Brazil Supreme Court orders house arrest of ex-President Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro is standing trial for allegedly plotting a coup in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election.
Last month, the Supreme Court found that Bolsonaro had asked the US government to sanction personnel at the Brazilian court in a bid to stop proceedings in his trial.
The Supreme Court imposed restrictions on him, including use of social media as well as nighttime and weekend house arrest.
On Monday, the court said that Bolsonaro had since continued to disseminate messages through the social media accounts of his children and political supporters.
The top court issued a stricter order to place him under house arrest and prohibit him from using cell phones.
The decision comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to raise tariffs on Brazil to 50 percent, citing what he described as political persecution of Bolsonaro.
Known to have close ties with Bolsonaro, Trump has been ramping up political pressure on Brazil's government.
But it remains adamant that it will not yield to such pressure.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Diplomat
6 hours ago
- The Diplomat
Philippine House Seeks Reversal of Supreme Court Ruling on VP's Impeachment
The Philippine House of Representatives has challenged a recent Supreme Court ruling nullifying its impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, filing a Motion for Reconsideration urging the court to reverse its ruling. Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives in February for 'violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.' These include alleged corruption, involvement in extrajudicial killings, and a threat to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. However, in a unanimous ruling on July 25, the Supreme Court said that the impeachment had violated a constitutional rule known as the 'one-year bar,' which states that only one impeachment proceeding may be initiated against any official within one year. In its motion to the Court, which was filed on Monday, lawyers for the House argued that impeachment 'is primarily a political process, as emphasized by the Constitution's entrusting it to Congress and not to the Judiciary.' It added, 'Thus, any ruling of this Honorable Court on impeachment must reflect impeachment's true nature. It must give due deference to the branch of government to whom impeachment is entrusted.' The Supreme Court argued that the House violated the one-year bar by accepting and archiving three prior impeachment complaints, and that the fourth should have been barred. But the House motion claimed that this was the result of a factual error, and 'it is rather the fourth impeachment complaint which barred all other impeachment complaints from being initiated.' In a video statement on Monday, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of President Marcos, said that the motion was 'an exercise in constitutional stewardship – an affirmation that every branch must act with fidelity to the Charter that gives us all our power.' He added, 'We act not to provoke a clash of institutions, but to prevent the erosion of the people's right to accountability.' Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has denied the charges laid out in the articles of impeachment and described it as a politically motivated witch hunt. In response, her allies have made a number of legal attempts to block to advance of the impeachment, including a resolution in the Senate and several complaints to the Supreme Court. The impeachment drama grew out of the bitter ongoing feud between Duterte and Marcos. Their two political families formed a formidable partnership ahead of the presidential election of 2022, and Duterte and Marcos won their respective elections in a landslide. But the partnership between the two camps has since deteriorated, due to a toxic combination of political differences and personal idiosyncrasies. In June 2024, Duterte resigned from Marcos' cabinet, where she served as education secretary, and immediately came under investigation for her alleged misuse of government funds. This provided the backdrop to her outburst during a livestream in November, during which she claimed that her life was at risk, and that she had had hired a hitman to assassinate the president, his wife, and House Speaker Romualdez, in the event of her own murder. The month after Duterte's impeachment, her father was arrested by Philippine police on an arrest warrant issued by International Criminal Court in The Hague. Duterte is now in the court's custody awaiting trial for crimes against humanity linked to his violent 'war on drugs' campaign. While the Supreme Court said that it had not absolved Duterte of the charges, its ruling offered a last-minute reprieve for Duterte, who was awaiting a Senate trial that could have stripped her of the vice presidency and disqualified her from public office for life. The vice president is widely expected to launch a campaign for the presidency in 2028, in a bid to succeed Marcos, who is limited to a single six-year term in office. If successful, she will no doubt use the powers of her office to pursue retribution against the Marcoses and their allies. If the Supreme Court ruling stands, its net effect may simply be to ensure that the Duterte-Marcos feud continues to dominate Philippine politics up to, and maybe beyond, the next presidential election.
Nikkei Asia
7 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
India's Modi plans first China visit in 7 years, as tensions with US rise
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China for the first time in over seven years, a government source said on Wednesday, in a further sign of a diplomatic thaw with Beijing as tensions with the United States rise. Modi will go to China for a summit of the multilateral Shanghai Cooperation Organization that begins on Aug. 31, the government source, with direct knowledge of the matter, told Reuters. India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His trip will come at a time when India's relationship with the U.S. faces its most serious crisis in years after President Donald Trump imposed the highest tariffs among Asian peers on goods imported from India, and has threatened an unspecified further penalty for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil. Modi's visit to the Chinese city of Tianjin for the summit of the SCO, a Eurasian political and security grouping that includes Russia, will be his first since June 2018. Subsequently, Sino-Indian ties deteriorated sharply after a military clash along their disputed Himalayan border in 2020. Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Russia in October that led to a thaw. The giant Asian neighbors are now slowly defusing tensions that have hampered business relations and travel between the two countries. Trump has threatened to charge an additional 10% tariff on imports from members -- which include India -- of the BRICS group of major emerging economies for "aligning themselves with anti-American policies." Trump said on Wednesday his administration would decide on the penalty for buying Russian oil after the outcome of U.S. efforts to seek a last-minute breakthrough that would bring about a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine. Trump's top diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff, is in Moscow, two days before the expiry of a deadline the president set for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions. Meanwhile, Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval is in Russia on a scheduled visit and is expected to discuss India's purchases of Russian oil in the wake of Trump's pressure on India to stop buying Russian crude, according to another government source, who also did not want to be named. Doval is likely to address India's defense cooperation with Russia, including obtaining faster access to pending exports to India of Moscow's S400 air defense system, and a possible visit by President Vladimir Putin to India. Doval's trip will be followed by External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in the weeks to come. U.S. and Indian officials told Reuters a mix of political misjudgment, missed signals and bitterness scuttled trade deal negotiations between the world's biggest and fifth-largest economies, whose bilateral trade is worth over $190 billion. India expects Trump's crackdown could cost it a competitive advantage in about $64 billion worth of goods sent to the U.S. that account for 80% of its total exports, four separate sources told Reuters, citing an internal government assessment. However, the relatively low share of exports in India's $4 trillion economy is expected to limit the direct impact on economic growth. On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India left its GDP growth forecast for the current April-March financial year unchanged at 6.5% and held rates steady despite the tariff uncertainties. India's government assessment report has assumed a 10% penalty for buying Russian oil, which would take the total U.S. tariff to 35%, the sources said. India's trade ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The internal assessment report is the government's initial estimate and will change as the quantum of tariffs imposed by Trump becomes clear, all four sources said. India exported goods estimated at $81 billion in 2024 to the U.S.
Yomiuri Shimbun
12 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
13 House Democrats to Call on Trump to Recognize a Palestinian State
More than a dozen House Democrats have signed a letter urging the Trump administration to officially recognize a Palestinian state, according to a draft seen by The Washington Post. Addressing President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the lawmakers write that such recognition is necessary to fulfill the 'legitimate national rights' of Palestinians and 'ensure the state of Israel's survival.' They also express support for removing Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, from power. The letter, which had been signed by 13 House Democrats as of early Tuesday, builds on mounting international pressure to recognize a Palestinian state, after three major U.S. allies recently signaled willingness to do so, joining 140-plus U.N. member states that already do so. 'This is the moment for the United States to officially recognize a Palestinian state. All 22 states in the Arab League called for a non Hamas Palestinian state that recognizes Israel,' Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California), who is leading efforts to gather signatories, said in a statement shared by email Tuesday morning. 'We just started outreach this past week and plan to send the letter in September timed with the UN convening. The response has been overwhelming.' The letter was previously reported by Jewish Insider. Khanna said in a town hall video shared on social media that his letter had been leaked and that he suspected the leak was intended to keep other members of Congress from publicly endorsing the proposal. Co-signatories, according to a list shared by Khanna's office, include Greg Casar (Texas), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Veronica Escobar (Texas), Maxwell Frost (Florida), Al Green (Texas), Jared Huffman (California), Pramila Jayapal (Washington), Jim McGovern (Massachusetts), Chellie Pingree (Maine), Mark Pocan (Wisconsin), Nydia M. Velázquez (New York) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (New Jersey). The letter is unlikely to alter the White House's position. Last week, Trump said he was 'not in that camp,' when asked about the prospect of recognizing Palestinian statehood. 'You're rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don't think they should be rewarded,' he told reporters. As a political issue, the conflict is far more fraught among Democrats, who have been frequently divided since Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack, than among Republicans. Last year, the party's leadership largely staved off threats of disruption from pro-Palestinian delegates at the Democratic National Convention, but divisions within the party have continued to smolder. In June, some Democrats expressed dismay – as others celebrated enthusiastically – when their party nominated Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel, for mayor of New York. At a state level, bitter debates at party meetings point to a growing internal rift between the party's voters and its leaders on the issue. Last month, a Gallup poll found that the share of Democrats who support Israel's military actions in Gaza had dropped to 8 percent, down from 24 percent in September. In December 2023 and January 2024, six Democrats co-sponsored a resolution supporting Palestinian statehood. The letter comes after French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris will recognize an independent Palestinian state in September at the U.N. General Assembly, writing in a post on social media that 'the urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population.' Days later, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London will also recognize a Palestinian state in September – unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution. Canada followed, with Prime Minister Mark Carney saying his country would recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly if the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and is seen by most Western and Arab countries as the only viable alternative to Hamas, agrees to certain democratic reforms, including elections in 2026. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said recognizing a Palestinian state under the current geopolitical conditions risks creating another Iranian proxy in the region. He has indicated he plans to expand military operations to occupy the entire Gaza Strip as ceasefire negotiations appear to have reached an end, The Post reported.
