International
Lula asks for severe sanction if the guilt of general arrested for coup is proven
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Sunday that reserve general Walter Braga Netto, accused of leading an attempted coup d’état in 2022, has the right to the presumption of innocence, but must be severely punished if his guilt is proven.
The head of state referred to the arrest of Braga Netto in a brief comment that he slipped during the interview he gave after being discharged from the hospital where he was admitted on Monday and in which he underwent surgery to treat an intracranial hemorrhage.
“About what happened this week with the arrest warrant issued against General Braga Netto… I’m going to show you that I have more patience and that I’m democratic. I think he has every right to the presumption of innocence. I didn’t have it, but I want them to have it,” he said in reference to his imprisonment for two corruption processes that ended up annulled.
But, he added, “if those people did what they tried to do, they have to be severely punished.”
The arrest of Braga Netto
The former Minister of Defense and the Presidency in the Government of the far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro was arrested this Saturday at his residence in Rio de Janeiro by order of the Supreme Court after the Federal Police accused him of obstructing the investigation of the coup plot.
The Army reserve general, who was a candidate for vice president as Bolsonaro’s running mate in the 2022 elections, is accused of being the main articulator of an attempted coup d’état to prevent Lula’s investiture and an alleged plan to assassinate the progressive leader.
“It is not possible for us to admit that, in a generous country like Brazil, there are people of high military grade plotting the death of the President of the Republic, plotting the death of his vice president and plotting the death of a judge who was president of the Supreme Electoral Court,” Lula said in reference to the accusations against Braga Netto.
The defendants
Both the detained general and Bolsonaro are among the 37 defendants to whom the Federal Police requested that charges be opened for having planned a coup to prevent Lula’s investiture in January 2023.
Despite these accusations, Braga Netto arrested him preventively because, according to the Federal Police, he had been making steps to hinder the investigation and prevent the collection of evidence.
Magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, a member of the Supreme Court responsible for the case and for the arrest warrant, said in his sentence that the investigations “revealed the very serious participation of Walter Braga Neto in the facts investigated and his true role as leader, organizer and financier.”
The reserve general was taken to the headquarters of the First Army Division on the same Saturday, in the so-called ‘Military Villa’ in Rio de Janeiro, where he was placed in the custody of the Armed Forces for having the right to remain in a special cell in a military barracks.
International
French Parliament Moves to Approve Social Media Age Limit for Minors
France’s Parliament is expected to approve legislation on Tuesday banning children under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms, following an agreement reached Monday between lawmakers on the mechanism to enforce the measure.
The initiative is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s broader effort to strengthen online protections for minors and regulate children’s screen time before the end of his second presidential term in May 2027.
“Tomorrow, France will become the first country in Europe to establish a digital age of majority to better protect our children online,” Digital Affairs Minister Anne Le Hénanff said Monday in a post on X.
If approved, the government plans to implement the restriction in September, when students return to school after the summer holidays.
The United Kingdom has already passed similar legislation restricting social media access for users under the age of 16, although that measure is scheduled to take effect in early 2027.
Both the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, and the Senate are expected to hold final votes on the legislation Tuesday after a joint committee of seven senators and seven lawmakers reached an agreement on the bill’s final wording.
Under the proposed law, children under 15 years old would be prohibited from accessing online social media services, with limited exceptions for certain platforms, including online encyclopedias.
The legislation would make France the first member of the European Union to introduce a nationwide minimum digital age for access to social media platforms, reflecting a growing international movement to strengthen online safeguards for children and teenagers.
International
WHO to Hold New Round of Talks After Slow Progress on Pandemic Accord
Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) made limited progress during the seventh session of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) tasked with finalizing a key annex to the global pandemic agreement, prompting negotiators to schedule another round of talks in September.
The session, which opened on July 6 and concluded last week at WHO headquarters in Geneva, focused on drafting and negotiating the annex covering the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) System, a central component of the pandemic accord.
Without the completion of the PABS annex, the global pandemic agreement cannot enter into force.
The annex had originally been expected to be finalized before May 2026, but negotiations have progressed more slowly than anticipated.
In a statement, the WHO said member states “advanced negotiations” on the PABS system while acknowledging that additional discussions are required to complete a framework capable of supporting a faster, more effective and more equitable response to future pandemics.
The organization announced that an eighth round of negotiations will take place on September 14.
Despite the limited progress, delegates succeeded in streamlining the draft text and concentrating discussions on several technical issues.
According to the WHO, negotiators focused on the contractual arrangements underpinning the PABS mechanism, the laboratory networks responsible for handling and sharing pathogens and their genetic sequence data, as well as the framework for distributing the benefits generated through the sharing of those pathogens.
The PABS system is considered one of the most important elements of the future pandemic agreement, as it aims to ensure timely access to pathogens for scientific research while establishing fair mechanisms for sharing the benefits derived from vaccines, diagnostics and other medical countermeasures developed during future global health emergencies.
International
Iran Says It Is in “Full-Scale War” as U.S. Launches Ninth Consecutive Night of Airstrikes
Iran declared on Monday that it is facing a “full-scale war” against the United States after Washington carried out another wave of overnight airstrikes, including attacks near a city that hosts one of the country’s nuclear facilities.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country must prepare for the consequences of the ongoing conflict, describing the situation as a broad military confrontation.
“The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” Pezeshkian said in a statement released by the presidency. “We must be realistic and accept the natural consequences of this resistance.”
The latest U.S. strikes marked the ninth consecutive night of military operations, according to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which announced the attacks on X.
Since hostilities resumed on July 7, U.S. air operations have expanded well beyond southern Iran, reaching central and northwestern regions of the country, according to local sources.
Local authorities reported that one person was killed and several others injured in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, more than 1,000 kilometers from the Persian Gulf.
Additional casualties were reported in the nearby city of Urmia, where several people were wounded during separate strikes.
Washington said the attacks targeted military installations. However, Iranian officials accused the United States of striking populated areas, including Bushehr, home to Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant.
Iran also reported that the Darkhovin nuclear facility, which is still under construction, was among the sites hit during the latest attacks.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the renewed military campaign was carried out in honor of American service members killed in recent days.
Two U.S. soldiers died on Friday during attacks on a military base in Jordan, while another service member was killed on Sunday during the controlled disposal of unexploded munitions from an Iranian drone in northern Iraq.
According to U.S. figures, 17 American troops have been killed since the conflict began on February 28.
On the Iranian side, the latest official figures released on Friday reported 50 deaths and more than 500 injuries since fighting resumed earlier this month.
A memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States on June 17, which had been intended to pave the way for peace negotiations, collapsed after hostilities resumed over the strategic control of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes.
French Parliament Moves to Approve Social Media Age Limit for Minors
WHO to Hold New Round of Talks After Slow Progress on Pandemic Accord
Iran Says It Is in “Full-Scale War” as U.S. Launches Ninth Consecutive Night of Airstrikes
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
International5 days agoU.S. Strikes Hit Areas Near Strait of Hormuz as Tensions With Iran Escalate
-
Central America5 days agoNicaragua Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Italy Over Red Brigades Dispute
-
International5 days agoU.S. to Limit Visa Duration for Foreign Students and Journalists
-
International5 days agoEl Salvador Sends Eighth Humanitarian Flight to Earthquake-Hit Venezuela
-
International2 days agoTen Bodies Found in Mexico’s Zacatecas State Amid Security Operation
-
International17 hours agoIran Says It Is in “Full-Scale War” as U.S. Launches Ninth Consecutive Night of Airstrikes
-
International17 hours agoFrench Parliament Moves to Approve Social Media Age Limit for Minors
-
International17 hours agoWHO to Hold New Round of Talks After Slow Progress on Pandemic Accord