Bolsonaro rushes for a running mate
Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has until tomorrow to find a running mate, but he may be scrambling after his top choice was barred from joining his ticket by her own party. Last week, Bolsonaro announced conservative Senator Tereza Cristina Dias was his preferred running mate for the October election, hoping her popularity among Brazil’s powerful agricultural sector, rural voters, and women would help close the gap with incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the polls. But her center-right Progressives Party (PP) decided over the weekend to remain neutral in the election, ending Cristina’s chances of joining the ticket, as she could only do so if the PP formally allied with Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party. It’s unclear who Bolsonaro will now pick as he searches for other party alliances.
US shrinks its diplomatic footprint
The US State Department reportedly told Congress last week that it would close five foreign missions around the world due to cost-cutting, affecting posts in Japan, Grenada, Indonesia, Cameroon, and Canada. The move marks another step in the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink America’s diplomatic footprint overseas. It follows another State Department initiative earlier this year reducing the number of US embassies and consulates in Africa processing visas from nearly 50 to just 20 regional hubs. Officials say the closures are aimed at reducing costs and streamlining operations, but critics warn that pulling back US diplomatic personnel – combined with the shuttering of USAID last year – could create openings for rivals like China and Russia to expand their influence.
Fighting flares anew in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
Fresh clashes erupted over the weekend between the Ethiopian government and militants from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political and paramilitary group representing the northern Tigray region. The violence has raised fears that a three-year-old peace deal between the two sides is about to collapse. From 2020 to 2022, they waged a ferocious war that left as many as 700,000 dead, displaced more than 2 million, and drew in forces from neighboring Eritrea. Each side blamed the other for the latest fighting, which came after the Ethiopian government and the TPLF had been massing troops again for months. The TPLF dominated Ethiopia’s authoritarian government for decades until losing power amid mass protests in 2018. The degree of Tigray autonomy has been at the center of tensions between the region and the Ethiopian government ever since.
