Brazil Supreme Court Orders House Arrest Of Ex-President Bolsonaro
Brazilian authorities placed former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial on charges of plotting a coup, under house arrest on Monday, in a move that could escalate tensions with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes issued the arrest order, saying in his decision that the right-wing firebrand did not comply with judicial restraining orders imposed on him last month.
Bolsonaro is facing charges that he conspired with dozens of his allies to overturn his 2022 electoral loss to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Moraes also banned Bolsonaro from receiving visits, with exceptions for lawyers and people authorized by the court, and use of a cell phone either directly or through third parties.
A press representative for Bolsonaro confirmed that he was placed under house arrest late afternoon on Monday and that a cell phone had been seized.
In a statement, Brazil's federal police said it had complied with the Supreme Court's orders for house arrest and to seize cell phones, though it did not name the target of the operation.
The restrictions on Bolsonaro had been imposed over allegations that he courted the interference of Trump, who recently tied steep new tariffs on Brazilian goods to what he called a "witch hunt" against Bolsonaro, his ideological ally.
The house arrest order follows over two years of investigations into Bolsonaro's role in an election-denying movement that culminated in riots by his supporters that rocked Brasilia in January 2023. The unrest drew comparisons to the riots at the U.S. Capitol after Trump's electoral defeat in 2020.
In contrast with the tangle of criminal cases which mostly stalled against Trump, Brazilian courts and investigators moved swiftly against Bolsonaro, threatening to end his political career and fracture his right-wing movement.
Bolsonaro's son Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman, moved to the U.S. around the same time the former president's trial kicked off to drum up support for his father in Washington. The younger Bolsonaro said the move had influenced Trump's decision to impose new tariffs on Brazil.
Trump last month shared a letter he had sent to Bolsonaro. "I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you," he wrote. "This trial should end immediately!"
Washington late in July hit Moraes with sanctions, accusing the judge of authorizing arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bolsonaro's house arrest.
However, Trump's tactics may be backfiring in Brazil, compounding trouble for Bolsonaro and rallying public support behind Lula's leftist government.
In an interview with Reuters last month, Bolsonaro called Moraes a "dictator" and said the restrictive measures against him were acts of "cowardice."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
28 minutes ago
- Hans India
Govt directs depts to appoint nodal officers to enforce Sexual Harassment Act
Bengaluru: In a significant move aimed at protecting women in the workplace, the Government of Karnataka has directed all departments and offices—both public and private—to strictly enforce the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The directive also includes compliance with the Supreme Court's guidelines on workplace safety for women. In a circular issued by Dr. Shamla Iqbal, Secretary of the Department of Women and Child Development, the government has ordered that every department and office appoint a nodal officer to oversee the implementation of the Act. These officers will be responsible for uploading all relevant information—including details of subordinate offices and Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs)—to the central She-Box portal, a digital grievance redressal platform for workplace harassment. The directive emphasizes that all complaints received through the portal or directly must be addressed swiftly and with quality oversight. Departments have also been instructed to conduct regular review meetings to assess the status and effectiveness of the Act's implementation across all subordinate offices and institutions. The circular further mandates that offices which have not yet established Internal Complaints Committees must constitute them immediately. Nodal officers are also required to frequently update compliance progress on the She-Box portal, ensuring transparency and accountability. This initiative is seen as a strong step toward ensuring safe and inclusive working environments for women across Karnataka, reinforcing the state's commitment to gender equality and workplace justice.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
28 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump's tariff hike could shave 0.3 pp off India's GDP: Goldman Sachs
India condemns new 25% duty on exports; total levy now at 50%; analysts expect talks before August 27 deadline New Delhi India's economy could take an additional 0.3 percentage point (pp) annualised hit to real gross domestic product (GDP) growth following US President Donald Trump's decision to impose a fresh 25 per cent duty on Indian imports, Goldman Sachs said. This is over and above the 0.3 pp impact previously estimated from the April 2025 tariff round. According to Goldman Sachs, once exclusions, such as those under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act, 1962, are applied, the effective average tariff rate on Indian exports to the US will settle at around 32 per cent. US doubles tariff on Indian goods On Wednesday evening, Trump issued an executive order imposing an additional 25 per cent duty on Indian imports. This brings the total levy to 50 per cent, effective August 27. India's US exposure significant India's exposure to the US market is substantial. Around 4 per cent of India's GDP is linked to final demand from the United States, Goldman Sachs analysts noted. In FY25, India exported goods worth $86.5 billion to the US, while imports stood at $45.7 billion. Key exports include electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and textiles, while major imports are crude oil, gems and jewellery, and machinery. Russian crude oil: A flashpoint in India-US trade relations One major point of tension is oil. While Russia provided about one-third of India's crude oil in FY25, the US share was just 4 per cent. That share did rise to 8 per cent in April and May 2025, but the US remains a minor supplier overall. MEA terms move 'unfair' India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called the US action ' unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable.' It said India's energy sourcing was guided by market pricing and supply security. 'It is extremely unfortunate that the US has chosen to penalise India for decisions being made by several other countries in their own national interest,' the MEA said in a strongly worded statement. PM Modi: Farmers, fishers, dairy will not be sacrificed Addressing the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that India would not compromise on the interests of its farmers, fishers, or dairy industry. ' The interest of our farmers is our top priority … I know that I will have to pay a heavy personal price for this. But I am ready for it,' the Prime Minister said. Room for negotiations remains Goldman Sachs has not revised its India GDP forecast yet, but flagged the possibility of further impact if retaliatory actions or broader trade restrictions follow. 'There is a window for negotiation,' the report said, pointing to the three-week gap before the new tariffs come into effect. A day earlier, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held its FY26 GDP growth projection steady at 6.5 per cent, citing a lack of sufficient data to warrant revisions. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, speaking after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, said, ' We do not have sufficient data to revise our GDP forecast,' adding that global uncertainties had already been factored into earlier projections.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
28 minutes ago
- Business Standard
UCLA in talks with Trump admin to reinstate $584 million in grants
By Maxwell Adler and Liam Knox The University of California at Los Angeles said it has entered into negotiations with the Trump administration to reinstate about $584 million in frozen federal research funding. The move came after the US Justice Department had given the school a Tuesday deadline to enter into a resolution agreement after a US investigation found UCLA violated federal civil rights laws by failing to stop antisemitic harassment on campus. 'Our immediate goal is to see the $584 million in suspended and at-risk federal funding restored to the university as soon as possible,' James Milliken, president of the UC system, said in a statement Wednesday. The amount of frozen funding cited by Milliken was considerably higher than a $200 million estimate by California Governor Gavin Newsom last week. The freeze is affecting hundreds of grants from agencies including the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. The DOJ said last week that UCLA acted with 'deliberate indifference' to alleged targeting of Jewish and Israeli students after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and Israel's subsequent invasion of Gaza. It had threatened to file a complaint in federal district court by Sept. 2 unless the school agreed to enter into talks. UCLA became a flashpoint in spring 2024 as campus protests escalated nationwide over Israel's war against Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union. In addition to widespread allegations of anti-Jewish bigotry at the California school, at least 15 people were injured on campus in April of last year when pro-Israel counter-demonstrators attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment by launching fireworks and swinging metal rods. President Donald Trump's administration has seized on campus unrest over the war in Gaza to step up civil-rights enforcement at universities across the US. While the administration's efforts have focused largely on some of the nation's most elite private universities — including Harvard, Cornell and Northwestern — they have also extended to the public sphere, with the 10-campus University of California system, including Berkeley, facing heightened scrutiny. Two Ivy League universities, Columbia and Brown, reached agreements with the White House in July after Trump froze hundreds of millions in federal research grants at the schools. At UCLA, Chancellor Julio Frenk said the university was receiving counsel to 'actively evaluate our best course of action.' 'We are doing everything we can to protect the interests of faculty, students and staff — and to defend our values and principles,' Frenk wrote in a letter to students Wednesday. 'Death Knell' In his statement disclosing the talks with the federal government, Milliken, who assumed his role overseeing the state system on Aug. 1, assailed the cuts, saying they 'do nothing' to address antisemitism. 'The announced cuts would be a death knell for innovative work that saves lives, grows our economy, and fortifies our national security,' he said. Michael Chwe, a political science professor who sits on the board of the UCLA Faculty Association, said the impact of the freezes are already being felt, especially in medical and engineering departments. 'My colleagues who operate labs funded by NIH and NSF grants are saying they were told to stop work immediately last week,' Chwe said. If UCLA entered into negotiations with the government like many Ivy League colleges, Chwe said, it would be 'an absolute disaster.' He said he hopes that the university's position is strengthened by support from the California state government — and Newsom, a Democrat who has positioned himself as an active antagonist to Trump. For some researchers at the university, the disaster is already here. Carrie Bearden, a clinical psychology professor, said the grant funding her lab's work studying risk factors for severe adolescent mental illness was suspended. She doesn't support a deal with the White House but said that for her staff whose jobs are dependent on that money the freeze was an 'immediate crisis.' She said she stayed up until 2 a.m. on Tuesday looking for alternative funds. 'We don't have time to see what the administration will do,' she said, referring to the White House. Last week Newsom called the UCLA freeze a 'cruel manipulation' of antisemitism claims, saying cutting critical funding for research 'makes our country less safe.' Columbia agreed in July to pay $221 million and to appoint an independent monitor who will review the school's compliance with federal laws in its hiring and admissions processes. Brown said it would pay $50 million over the next decade to support workforce development programs in its home state of Rhode Island, take steps to improve campus climate for Jewish students, and revise its policies on gender identity in line with new White House guidelines.
