Category World News

Sao Paulo, Brazil – The lower house of Brazil’s Congress has passed a bill that could reduce former President Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup.

The contentious vote came in the early hours of Wednesday, after a protest by a left-wing congressman triggered a fight involving lawmakers, police and journalists.

The bill, which the Senate must now approve, aims to reduce the sentences of more than 1,000 people involved in the attacks on January 8, 2023, which saw Bolsonaro’s supporters storm government headquarters in Brasilia.

Its beneficiaries would include Bolsonaro and several ministers and military officials who were convicted alongside the ex-president for plotting to hold onto power after losing the 2022 elections.

The bill was brought to a vote late on Tuesday night, prompting outrage from its opponents. The scene inside the Chamber of Deputies quickly devolved into chaos, with pushing and shoving between lawmakers.

Glauber Braga, a left-wing congressman opposed to the bill, attempted to block the vote by sitting in the chamber president’s chair, before being forcibly removed by police.

Tulio Amancio, a Brazilian reporter from the network TV Band, witnessed the scuffle. He told Al Jazeera that journalists were forcibly expelled from the chamber, and the live television signal was cut.

When Braga was removed, Amancio said journalists rushed towards the congressman to film the scene. Police started shouting — “Open up! Open up!” — as they pushed their way through the crowd of reporters.

Amancio added that “colleagues were assaulted” by police in the hubbub.

“There’s always pushing and shoving. There’s always some kind of confusion. It’s part of political coverage involving authorities, but physical aggression in the way it happened this Tuesday, unfortunately, will be remembered as a sad chapter in this story here in Congress,” Amancio said.

Maria do Rosario, a congresswoman from the left-wing Workers’ Party, voted against the bill. She criticised the chamber president, Hugo Motta, for his handling of the protest, including his decision to call congressional police to remove Braga.

“He was treated with profound violence,” she told Al Jazeera. “He was dragged out, and at the same time, this agenda that President Hugo Motta has put forward is a disgrace that undermines democracy.”

In a statement shared over social media, Motta argued that Braga’s actions disrespected the legislative branch.

He also appeared critical of the police reaction, saying he has ordered an “investigation into possible excesses regarding press coverage”.

“We must protect democracy from shouting, from authoritarian gestures, from intimidation disguised as a political act,” Motta wrote.

Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019 to 2023, was found guilty in September on five charges, including one count of seeking the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

He and his supporters have refused to acknowledge his defeat in the 2022 presidential race, which saw the election of current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Since November, the popular far-right president has been held in the federal police headquarters in Brasilia.

Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the jailed president’s eldest son, announced on December 5 he will run for president in 2026.

Days later, he suggested he would renounce his candidacy if his father were freed from prison and called on Motta to hold a vote on Wednesday’s sentence-reduction bill. The senator later retracted his offer to drop out of the race.

“The price was his father’s freedom,” said Rosario, echoing widespread speculation about Flavio Bolsonaro’s comments.

Storm Byron is threatening to heap new miseries on Palestinians in Gaza, with families making distress calls from flooded tents and hundreds of others fleeing their shelters in search of dry ground as the fierce winter storm lashes heavy rains on the besieged territory.

Officials warned Wednesday that the storm was forecast to bring flash floods, strong winds and hail until Friday, conditions expected to wreak havoc in a territory in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in tents, temporary structures, or damaged buildings after two years of Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Humanitarian workers said Israeli restrictions on the entry of tents, tools to repair water and sewage systems have left Gaza poorly equipped to respond to the storm, and called on the international community to pressure the Netanyahu government to urgently allow in supplies.

In the southern city of Rafah, the Palestinian Civil Defence said its teams had already received distress calls from displacement camps, with families reporting “flooded tents and families trapped inside by heavy rains”.

“Despite limited resources and a lack of necessary equipment, our teams are working tirelessly to reach those in need and provide assistance,” the rescue agency said on Telegram.

Footage posted on social media and verified by Al Jazeera showed Palestinians shovelling a ditch around tents in a desperate attempt to create barriers that would prevent them from flooding.

Displacement camps at risk

Nearly 850,000 people sheltering in 761 displacement sites face the highest risk of flooding, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Flooding has previously been recorded at more than 200 of the highest-risk sites, affecting more than 140,000 people, the office said.

Previous storms had contaminated displacement sites with sewage and solid waste, swept away families’ tents and driven them out of makeshift shelters.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said that UN  agencies and local authorities were warning that any significant rainfall could have devastating consequences for Gaza’s population, with the displacement camps built on barren, open terrain that would be highly susceptible to flooding.

The tents available to people were typically flimsy, unreinforced and often torn, he said, offering negligible protection from heavy rains, which were likely to seriously damage whatever possessions families had left.

Risk of water contamination, disease

Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs network, said Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid and equipment had left Gaza ill-equipped to deal with the storm.

He said only 40,000 tents, out of a needed 300,000, had been allowed in, while tools that would likely be needed to repair sewage systems and water networks were also restricted.

Flooding would bring a serious risk of sewage and solid waste contaminating drinking water or food supplies, raising the risk of diseases in the densely populated Strip, where 2.2 million people are crammed into just 43 percent of the territory, while the remaining 57 percent remains under Israeli military control.

“If Israel were to allow the entrance of supplies, things would be different. But for now, it has done all it can to make life more complicated for Palestinians,” Shawa said.

Oxfam humanitarian response adviser Chris McIntosh agreed, telling Al Jazeera that the people of Gaza were bracing for a “very tragic situation”.

“Persistent bureaucracy prevented us from bringing in adequate dwellings for people in Gaza,” McIntosh said. “The Israelis have not permitted tents to enter Gaza for many months. The only thing they’re allowing at this point is some tarpaulin, which isn’t going to do much for people who need proper shelter.”

He said Palestinians were being forced to live in “deplorable conditions”, with well more than 50 percent of the population living in tents.

He anticipated many would attempt to find dry ground inside bombed-out buildings that were at heightened risk of collapse amid the forecast heavy rains and winds.

Families flee flooding risk

Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, warned that vulnerable groups, including newborn children, are at particular risk from the incoming winter storm.

About 200 families were expected to arrive at a new displacement site in eastern Khan Younis in the south of the Strip, fleeing a heightened risk of flooding in their present location, he said.

“These households made the decision to move given the impact of the frequent rains and the risk of flooding,” he said.

Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, told Al Jazeera that about 288,000 Palestinian families were without shelter as Storm Byron bore down on the enclave, and issued a call to the international community to pressure Israel to allow in supplies to help respond to the storm.

“We are issuing an urgent appeal to the world, [United States] President Trump and the [United Nations] Security Council to pressure the Israeli occupation,” he said.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, condemned global inaction as families in Gaza braced for the storm.

“Palestinians in Gaza are literally left alone, freezing and starving in the winter storm,” she posted on X.

As US military presence grows once again in Puerto Rico, old wounds resurface.

Erling Haaland scored his 34th goal for club and country this season to give Manchester City a 2-1 win at Real Madrid and leave Xabi Alonso’s position as coach of the Spanish giants in grave danger.

Without injured superstar Kylian Mbappe, Madrid took the lead on Wednesday through Rodrygo, but Nico O’Reilly and a Haaland penalty secured Pep Guardiola’s City the three points.

Spanish media reported in the lead-up to the game that a defeat would seal Alonso’s fate as Madrid coach, although his team’s performance was creditable, despite the eventual outcome at a frustrated Bernabeu stadium.

The record 15-time Champions League winners have now won just two of their last eight matches across all competitions, and face a battle for a place in the top eight of the league phase table.

Alonso was forced to leave his team’s top scorer, Mbappe, on the bench, saying it would have been “a risk” to use him amid knee discomfort, and starting 21-year-old striker Gonzalo Garcia instead.

Madrid knocked out City in last season’s Champions League playoff round in February, as Mbappe scored four of their goals in the 6-3 aggregate win.

This was the 15th meeting between these sides, in what has become a modern Champions League classic, and it started at lightning speed, with Vinicius Junior heavily involved in the opening exchanges.

Madrid’s Brazilian forward was felled by Matheus Nunes with the referee pointing to the spot, but a VAR review showed the contact was outside the area.

Fede Valverde’s ferocious free kick was deflected wide by O’Reilly, before Vinicius dinked just wide of goal after Rodrygo found him with a perfect low cross, which coaxed City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma off his line.

It was deserved when the hosts took the lead in the 28th minute, with Rodrygo finishing a move started by Alvaro Carreras at the other end of the pitch.

Madrid broke forward, and Jude Bellingham fed the Brazilian, who finished early and low, across Donnarumma and into the far corner.

It was his first goal in 33 games, ending a barren and frustrating spell for Rodrygo, and also his fifth against City. In 2022, his stunning late brace helped Madrid defeat Guardiola’s side in the semifinals.

Madrid’s opening half-hour was close to perfect, but City pulled level out of the blue after a mistake from Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

The keeper could not hold on to Josko Gvardiol’s header, and O’Reilly gratefully tapped home the loose ball in the 35th minute.

Guardiola was not pleased with his team’s first-half display, but they went in ahead after Antonio Rudiger held Haaland in the back, and City were awarded a penalty.

The Norwegian striker, who will face Mbappe’s France at the World Cup next summer, sent Courtois the wrong way from the spot.

Courtois made amends for his earlier error with a fine double save to thwart Haaland and Rayan Cherki before the break, and Jeremy Doku after it.

England international Bellingham might have levelled for Madrid, but chipped over after Rodrygo cleverly slipped him in.

Alonso brought on Arda Guler for Garcia and shifted Bellingham into a central attacking role, of the kind he enjoyed under Carlo Ancelotti in his spectacular first season with Madrid.

The Basque coach also turned to youngster Endrick, whom he has hardly utilised at all since arriving, and the 19-year-old headed inches over the crossbar with five minutes to go.

Madrid were short of ideas in the second half and may look to another coach for new ones in the coming days

Haaland told TNT Sports that it was a tough place to come and get a result.

“We had lots of chances, but the game was chaotic, and we struggled to control it,” he said. “These are the games you want to play, and with this new format, you get to play more UCL games. I like it.”

Guardiola said his side is still in transition and is not yet equipped to win the Champions League.

“In February, we will be much better, but one wrong pass and we lose today,” he said.

“The players made an incredible effort, and the spirit is unbelievable, but there is still some way to go.”

Bellingham defended Alonso after the game, saying he has a “great relationship” with the Madrid boss.

“After a run of draws, we thought we would go on a run after that, but we know we need to pick up again and take it on the chin,” Bellingham said.