#Brazil’s Senate passes bill that could reduce #Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence.


SAO PAULO — #Brazil’s Senate has passed a bill that could significantly reduce the 27-year prison sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was arrested in November for attempting a coup.

The Chamber of Deputies had already approved the text, and it now goes to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for signature.

Gleisi Hoffmann, Minister of Institutional Relations, said Wednesday evening that Lula will veto the bill.

“Those convicted of attacking democracy must pay for their crimes,” Hoffmann said on X, calling it a “sign of disrespect for the Supreme Court’s decision and a serious setback to legislation that protects democracy.”

The text is also expected to be challenged at the Supreme Court.

The bill reduces the final sentences of defendants convicted under multiple charges stemming from the coup attempt, including Bolsonaro.

The former president’s lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court after his conviction, saying his prison term was excessive. They also argued that the sentences for abolishing the rule of law and attempting a coup should not be added because they arose from a single episode.

The proposed law would speed up sentence progression from harsher to more lenient prison regimes for those convicted.

There is no consensus on how much time Bolsonaro would actually serve if the bill takes effect. Under current rules, the former president could move to a less restrictive prison system after seven years if he met legal requirements while incarcerated.

Paulinho da Força, the bill’s rapporteur in the Chamber of Deputies, has estimated that period could be cut to just over two years if the law passes.

The bill would also allow sentence reductions of up to two-thirds for crimes committed in a crowd, benefiting defendants convicted of storming public buildings during the Jan. 8, 2023, insurrection in Brasilia.

Under the bill, those who did not finance or lead the actions could receive reductions ranging from one-third to two-thirds.

Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of the former president and a prospective presidential candidate in next year’s election, praised fellow lawmakers for approving the bill, calling it a “first step.”

“There shouldn’t even be a debate about amnesty, but about annulling the farce that the entire process was,” he said.

Sen. Bolsonaro is expected to challenge Lula, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party in the 2026 presidential race.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of Brazilians protested against the bill. Demonstrations took place in the capital Brasilia and in other major cities across the country, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife.

Gabriela Sá Pessoa, The Associated Press

Exclusive: Poland to start producing anti-personnel mines to lay along eastern borde

Israel fires mortar into Gaza residential area, wounding at least 10.

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops fired a mortar shell over the ceasefire line into a Palestinian residential area in the Gaza Strip, in the latest incident to rock the tenuous ceasefire with Hamas. Health officials said at least 10 people were wounded, and the army said it was investigating.

The military said the mortar was fired during an operation in the area of the “Yellow Line,” which was drawn in the ceasefire agreement and divides the Israeli-held majority of Gaza from the rest of the territory.

The military did not say what troops were doing or whether they had crossed the line. It said the mortar had veered from its intended target, which it did not specify.

Fadel Naeem, director of Al-Ahli Hospital, said the hospital received 10 people wounded in the strike on central Gaza City, some critically.

It was not the first time since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10 that Israeli fire has caused Palestinian casualties outside the Yellow Line. Palestinian health officials have reported over 370 deaths from Israeli fire since the truce.

Israel has said it has opened fire in response to Hamas violations, and says most of those killed have been Hamas militants. But an Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military protocol, said the army is aware of a number of incidents where civilians were killed, including young children and a family traveling in a van.

Palestinians say civilians have been killed in some cases because the line is poorly marked. Israeli troops have been laying down yellow blocks to delineate it, but in some areas the blocks have not yet been placed.

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is struggling to reach its next phase, with both sides accusing each other of violations. The first phase involved the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The second is supposed to involve the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.

The remains of one hostage, Ran Gvili, are still in Gaza, and the militants appear to be struggling to find it. Israel is demanding the return of Gvili’s remains before moving to the second phase.

Hamas is calling for more international pressure on Israel to open key border crossings, cease deadly strikes and allow more aid into the strip.

Julia Frankel, The Associated Press

Tunisian President Kais Saied's supporters rallied in the capital on Wednesday calling the opposition "traitors", following mounting street protests in recent weeks that have highlighted widening political divisions.

Rwanda-backed #M23 rebels have not withdrawn from the eastern Congolese town of #Uvira despite an announcement earlier this week that they would pull back, residents told Reuters on Wednesday.

#Customs and #Border Protection officer fires gun in dispute with driver at JFK airport.

NEW YORK — An on-duty Customs and Border Protection #officer fired his #gun several times during a confrontation with another motorist Tuesday on an access road for New York’s Kennedy Airport, police said.

The CBP officer told authorities that he pulled his weapon after the other driver attacked him over a minor traffic crash, Port Authority police said.

It wasn’t clear if the shots hit anything. The other driver fled the scene after the shooting, according to the CBP officer, who was unhurt.

The two-vehicle crash happened shortly before 5 a.m. near the airport’s main car rental facilities on the tangle of roads and ramps that lead to the airport’s terminals, administration buildings and cargo areas.

JFK’s roadways are currently undergoing a major construction overhaul and navigating the thicket of detours and traffic changes has been a source of frustration and confusion for many drivers.

The Port Authority didn’t say if the officer was driving an official vehicle. His name has not been released.

The investigation led to traffic delays in the area during the morning commute, but those issues lessened as the morning progressed.

Trinidad and Tobago will open Caribbean nation’s airports to U.S. military as #Venezuela tensions grow.

The announcement comes after the U.S. military recently installed a radar system at the airport in Tobago. The Caribbean country’s government has said the radar is being used to fight local crime, and that the small nation wouldn’t be used as a launchpad to attack any other country.

The U.S. would use the airports for activity that would be “logistical in nature, facilitating supply replenishment and routine personnel rotations,” Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. It did not provide further details.

Trinidad’s prime minister previously has praised ongoing U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

Only 7 miles (11 kilometres) separate Venezuela from the twin-island Caribbean nation at their closest point. It has two main airports: Piarco International Airport in Trinidad and ANR Robinson International Airport in Tobago.

Hours after the announcement, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said her country was immediately cancelling any contract, deal or negotiation to supply natural gas to Trinidad and Tobago.

She claimed that the government of Trinidad and Tobago participated in the recent U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off the country’s coast, calling it an “act of piracy.”

She also accused Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of having a “hostile agenda” against Venezuela, noting that the U.S. military installed an airport radar in Tobago.

“This official has turned the territory of Trinidad and Tobago into a U.S. aircraft carrier to attack Venezuela, in an unequivocal act of vassalage,” Rodríguez said.

Persad-Bissessar told The Associated Press that she wasn’t bothered by the statement, describing it as “simply false propaganda.”

“They should direct their complaints to President Trump, as it is the U.S. military that has seized the sanctioned oil tanker. In the meantime, we continue to have peaceful relations with the Venezuelan people,” Persad-Bissessar said.

The prime minister asserted that her nation has “never depended” on Venezuela for natural gas supplies: “We have adequate reserves within our territory.”

Trinidad and Venezuela had previously reached a deal over the development of a gas field in Venezuelan waters, near the maritime border separating the two countries.

In December 2023, Venezuela granted a licence for oil giant Shell and Trinidad and Tobago to produce gas from the field. In October, the U.S. government granted Trinidad and Tobago permission to negotiate the gas deal without facing U.S sanctions placed on Venezuela.

Amery Browne, an opposition senator and Trinidad and Tobago’s former foreign minister, accused the Trinidadian government on Monday of being deceptive in its announcement.

Browne said that Trinidad and Tobago has become “complicit facilitators of extrajudicial killings, cross-border tension and belligerence.”

“There is nothing routine about this. It has nothing to do with the usual cooperation and friendly collaborations that we have enjoyed with the USA and all of our neighbors for decades,” he said.

LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities said Monday that they foiled a plot to bomb multiple U.S. companies on New Year’s Eve in Southern California, announcing the arrests of members of an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group.

The four suspects were arrested Friday as they were testing explosives in the desert east of Los Angeles, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference.

Officials showed reporters surveillance aerial footage of the four suspects moving a large black object in the desert to a table shortly before their arrests.

In the criminal complaint, the four suspects named are Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30; Zachary Aaron Page, 32; Dante Gaffield, 24; and Tina Lai, 41. They are all from the Los Angeles area, Essayli said.

Officials did not describe a motive but said they are members of an offshoot of a pro-Palestinian group dubbed the Turtle Island Liberation Front. Each faces charges including conspiracy and possession of a destructive device, court documents show.

It wasn’t immediately clear if they had attorneys and The Associated Press was unable to reach family members.

Essayli said Carroll last month created a detailed plan to bomb five or more locations across Southern California on New Year’s Eve and were trying to hit multiple companies. He declined to name the companies but described them as “Amazon-type” logistical centers.

“Carroll’s bomb plot was explicit,” Essayli said. “It included step-by-step instructions to build IEDs... and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles.”

Two of the group’s members also had discussed plans for future attacks including targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in 2026, according to the criminal complaint.

“Carroll stated that some of those plans would quote `take some of them out and scare the rest,”' Essayli said.

The plans were discussed both at an in-person meeting with members in Los Angeles and through an encrypted messaging app, Essayli said.

Evidence photos included in the court documents show a desert campsite with what investigators said were bomb-making materials strewn across plastic folding tables.

The suspects “all brought bomb-making components to the campsite, including various sizes of PVC pipes, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal, charcoal powder, sulfur powder, and material to be used as fuses, among others,” the complaint states.

Last week they were putting their plan to the test in the desert before federal authorities moved in, Essayli said.

“They had everything they needed to make an operational bomb at that location,” he said.

The four were scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles Monday afternoon, Essayli said.

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By Julie Watson And Christopher Weber

Watson reported from San Diego.

Western and Arab diplomats tour Lebanon-Israel border to observe Hezbollah disarmament efforts.


The delegation that included the ambassadors of the United States and Saudi Arabia was accompanied by Gen. Rodolph Haikal, commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, as well as top officers in the border region.

The Lebanese government has said that by the end of the year, the army should have cleared all the border area south of the Litani river from #Hezbollah’s armed presence.

Hezbollah’s leader Naim Kassem had said that the group will end its military presence south of the Litani river but vowed again over the weekend that they will keep their weapons in other parts of Lebanon.

Parts of the zone south of the Litani River and north of the border with Israel were formerly a Hezbollah stronghold, off limits to the Lebanese national army and UN peacekeepers deployed in the area.

During the tour, the diplomats and military attaches were taken to an army post that overlooks one of five hills inside Lebanon that were captured by Israeli troops last year.

“The main goal of the military is to guarantee stability,” an army statement quoted Haikal as telling the diplomats. Haikal added that the tour aims to show that the Lebanese army is committed to the ceasefire agreement that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war last year.

There were no comments from the diplomats.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September last year that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.

Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing 127 civilians, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it killed three Hezbollah members in strikes on southern Lebanon.

Over the past weeks, the U.S. has increased pressure on Lebanon to work harder on disarming Hezbollah and canceled a planned trip to Washington last month by Haikal.

U.S. officials were angered in November by a Lebanese army statement that blamed Israel for destabilizing Lebanon and blocking the Lebanese military deployment in south Lebanon.

A senior Lebanese army official told The Associated Press Monday that Haikal will fly to France this week where he will attend a meeting with U.S., French and Saudi officials to discuss ways of assisting the army in its mission. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

The Lebanese army has been severely affected by the economic meltdown that broke out in Lebanon in October 2019.

Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press

Nigeria’s richest man Aliko Dangote escalated his fight with regulators on Sunday, accusing them of enabling cheap fuel imports that threaten local refineries.