#Trump’s push for peace prize won’t sway us, says Nobel committee,

U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize next month may have hit a hitch -- the stubborn independence of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which insisted to AFP that it cannot be swayed.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has made it clear he wants the prestigious accolade, which his Democratic rival Barack Obama won to the surprise of many shortly after taking office in 2009.

The 79-year-old billionaire has taken every opportunity to say he “deserves it”, claiming to have ended six wars, even though those in Gaza and Ukraine -- which he says he wants to resolve -- continue to rage.

“Of course, we do notice that there is a lot of media attention towards particular candidates,” the secretary of the committee, Kristian Berg Harpviken, told AFP in an interview in Oslo.

“But that really has no impact on the discussions that are going on in the committee.”

“The committee considers each individual nominee on his or her own merits,” he said.

This year’s laureate will be announced on October 10.

Trump has backed up his claim that he deserves the prize by pointing out that several foreign leaders, from Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev, have either nominated him or backed his nomination.

However, they would have to have been extremely quick, or prescient, for this year’s prize given that nominations had to be submitted by January 31, just 11 days after Trump took office.

Phone call

“To be nominated is not necessarily a great achievement. The great achievement is to become a laureate,” Berg Harpviken said.

“You know, the list of individuals who can nominate is quite long.”

Those eligible include members of parliament and cabinet ministers from every country in the world, former laureates and some university professors. Thousands or even tens of thousands of people are therefore able to put a name forward.

This year the committee will pick the winner from a longlist of 338 individuals and organizations. The list is kept secret for 50 years.

The most worthy candidates make it onto a shortlist, with each name then evaluated by an expert.

“When the committee discusses, it’s that knowledge base that frames the discussion. It’s not whatever media report has received the most attention in the last 24 hours,” said Berg Harpviken, who guides the committee but doesn’t vote.

“We are very aware that every year there are a number of campaigns, and we do our utmost to structure the process and the meetings in such a way that we are not unduly influenced by any campaign,” he said.

Trump raised the issue of the Peace Prize with Norway’s Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg -- the former NATO secretary general -- during a phone call about tariffs at the end of July, according to financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

The finance ministry confirmed the call had taken place but not whether the two had discussed the Nobel.

Unlikely laureate?

While the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee are nominated by Norway’s parliament, the committee insists its decisions are taken independently of party politics and the sitting government.

A case in point is that it ignored the Norwegian government’s discreet warnings and awarded the 2010 prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, sparking a diplomatic deep freeze between Beijing and Oslo that lasted for years.

“The Nobel Committee acts entirely independently and cannot allow itself to take those considerations into account when it discusses individual candidates,” Berg Harpviken said.

Norway is a firm believer in the multilateralism that prize creator Alfred Nobel defended in his lifetime but which has been upended by Trump’s “America First” policy.

So experts there see little chance of the US president getting the nod.

“This type of pressure usually turns out to be counter-productive,” said Halvard Leira, research director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).

“If the committee were to give the prize to Trump now, it would obviously be accused of kowtowing” and flouting the independence it claims to uphold, he told AFP.

In August, three Nobel historians went further and listed a number of reasons why the president should not get the honour, including his admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who has been waging war on Ukraine for the last three years.

“The members of the Nobel Committee would have to have lost their minds,” they wrote in an op-ed article.

#China says newest aircraft carrier sailed through Taiwan Strait.


China said on Friday that its third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, recently sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait to carry out “scientific research trials and training missions” in the South China Sea.

Beijing has ploughed billions of dollars into modernizing its military in recent years, a trend that has unnerved some governments in East Asia despite China insisting its aims are peaceful.

China has two carriers in operation -- the Liaoning and Shandong -- with the Fujian currently undergoing sea trials.

China’s navy said on Friday that undertaking cross-regional trials “is a normal part of the aircraft carrier’s construction process”.

It is “not directed at any specific target”, a spokesman for the Chinese navy, Leng Guowei, said in a statement.

However, its transit through the sensitive Taiwan Strait was intended to signal “China’s rise as a strong military power, and beyond that, a maritime great power”, said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“It’s to flex China’s newfound military strength and send a veritable signal to potential adversaries,” he said.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said Friday it had used “joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance means to fully grasp the situation and responded accordingly”.

Japan’s defence ministry said that on Thursday afternoon it had identified three Chinese naval ships advancing southwest in waters approximately 200 kilometres (124 miles) northwest of one of the disputed Senkaku Islands, known in Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands.

“Among these, the Fujian aircraft carrier was confirmed by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for the first time,” it said in a statement.

Japan said in July that China’s intensifying military activities could “seriously impact” its security, citing the first confirmed incursion by a Chinese military aircraft into its airspace last August in an annual threat assessment.

China said that a coastguard fleet had “patrolled within the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands” on Friday.

Last year, Chinese vessels sailed near the Japanese-administered islands a record 355 times, according to Tokyo.
Expanding its reach

Compared to the other seas, the South China Sea “presents a more challenging environment with harsher conditions, making the trials more rigorous” for the Fujian, said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military commentator.

After undergoing sea trials and completing further adaptive training, the Fujian will likely be commissioned into active service, Song told AFP.

The Soviet-built Liaoning is China’s oldest aircraft carrier, commissioned in 2012, while the Shandong entered service in 2019.

Analysts at Washington-based think tank CSIS have said the Fujian is expected to feature more advanced take-off systems, allowing the Chinese air force to deploy jets carrying larger payloads and more fuel.

China has stepped up a massive expansion of its naval forces in recent years as it seeks to grow its reach in the Pacific and challenge a U.S.-led alliance.

The U.S. Department of Defense said in a December report that China numerically has the largest navy in the world, with a battle force of more than 370 ships and submarines.

Beijing said in June that its Liaoning and Shandong carrier formations conducted combat drills in the western Pacific Ocean, unsettling regional neighbours including Japan.

A Taiwanese security official also said that month Beijing had deployed its two aircraft carrier groups around the island in May.

The Chinese Communist Party has refused to rule out using force to seize control of Taiwan, a democratic, self-ruled island that China insists is part of its territory.

Prince Harry makes surprise visit to #Ukraine in support of wounded troops.

This is the second time Harry has visited Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion in 2022. He made a trip to the western city of Lviv in April.

“We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process,” Harry told the Guardian newspaper while on an overnight train to Kyiv.

Harry, a British Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, is the founder of the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style event designed to inspire military veterans around the world as they work to overcome battlefield injuries. Ukraine is bidding to host the games in 2029.

The Archewell foundation set up by Harry and his wife Meghan announced this week that it had donated US$500,000 to projects supporting injured children from Gaza and Ukraine. The money will be used to help the World Health Organization with medical evacuations and to fund work developing prosthetics for seriously injured young people.

The Guardian said that Harry will visit the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, spend time with 200 veterans and meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

His visit coincided with a trip to Ukraine by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who announced a new set of U.K. sanctions targeting Russia’s oil revenues and military supplies.

Cooper said the visit is a show of solidarity with Ukrainians facing intensified assault from Russia – including 6,500 drones and missiles in July, 10 times the level of a year ago.

Harry’s appearance in Ukraine follows a four-day trip to the U.K., where he met his father, King Charles III, for the first time in 19 months. The meeting was seen as a first step in repairing frigid relations between Harry and other members of the royal family, which deteriorated after he and his wife, the former Meghan Markle, gave up royal duties and moved to California in 2020.

Harry and his father last met in February 2024, when the prince flew to London after receiving news that Charles had been diagnosed with cancer. Harry spent about 45 minutes with Charles before the king flew to his Sandringham country estate to recuperate from his treatment.

Prince Harry’s last trip to Ukraine included a visit to the Superhumans Center, an orthopedic clinic in Lviv that treats wounded military personnel and civilians. The center provides prosthetic limbs, reconstructive surgery and psychological help free of charge.

Harry’s visit Friday come as Russia escalates its war against Ukraine.

It is less than a week after Russia’s largest aerial attack on Ukraine since its all-out invasion began more than three years ago — an attack in which the main Ukrainian government building was hit. It also comes just days after numerous Russian drones entered the airspace of #NATO member Poland — the country Harry traveled through to reach Ukraine.

Danica Kirka, The Associated Press

Officials plead for help in finding person who assassinated Charlie Kirk on Utah college campus.

OREM, Utah — A palm print. A shoe impression. And a high-powered rifle found in a wooded area. Those are among the clues authorities laid out as they pleaded for the public’s help to find the person who assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk before dropping from a Utah university campus roof and vanishing.

The search continued early Friday, nearly two days later.

U.S. federal investigators and state officials on Thursday released a series of photos and a video of the person they believe is responsible. Kirk was hit as he spoke to a crowd gathered in a courtyard at Utah Valley University in Orem.

More than 7,000 leads and tips have poured in, officials said. But authorities have yet to name a suspect or cite a motive in the killing, the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States.

“We cannot do our job without the public’s help,” Gov. Spencer Cox said during a Thursday evening news conference with FBI Director Kash Patel, who did not speak.

The direct appeals for public support, including new and enhanced photos of a person in a hat, sunglasses, a long-sleeve black shirt and a backpack, appeared to signal law enforcement’s continued struggles. Two people who were taken into custody shortly after the shooting were determined not to be connected.

Other clues included a Mauser .30-caliber, bolt-action rifle found in a towel in the woods. A spent cartridge was recovered from the chamber, and three other rounds were loaded in the magazine, according to information circulated among law enforcement and described to The Associated Press. The weapon and ammunition were being analyzed by law enforcement at a federal lab.

Officials are offering a US$100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Cox said he’s prepared to seek the death penalty.

Grisly video shared online

The attack, carried out in broad daylight as Kirk spoke about social issues, was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media.

The videos show Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, speaking into a handheld microphone when suddenly a shot rings out. Kirk reaches up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.

The shooter, who investigators believe blended into the campus crowd because of a “college-age” appearance, fired a single shot from the rooftop, according to authorities. Video released Thursday showed them then walking through the grass and across the street, before disappearing.

“I can tell you this was a targeted event,” said Robert Bohls, the top FBI agent in Salt Lake City.

Trump, who was joined by Democrats in condemning the violence, said he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, visited with Kirk’s family Thursday afternoon in Salt Lake City. Vance posted a remembrance on X chronicling their friendship, dating back to initial messages in 2017, through Vance’s Senate run and the 2024 election.

“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”

Kirk’s casket was flown aboard Air Force Two from Utah to Phoenix, where his nonprofit political youth organization, Turning Point USA, is based. Trump told reporters he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral. Details have not been announced.

Kirk was taking questions about gun violence

Kirk was a conservative provocateur who became a powerful political force among young Republicans and was a fixture on college campuses, where he invited sometimes-vehement debate on social issues.

One such provocative exchange played out immediately before the shooting as Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about gun violence.

The debate hosted by Turning Point at the Sorensen Center on campus was billed as the first stop on Kirk’s “American Comeback Tour.”

The event generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry and constructive dialogue.”

Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit was sparking controversy. He wrote, “What’s going on in Utah?”

Attendees barricaded themselves in classrooms

Some attendees who bolted after the gunshot rushed into two classrooms full of students. They used tables to barricade the door and to shield themselves in the corners. Someone grabbed an electric pencil sharpener and wrapped the cord tightly around the door handle, then tied the sharpener to a chair leg.

On campus Thursday, the canopy stamped with the slogan Kirk commonly used at his events — “PROVE ME WRONG” — stood, disheveled.

Kathleen Murphy, a longtime resident who lives near the campus, said she has been staying inside with her door locked.

“With the shooter not being caught yet, it was a worry,” Murphy said.

Meanwhile, the shooting continued to draw swift bipartisan condemnation as Democratic officials joined Trump and other Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the attack, which unfolded during a spike of political violence that has touched a range of ideologies and representatives of both major political parties.

___

Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Jesse Bedayn And Hannah Schoenbaum, The Associated Press

Tucker and Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver; Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price in Washington; Ty O’Neil in Orem, Utah; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Meg Kinnard in Chapin, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

#Hamas says U.S. ‘accomplice’ in Israel Qatar attack as funerals held.

Hamas accused the United States on Thursday of complicity in Israel’s deadly attack on its negotiators in Qatar, lambasting Israel for seeking to kill off Gaza truce talks as Doha buried the dead.

Tuesday’s unprecedented Israeli strikes on a Gulf state sent shockwaves through a region long shielded from conflicts and halted already floundering Gaza talks.

“This crime was... an assassination of the entire negotiation process and a deliberate targeting of the role of our mediating brothers in Qatar and Egypt,” Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said in a televised statement.

In Doha, tight security surrounded the mosque where prayers were held as the Gulf state’s ruler joined mourners.

One coffin bearing a Qatari flag and five others bearing Palestinian flags were brought into the mosque, live footage from Qatar television showed.

Facing the coffins, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, prayed alongside dozens of mourners, some wearing traditional white robes, others wearing military uniform.

The dead were buried in the Mesaimeer Cemetery after the funeral at Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque.

Authorities beefed up security, with checkpoints on access roads to the mosque.

Barhoum accused Washington of being “a full accomplice” in the Israeli attack.

The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned the strikes on Doha, without naming Israel, which carried them out.

The Security Council “underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar”, said the statement, which required the agreement of all 15 council members, including Israel’s ally the United States.

The White House said Trump did not agree with Israel’s decision to take military action.

He said he was not notified in advance and when he heard, he asked his envoy Steve Witkoff to warn Qatar immediately -- but the attack had already started.
Reassessing everything

Israel said it targeted Hamas leaders but the group said its top officials survived.

Hamas said five of its members were killed -- top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya’s son Hamam, his office director Jihad Labad and bodyguards Ahmad Mamlouk, Abdallah Abdelwahd and Mumen Hassoun.

Qatari Lance Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari was also killed.

Barhoum said Hayya’s wife, his slain son’s wife and his grandchildren were wounded in the attack on the compound where he lived.

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he could not confirm Hayya’s fate.

The Hamas chief negotiator was not seen at the funeral, in the footage viewed by AFP.

Pictures shared on Hamas’s Telegram channel showed Osama Hamdan -- a senior figure in the movement -- attending the burial of the movement’s dead, along with political bureau member Izzat al-Rishq.

A post by the group said several Hamas members were present at the funeral.

Sheikh Mohammed said the Israeli attack had killed any hope for Israeli hostages in Gaza, adding that Qatar was reevaluating “everything” surrounding its role as mediator in ceasefire talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that “there will be no Palestinian state”, despite preparations by several Western governments to recognize the State of Palestine at the United Nations later this month.

“This place belongs to us,” he said, as he attended a signing ceremony for a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank that the United Nations has described as an “existential threat” to the viability of a Palestinian state.

Doha has been a venue for several rounds of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

The emirate allowed Hamas to set up a political office in Doha in 2012 with the blessing of the United States, which has sought to maintain a communication channel with the group.

Sheikh Mohammed said he hoped for a collective regional response to the attack and that an Arab-Islamic summit would be held in Doha to decide on a course of action.

The attack has drawn sharp condemnation and a show of solidarity from Gulf neighbours.

The United Arab Emirates said “any aggression against a GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) member state constitutes an attack on the collective Gulf security framework”.

#UN agency appeals for funds to help tens of thousands of quake-hit Afghans, many still homeless.

Many of the quake-hit Afghans are homeless, sleeping in the open and desperate to return and rebuild. Aid organizations are struggling to get tents and other assistance up the mountains and winter weather is expected in the coming weeks.

“We don’t want to create a camp” for the displaced, the International Organization for Migration’s Chief of Mission in Afghanistan Mihyung Park told The Associated Press.

“Those who are displaced … they’re living in a makeshift type of situation," Park said in Brussels, after holding talks with European Union officials.

“We are trying to provide our assistance as close we can” to their current location, she added.

The deadly magnitude 6.0 quake on Aug. 31 and aftershocks that followed also injured more than 3,600 people, Afghan authorities have said. Many hard-hit areas are tough to get to, with some only reachable by helicopter. The IOM said that more than 7,000 homes were destroyed. Nearly half a million people have been affected in all.

In the 80 out of 400 hardest hit villages where the UN carried out damage assessments, “more than 6,000 homes were destroyed and over 1,300 others damaged,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.

The UN and its partners have reached at least 60,000 quake survivors with food, and 30,000 have been provided with safe drinking water, he said, adding that malnourished children and pregnant and breastfeeding women have also received specialized nutrition aid.

But the UN spokesman said far more resources are needed, stressing the UN’s appeal for US$139 million to help 457,000 people over the next four months.

Afghanistan was already facing multiple crises, including the return of more than 1.7 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, large-scale internal displacement and severe economic hardship.

Park said Afghans rely heavily on EU assistance, particularly since the United States stopped sending funds after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops pulled out of the country, ending America’s longest war.

That support is even more important as Western countries cut development and humanitarian aid budgets to spend more on their defence, leaving less money for disaster and other support.

“There are many crises in the world,” Park said. Speaking of Afghanistan, she added that IOM is “very afraid that it’s being forgotten.”

The plight of Afghan women is of particular concern. Since the Taliban seized power, they have imposed their interpretation of Islamic law on daily life, including sweeping restrictions on women and girls.

The UN’s Dujarric said Thursday that the Taliban have restricted Afghan women working for the UN and its contractors from entering UN premises in Kabul and other offices across the country – stationing security forces outside to prevent entry.

The restrictions disregard previous arrangements between the UN and the Taliban, Dujarric said, and the #UN has responded by implementing adjustments to protect staff and is assessing “viable options for continuing their principled and essential work.”

#BREAKING: Brazil ex-president Jair Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years in prison for failed coup.

The conviction ruling by a panel of five justices on Brazil’s Supreme Court, who also agreed on the sentence, made the 70-year-old Bolsonaro the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted for attacking democracy, and drew disapproval from the Trump administration.

“This criminal case is almost a meeting between Brazil and its past, its present and its future,” Justice Carmen Lucia said before her vote to convict Bolsonaro, referring to a history checkered with military coups and attempts to overthrow democracy.

There was ample evidence that Bolsonaro, who is currently under house arrest, acted “with the purpose of eroding democracy and institutions,” she added.

Four of the five judges voted to convict the former president of five crimes: taking part in an armed criminal organization; attempting to violently abolish democracy; organizing a coup; and damaging government property and protected cultural assets.

The conviction of Bolsonaro, a former army captain who never hid his admiration for the military dictatorship that killed hundreds of Brazilians between 1964 and 1985, follows legal condemnations for other far-right leaders this year, including France’s Marine Le Pen and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte.

It may further enrage Bolsonaro’s close ally U.S. President Donald Trump, who had called the case a “witch hunt” and in retaliation hit Brazil with tariff hikes, sanctions against the presiding judge, and the revocation of visas for most of the high court justices.

Asked about the conviction on Thursday, Trump again praised Bolsonaro, calling the verdict “a terrible thing.”

“I think it’s very bad for Brazil,” he added.

As he watched his father’s conviction from the U.S., Brazilian Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro told Reuters he expected Trump to consider imposing further sanctions on Brazil and its high court justices.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X the court had “unjustly ruled,” adding: “The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt.”

The verdict was not unanimous, with Justice Luiz Fux on Wednesday breaking with his peers by acquitting the former president of all charges and questioning the court’s jurisdiction.

That single vote could open a path to challenges to the ruling, which could push the trial’s conclusion closer to the October 2026 presidential election. Bolsonaro has repeatedly said he will be a candidate in that election despite being barred from running for office.
From the back benches to presidency

Bolsonaro’s conviction marks the nadir in his trajectory from the back benches of Congress to forge a powerful conservative coalition that tested the limits of the country’s young democratic institutions.

His political journey began in the 1980s as a city lawmaker after a brief career as an army paratrooper. He went on to be elected as a congressman in Brasilia, where he quickly became known for his defense of authoritarian-era policies.

His reputation as a firebrand was fueled by interviews like one in which he argued that Brazil would only change “on the day that we break out in civil war here and do the job that the military regime didn’t do: killing 30,000.”

While long dismissed as a fringe player, he refined his message to play up anti-corruption and pro-family values themes. These found fertile ground as mass protests erupted across Brazil in 2014 amid the sprawling “car wash” bribery scandal that implicated hundreds of politicians – including President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose conviction was later annulled.

Burning anti-establishment anger helped lay the path for his successful 2018 presidential run, with dozens of far-right and conservative lawmakers elected on his coattails. They have reshaped Congress into an enduring obstacle to Lula’s progressive agenda.

Bolsonaro’s presidency was marked by intense skepticism about the pandemic and vaccines and his embrace of informal mining and land-clearing for cattle grazing, pushing deforestation rates in the Amazon rainforest to record highs.

As he faced a close reelection campaign against Lula in 2022 - an election that Lula went on to win - Bolsonaro’s comments took on an increasingly messianic quality, raising concerns about his willingness to accept the results.

“I have three alternatives for my future: being arrested, killed or victory,” he said, in remarks to a meeting of evangelical leaders in 2021. “No man on Earth will threaten me.”

In 2023, Brazil’s electoral court, which oversees elections, barred him from public office until 2030 for venting unfounded claims about Brazil’s electronic voting system.
Protecting democracy

Bolsonaro’s conviction and its durability will now emerge as a powerful test for the strategy that Brazil’s highest-ranking judges have adopted to protect the country’s democracy against what they describe as dangerous attacks by the far-right.

Their targets included social media posts that they say spread disinformation about the electoral system, as well as politicians and activists. Sending a former president and his allies to jail for planning a coup amounts to its culmination.

The cases were largely led by the commanding figure of Justice Alexandre de Moraes, appointed to the court by a conservative president in 2017, whose stance against Bolsonaro and his allies was celebrated by the left and denounced by the right as political persecution.

“They want to get me out of the political game next year,” Bolsonaro told Reuters in June, referring to the 2026 election in which Lula is likely to seek a fourth term. “Without me in the race, Lula could beat anyone.”

The historic significance of the case goes way beyond the former president and his movement, said Carlos Fico, a historian who studies Brazil’s military at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

The three justices also ruled to convict Bolsonaro’s seven allies, including five military officers.

The verdict marks the first time since Brazil became a republic almost 140 years ago that military officials have been punished for attempting to overthrow democracy.

“The trial is a wake-up call for the Armed Forces,” Fico said. “They must be realizing that something has changed, given that there was never any punishment before, and now there is.”

Reporting by Ricardo Brito, Luciana Magalhaes and Manuela Andreoni; Editing by Brad Haynes and Rosalba O’Brien

#Mexico’s new tariffs on Asian imports aim to counter U.S. trade pressures, President Claudia Sheinbaum said the tariffs revealed a day earlier in her administration’s budget proposal are intended to counter the effects of U.S. tariffs on some products from Mexico, particularly in the automotive sector, which accounts for 23 per cent of Mexico’s manufacturing.

Among the products that will face the import taxes are light vehicles, auto parts, textiles, shoes, plastics, electronics, toys and other items.

The budget is expected to pass easily through Mexico’s Congress, where the governing party holds majorities in both chambers.

Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Wednesday that the tariffs would be applied to 8.6 per cent of what Mexico buys abroad and apply only to countries that do not have free trade agreements with Mexico.

The listed products already have an average 16 per cent tariff, but Ebrard said they would be raised to the maximum permitted by international agreements.

China will be the most affected as Mexico imported US$130 billion worth of products from the country in 2024, second only to the what Mexico bought from the United States. Other top countries hit will be South Korea, Thailand, India, Philippines and Indonesia.

Mexico has been under pressure from the Trump administration to limit Chinese imports, some of which the U.S. has alleged use Mexico as a backdoor to the U.S. market.

“What Mexico is looking for right now are reductions or exemptions to the tariffs they’re paying (to the U.S.),” said Oscar Ocampo, a researcher at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness.

Mexico continues trying to negotiate its way out of those tariffs — particularly that of 25 per cent on the automotive sector and 50 per cent on steel and aluminum — even as it prepares along with Canada and the United States for a revision of their free trade agreement.

Mexico’s new tariffs on its Asian trade partners could strengthen its hand in talks with Washington, Ocampo said. “Will it be enough or not? It’s impossible to know,” he said.

Sheinbaum, who met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week in Mexico City, says the tariffs are not the result of U.S. pressure, but rather are aimed at spurring domestic production.

Her administration argues that the products targeted, like Chinese cars, are sold below market prices.

Last month, Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese government, criticized the rumored Mexican tariffs.

“China firmly opposes restrictions imposed on China under various pretexts and under coercion from others, which harm China’s legitimate rights and interests,” he said.

Ocampo said that unlike the U.S. tariffs, Mexico is saying clearly that it is following international trade guidelines.

The Associated Press

Her age -- and maybe her name -- are mysteries, but this girl could be North Korea’s next leader.

SEOUL, South Korea -- Likely in her early teens and bearing a close resemblance to her mother, the daughter of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is increasingly viewed as the country’s likely next ruler.

The girl, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, was in the spotlight again as she accompanied her father on his high-profile China trip, his own first visit to a major gathering of world leaders and her first known trip abroad.

Video and images carried by North Korean state media showed her right behind her father and ahead of Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui as they got off a train in Beijing, clapping as officials at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing bowed to her father, and standing near him as he was seated with senior officials in a meeting room inside his train.

South Korea’s spy agency said Sept. 11 that it assesses that the trip solidified her status as her father’s likely heir.

She is believed to be 12 or 13 years old. Not much else is known about her, but her repeated appearances at high-profile events with her father have prompted speculation that she’s being groomed as North Korea’s next leader.
China trip is analyzed intensively

In a closed-door briefing for lawmakers, the South Korean National Intelligence Service said Kim Jong Un was believed to have brought his daughter to China to help her acquire overseas experience and cement her status as his likely heir, according to lawmaker Park Sunwon, who attended the meeting.

The spy agency cited coverage of her appearances in China in the country’s main state TV station and newspaper, which target the ordinary citizens, according to lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who was also present at the meeting.
Her name and age are unconfirmed

North Korean state media outlets have never published her name, referring to her as Kim Jong Un’s “respected” or “most beloved” child.

The belief that she is named Ju Ae is based on an account by former NBA champion Dennis Rodman, in which he recalled holding Kim Jong Un’s baby daughter during a trip to Pyongyang in 2013.

Her exact age is unconfirmed but South Korean intelligence officials believe she was born in 2013.

In 2023, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers it assessed Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju also have an older son and a younger third child whose gender is unknown.
She’s being increasingly showcased in her father’s events

Kim Jong Un allowed his daughter to be seen in public for the first time during a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2022. Photos in state media showed Kim Ju Ae wearing a white coat and red shoes as she watched a soaring missile from a distance and walked hand-in-hand with her father.

Her carefully-crafted appearances have included missile tests, military parades, and the launch of a naval destroyer in April.

Kim Jong Un has recently expanded his daughter’s public appearances beyond military events to include some of his most ambitious economic projects and cultural events, including the opening of a beach resort in June.
Some question her chances to take over a male-dominated system

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service issued a careful assessment last year that it views Kim Ju Ae as her father’s likely successor, citing a comprehensive analysis of her public activities and the state protocols provided to her.

However, some outside experts disagree with that assessment, citing Kim Jong Un’s relatively young age and the extremely male-dominated nature of North Korea’s power hierarchy.

In its Thursday’s briefing at parliament, the National Intelligence Service assessed that Kim has no major health issues and that he conducted official schedules in China smoothly.

Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been successively ruled by male members of the Kim family -- Kim’s father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Un inherited power in late 2011 upon his father’s death.

By Hyung-jin Kim And Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press

Here’s a look at the long history of U.S. political shootings.

Right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at a university in Utah on Wednesday, becoming the latest in a long string of victims of U.S. political violence.

Below, AFP looks back on some prominent targets.
Melissa Hortman (2025)

Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman was fatally shot along with her husband in June by a gunman who authorities say had a manifesto and a list of other lawmakers and potential targets in his car.

Donald Trump (2024)

U.S. President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A gunman fired several shots, killing a rally goer and lightly wounding the president in the ear.

A few months later, another man was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.
Steve Scalise (2017)

Representative Steve Scalise was shot by a gunman who was targeting Republican lawmakers during practice for a politicians’ charity baseball game.
Gabrielle Giffords (2011)

Representative Gabby Giffords survived a shooting to the head that left six people dead, including a U.S. federal judge and a member of the congresswoman’s staff. She is now a prominent advocate for the prevention of gun violence.

Ronald Reagan (1981)

U.S. President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded as he left an event at the Hilton hotel in Washington. The attacker was John Hinckley Jr., who was granted unconditional release in 2022.

Reagan spent twelve days in the hospital. The incident boosted his popularity, as he displayed humor and resilience during his recovery.
Harvey Milk (1978)

Gay rights icon and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk was shot dead along with mayor George Moscone by a disgruntled former city supervisor.

One of the first openly gay politicians in America, Milk was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, where he was instrumental in passing laws banning discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
George Wallace (1972)

While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Wallace was shot four times and paralyzed for life at a shopping mall in Laurel, Maryland.

The assassination attempt on Wallace, who was known for his segregationist views and populist appeal, highlighted tensions in the Vietnam war era.
Robert F. Kennedy (1968)

U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s brother Robert, who was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, was shot and killed at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian-born Jordanian, was convicted of his murder and is serving a life sentence in a prison in California.

Martin Luther King (1968)

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was convicted of the murder and died in prison in 1998, but King’s children have expressed doubts that he was the assassin.
Malcolm X (1965)

Malcolm X, an icon of the civil rights movement, was struck down in a hail of bullets in New York.

He was gunned down at the height of his influence and within months of the passage of federal legislation that effectively abolished racial segregation.

John F. Kennedy (1963)

Riding in his motorcade with his wife Jackie, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald.

The Warren Commission investigating the assassination concluded that Oswald, a former marine who had lived in the Soviet Union, had acted alone.