National Politics

Sunday is election day in Brazil. In the Amazon region, many Indigenous people live days away from the nearest town where there is a voting center. But the nation addressed that challenge years ago, thanks in large part to Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira, who was murdered earlier this year. Pereira created a system for voting machines to travel to Indigenous villages, rather than vice versa, after an infamous incident where Indigenous voters were stranded on a riverbank for weeks with insufficient gasoline to motor their boats home, and many got sick. Some died. Today that system continues, with election officials using light aircraft and helicopters to reach remote villages.

The enthusiasm for Donald Trump’s unique brand of nationalist populism has cut into traditional Democratic strongholds in places such as Monongahela in western Pennsylvania. That's where House Republicans recently outlined their election-year campaign agenda, called  “Commitment to America.” They're hoping they can tap into the same political sentiment Trump used to attract voters. But it's not clear whether the support that propelled Trump to the White House will be there on Election Day this November. Just as challenging for the Republican Party is whether Trump’s false claims of voter fraud will hurt the GOP if voters decide to sit out the election.

Swiss police have used rubber bullets to disperse protesters in front of the Iranian Embassy in Bern after two men climbed over the embassy’s fence and pulled down the Iranian flag from a flagpole in the yard. Police said late Saturday that nobody was injured and that the "large crowd” of protesters was dispersed after the use of rubber bullets. The two protesters who entered the embassy’s grounds were detained. Police said they used rubber bullets after several other protesters at the unauthorized demonstration tried following the two men who had first entered the embassy’s yard and also tried accessing the premises. It wasn't immediately clear if more protesters were detained.

Pope Francis has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, imploring him to “stop this spiral of violence and death” in Ukraine. Francis also denounced Sunday what he called the “absurd” risk of nuclear war. Francis made his strongest appeal yet on the more than seventh-month war as he addressed the public in St. Peter’s Square. The pontiff also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “be open” to serious peace proposals. He also exhorted the international community to “use all diplomatic instruments” to end this “huge tragedy” and “horror” of war.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has acknowledged she could have done a better job “laying the ground” for her package of unfunded tax cuts. But she insisted Sunday that she would push on with an economic plan that has caused turmoil on financial markets and weakened the country’s public finances. Truss acknowledged that the U.K. faces “a very turbulent and stormy time” but said her policies would lead to a “high-growth, low-tax economy” in the longer term. The comments are unlikely to calm Truss’s Conservative Party. The party opens its four-day annual conference on Sunday amid plunging poll ratings and growing public discontent.

Polls opened in Bosnia on Sunday for a general election that is unlikely to bring any structural change despite palpable disappointment in the small, ethnically divided Balkan country's political leaders. The election includes races for various levels of government. Bosnians of all ethnic stripes say they want representatives who will improve the economy and maintain peace. But the sectarian post-war system of governance leaves the pragmatic, reform-minded people in the country with little incentive to vote. The low turnout has historically benefited the divisive, tribal leaders. The election is held amid growing fears that Russia, through its Serb allies, might attempt to reignite the conflict in Bosnia to deflect attention from its campaign in Ukraine.

Russian torture in Izium was arbitrary, widespread and absolutely routine for both civilians and soldiers throughout the city, an AP investigation has found. AP journalists located 10 torture sites in the Ukrainian town, including a deep sunless pit in a residential compound, a clammy underground jail that reeked of urine, a medical clinic, and a kindergarten. AP also spoke to 15 survivors of Russian torture and confirmed the deaths of eight men. All but one were civilians. The AP found a former Ukrainian soldier who was tortured three times hiding in a monastery, and connected him with loved ones.

The United Nations and advocacy groups for survivors of clergy sexual abuse are urging Pope Francis to authorize a full investigation into Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo. The call came after the Vatican’s sex abuse office said last week that it had secretly sanctioned the revered independence hero of East Timor in 2020. It forbade him from having contact with minors or with East Timor based on misconduct allegations that arrived in Rome in 2019. But a brief statement by the Vatican didn’t reveal what church officials might have known before 2019.

Humanitarian workers say hunger is now soaring in eastern Congo after months of fighting between M23 rebels and the army. An internal draft assessment by aid groups seen by The Associated Press says nearly 260,000 people are facing extreme food insecurity in Nyiragongo and Rutshuru territories. But only 10% of those targeted by aid groups this year received the full recommended food assistance. That's because of a lack of funds and security concerns that has restricted access to some areas. Health staff at one hospital said that the number of severely malnourished children had nearly tripled between April to July.

South Korean activists say they clashed with police while launching balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda materials across the North Korean border. Seoul had previously pleaded with activists to stop such activities after the North threatened to respond with “deadly” retaliation. Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector-turned-activist, said he his group launched about eight balloons Saturday night from an area in the South Korean border town of Paju. Police officers arrived at the scene and prevented them from sending their 12 remaining balloons. Park said police confiscated some of their materials and detained him and three other members of his group over mild scuffles with officers before releasing them after questioning.

U.S. officials celebrated at the start of September when top allies agreed to back an audacious, never-before-tried plan to clamp down on Vladimir Putin’s access to cash. The countries would pay only cut-rate prices for Russian oil. That would deprive Putin of money to keep prosecuting his war in Ukraine, but also ensure that oil kept gushing out of Russia and kept global prices low. But nearly a month later, the organization made up of some of the world’s leading economies, the Group of Seven, is still figuring out how to execute their plan and gather participants.

Venezuela’s government has freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug smuggling convictions. The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives imprisoned for nearly five years, is the largest trade of detained citizens that the Biden administration has ever carried out. It amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as he looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his opponents and follows months of secretive talks, including repeated visits to Venezuela over the last year by Washington’s top hostage negotiator.