Whether piously bowing in prayer, wooing Evangelical pastors or fending off memes linking them to Satanism, Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have turned Brazil's polarizing presidential race into a holy war.. Wooing Evangelicals, Lula meanwhile signed a "letter of commitment" to them last week during a campaign event-turned-prayer meeting in Sao Paulo.
Brazil's central bank held its benchmark interest rate at 13.75% on Wednesday, remarking that inflation "remains high" despite receding for three months in a row, just four days before a presidential election.. For now, "inflation remains high" despite dropping for several months.
Northern Ireland on Wednesday appeared headed for a second election this year, after UK government efforts to resolve months of political stalemate over its post-Brexit status failed to secure a breakthrough.. It has been without a functioning government since February, after the pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) collapsed the executive over its staunch opposition to post-Brexit trade rules there.
Women foreign ministers from a dozen nations led by Canada's Melanie Joly on Wednesday jointly condemned Iran's violent crackdown on women's rights, as protesters in the Islamic republic marked 40 days of unrest.. They also condemned the "violent enforcement" of Iran's hijab and chastity law and the "ongoing crackdown against protesters," including women and students, that has led to more than 200 deaths.
The United States urged strong action on Myanmar as Southeast Asian ministers prepared to meet Thursday on how to deal with the military-run country ahead of an upcoming summit.. Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are holding emergency talks Thursday in Jakarta on Myanmar in advance of the November 10-13 ASEAN and East Asia summits in Cambodia.
Acclaimed photographer Sebastiao Salgado urged his fellow Brazilians Wednesday to vote out far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, excoriating his "suicidal", "destructive" policies on Covid-19 and the Amazon and backing leftist challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.. Bolsonaro's government, he said, "was responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Brazilians, through a suicidal policy (on) Covid-19," a reference to the more than 680,000 lives lost to the pandemic in Brazil.
Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian media figure and the daughter of Vladimir Putin's mentor, has fled her country for Lithuania, border officials in Vilnius said Wednesday, after Russian news agencies reported that she had become a suspect in an extortion case.. Earlier in the day, Russia's TASS news agency reported that Sobchak had departed Moscow during the night, citing a police source that said she had travelled to Lithuania via Belarus.
Northern Ireland on Wednesday appeared headed for a second election this year, after UK government efforts to resolve months of political stalemate over its post-Brexit status failed to find a breakthrough.. It has been without a functioning government since February, after the pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) collapsed the executive over its staunch opposition to post-Brexit trade rules there.
When Ukrainian medic Tetyana Vasylchenko was released from Russian captivity and, on the bus back to freedom, handed a Ukrainian flag, she finally broke down.. "But when I was given a Ukrainian flag on the bus, I burst out crying."
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two Moldovan oligarchs and others for corruption or allegedly working with Russia to undermine the frontline country's democracy.. The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on another powerful oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc, who fled the country in 2020 under the shadow of graft allegations and has already been refused entry by the United States.
