Brazil

Brazil’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, testifying for the first time before the nation’s Supreme Court, has denied involvement in an alleged coup plot to remain in power and overturn the 2022 election result that he lost to current leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro, 70, and seven of his close allies were questioned by a panel of top judges on Tuesday as part of a trial over allegations that they devised a multi-step scheme to keep Bolsonaro in office despite his defeat to Lula.

Bolsonaro and his co-defendants risk prison sentences of up to 40 years in a trial dubbed “historic” – the first ever for an attempted coup under a democratic government in Brazil.

“That’s not the case, your honour,” Bolsonaro replied on Tuesday when asked by Judge Alexandre de Moraes – an arch political foe – about “the truthfulness” of the accusations against him.

“There was never any talk of a coup. A coup is an abominable thing … Brazil couldn’t go through an experience like that. And there was never even the possibility of a coup in my government,” Bolsonaro claimed.

Bolsonaro began his testimony “as if he were on an electoral campaign,” said Al Jazeera’s Monica Yanakiew, reporting from Rio de Janeiro.

The plot only failed, the charge sheet says, due to a clear lack of military backing.

Bolsonaro, a former military officer himself who has been known to express nostalgia for the country’s past military dictatorship, openly defied Brazil’s judicial system during his 2019-2022 term in office.

On Monday, Bolsonaro’s former right-hand man Mauro Cid – a co-defendant who has turned state’s witness – told the court Bolsonaro had “received and read” a draft decree for the declaration of a state of emergency.

He then “edited” the document, which would have paved the way for measures to “redo the election” and also envisaged the imprisonment of top personalities including Moraes, said Cid.

Cid also testified that he had received cash in a wine crate from Bolsonaro’s former running mate and Defence Minister Walter Braga Netto that investigators say was earmarked to finance an operation by special troops to kill Lula, his Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Moraes.

‘My conscience is clear’

Apart from Cid, the other co-defendants are four ex-ministers and the former heads of Brazil’s navy and intelligence agency.

Most who have taken the stand so far have rejected the bulk of the accusations in the charge sheet. The defendants are standing trial on five counts: attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, aggravated damage and deterioration of listed heritage.

A coup conviction carries a sentence of up to 12 years. When combined with the other charges, the accused could be sentenced to up to 40 years behind bars.

Two former army commanders have claimed Bolsonaro hosted a meeting where the declaration of a state of emergency was discussed as a means of overturning Lula’s election victory.

Bolsonaro has denied all the charges, saying he is the target of political and media persecution.

“He said he was being persecuted by the press because he was elected independently of a political establishment and also because he had a conservative agenda, an anti-woke agenda,” said Yanakiew.

He has already been banned in a separate court ruling from running in elections until 2030 over abuse of power while in office and casting unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system. However, he is still hoping to run in the 2026 presidential elections.

“They have nothing to convict me; my conscience is clear,” the former leader told reporters on Monday.

Almir Garnier, who was Brazilian Navy commander under Bolsonaro, denied the former president had discussed the declaration of a state of emergency with military officials.

He also denied offering Bolsonaro any Navy troops.

The Supreme Court headquarters in Brasilia was one of the targets of a rioting mob of supporters known as “Bolsonaristas” – who raided government buildings in January 2023 as they urged the military to oust Lula, an insurrection attempt that evoked the supporters of Bolsonaro ally United States President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.

Bolsonaro was abroad in Florida at the time of this last-gasp effort to keep him in power after the alleged coup planning fizzled. But his opponents have accused him of fomenting the rioting.

Judges will hear from 26 other defendants at a later date. The court has already heard from dozens of witnesses in hearings that began in mid-May.

Where’s the line between sharing a culture and stealing it? In a globalised world, borrowing is easy – but honoring is harder. We explore everything from re-branded recipes to re-imagined identities. What’s at stake when heritage becomes a trend?

Presenter: Stefanie Dekker

Guests:
Fadi Kattan – Chef and author
Richie Richardson – Professor at Cornell University
Nikki Apostolou – Content creator

Labour prosecutors allege that workers were brought to Brazil illegally and toiled in ‘slavery-like conditions’.

Brazilian labour prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against the Chinese auto manufacturer BYD and two contractors over allegations of illegally trafficking labourers to live and work under conditions “analogous to slavery”.

On Tuesday, the prosecutors, charged with enforcing labour laws, said in a statement that they would seek 257 million reais ($45m) in damages from BYD as well as contractors China JinJiang Construction Brazil and Tecmonta Equipamentos Inteligentes.

They accused the three companies of trafficking Chinese workers to build a BYD plant in Camacari, in the northeastern state of Bahia. There, the prosecutors allege that the companies subjected the workers to “extremely degrading” conditions.

“In December last year, 220 Chinese workers were found to be in conditions analogous to slavery and victims of international human trafficking,” the statement said.

The damages the prosecutors are seeking amount to a penalty of 50,000 reais ($8,867) per violation, multiplied by the number of workers affected, in addition to moral damages.

The lawsuit is the result of a police raid in December 2024, during which authorities say they “rescued” 163 Chinese workers from Jinjiang and 57 from Tecmonta.

The prosecutors say the workers were victims of international human trafficking and were brought to Brazil with visas that did not fit their jobs.

They also allege that conditions at the construction site left the labourers almost totally dependent on their employers, by withholding up to 70 percent of their wages and imposing high contract termination costs. Some of the workers even had their passports taken away, limiting their ability to leave, according to the prosecutors.

The lawsuit also describes meagre living conditions, including some beds without mattresses.

“In one dormitory, only one toilet was identified for use by 31 people, forcing workers to wake up around 4am to wash themselves before starting their workday,” the prosecutors’ statement notes.

Brazil is the largest market for BYD outside China. The Chinese auto giant has said that it is committed to human rights, is cooperating with authorities and will respond to the lawsuit in court.

A spokesman for the company said in December that allegations of poor working conditions were part of an effort to “smear” China and Chinese companies.

But the Brazilian labour prosecutors rejected the notion that their lawsuit was based on anti-Chinese sentiment.

“Our lawsuit is very well-founded, with a substantial amount of evidence provided during the investigation process,” deputy labour prosecutor Fabio Leal said in an interview.

He stated that the workers, who have all returned to China, would receive any payments related to the lawsuit there, with the companies in Brazil responsible for providing proof of payment.

Known for sweeping black-and-white photography that captured the natural world and marginalised communities, Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado has passed away at age 81.

His death was confirmed on Friday by the nonprofit he and his wife Lelia Deluiz Wanick Salgado founded, the Instituto Terra.

“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Sebastiao Salgado, our founder, mentor and eternal source of inspiration,” the institute wrote in a statement.

“Sebastiao was much more than one of the greatest photographers of our time. Alongside his life partner, Lelia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, he sowed hope where there was devastation and brought to life the belief that environmental restoration is also a profound act of love for humanity.

“His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life, the power of transformative action.”

Salgado’s upbringing would prove to be the inspiration for some of his work. Born in 1944 in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, he saw one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, the Atlantic Forest, recede from the land he grew up on, as the result of development.

He and his wife spent part of the last decades of their life working to restore the forest and protect it from further threats.

But Salgado was best known for his epic photography, which captured the exploitation of both the environment and people. His pictures were marked by their depth and texture, each black-and-white frame a multilayered world of tension and struggle.

In one recent photography collection, entitled Exodus, he portrayed populations across the world taking on migrations big and small. One shot showed a crowded boat packed with migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Another showed refugees in Zaire balancing buckets and jugs above their heads, as they trekked to retrieve water for their camp.

Salgado himself was no stranger to fleeing hardship. A trained economist, he and his wife left Brazil in 1969, near the start of a nearly two-decade-long military dictatorship.

By 1973, he had begun to dedicate himself to photography full time. After working several years with France-based photography agencies, he joined the cooperative Magnum Photos, where he would become one of its most celebrated artists.

His work would draw him back to Brazil in the late 1980s, where he would embark on one of his most famous projects: photographing the backbreaking conditions at the Serra Pelada gold mine, near the mouth of the Amazon River.

Through his lens, global audiences saw thousands of men climbing rickety wooden ladders out of the crater they were carving. Sweat made their clothes cling to their skin. Heavy bundles were slung over their backs. And the mountainside around them was jagged with the ridges they had chipped away at.

“He had shot the story in his own time, spending his own money,” his agent Neil Burgess wrote in the British Journal of Photography.

Burgess explained that Salgado “spent around four weeks living and working alongside the mass of humanity that had flooded in, hoping to strike it rich” at the gold mine.

“Salgado had used a complex palette of techniques and approaches: landscape, portraiture, still life, decisive moments and general views,” Burgess said in his essay.

“He had captured images in the midst of violence and danger, and others at sensitive moments of quiet and reflection. It was a romantic, narrative work that engaged with its immediacy, but had not a drop of sentimentality. It was astonishing, an epic poem in photographic form.”

When photos from the series were published in The Sunday Times Magazine, Burgess said the reaction was so great that his phone would not stop ringing.

Critics, however, accused Salgado during his career of glamourising poverty, with some calling his style an “aesthetic of misery”.

But Salgado pushed back on that assessment in a 2024 interview with The Guardian. “Why should the poor world be uglier than the rich world? The light here is the same as there. The dignity here is the same as there.”

In 2014, one of his sons, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, partnered with the German filmmaker Wim Wenders to film a documentary about Salgado’s life, called The Salt of the Earth.

One of his last major photography collections was Amazonia, which captured the Amazon rainforest and its people. While some viewers criticised his depiction of Indigenous peoples in the series, Salgado defended his work as a vision of the region’s vitality.

“To show this pristine place, I photograph Amazonia alive, not the dead Amazonia,” he told The Guardian in 2021, after the collection’s release.

As news of Salgado’s death spread on Friday, artists and public figures offered their remembrances of the photographer and his work. Among the mourners was Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, who offered a tribute on social media.

“His discontent with the fact that the world is so unequal and his obstinate talent in portraying the reality of the oppressed always served as a wake-up call for the conscience of all humanity,” Lula wrote.

“Salgado did not only use his eyes and his camera to portray people: He also used the fullness of his soul and his heart. For this very reason, his work will continue to be a cry for solidarity. And a reminder that we are all equal in our diversity.”

X FACTOR legend Wagner has showcased a brand new look aged 69.

The retired PE teacher from Brazil, 69, starred on the ITV reality series when the show entered its seventh instalment in 2010.

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It was the same season that saw contestants such as Cher Lloyd, One Direction and Rebecca Ferguson compete for the winner’s title and, at the time, he sported shoulder-length locks and a striking black moustache.

Wagner, who was notoriously known as the oldest finalist, was eliminated in the quarter final but not before he showed off his striking look complete with beard and open-button shirts.

Back in 2022, we reported how Wagner had re-located overseas so he could “die in peace.”

And three years on, after his return to the UK, he has changed up his striking appearance.

In a video interview for FUBAR Radio, he showcased his platinum blonde locks, still at their shoulder length, and in their natural waves.

While he’s kept his moustache, it’s now a natural silver shade and paired with a bushy beard.

Yet fans were left particularly distracted by his ripped physique, with Wagner giving a bicep curl to the camera for good measure.

His muscle definition could clearly be seen on his tattooed arms as he posed in a bright yellow vest.

Wagner was chatting to FUBAR host Andrew White and told how he had returned to the UK in December.

Yet he admitted he “couldn’t stand” living in Brazil so sold his hair transplant clinic back to the Da Vinci business.

Back in 2022, we told how Wagner was leaving his Birmingham home and coming out of retirement to start up the business.

At the time, he said: “I love it here but I am going to Brazil to start a hair transplant business.

“I’m living proof that hair transplants work. I had mine eight years ago and I haven’t lost anything. I lose more from the beard than my head.

“I’m going to be making so much money I’ll be coming back to the UK. I’m only a flight away.”

Speaking about his wife, who is 36 years his junior, he then added to The Mirror: “Once I die, (his wife) Lydia will communicate with the manager and I can die in peace now.”

Wagner has also been selling custom videos to fans for just £10 – as he doesn’t want to price anybody out.

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More than 80 witnesses are expected to testify via videoconference over the next two weeks.

The trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has begun, with charges that he plotted a coup d’etat and led a “criminal organisation” to overturn the result of the October 2022 election, in which he was narrowly defeated by current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The country’s Supreme Court is hearing testimony from high-ranking military and political figures from Monday over the next two weeks.

The 70-year-old far-right leader, a former army captain, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022, could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

Bolsonaro denies the allegations, claiming he is a victim of “political persecution”.

More than 80 witnesses are set to testify via videoconference, including Generals Marco Antonio Freire Gomes and Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior, who served as commanders of the army and air force under Bolsonaro.

In previous statements to federal police, both men said Bolsonaro had “raised the hypothetical possibility” of using legal means to annul the 2022 election and justify a military intervention.

According to prosecutors, the alleged plot included plans to declare a state of emergency, hold new elections and assassinate President Lula.

A 900-page federal police report details the scheme, which prosecutors say ultimately collapsed due to a lack of support within the military.

The charges also encompass the January 8, 2023 riots in Brasília, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace one week after Lula’s inauguration.

Though Bolsonaro, a close ally of United States President Donald Trump when they were both in power, was in the US at the time, prosecutors argue he backed the violence, calling it the “last hope” of those seeking to overturn the election.

Seven of Bolsonaro’s former aides are being tried alongside him, including four former ministers, a former navy commander, and the head of Brazil’s intelligence services during his presidency.

This marks the first time a Brazilian president has faced coup charges since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985.

Bolsonaro, who has often expressed admiration for that era, is already banned from holding public office until 2030 after making claims about Brazil’s electronic voting system.

Despite the ban, Bolsonaro has indicated a desire to return to politics. But speaking to UOL last week, he likened the charges to a “telenovela scenario” and warned that a conviction would be a “death penalty, political and physical”.

Bolsonaro was heavily criticised when he was Brazil’s leader during the COVID-19 pandemic and when his policies and spread of misinformation contributed to the nation having the highest overall death toll in Latin America, and the second highest in the world after the US, from the coronavirus.

Earlier this month, he was recently discharged from hospital after undergoing major abdominal surgery, the latest in a series of procedures stemming from a stabbing attack in 2018.

A chemical spill in the city of Jundiaí has turned a lake bright blue, killing fish and dyeing local wildlife. Authorities are now investigating the environmental impact as the dyed water flows toward the Jundiaí River, whose water is used by nearby cities and companies.

YouTube is getting another piece of the NFL by landing its first exclusive live pro football broadcast in the first week of the season.

The streaming platform will have worldwide rights to the Sept. 5 meeting between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs from São Paulo, Brazil. The teams will face off at Corinthians Arena, home to Brazilian soccer team SC Corinthians.

YouTube is already the home for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package, which for an annual fee gives fans access to network TV game telecasts outside of their home markets. The Brazil game will be available free to all YouTube users.

Although the NFL has a multiyear media rights deal with Fox, NBCUniversal, CBS, ESPN and Amazon, the league has managed to peel off games for streaming. Netflix landed two Christmas games last season and will be back in the 2025-26 season.

While the NFL values the reach that its traditional TV partners continue to provide, the league is aware that the younger viewers are turning to streaming platforms — especially YouTube — for video content. Executives have made it clear that they need to reach those consumers to replenish its fan base going forward into the future.

YouTube will team up with the NFL for a multiyear deal for the annual Super Bowl Flag Football Game. The event scored more than 6 million live views when YouTube first presented it in February. The game’s teams were led by YouTube stars IShowSpeed and Kai Cenat.

Brazil, China call for direct talks as the “only way to end the conflict” between Russia and Ukraine.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to press his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to attend negotiations with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkiye, adding to calls on Moscow to enter talks and end its three-year war.

Lula is expected to stop in the Russian capital on the way back from attending a regional forum in China.

“I’ll try to talk to Putin,” Lula said at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday before his departure.

“It costs me nothing to say, ‘hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate, dammit,’” he said.

The negotiations, expected to take place on Thursday in Turkiye’s commercial hub, Istanbul, would be the first direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow since 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Lula’s comments come after the Ukrainian foreign minister urged Brazil to use its influence with Russia to secure a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

Brazil and China issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling for direct negotiations as the “only way to end the conflict”.

Zelenskyy earlier dared Putin to meet him in Turkiye, saying if he does not show up, it would show that Moscow is not interested in peace.

He also urged United States President Donald Trump, currently on a tour of Middle Eastern countries, to also visit Turkiye and participate in the talks.

Trump had announced that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would participate in the talks in Istanbul.

A State Department official said Rubio was expected to be in Istanbul on Friday.

The Kremlin has not yet specified whether Putin will attend in person, stating only that the “Russian delegation will be present”.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow was ready for serious talks on Ukraine, but doubted Kyiv’s capacity for negotiations.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso poised to replace departing Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, according to media reports.

Former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso is set to become the club’s next manager on a three-year deal when he leaves Bayer Leverkusen after this season, Spanish media report.

Alonso, 43, is expected to replace Real boss Carlo Ancelotti, who – despite having a year remaining on his Madrid contract – has just been confirmed as the new manager of Brazil in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, the Brazilian FA (CBF) said on Monday.

Alonso, who said earlier this month that he was leaving Leverkusen after guiding them to the double last term, will join Real before the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States from June 15 to July 13, multiple media reports said.

Alonso, who also played for Liverpool and Bayern Munich, last season steered Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title, ending the Bavarians’ 11-year domination, and they also won the German Cup and German Super Cup.

Ancelotti’s departure from the club come as no surprise after Real’s 4-3 defeat at Barcelona in a thrilling El Clasico on Sunday left his side on the brink of a trophy-less season.

The 65-year-old Italian, who returned for a second stint at Real in June 2021, led the Spanish giants to two Champions League and La Liga doubles, the latest of which came last season.

He exits Real Madrid as the most successful manager in the club’s history with a total of 15 trophies and the first coach to claim titles in Europe’s top five leagues.

However, this season Real were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarterfinals by Arsenal, and allowed Barca to fight back and win 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final.

Second-placed Real are seven points adrift of Barcelona, who could secure the league title on Wednesday without kicking a ball if Real fail to win at home to Mallorca.

Regardless of Real’s result, a Barca victory in the city derby away to Espanyol on Thursday would clinch the title.

An official announcement regarding a managerial change is expected before Real’s last game of the season at home to Real Sociedad on May 25.

Ancelotti is expected to receive a fitting farewell, recognising his four highly successful years with the club.