Flávio Bolsonaro emerged as the clear frontrunner in Brazil’s presidential race after securing 47.03% of the vote in the first round, narrowly edging out incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who received 45.16%. The result, announced on Sunday, leaves the 80-year-old left-wing leader facing a significant challenge to reclaim momentum ahead of the October 25 runoff. Political scientist Miguel Lago noted that no runner-up in Brazil’s democratic era has successfully reversed a first-round deficit to win the presidency, casting doubt on Lula’s path forward.

The victory marks a decisive moment for the Bolsonaro family’s political resurgence. Former president Jair Bolsonaro, currently serving a 27-year sentence for election interference, saw multiple relatives elected to office, including his wife Michelle Bolsonaro, who won a Senate seat, and sons Carlos and Jair Renan, who secured positions in Congress. The family’s Liberal Party (PL) now holds 28 Senate seats, with allied hard-right parties pushing their coalition to a majority of 43. This legislative strength could facilitate efforts to grant amnesty to Jair Bolsonaro, potentially enabling his return to active political leadership.

The runoff will pit Flávio Bolsonaro against Lula in a contest shaped by deep polarization. While the incumbent’s campaign emphasized contrasts with his rival’s “dark past,” including corruption allegations and ties to organized crime, analysts highlight the difficulty of mobilizing the 33 million voters who abstained in the first round. Political scientist Camila Rocha observed that undecided voters often view Flávio Bolsonaro as a symbol of renewal, despite concerns about his associations with corruption and paramilitary groups.

Internationally, the result has been welcomed by conservative leaders. Former U.S. President Donald Trump praised the outcome as “amazing” and “very, very big,” while Argentina’s libertarian president Javier Milei celebrated what he called a “historic” victory against “communist Lula.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also extended congratulations, expressing hope for strengthened bilateral ties. The broader implications for Latin America’s political landscape remain uncertain, particularly as Bolsonaro’s campaign aligns with a regional trend of right-wing gains.

Lula, addressing supporters after the results, pledged to launch a new campaign focused on contrasting visions for Brazil’s future. However, the subdued atmosphere at his rally underscored the uphill battle ahead. With the Bolsonaro coalition poised to control the Senate, the runoff may determine not only the presidency but also the trajectory of Brazil’s democratic institutions and ongoing legal battles involving the former president.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to break up a crowd outside Kosovo’s Parliament on Monday evening after lawmakers ended a session without voting on a bill that would restrict the powers of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a Hague-based tribunal handling war crimes committed during the 1998‑99 conflict. Hundreds of demonstrators, including veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army and their supporters, had gathered to protest the proposed amendments, which would cap sentences at 15 years, allow them to be served in Kosovo and route appeals to the self‑declared republic’s Supreme Court. The legislation had passed a first reading earlier that day but was left unresolved when Parliament adjourned before a second vote could be taken. Hospital officials reported twelve injuries, most of them civilian, after the clash. The reforms follow the September 16 convictions of former President Hashim Thaci and three other former KLA commanders, who received prison terms of 13 to 25 years and have denied the charges. Kosovo’s Constitutional Court has set an October 6 deadline for electing a president; failure to meet it would dissolve Parliament and trigger an early election. The bill’s sponsor, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, links its support for a presidential vote to the bill’s passage, while Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s governing party wants the election to occur first and has criticised the rushed legislative process. The Specialist Chambers were established under Western pressure to prosecute alleged KLA crimes, and the issue has become entangled with broader political disputes over Kosovo’s sovereignty and its relationship with Serbia.

The Pentagon has confirmed that Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army major convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, will be executed by firing squad. The method has not been used for a U.S. military execution since World War Two. Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth made the recommendation, which President Donald Trump approved, and the execution date will be set by the Army. Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013 after a jury of 13 officers found him guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder for the November 5, 2009, attack that remains the deadliest non‑combat shooting on a U.S. military installation. He has been on death row alongside three other inmates. Military executions require presidential approval, appellate review and a final legal certification before they can proceed. The United States currently permits capital punishment at the state level in 27 jurisdictions, the federal government and the armed forces. Firing squads are authorized in a handful of states, including South Carolina, Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah. Under President Joe Biden, the Justice Department placed a moratorium on federal executions, but Trump reinstated the federal death penalty by executive order in January 2025, describing capital punishment as a necessary deterrent for the most heinous crimes.

Rabat, Morocco – Omar Radi, a journalist and human rights defender, told Al Jazeera that he discovered his mobile device had been targeted by Pegasus, a surveillance tool developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group, during an investigation into land dispossession in Morocco. The Amnesty International Security Lab examined Radi’s phone in June 2020 and found evidence of infection. Radi reported that from 2018 to 2020 he observed symptoms such as rapid battery drain, overheating and sluggish network performance. He also described physical surveillance, saying agents followed him daily, gathering reports from parking attendants, shopkeepers and friends. When he confronted the observers, they fled and concealed their identities.

Radi’s case is one of four detailed in Amnesty International’s report We Start With the Verdict: Inside Morocco’s Surveillance Machine, compiled with 14 media organisations and coordinated by the Forbidden Stories network. The other individuals named are activist Fouad Abdelmoumni, human rights lawyer Abdessadak El Bouchattaoui and journalist Hicham Mansouri, who had been imprisoned in 2015 on charges Amnesty characterises as trumped‑up. The report draws on testimony from a whistleblower using the pseudonym Safir, a former employee of Morocco’s General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST). Amnesty said it corroborated portions of Safir’s account with independent technical evidence and interviews with ten people identified as surveillance targets, including Radi.

According to Radi, the Amnesty findings clarified the extent of the monitoring he experienced during police interrogations and his trial, when he said his rights were compromised because even judicial police and judges were under surveillance. Amnesty attributes the deployment of Pegasus in Morocco to the DGST and documents alleged abuses between 2017 and 2021. Morocco has denied the allegations, challenging Amnesty to provide material evidence and stating it received no response to a request for comment made four weeks before the report’s release. Al Jazeera also sought comment from Moroccan officials but did not receive a response.

Le360, a Moroccan news outlet, argued that inclusion of a phone number in Pegasus targeting records does not by itself prove infection or identify the party that ordered an attack, and it called for more conclusive technical evidence. Amnesty’s analysis matched 103 Moroccan phone numbers to potential targets between September and December 2017, of which 65 were linked to civil society figures, including 34 human rights defenders, 22 journalists and media workers, five lawyers and four academics. Safir described a surveillance system that blended digital and physical tactics: targets were secretly filmed and recorded in private spaces, phone shops sold devices pre‑installed with spyware, and neighbours were recruited as informants to produce daily movement reports. The report also cites the use of remote‑control systems at internet cafés, allowing DGST agents to monitor calls, messages, photographs and audio.

The report notes a specific instance involving El Bouchattaoui, whose number entered the targeting system in September 2017 and was selected weeks before he received an infection link via text message. Similar tactics were applied to Abdelmoumni, who was secretly filmed at home with his fiancée in 2021; he believes the recording originated from a hidden camera embedded in an air‑conditioning unit. Safir labelled this episode a “textbook case” of a DGST operation designed to leave no trace.

Journalists in Morocco have spoken of pressure and intimidation. Taoufik Bouachrine, host of the Talk on Politics podcast, described methods used to silence investigative reporting, including fabricated criminal accusations often tied to sexual misconduct in a conservative context, and coordinated smear campaigns employing online trolls. Bouachrine was arrested in 2018 on charges of rape and human trafficking and sentenced to 15 years; he maintains the case was retaliation for his journalism. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention deemed his detention arbitrary, and the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for his release. After serving more than six years, he was freed under a royal pardon, by which time the newspaper he founded, Akhbar Al‑Youm, had been forced to close due to loss of advertising revenue, illustrating another avenue for undermining investigative journalism.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reasserted his government’s demand for Red Sea access during his swearing-in ceremony for a second five-year term on Monday, stating that such access is essential to the nation’s development. His remarks came as Ethiopia faces heightened diplomatic friction with neighboring states over maritime rights and regional stability. Abiy told lawmakers that Ethiopia would pursue an outlet to the sea through cooperation grounded in mutual benefit, emphasizing that the lack of direct coastline has long constrained the country’s economic and infrastructural growth. The call follows Ethiopia’s loss of direct Red Sea access in 1993 after Eritrea’s independence, a historical shift that continues to shape its foreign policy priorities.

Tensions have escalated in recent months as Ethiopia’s federal government accuses Eritrea, Egypt, and Sudan of supporting armed groups in the Tigray region, where renewed clashes have erupted between federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Army. In response, Eritrea has accused Ethiopia of seeking maritime routes through its territory, further complicating bilateral relations. A separate dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has also strained ties with Egypt and Sudan, both of which depend on the Nile River for water security.

At a regional summit in Egypt’s New Alamein, four Red Sea-bordering nations — Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia — reaffirmed that coastal states hold exclusive authority over Red Sea governance and rejected any actions that might jeopardize Egypt and Sudan’s use of Nile waters. Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, present at the summit, expressed support for Ethiopia’s regional integration efforts while clarifying that any port access would require formal negotiation between the two governments. He stated that Somalia does not oppose Ethiopia’s maritime ambitions but emphasized the necessity of diplomatic processes to address such matters.

Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye and Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, both extended congratulations to Abiy on his re-election, reflecting broader regional interest in Ethiopia’s political trajectory. The developments underscore the complex interplay of historical grievances, territorial disputes, and infrastructure projects shaping Horn of Africa diplomacy.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday aimed at expanding tax-free diesel use, as part of a broader effort to bolster Republican prospects in the upcoming midterm elections. The move, announced in Grand Island, Nebraska, would temporarily lift restrictions on the use of dyed diesel — a fuel variant exempt from federal and state excise taxes and dyed for regulatory tracking — for certain off-road applications. The administration estimates the change could reduce fuel costs for affected industries by up to $100 per fill-up, with Trump asserting the savings would benefit farmers and help lower the price of goods.

The order comes amid rising diesel prices following geopolitical tensions linked to the conflict in Iran, which has contributed to broader inflationary pressures. While the White House has framed the policy as a targeted relief measure for agricultural and industrial sectors, experts have noted that the impact on on-road diesel users — such as truckers — would be limited, since those fuels remain subject to taxation.

During the event, Trump addressed Senator Pete Ricketts and Governor Jim Pillen, both Republicans supporting his agenda, and suggested the policy could influence voter sentiment. Ricketts, who is running for his first full Senate term after being appointed to fill a vacancy, is locked in a competitive race against independent candidate Dan Osborn, a labor union leader who has gained traction in a state that has trended Republican in recent cycles.

The policy shift has drawn mixed reactions. Some farmers and rural business owners expressed cautious optimism, citing relief from high input costs. Others, including members of the agricultural community, have voiced concerns that broader economic factors — such as global supply chains and energy market volatility — remain beyond the scope of executive action.

Trump’s visit to Nebraska is part of a series of campaign-style rallies ahead of the November 3 elections. The trip follows similar events in Oklahoma and Alabama, with additional stops planned in key battleground states. The administration has also indicated potential future actions related to energy policy and trade, including import adjustments for beef, which have sparked pushback from domestic ranchers who fear foreign competition could depress local prices.

In a separate development, Vice President JD Vance traveled to Alaska to campaign for Senator Dan Sullivan, reflecting coordinated efforts within the Republican Party to defend key Senate seats. Meanwhile, Democratic and independent candidates continue to mobilize in traditionally competitive districts, including Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, where a closely watched race between Republican Brinker Harding and Democrat Denise Powell is underway.

The intersection of energy policy, economic anxiety, and electoral strategy underscores the complex landscape facing voters ahead of the midterms, particularly in rural and agricultural regions where cost-of-living pressures remain a salient issue.