Category World News

According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington will restrict access to Brazilian justice officials and their immediate families due to what he called a “political witch-hunt” against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

Rubio accused Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of starting a “persecution and censorship complex” that “violates Brazilian fundamental rights and extends beyond Brazil’s borders to target Americans.”

Without providing further information on who would be subject to the measures, Moraes and his allies on the court, as well as their immediate family members, were given the order to immediately have their visas revoked, he said.

The US has revoked visas from seven more Brazilian Supreme Court justices, according to Brazilian newspaper O Globo, without citing its source. The only Supreme Court judges who are unaffected, if they are accurate, would be Judge Luiz Fux and Justices Mendonca and Nunes Marques, both of whom were appointed by Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro was barred from speaking with foreign officials by Brazil’s Supreme Court on Friday after it was claimed he courted US President Donald Trump over his interference in court proceedings against him. The US followed suit by Brazil’s Supreme Court, which on Friday issued search warrants and restraining orders against him.

In a statement, Moraes claimed Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019 to 2023, had attacked Brazil’s sovereignty by encouraging the interference of the “head of state of a foreign nation” in its courts.

Bolsonaro’s trial is centered on allegations that he plotted a coup to overthrow current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s victory in the 2023 election. Bolsonaro could spend decades in prison if found guilty of other charges, including the coup charge, which is punishable by a 12-year sentence.

Bolsonaro is now prohibited from contacting foreign officials, contacting embassies, or using social media to communicate with him. Additionally, it was forbidden to speak with important allies, including Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman who was trying to win his father’s support in Washington.

Following Moraes’ ruling that there is a “concrete possibility” that he will attempt to flee the country, federal police also raided Bolsonaro’s residence and headquarters.

Bolsonaro is known as the “Trump of the Tropics.”

Moraes was called a “dictator” by Bolsonaro in a statement to the Reuters news agency on Friday, and he also described the court’s actions as “cowardice.”

When asked about wearing an ankle monitor, he responded, “I feel absolutely humiliated.” “I am 70 years old. He continued, “I served as the republic’s president for four years.

A five-judge panel of Supreme Court judges upheld Moraes’ decision on Friday afternoon.

Bolsonaro added that he thought the court’s orders were a response to Trump’s criticism of his trial, which is the most recent indication that Washington’s interventions may be causing harm rather than good to the former president.

Bolsonaro said he would meet with Trump if his passport, which was taken by police last year, was returned, despite saying he denied that he intended to leave.

White House spokesman Anna Kelly said Bolsonaro and his supporters are “under attack from a weaponized court system” when questioned about his most recent remarks.

Since the US leader’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, Trump has remained close to ideological ally Bolsonaro, also known as the “Trump of the Tropics.”

Trump lamented the “terrible treatment” of the criticized former president by an “unjust system turned against you” in a letter he sent to Bolsonaro on Truth Social on Thursday.

Trump also threatened earlier this month to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods starting August 1 by calling on Lula’s government to abandon Bolsonaro’s charges.

According to Lula, “any measure to increase tariffs unilaterally will be responded to in accordance with Brazil’s Law of Economic Reciprocity.”

In addition to putting Trump’s threatened tariffs in the country’s judicial system in the court’s decision, Moraes also claimed that the move was intended to cause a grave economic crisis in Brazil.

Residents and local authorities in Nigeria’s northwest have reported that at least nine people have been killed and many have been kidnapped as a result of an attack, according to local officials and residents.

The deadly attack occurred in Zamfara state on Friday, the scene of numerous attacks by heavily armed bandits who have recently harmed thousands, killed hundreds, and made it unsafe to travel by road in Nigeria’s northwest.

Local lawmaker Hamisu Faru confirmed the attack to the Reuters news agency, claiming that there were “no fewer than 100 people at risk, including women and children.”

They are reportedly abducting people from house to house, according to Faru, who is speaking to you right now.

According to Yahaya Yari Abubakar, the political director of the Talata Mafara district where the attack took place, at least 15 local people were abducted, out of which nine were killed overall.

The victims, according to Abu Zaki, a resident of the district’s Jangebe village, included three residents, the village’s vigilante self-defence group, and his five coworkers.

Bello Ahmadu, a resident who corroborated the reported death toll, said, “Everyone is now afraid of going to the farm for fear of being attacked.”

The massive abduction of almost 300 female students from a boarding school took place in Jangebe village in 2021. Following the release of the girls, authorities demanded a ransom.

Mohammed Usman, a resident there, claimed that the attackers had been under siege for close to two hours before capturing them. He claimed that the village has now seen the departure of thousands of residents.

The Zamfara police did not respond to comments requests right away.

In an unrest that has spanned herders and farmers over land and resources into a larger conflict fueled by arms trafficking, Nigeria’s bandits have established camps in a vast forest that borders Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states.

In order to assist the military in defeating the bandits, Zamfara’s state government has recruited vigilantes and armed militias.

What’s going on with Saturday, July 19?

Fighting

According to officials, Russian drones and glide bombs killed several Ukrainians on Friday, including a 52-year-old train driver from the Dnipropetrovsk region, a 66-year-old woman from Kostiantynivka, and a 64-year-old man who was killed in a glide bomb attack on a building site in the Zaporizhia region.
• At least one multistory apartment building has been set on fire by Russian forces in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, according to the city’s mayor, Gennadiy Trukhanov, who was there early on Saturday. In the early hours of this morning, at least 20 drones gathered in front of the city.
• 10 Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow overnight on Friday were intercepted or destroyed by Russian air defenses, according to Sergei Sobyanin, the city’s mayor.
• Oleksandr Syrskii, the head of Ukraine’s top military, stated that his forces are standing firm in defending the city of Pokrovsk, a logistics hub in the eastern Donetsk region that has withstanded months of Russian attacks, and the settlement of Novopavlivka in the Zaporizhia region.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the troops defending Pokrovsk, stating that any advance by Russian forces “to enter Ukrainian cities and villages” has no “chance of survival.”
• Authorities in the Russian-controlled Crimea have implemented a data blackout to stop Ukrainian drone, missile, and sabotage attacks. The head of Crimea under Russian rule Sergei Aksyonov said he had signed a decree forbidding social media users from publishing photos, videos, or other information that revealed the presence of Russian forces or details of Ukrainian attacks on the Black Sea peninsula.

military assistance

• As part of a 245 million Australian dollars ($160 million) package, the Australian government announced that it had given Ukraine M1A1 Abrams tanks as part of their ongoing war.
• Germany will now be able to get the next Patriot air defense systems off US production lines before Switzerland. Berlin will now be able to send two Patriot batteries to Ukraine thanks to the expedited delivery, according to a report in the US media.
• According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, leaders in Ukraine and Washington are in close consultation over a deal involving US funding of Kyiv’s domestic drone production. She added that the US would eventually acquire “a sizable number of Ukrainian drones” as a result of the agreement.
• In a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, President Zelenskyy said he had discussions about funding interceptor drones and missile supplies to counteract Russian attacks. Zelenskyy said on X, “I would like to especially draw attention to our agreement on pilot training for Mirage jets. France is willing to train additional pilots using additional aircraft.”

Sanctions

Russia’s oil and energy industry was given fresh blows by the European Union’s sanctions against it for its war in Ukraine, which are intended to exacerbate the country’s oil and energy sector.
• Eighteen Russian military intelligence officers, known as the GRU, and three units were subject to sanctions from the United Kingdom for their involvement in a 2022 bombing that killed hundreds of civilians in a southern Ukrainian theater. Additionally, the officers were accused of attempting to reach out to the family of a former Russian spy who had been poisoned with a nerve agent in the UK later.
• President Zelenskyy thanked the European Union for the most recent sanctions imposed on Russia and demanded that Moscow take additional sanctions. He said, “This decision is crucial and appropriate, especially now, as we respond to the fact that Russia has increased the brutality of the strikes on our cities and villages.”
• Dmitry Medvedev, the ex-President of Russia, predicted that Moscow would increase its strikes against Ukraine and that the Russian economy would support the EU sanctions. After Brussels punished Russia with sanctions that included a Rosneft oil refinery in Gujarat, India has declared it opposes “unilateral sanctions” by the EU.
• Russian oil exports are expected to continue despite the EU’s new wave of stricter sanctions, according to shipping sources, according to Reuters news agency.
• A lawmaker in Moscow who oversees the IT industry warned that the messaging app owned by Meta Platforms is very likely to be included on a list of restricted software in Russia on Friday, saying WhatsApp should prepare to leave the country.

diplomacy and politics

The Kremlin expressed doubt that Donald Trump’s tougher stance toward Russia over its conflict in Ukraine will put an end to US-Russian discussions aimed at restoring their shattered ties.
• The Kremlin added that it concurred with Zelenskyy’s statement that peace negotiations between the two conflicting countries needed to take longer.
• Rustem Umerov, the former head of the nation’s National Security and Defence Council, was appointed by Zelenskyy in a decree released on Friday on the president’s website. Following the appointment of a new prime minister and the reshuffle of the Ukrainian government, Umerov was appointed.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke about Ukraine on Friday, according to the Kremlin’s press service. Putin thanked Erdogan for facilitating Russian-Ukraine bilateral discussions and said Russia was “committed to a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.”
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has doubted whether Ukraine will be able to join the EU by 2034, claiming that it was unlikely to do so until the bloc’s medium-term finance plans, which run until 2034, were in doubt. If Kyiv continues to implement its reforms, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that the country could join the EU before 2030.
• In connection with a large-scale anti-Israel protest held at an airport in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region in October 2023, Russian courts on Friday handed down 135 lengthy prison sentences, according to the country’s Investigative Committee. Israel’s occupation of Gaza sparked a flurry of protests at an airport in Makhachkala, where a plane from Tel Aviv had just arrived.

Regional security

• According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, a senior US general’s recent remarks about NATO’s ability to capture Kaliningrad’s Russian Baltic exclave have been viewed as hostile by Russia. According to a report, US Army Europe and Africa commander General Christopher Donahue claimed that NATO could seize Kaliningrad “from the ground in a time that is unprecedented and faster than we’ve ever been able to do”
• A new survey found that only 16% of those in the fighting age are willing to take up arms, compared to a third of Italians who predict a war to start within five years.
• According to the Center for Social Investment Studies survey, 39 percent of Italians between the ages of 18 and 45 would declare themselves to be pacifist conscientious objectors, 19 percent would try to avoid conscription in another way, and 26 percent would prefer that Italy employ foreign mercenaries.

As he attempts to stop the growing scandal surrounding the Epstein case from spreading even further and threatens to do him significant political harm, Trump filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of Florida on Friday.

In addition, Trump gave instructions to the US Justice Department to file a motion in Manhattan federal court to release grand jury transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell, his former associate, who was found guilty of five federal counts related to her involvement in the sexual abuse of underage girls.

Trump accuses Dow Jones, News Corp., Murdoch, and two Wall Street Journal reporters of defaming each other because of their unfavorable actions that cost him significant financial and reputational losses. The newspaper’s parent company, Dow Jones, is a division of News Corp.

Trump stated on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday morning that he was looking forward to having Rupert Murdoch testify in my lawsuit against him and his “pile of garbage” newspaper, the WSJ. That will be a fascinating experience! “!

Dow Jones, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, responded by saying it will “vigorously defend” Trump’s legal action.

A Dow Jones spokesman said, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and we will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”

Trump denies having a lewd Epstein birthday message.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s signature was delivered to Epstein for one of his birthday celebrations on Thursday.

The letter, which the newspaper claimed had a lewd handwritten reference to a woman and the words “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret,” also had Donald’s signature.

Trump criticized the newspaper after the publication and denied sending the letter to Epstein.

The controversy surrounding the now-deceased high-profile figure who committed suicide in prison has sparked conspiracy theories, particularly among Trump’s far-right supporters.

When US Attorney General Pam Bondi reversed his election campaign promise to release court records, some of whom claimed contained damning revelations about Epstein and his alleged elite clientele, Trump supporters were furious last week.

In a New York jail cell in 2019, Epstein committed suicide. Many of Trump’s supporters think the government is keeping Epstein’s ties to the wealthy and powerful, and others don’t think he died by himself.

According to a Justice Department memo from July 7 that Epstein committed suicide, there is “no incriminating client list” or proof that he blackmailed prominent people.

However, Bondi, the US attorney general, had already promised months ago to reveal significant details about Epstein, including “a lot of names” and “a lot of flight logs,” before changing his tune. The Justice Department requested on Friday that the court release transcripts of the case, according to Bondi’s Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who stated that the public was interested in the Epstein case.

Following days of sectarian bloodshed and air strikes in Syria’s southwest Suwayda region, US ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, announced that the two countries have reached a ceasefire.

Early on Saturday, Barrack claimed in a post on X that Turkiye, Jordan, and Syria’s neighbors “embraced” and “supported” the ceasefire between Syria and Israel.

In a statement announcing the ceasefire, Barrack urged the US to “put down their weapons and work with other minorities to create a new and prosperous Syrian identity with its neighbors.”

Syrian or Israeli officials have not yet made any comments.

According to an Israeli official who declined to be identified, Israel had agreed to allow the “limited entry of the]Syrian internal security forces into Suwayda district for the next 48 hours” in light of the “ongoing instability in southwest Syria.”

Israel launched heavy airstrikes on Syria’s Ministry of Defense in Damascus on Wednesday, striking both Syrian government forces in the country’s Suwayda region.

In Suwayda, where ethnically charged clashes between Druze and Bedouin armed groups and government forces have reportedly left hundreds dead, Israel claims to have launched attacks to protect Syria’s Druze minority.

The Druze, who are reportedly one million in Syria and 150, 000 in Israel, are described by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “brothers.”

Druze leaders and the Syrian government reached a ceasefire agreement on Wednesday through the US, Turkiye, and Arab nations. However, Israel launched airstrikes on Syria the same day, causing at least three fatalities and 34 other injuries.

In a televised speech on Thursday morning, interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa stated that while Syria was wary of fighting with Israel, it was concerned about protecting its Druze citizens and their rights.

Al-Sharaa added that Syria would withstand Israel’s aggression’s attempts to splinter the nation.

The administration of President Donald Trump’s administration is pressing harder to fulfill campaign promises to gun rights organizations, which allege that restrictions on gun ownership violate the Second Amendment of the Constitution. In February, Trump mandated a review of the government’s gun laws.

Gun control advocates have meanwhile expressed concerns about the administration’s ability to accurately determine who convicted of crimes would not be a threat to public safety.

Regardless of whether they actually pose a threat, people with serious criminal convictions have been disenfranchised from exercising the right to keep and bear arms, which is a right that is constitutionally equivalent to the right to vote, the right to free speech, and the right to free exercise of religion.

She continued, “No longer.”

Bondi wants to reclaim the authority to choose whom to turn over weapons to her office in the plan.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is currently in charge of overseeing that exemption process. However, Congress has relied on its spending authority for decades to halt the processing of exemption requests.

The proposed change, according to the Department of Justice, “will keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals and illegal aliens while providing citizens whose firearm rights are currently under legal disability” have an option to regain those rights.

According to the department, the US attorney general would have “ultimate discretion” to grant relief.

Some people would be “presumptively ineligible” for the restoration of their gun rights, according to the statement, “absent extraordinary circumstances.” “violent felons, registered sex offenders, and illegal aliens” are some of them.

A “proposed rule” was submitted to the Federal Register on Friday, outlining the strategy. Before being adopted, it will go through a final public comment period.

US Pardon Attorney Edward Martin Jr. stated in a statement on Friday that his team was already creating a “landing page with a sophisticated, user-friendly platform for Americans petitioning for the return of their gun rights,” which will make the process simpler for them.

Brady, a gun control organization, was one of the groups that voiced opposition when details of Bondi’s plan first surfaced in March.

The group’s president, Kris Brown, stated in a statement that “if and when gun rights are restored to an individual, it needs to be through a robust and thoughtful system that minimizes the risk to public safety.”

She added that the administration’s decision to grant gun rights to those who were found guilty of a crime and later pardoned for their role in the US Capitol’s destruction on January 6, 2021 raised questions about how it would exercise its discretion.