International
Bolsonaro against Brazil resuming carnival
AFP
President Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday he was against Brazil resuming carnival celebrations in February, a rare nod to Covid-19 social distancing measures from the far-right leader.
“As far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t have carnival,” Bolsonaro, 66, said in an interview, as Brazil debates whether to go ahead with the festivities held from February 25 to March 1.
Carnival was canceled in Brazil this year because of the pandemic.
But authorities are considering allowing it to go ahead in 2022, given a sharp drop in the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Brazil.
Bolsonaro said he believed it was too soon, but that the decision was up to state and local authorities.
“I don’t want to get involved, because it could just cause another controversy,” he told radio network Sociedade.
“Last February, the pandemic was just arriving, we didn’t know much about it. I declared an emergency and the governors and mayors all ignored it. They went ahead with carnival. Then the consequences came, and people try to say I’m the one responsible.”
Bolsonaro appeared to be referring to a February 2020 bill passed by Congress declaring Covid-19 a public health emergency, which he signed into law.
He did not mention his more controversial handling of the virus, which he downplayed as a “little flu,” attacking stay-at-home measures, face masks and vaccines.
A Senate investigative commission last month said it had found evidence Bolsonaro committed 10 crimes in his pandemic response, including “crimes against humanity.”
Despite his anti-vaccine statements, hard-hit Brazil has massively scaled up its immunization campaign in recent months.
With more than 60 percent of Brazil’s 213 million people now fully vaccinated, the average daily Covid-19 death toll has fallen from more than 3,000 in April to around 200.
International
Meta Says Russia Seeks to Ban WhatsApp for Defending Secure Communication
U.S. tech giant Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, said that Russia is seeking to ban the messaging app because it “challenges government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication.”
Russian authorities have encouraged citizens to switch to state-backed applications, and in August they already blocked WhatsApp’s calling feature.
On Friday, the communications regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform was being used to “organize and carry out terrorist acts in the country, recruit perpetrators, and facilitate fraud and other crimes.”
“If the messaging service does not comply with Russian law, it will be completely blocked,” the regulator warned.
WhatsApp remains one of Russia’s most widely used messaging services, alongside Telegram.
Moscow is pressuring both platforms to grant authorities access to user data upon request for investigations into fraud and activities the government labels as “terrorist.”
Human rights advocates fear the demand could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin, or the war in Ukraine.
International
Archbishop Wenski criticizes Trump’s deportation policies, calls for stronger push for reform
The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has called for increased pressure on the U.S. Congress to advance comprehensive immigration reform and criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies, arguing that they “do nothing to help.”
“We need to apply more pressure on Congress so lawmakers can make the necessary changes. It is also important for the Administration to listen to our voice. We do not want to be anyone’s enemy—we are Americans,” Wenski said in an interview with EFE.
The religious leader, who heads one of the dioceses with the largest Latino and Haitian populations in the United States, issued a call to defend the rights of migrants. He also emphasized that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has maintained a strong and public stance in favor of migrants for decades.
International
Trump relaunches diplomatic push to finalize U.S.-Backed peace plan for Ukraine War
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his diplomatic team will resume meetings with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in an effort to pressure both sides to accept the peace plan proposed by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this new round of talks, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will hold discussions with Ukrainian representatives to narrow differences on the remaining points of the agreement.
Trump also confirmed his intention to meet personally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Putin, though he emphasized that such meetings will only take place “when the agreement is fully finalized or in its final stage.”
The president claimed that his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward resolving the conflict and reiterated that the war “never would have started” if he had been in the White House at the onset of the crisis.
The U.S.-backed peace plan consists of 28 points and has been revised following feedback from both sides. According to Trump, only “a few points of disagreement” remain under active discussion.
One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region to Russia and limit the size of its armed forces. Kyiv is working closely with Washington to soften these clauses in search of an arrangement that does not compromise its sovereignty or security.
With this diplomatic push, Trump aims to solidify his role as the main mediator in the conflict and steer the war toward a political resolution after years of devastation, humanitarian crisis, and rising global geopolitical tensions.
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