Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to go on trial on suspicion of plotting a coup d’etat after failing to win re-election in 2022.
Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who presided over Brazil from 2019 to 2022, is accused of five crimes, including an alleged attempt to obliterate the democratic rule of law violently. He has called the accusations against him “grave and unfounded” and “grave and unfounded.”
A five-judge panel on Wednesday unanimously decided to trial Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro could receive a lengthy prison sentence, further isolating him, if he is found guilty in the court proceedings, which are anticipated later this year. A political heir has not been named by him.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is in charge of the case, clipped dramatic footage of Bolsonaro’s supporters storming government buildings in violent scenes just one week after the president’s inauguration in January 2023.
In part to try to sabotage the electronic voting machines in Brazil, Bolsonaro added, as part of his campaign against the election he lost.
Teresa Bo, a journalist from Buenos Aires, recalls the obscene and bloody scenes from Bolsonaro’s supporters’ inauguration in the capital Brasilia in January 2023.
Around 1,500 people were detained in the capital, according to her, “a week after Lula was sworn in, we saw thousands of supporters of President Bolsonaro storming buildings in Brazil.”
Bolsonaro voluntarily sat silently in the first row of the Supreme Court’s hearing on Tuesday, an echo of his ally, US President Donald Trump, who was at trial for the same thing last year, in a session at which the pair were charged with a charge against him and seven of his closest allies.
In order to stifle Lula’s declining popularity and pressure Congress to pass an amnesty bill in favor of him and his jailed supporters, Bolsonaro organized a beachfront rally in Rio de Janeiro in the days leading up to the landmark court hearing.
After two independent polling companies discovered that only between 20 and 30 000 people turned up, some allies speculated that the demonstration would attract more than a million backers.
Despite a ruling from Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court forbidding him from running for public office until 2030 for his efforts to discredit the country’s voting system, Bolsonaro has vowed to run for president once more next year.
Bolsonaro’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis as president has drawn in-depth legal scrutiny.
Since the revelation on March 5, Mexican media has collected numerous testimony from those who claim to have escaped Rancho Izaguirre or survived.
Many of those who spoke out made the decision to remain anonymous. They described how they were lured to the ranch from Guadalajara by false job promises in online advertisements or simply kidnapped.
One young man claimed that the ranch had been “hitman school.” Those who criticized, questioned, or failed to pass the harsh tests were put to death.
One survivor referred to it as “a little school of terror,” according to Indira Navarro, the leader of the Warrior Searchers of Jalisco, in a radio interview.
[Jared Olson/Al Jazeera] A protester lights a candle next to a pair of missing shoes on March 15.
Other documents have emerged that suggest that the town’s local authorities may have been unaware of the site’s existence but ignored it.
A report released on March 12 by the advocacy group Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity revealed that National Guard personnel had burned bodies in the same area in August 2019.
Additionally, it discovered that a regional police commissioner had attempted to bribe the National Guard by sending them a message in March 2020.
An anonymous female caller claimed that National Guard personnel would receive money in exchange “for reducing the intensity of the operations” in the area.
The highest official number of forced disappearances in Mexico is found in Jalisco. More than 15, 000 people have been reported missing in the state alone since the government began collecting data on disappearances in the 1950s.
The Teuchitlán site has been heavily inspected, but the state attorney general, Salvador Gonzalez de los Santos, claimed the area is too large to search in its entirety because of the recent uproar.
The federal government has since pointed the finger at local authorities for failing to conduct thorough investigations.
At a press conference on March 19th, Mexico Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero stated that “they failed to locate the evidence or identify anything that was discovered abandoned there.” No fingerprints or a full examination of the site were taken.
A protester in Mexico City poses a sign denouncing “mass graves, extermination centers, and slavery” [Jared Olson/Al Jazeera]
Federal and state authorities conducted a tour of the site for journalists, officials, and search team members on March 20. More than 12 buses, some with social media influencers, arrived.
However, the visit received a lot of negative reviews, not the least of which were for allowing the public to enter a persistent crime scene.
The disappearing family members also questioned why the influencers allegedly had access to the ranch before they were. Later, some of the influencers wrote online accounts disputing the existence of crematoriums on the site.
Meanwhile, President Sheinbaum has ordered federal prosecutors to begin the investigation under the leadership of Gertz Manero.
“The first thing we need to do is investigate, because the images are painful, and what happened there, before anything else,” she said.
However, some critics worry that the investigation’s leadership can be attributed to the federal authorities. After all, Sheinbaum’s mentor, former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was the man who founded the National Guard in 2019.
Federal authorities announced progress in their investigation on Monday, though.
They confirmed that a recruiter for the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación was being detained in a low-income neighborhood of Mexico City and that he had allegedly arranged for youths to be transported to the “extermination site.”
In addition to the ranch, two former police officers from a nearby village were detained.
However, reports from academics and investigative journalists suggest that the Teuchitlán ranch is a large network of training facilities in the mountains west of Guadalajara.
A separate search team announced on March 12 that it had discovered another “extermination site,” this time in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.
As protests take place on March 15 [Jared Olson/Al Jazeera] in Mexico City, police patrol the National Palace.
As the evening dipped, tensions started to escalate at the most recent protest at the Zócalo. In front of the National Palace, some demonstrators fought with police who were holding riot shields, breaking through barricades.
“Mercenaries! ” Killers”! They yelled at the president of Mexico’s palace, which is its official residence.
Sebastián Arenas, a journalist at the National Autonomous University of México, claimed that many of his fellow protesters believed Teuchitlán to be a sign of a nationwide mass murder plot.
According to him, “in the press, it’s said that things have changed in Mexico, that there aren’t disappearances, or that they’re going down, that the judicial reform is going to bring justice.”
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of not being serious about peace talks as they traded blame for attacks on infrastructure.
The renewed accusations on Wednesday came a day after the United States said Ukraine and Russia had agreed to halt military strikes on vessels in the Black Sea following separate negotiations in Saudi Arabia.
The Ukrainian air force said 117 drones were launched from Russia during an overnight attack. At least 56 of the drones were downed, 48 were lost due to electronic warfare and no damage was caused, it added.
However, the mayor of Mykolaiv said there were power outages due to the drones.
In the city of Kryvyi Rih, a Russian attack caused fires and damaged buildings, but no casualties were reported. Buildings were also reportedly damaged in the border region of Sumy, which has come under heavy attack in recent days.
The head of the military administration in Kryvyi Rih, Oleksandr Vilkul, described the drone attack as the most significant on the city, adding, “Apparently, this is how the occupiers ‘want peace’”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the overnight barrage of attacks and said it was a “clear signal to the whole world that Moscow is not going to pursue real peace”.
“Since March 11, there has been a US proposal for a total ceasefire, a complete halt to strikes. And literally every night, through its attacks, Russia keeps saying ‘no’ to our partners’ peace proposal,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Last night, there were another 117 proofs in our skies of how Russia continues to drag out this war – 117 strike drones, most of them Shaheds. A significant number were shot down by our air defenders.
Dnipro, Sumy, Cherkasy, and other regions came under Russian attack. There… pic.twitter.com/q4WTj87IHG
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defence said Ukraine carried out a drone attack on a gas storage facility on the Crimean Peninsula and a power installation in the Bryansk region, which sits on the border with Ukraine and its Sumy region.
“The Kyiv regime, while continuing to damage Russia’s civilian energy infrastructure, is actually doing everything it can to disrupt the Russian-American agreements,” it wrote.
Ukraine denied that it had targeted Russian energy infrastructure in the two regions.
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said further negotiations will be “difficult” as both sides continue to trade allegations.
“Accusations back and forth illustrate how difficult and fragile the situation is between both sides in this conflict and how difficult the task the American officials have ahead of them,” Jabbari explained.
On Tuesday, the US reached separate truce agreements with Ukraine and Russia in talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. US negotiators met separately with the Ukrainian and Russian delegations, both of which agreed to cease their attacks at sea.
The two sides also agreed “to develop measures” for implementing an agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities, the White House said.
The US also agreed to push for lifting some Western sanctions on Russian food, fertiliser and shipping in the Black Sea.
The Kremlin said “a number of conditions” must be met before the Black Sea deal can be implemented, including restoring links between some Russian banks and the international financial system.
However, a spokesperson for the European Union said on Wednesday that one of the main conditions to lift or amend Russian sanctions would be “the end of the Russian unprovoked and unjustified aggression in Ukraine and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces”.
On Wednesday evening, Zelenskyy met French President Emmanuel Macron before a gathering of world leaders on Thursday that has been billed as a “coalition of the willing”, which plans to set out security guarantees for Ukraine in any peace deal.
During a press conference, Macron said it was “too early” to lift Russian sanctions.
“Ultimately, sanctions depend solely on Russia’s choice of aggression, and therefore, their lifting depends solely on Russia’s choice to comply with international law,” he said.
Macron also announced “two billion euros ($2.15bn) in extra military support to Ukraine”, adding that the support would include anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles, armoured vehicles and drones.
In the meantime, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned in Warsaw on Wednesday that the Western defence alliance would respond with a “devastating” blow to any attack by Russia on Poland or another ally.
Separately on Wednesday, a court in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don convicted 23 Ukrainians on “terrorism” charges in a trial that Kyiv denounced as a sham and a violation of international law.
In response to widespread anti-government demonstrations in recent days, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the opposition of promoting “anarchy” in Israel, while opposition leader Yair Lapid has demanded a “revolt” if the government refuses to accept the Supreme Court’s decisions.
Netanyahu said, “You recycle the same worn-out and ridiculous slogans about the end of democracy,” as he addressed the opposition in a speech to parliament on Wednesday. Once and for all, democracy is not in danger; it is actually in the bureaucrats’ power.
“Perhaps you could stop putting spanners in the government’s tools in the middle of a war”? You might be able to stop “the street gangs, hatred, and anarchy.” he continued.
In addition to resuming strikes in Gaza without any regard for the captives in the besieged enclave, thousands of Israelis have participated in several days of antigovernment demonstrations, accusing Netanyahu of undermining democracy by ousting Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet internal security agency.
Netanyahu and the Shin Bet chief, who are allegedly conducting a bribery investigation into the prime minister’s office, are locked in a fight over “trust,” according to Netanyahu. The two men have been at odds with one another for the past two years as a result of bitter disagreements over how to stop the southern Israel attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
A large coalition of anti-Netanyahu organizations, which claim the Israeli leader is trying to stay in power at all costs, organized the demonstrations that started last week.
After several appeals, including those brought by opposition leader Yair Lapid’s center-right Yesh Atid party, the Supreme Court halted Bar’s dismissal.
What critics believe are Netanyahu’s two main causes of his opposition’s appeal:
The government was criticised for the security failure that made Hamas’s most deadly day in country history on October 7, 2023, a critical day for the country.
The second was alleged to have been the result of a Shin Bet investigation into Netanyahu’s close associates on suspicion of having money dealing with Qatar, according to the opposition’s appeal.
The accusations have been labeled “fake news,” according to Netanyahu’s office.
calling for “revolt.”
If the government of Netanyahu refused to accept the verdicts of the country’s Supreme Court, Yair Lapid, the leader of the Israeli opposition called for a “revolt” against it.
According to Lapid, “a government that doesn’t follow the rules of the court is a criminal government that ought to be followed,” Lapid said on local radio 103FM.
“We must shut down the country, and that would be the end of everything,” the government said.
The first step in the process to remove her was a vote of no confidence that Israel’s cabinet received on Sunday against Baharav-Miara, the country’s attorney general.
The attorney general’s job is characterized by “significant and prolonged differences between the government and the government’s legal adviser,” according to Netanyahu’s office.
A special rapporteur for the UN has endorsed Afghanistan’s national women’s football team, who calls on athletes from all over the world to show their solidarity in their struggle to be eliminated from World Cup qualifying events since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.
Many of the team’s members emigrated from the country at the time because they feared persecution.
Due to FIFA regulations that require national federations recognition, and the Taliban-controlled Afghan Football Federation that forbids women from playing, the women’s team has since been unable to compete internationally.
The Taliban claims that it adheres to Islamic law’s and local customs’ interpretation of women’s rights and that local issues should be resolved.
Mursal Sadat, the captain of the Afghan national team, highlighted the importance of global cooperation in the fight for gender equality in sport at a press conference hosted by the Sports &, Rights Alliance on Tuesday.
It’s time for us to unite together, if there is one thing I would ask of the athletes from all over the world. And it’s about time that women back other women, she said.
Because you guys have a voice to use and that platform to be used, it would give us a lot of inspiration and support.
Even a short video posted by athletes on social media would, according to Sadat, represent Afghans’ collective resistance to gender-based violence.
UN Special Representative for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, stated on Wednesday that he supported Afghan women footballers’ calls for FIFA to step up.
Sports & Rights Alliance has urged FIFA to take a strong stand against gender oppression and allow Afghan women footballers who are exiled from international competition to play there, Bennett wrote on X.
Khalida Popal, the former national team’s founder, stated that the players are merely seeking cooperation from the international body of football.
Because we are not fighting against FIFA or any other organization, Popal said, “our platform is sport – together with everyone, with the media, with individuals, with organizations, with governing bodies, with the media, with the media, with the public, with governing bodies, and with us.”
“We want to work together to find the best solutions by using Afghanistan as an example to ensure that other countries and other countries don’t face the same challenges that we have.”
Top US government officials shared what it claimed were “attack plans” against Yemen’s Houthi rebels in a group discussion that unintentionally included the media outlet’s editor-in-chief.
The administration of US President Donald Trump sought to underplay the significance of the texts shared on the Signal messaging app, according to The Atlantic, which led to the release on Wednesday.
The most significant messages that have just been released appear to have been sent on March 15 from a source that appears to be Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense.
They include the dates of the strikes, the types of aircraft used, and early indications of the Houthis’ effectiveness. According to Houthi officials, the attacks claimed the lives of numerous children and women.
The Hegseth account posted:
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”
“1345: “Trigger Based” F-18 First Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is@his Known Location, SHOULD BE ON TIME; see also “Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)”).
“1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)”
“1415: Strike Drones on Target (THE FIRST BOMBS WILL FINALLY DROP, pending earlier “Trigger Based” targets)”
The first sea-based Tomahawks to be launched is the 1536 F-18 2nd Strike Start.
“MORE TO FOLLOW (PER TIMES)”
“We are currently operational security clean on OPSEC”
Godspeed, our warriors.
According to The Atlantic, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz later sent a text with real-time information about conditions at a place believed to be in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
“VP. The structure fell. had a number of positive identification. Hegseth, General Michael E. Kurilla, the commander of Central Command, and the intelligence community, or IC, is reportedly a reference to the message, which read, “Pete, Kurilla, the IC, amazing job.”
What?, which appeared to be a query from US Vice President JD Vance, was written in an account that the Waltz account responded with “Typing too quickly. We had positive ID for the first target, the top missile guy from their girlfriend’s building, which has since collapsed.
Massive breach
Two days after The Atlantic published an article from editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg detailing his involvement in a group discussion involving high-level government officials discussing military actions against the Houthis, the transcript of the texts was released.
The chat’s events were briefly described in the report on Monday. If an adversary of the United States had read the information contained there, it might have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, Goldberg wrote.
The article almost immediately went viral as a result of its publication. Questions were raised about whether the text messages would be preserved, as required by federal records laws, and why sensitive information was discussed on a non-government platform.
However, US officials repeatedly denied that any classified information had been included in the chat on Tuesday, as they tried to throw the scandal out of the water.
At a meeting of US ambassadors, Trump claimed, “No classified information, as I understand it.” We’ve looked into it pretty much. To be honest, it’s fairly straightforward. It’s simply a possibility, not a fact.
The Atlantic criticized its most recent report, saying that no classified material was sent to the thread. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also criticized the paper on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, she wrote on X that “this entire story was another hoax written by a Trump-hater who is well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
Democrats have since called on Hegseth and other senior Trump administration officials to step down in response to the leaked conversation.
Senator Mark Kelly wrote on social media that the Signal incident was the result of having the most unqualified Secretary of Defense we’ve ever seen. We’re fortunate that no servicemembers lost their lives, but Secretary Hegseth needs to step down for the safety of our military and our nation.
According to Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost, it is “clear that this was a massive breach of our national security” according to the most recent report from The Atlantic.
Waltz and Hegseth must be fired immediately, according to he wrote on X. “Had this very specific plan gotten in the wrong hands, Americans would be dead right now,” he wrote.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed the Trump administration’s position in the face of the growing outcry on Wednesday.
The National Security Council immediately informed the White House Council that they were looking into how a reporter’s number was accidentally included in this messaging threat, according to Leavitt.
“We have made it clear from the beginning that no classified material was posted in this messaging thread.” No sources, methods, or locations were disclosed, and no war plans were discussed.
She added that Goldberg was “an anti-Trump hater” according to the White House.
Waltz admitted to “building the group” on Signal in an interview with Fox the night before, adding that he took “full responsibility.”
