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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Tim Walker

Monday US briefing: Brazil elects far-right populist president

Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro celebrate in Rio.
Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro celebrate in Rio. Photograph: António Lacerda/EPA

Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s headlines. If you’d like to receive this briefing by email, sign up here.


Top story: Brazilian voters choose Bolsonaro’s anger over hope

Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right populist who has praised dictators and poured scorn on women and minority groups, has been declared president of Brazil after a dramatic election in the world’s fourth-largest democracy. The 63-year-old ex-paratrooper has pledged to include military officers in his cabinet to help tackle corruption, crime and a supposed communist threat. His victory is yet another example of disillusioned voters choosing anger over hope, writes Simon Tisdall.

  • Joy and fear. Tom Phillips talked to jubilant Bolsonarianios on the streets of São Paolo. But opponents fear what Bolsonaro’s victory means for the country’s LGBT community and the future of the Amazon rainforest.

  • In his own words. In a political career pockmarked with offensive pronouncements, Bolsonaro has called refugees “scum”, said he is in favour of torture and declared himself “incapable of loving a homosexual son”.

Pittsburgh rabbi urges US leaders to ‘stop the words of hate’

In an emotional Sunday address to his congregation at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were shot dead the previous day, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers called on US political leaders to “stop the words of hate”, suggesting the “evil path … starts with speech”. The victims of the shooting were named on Sunday. The suspected gunman, Robert Bowers, has been charged with their murders.

Czech intelligence stepped up Trump spying efforts in 1980s

Donald and Ivana Trump at the funeral of her father Milos Zelnicek, in 1989.
Donald and Ivana Trump at the funeral of her father Miloš Zelníček, in 1989. Photograph: web

Czechoslovakia’s communist intelligence agency escalated its efforts to spy on Donald Trump during the late 1980s, as it sought information regarding the “upper echelons of the US government”, according to archive files and testimony from former spies. The Státní bezpečnost (StB), a close ally of the KGB, had been keeping tabs on Trump ever since he married his Czech first wife, Ivana Zelníčková, in 1977.

  • Informer-in-law. Ivana’s father, Miloš Zelníček, was an StB informer and regularly passed information on his son-in-law to the intelligence agency.

No sign of survivors after Indonesia plane crash

A rescue team brings personal items and wreckage from the crash ashore in Jakarta.
A rescue team brings personal items and wreckage from the crash ashore in Jakarta. Photograph: Resmi Malau/AFP/Getty Images

Rescue officials have recovered some human remains from the spot where a passenger plane carrying 189 people crashed into the sea near Jakarta. The Lion Air domestic flight was headed to Pangkal Pinang, a tin-mining region on the island of Bangka, but made a sharp dive into the sea 13 minutes after taking off from the Indonesian capital. The pilot had reportedly asked to turn back to base just before the crash.

  • New plane. Flight JT610 was a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet, a new model that launched worldwide last year. The plane that crashed had been in use for just two months.

Crib sheet

  • The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, says she will not seek re-election as chairwoman of the country’s Christian Democrat party in December, though she will remain as chancellor for now.

  • The Greek government is relaunching its campaign to claim reparations from Germany for second world war damages and a loan forcibly extracted by the Nazis when they occupied Greece.

  • The owners of thousands of ships plan to install “emissions cheat” systems that would dump pollutants at sea to dodge new international rules banning dirty fuel that come into force in 2020.

  • An entire village in New Zealand, which boasts stunning mountain views but has been deserted since 1989, has been put up for sale for the equivalent of $1.8m.

Must-reads

Man behind the Machete: Danny Trejo
Man behind the Machete: Danny Trejo Photograph: Carlos Jasso/AP

Danny Trejo: the hardest man in Hollywood

Danny Trejo served time in every state prison in California before a chance encounter with another ex-con started a screen career that has spanned four decades. “I didn’t even think I’d make it out of the 1960s,” he tells Daniel Dylan Wray.

Republicans pledge to fix Obamacare in midterm U-turn

Republicans once vowed to gut Obamacare. But now many GOP candidates are promising the opposite: to fix the law and protect its “pre-existing conditions” provision. Elsewhere in our coverage of the coming midterms, Oliver Laughland reports from North Dakota, where a controversial new ID law may stop Native Americans voting in a key US Senate race.

Decline of Greyhound services reflects rural Canada’s plight

Greyhound is about to close all its bus routes in Canada’s western provinces, severing the sole transport link to dozens of isolated towns. It’s a sign of rural Canada’s steady separation from the country’s thriving cities, as Will Doig reports from Swan River, Manitoba.

A complete guide to waking up feeling fantastic

Alarm clock or mobile phone? Birdsong or beeping? Espresso or decaf? With the clocks going back in the UK this weekend and in the US next weekend, Linda Geddes looks for the best way to wake up.

Opinion

The US is facing a grave challenge from a homegrown, far-right brand of terror, writes Walter Shapiro – and the Trump administration shows no signs of trying to prevent it.

Even after this sad-eyed weekend, it is hard to see the FBI effectively monitoring rightwing domestic terrorism as long as Trump is president and someone like Jeff Sessions presides over the Justice Department.

Sport

The Boston Red Sox crushed the Dodgers 5-1 on Sunday to claim their fourth World Series title since 2004. The Red Sox dominated Los Angeles throughout the best-of-seven series, which ended 4-1.

Lewis Hamilton has clinched his fifth F1 world title, a feat that seals his place in the motorsport pantheon. Former driver John Watson says Hamilton strove for greatness from the start.

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