“Flavio Bolsonaro on Saturday formally launched his campaign for Brazil’s October presidential election, seeking to extend his family’s grip on the country’s far-right movement despite a series of scandals that have dented his once-strong challenge to incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. … Far-right firebrand Jair Bolsonaro anointed his eldest son, a senator, as his successor after being sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup following his loss to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s 2022 election.” (07/25/26)
“Andy Burnham has ruled out calling an early general election and said he will ‘honour’ Keir Starmer’s manifesto. The new Prime Minister insisted he ‘faced the public’ in the Makerfield by-election and had a mandate for his sweeping changes to the country. Burnham was speaking after a busy first week in the top job, during which he pledged to roll out the biggest changes the UK has seen in four years. … Burnham’s vow means the country should not face a general election until 2029, five years after Keir Starmer swept to power in 2024. There had been speculation that the new PM would want to go to the polls after he wiped out Reform’s poll leader almost immediately after entering No 10.” (07/26/26)
“Thousands of Tunisians have rallied in the capital to demand the resignation of President Kais Saied, denouncing worsening living conditions, democratic backsliding and mismanagement of the state. Crowds marched down Habib Bourguiba Avenue in central Tunis on Saturday as the country marked five years since Saied declared a national emergency, suspended parliament and later dissolved it in order to rule by decree. It’s the latest in a run of recent protests opposing crackdowns on dissent, a struggling economy and limits on press freedoms. Saied’s opponents accused him of abusing emergency measures to institute a reversal of Tunisia’s hard-won democratic transition process.” (07/26/26)
“One of the FBI’s most wanted alleged COVID-19 fraud fugitives has been returned to the United States after authorities captured her in Jamaica. FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital she had been living under the fake identity ‘Harley Newman’ while evading charges tied to an alleged $32 million pandemic relief fraud scheme. Elaine Angene Escoe, 41, arrived back in South Florida Thursday after Jamaican authorities arrested her after a federal manhunt. Prosecutors allege she helped fraudulently obtain more than $32 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief funds before fleeing the country after failing to appear in federal court.” (07/25/26)
“The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said. Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group. Ballout was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin’s Pride festival Saturday night before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist terror attack.” (07/26/26)
“Scott Winters was having dizzy spells but decided not to see a doctor after ChatGPT told him it would take several more serious episodes before he would need care. Instead, it recommended he lounge in a recliner. But weeks later, Winters would find himself being wheeled into an emergency room, convulsing and slipping in and out of consciousness, suffering from multiple blood clots in his lungs. … Winters is now suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI for not only providing unlicensed medical advice but also actively discouraging Winters from seeing a doctor. … Just one day after Winters filed his complaint, the company publicly released ChatGPT Health, a model based on a later version of ChatGPT, designed to interpret intimate medical records and give users health guidance.” (07/25/26)
“The Department of Agriculture on Friday lifted a ban on cattle imports from Mexico that had been in place to contain the spread of a parasite threatening U.S. livestock. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said Douglas, Ariz., would be the first port of entry to be open on Aug. 24. All cattle imports from Mexico were halted by the Biden administration in November 2024, when the first cases of the flesh-eating New World screwworm were detected in the south of the country.” (07/25/26)
“A federal appeals court on Saturday refused to let the Trump administration enforce key parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order [attempting to rig] mail-in voting rules in 23 Democratic-led states, a setback that could send the administration to the US Supreme Court ahead of this year’s midterm elections. In a 2-1 decision, the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to pause a June ruling blocking several provisions of Trump’s March executive order while the administration appeals. The DOJ previously told the court it could seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court if it did not prevail. The administration argued the lawsuit was premature because federal agencies had not finalized the policies needed to implement the executive order.” (07/26/26)
“Troy Jackson has officially secured the Democratic nomination to replace Graham Platner — and now has 101 days to win a race that could determine whether Democrats control the Senate. The Maine Democratic Party convened Saturday morning and voted to make Jackson, a progressive fifth-generation logger and former state Senate president, their nominee.The party has its eyes set on what’s been a white whale for Democrats: knocking out five-term incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Jackson has been hitting Collins since he entered the race following former Senate nominee Graham Platner’s exit from the race less than three weeks ago.” (07/25/26)
“India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has called off its five-week-long protest, hours after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned. The CJP has called it a win for democracy and thousands of jubilant supporters continue to celebrate at Jantar Mantar, the main protest venue in Delhi. An online satirical campaign with an AI-generated cockroach as its mascot, the CJP is not a real party but has evolved into a powerful platform for young people’s anxieties and dissent. The protest has been the most visible expression of public anger against PM Narendra Modi’s government in recent years and gained momentum after Monday’s police crackdown on people marching to parliament left dozens injured.” (07/25/26)
