’t let any president start one illegally or unilaterally. That’s not how the Constitution works.”
Elizabeth Tregaskis Gordon, senior policy advisor for LAC at Oxfam America, told Al Jazeera that many Venezuelans are already “living through crisis” and warned that an increase in US military would disrupt humanitarian work in the country.
“Many cannot access basic necessities to survive, while they face rising prices for consumer goods and increasing food insecurity,” she said. “Worsening of the humanitarian crisis will only lead to more chaos and disruption; current US military action is unconstitutional, violates the UN charter, and should cease immediately. ”
Faith communities take a stand
“War is always a defeat,” Susan Gunn, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, told Al Jazeera. “When such killing is aimed at civilians with no due process, it violates the sacredness of human life and undermines basic human rights and the rule of law.”
The letter her group and others wrote to Congress also warns that further escalation could worsen Latin America’s largest modern displacement crisis, deepening the suffering of millions of people who have already fled Venezuela.
The signatories urged Congress to reverse the military build-up, investigate civilian deaths and pursue diplomacy.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation’s general secretary, Bridget Moix, added: “War is not the answer at home or abroad.”
Egypt have booked a berth at the FIFA World Cup 2026 with an easy 3-0 win over Djibouti in Casablanca that gave them top place in Group A with one game remaining.
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah scored twice and Ibrahim Adel claimed the other goal for the Pharaohs on Wednesday, as they became the third African country after Morocco and Tunisia to book their place in next year’s finals in North America.
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Salah has scored nine goals in Egypt’s marathon qualifying campaign that began two years ago.
Egypt have competed at three previous World Cups but failed to qualify for the 2022 edition in Qatar, where Morocco had their best run as semifinalists and Tunisia were knocked out in the group stage.
Meanwhile, Thomas Partey was on the scoring sheet as Ghana trounced the Central African Republic 5-0 in Meknes, and they need one point from their final match at home to Comoros to qualify.
Mohammed Salisu, Alexander Djiku, captain Jordan Ayew, and Kamaldeen Sulemana were the other scorers for the Black Stars, who led 1-0 at half-time.
Cape Verde came from two goals behind in Tripoli to draw 3-3 with Libya and edge closer to a first World Cup appearance.
The island nation of about 550,000 inhabitants off the coast of Senegal will clinch first place in Group D if they defeat Eswatini in Praia on Monday.
Known as the Blue Sharks, the Cape Verdeans are two points ahead of Cameroon, who beat Mauritius 2-0 in Saint-Pierre with Manchester United striker Bryan Mbeumo among the goal scorers.
Cape Verde have 20 points after nine rounds, two more than Cameroon, whose eight World Cup appearances are an African record.
Cameroon, firm pre-qualifying favourites to win the group, had to secure maximum points in Mauritius to keep alive their hopes of overtaking Cape Verde, but needed 92 minutes to ensure success. They complete their schedule at home to Angola in Yaounde and must win to have any hope of automatic qualification.
Should Cape Verde finish first, Cameroon would hope to finish among the four best-ranked runners-up and qualify for the playoffs in November.
The winners of the African mini-tournament, comprising single-match semifinals and a final, advance to six-nation inter-continental playoffs next March with two World Cup places up for grabs.
Al Jazeera’s Maram Humaid remembers the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza and describes the ‘total exhaustion’ she feels as a reporter covering the suffering of Palestinians every day.
The man who attacked a synagogue in the British city of Manchester that left two Jewish worshippers dead had pledged allegiance to ISIS (ISIL) during the attack, police said.
In a statement on Wednesday, United Kingdom counterterror police revealed that the attacker, Jihad al-Shamie, called emergency services to declare he was acting for ISIS as he carried out the attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on October 2.
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“We can confirm that, in the initial stages of the attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, a call was made by the attacker to police, claiming to pledge allegiance to the so-called Islamic State,” said a spokesperson for Counter Terrorism Policing North West.
“We are continuing to investigate the full circumstances and motivation behind what happened.”
Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, made the phone call after driving a car into pedestrians and attacking people with a knife at the synagogue in the Manchester suburb of Crumpsall on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Armed officers shot dead Al-Shamie, who had appeared to be wearing an explosive belt, at the scene. Police later said the device was not viable.
Police also said an officer had accidentally shot one of the two victims killed in the attack. Adrian Daulby, 53, was accidentally shot as he and other worshippers barricaded the synagogue to prevent al-Shamie from entering.
Al-Shamie’s rampage also killed Melvin Cravitz, 66, and left three other men hospitalised with serious injuries.
Unknown to counterterror police
Last week, Laurence Taylor, the UK’s head of counterterrorism policing, said authorities believed al-Shamie may have been influenced by extreme ideology.
But he was not on the radar of counterterrorism police, nor had he been referred to the UK’s counter-radicalisation scheme, Prevent.
Police said al-Shamie had a criminal record and was on bail over an alleged rape at the time of the attack, but hadn’t been charged.
As police investigate whether al-Shamie received support in carrying out the attack, they arrested six people in the Greater Manchester area on suspicion of the “commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism”.
On Saturday, a court granted police five further days to hold four of those detained – two men aged 30 and 32, and women aged 46 and 61 – while the two others were released.
Police have not identified those arrested or their connection to al-Shamie.
The latest revelation in the case came as a trial of two men alleged to have plotted a separate ISIS-inspired attack against the Jewish community in Greater Manchester began in a court in Preston.
Somalia will begin preparations to boost teaching of the Swahili language in schools and universities, its president says.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made the announcement on Tuesday at an East African Community (EAC) summit, saying Swahili would be taught alongside the country’s official languages, Somali and Arabic, as well as English.
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The move reflects Somalia’s deeper integration with the eight-member regional bloc, which uses Swahili as an official language.
“Somalia wears many different hats,” Mohamud said at the summit in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. He explained that Somalia adopted Arabic when it joined the Arab League in 1974, teaches languages such as English and would now introduce Swahili after its membership in the East African Community (EAC).
“The country’s universities, especially the Somali National University, should focus more on developing the Swahili language, which is the language of East Africa,” Mohamud said. “Adopting Swahili is important for our integration into the region.”
Somalia joined the EAC in early 2024, entering a regional bloc of 300 million people that promotes trade and allows freedom of movement across member states stretching from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kenya.
Swahili is one of Africa’s most widely spoken languages, and it has 200 million speakers globally.
Somalia, once a British and Italian colony, retained traces of both languages in the 20th century although Italian later declined as Arabic gained ground through migration to Arab countries and Somalia’s membership in the Arab League.
English has long been taught at the higher levels of Somalia’s education system and is widely spoken by Somalis who pursue broader employment opportunities, both within the country and overseas.
While many Somalis in Kenya and Tanzania already speak Swahili, its recognition marks the language’s first official adoption within Somalia itself.
Daud Aweis, Somalia’s information minister, said in a post on X: “Swahili language & traditions are not new to Somalia; Radio Mogadishu previously featured a Swahili section, & many Somalis speak Swahili fluently.”
