03 World

Brazil ex-leader Bolsonaro knew and agreed to a plan to poison President Lula, top prosecutor says– www.euronews.com
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Brazil’s prosecutor-general has filed charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat.

Brazil’s prosecutor-general said Tuesday that former leader Jair Bolsonaro knew and agreed to a plan to poison his successor and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as part of an attempt coup to remain in power.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet formally charged Bolsonaro for attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat. He said that the plan also aimed at shooting dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.

Gonet alleges that Bolsonaro and 33 others participated in the plan to remain in power despite losing to current President Lula.

“The members of the criminal organisation structured at the presidential palace a plan to attack institutions, aiming to bring down the system of the powers and the democratic order, which received the sinister name of ‘Green and Yellow Dagger,’” Gonet said in the report. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”

DeepMind CEO claims Google has the “ingredients” to maintain AI lead over DeepSeek’s “exaggerated” success — after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Google already missed the opportunity to be the “default winner” – Windows Central
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So far, there have been no signs that President Trump is not being more than symbolic when he suggested America clean up Gaza and turn it into an entrepreneurial haven, sans the Gazans, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have greenlit the plan, saying that Trump’s vision is “the only viable plan to enable a different future.”

The deadline for hostage release has come and gone, with Netanyahu telling Hamas, with President Trump’s blessing (which included the delivery of heavy bombs) that on his time and place of choosing, “All hell will break lose” should Hamas continue to not release ALL the remaining hostages.

Netanyahu signals moving ahead with Trump’s Gaza plan as Israel receives unblocked US shipment of heavy bombs – Sky News
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Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested moving ahead with Donald Trump’s plan to clear out Palestinians from Gaza, as Israel received a previously blocked shipment of heavy bombs.

President Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza and redevelop it under US ownership has been criticised by Palestinians, human rights groups, regional powers and US allies, but Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday it is “the only viable plan to enable a different future”.

The Israeli prime minister also denied claims it was ethnic cleansing.

Ever since the UN General Assembly voted for Palestine to be split into an Arab state and a Jewish state, against significant opposition in 1947, the issue of land, and who it belongs to, has been one of the most divisive in the region.

Mr Netanyahu said that any emigration from Gaza should be “voluntary” but rights groups and critics warned the plan amounted to coercion given Israel had razed the enclave.

The Israeli PM said he and Mr Trump had a “common strategy” for Gaza and that the US president’s plan was “right on the dot”.

Speaking to reporters in Florida on Sunday, Mr Trump said: “I told Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu] you do whatever you want.”

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling on Europe to build a common army. This comes as President Trump has expressed no interest in talking to Zelinsky about terms for a peace treaty. Trump has also recently “offered” ways Ukraine can pay the U.S. back for the billions they’ve invested in the country.

Zelensky said “The armed forces of Europe must be created. Without Ukraine’s army, Europe’s army’s will not be enough to stop Russia. Only our army in Europe has real, modern battlefield experience but our army alone is not enough too. And we need what you can provide weapons, training, sanctions, financing, political pressure and unity.”

Zelenksy calls for ‘Army of Europe’ to take on Russia without US as Trump urges him to make a deal with Putin– www.thesun.co.uk
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… Speaking in Germany today, Zelensky proposed a new plan to achieve safety for Ukraine going forwards.

He said: “Many leaders have talked about Europe and that needs its own military, an army of Europe and I believe the time has come.

“The armed forces of Europe must be created.

“Without Ukraine’s army, Europe’s army’s will not be enough to stop Russia.

“Only our army in Europe has real, modern battlefield experience but our army alone is not enough too.

“And we need what you can provide weapons, training, sanctions, financing, political pressure and unity.”

Trump & Putin’s Ukraine deal – ‘they’ll try to redraw the map of Europe’

The Ukrainian president said Europe should be looking to create such a military separate from Nato in case “America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it”.

He added that after three years of fighting, Ukraine has managed to build up the foundations of a European army and should now act on it.

“As we fight this war and lay the groundwork for peace and security we must build the armed forces of Europe so that Europe’s future depends only on Europeans and decisions about Europe are made in Europe,” he said.

“Europe has everything it takes but it needs to come together.

“We need confidence in our own friends so that others have no choice but to respect Europe’s power and without European army that is impossible.”

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk appeared to support Zelensky’s calls as he said Europe urgently needs a plan over security.

European Leaders Call Emergency Meeting: “We Need To Respond” to President Trump– wltreport.com
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With all that is happening in Europe, you would think the need to buck against a legitimate push for peace might take a backseat to a few higher priorities.

But apparently President Trump’s big moves and bold tactics in addressing the war in Ukraine is ruffling a few feathers among the upper crust of Europe’s leaders.

Top administration officials from the United States are preparing to sit down with their Russian counterparts in a serious bid to stop the fighting.

But instead of getting behind President Trump’s push, European leaders seem more fixated on continuing the status-quo of the conflict.

Or, at best, they are intent on pushing their own plans for Ukraine simply because they don’t like President Trump’s big decisive methodology.

Poilievre warns Trump not to turn Canada into a ‘resentful neighbour’– National Post
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre warned U.S. President Donald Trump not to turn a “loyal friend into a resentful neighbour” with his incessant threats of tariffs on key sectors to the Canadian economy and of making Canada into the 51st state.

Poilievre was speaking to hundreds of supporters at a “Canada First” rally on Saturday afternoon, to coincide with Flag Day, in the same downtown Ottawa convention centre where Poilievre’s leadership of the party began more than two years ago.

“Sometimes it does take a threat to remind us of what we have, what we could lose and what we could become,” he told the crowd. “The unjustified threats of tariffs and 51st statehood from Donald Trump have united our people to defend the country we love.”

Attacks upon Nigerian Christians claim 15 more lives – Alabama Baptist
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The news outlets Christian Daily International and Morning Star News report these recent attacks upon Christians:

— Six Christians were killed in two attacks in Nigeria’s Kaduna state within a week. One Christian was slain Feb. 5 in Majagada Binawa village and two others in Fadan Rumaya, sources said. On Jan. 30, a pastor of an Evangelical Church Winning All congregation in Kwassam village was ambushed and slain. Two other Christians also were killed. Muslim Fulani herdsmen are suspected in the Feb. 5 and Jan. 30 raids.

— Seventeen Christians were kidnapped Feb. 2 from Fadan Ruruma.

— Muslim Fulani herdsmen are likewise suspected in the Feb. 3 and Feb. 5 raids upon the villages of Okpomaju, Odudaje and Asa in Benue state, in which six Christians were killed. Eight others were kidnapped, sources said.

— Bala Galadima, pastor of an Evangelical Church Winning All congregation in Lubo in Gombe state, was gunned down Feb. 9 at his residence on church property. Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group, is suspected in the attack, according to sources.

US-China dispute over Afghanistan resolutions intensifies at UNSC – News.Az
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The US-China dispute over Afghanistan resolutions has intensified at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The disagreement, which has been simmering since late 2024, has intensified in recent weeks following the return of the Trump administration, News.Az reports citing foreign media.

The dispute could shape not only the U.N.’s engagement with the Taliban-led government in Kabul but also Beijing’s growing influence in the Security Council.

“While the Trump administration has made headlines by pulling out of U.N. mechanisms like the Paris climate pact and the World Health Organization, this argument in the council could be a harbinger of more Sino-American tensions over multilateral security,” the report stated.

At the center of the dispute is which country should serve as the Security Council’s “penholder” on Afghanistan. In U.N. terminology, the penholder is responsible for drafting resolutions, initiating negotiations, and shaping key mandates related to the country in question.

Rare earths, controlled by China, are increasingly driving US geo-strategy – Agencia EFE
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United States mediation in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine highlights Washington’s concern about the scarcity of rare earths, which have multiple applications in electronic and industrial materials and processes.

In the past five years, the market for critical minerals has doubled to 320 billion dollars and will likely double again by the end of the decade, according to a Goldman Sachs report.

Supply remains concentrated in China, which the same analysts estimate refines 85-90% of rare earths and produces 92% of rare earth magnets.

Enrique Feas, a researcher at the Real Instituto El Cano, told EFE that these materials are crucial for industrial production and that China has used its supply as a “warning” in the face of trade tensions.