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Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro leads ‘free speech’ rally in Sao Paulo

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Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro leads ‘free speech’ rally in Sao Paulo

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has rallied thousands of protesters in central Sao Paulo to protest against the country’s ban of the social media platform X.

The demonstration was timed to the country’s Independence Day on Saturday.

It also unfolded while Bolsonaro’s political rival, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, led an official parade with the country’s military in the capital Brasilia.

Dressed in the colours of the Brazilian flag, Bolsonaro climbed atop a temporary stage erected on Sao Paulo’s main thoroughfare, Paulista Avenue, and addressed the crowd.

His remarks took aim at one of the main figures responsible for the ban on X: Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

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“I hope that the Federal Senate puts the brakes on Alexandre de Moraes, this dictator who does more harm to Brazil than Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva himself,” Bolsonaro told the crowd.

De Moraes had called upon the social media platform to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, as is required under Brazilian law.

In August, when X refused to comply, De Moraes released an order for the suspension of all the platform’s activities in Brazil.

It was the culmination of an ongoing spat between De Moraes and X’s owner, Elon Musk.

The billionaire entrepreneur had closed X’s offices in Brazil earlier that month, to avoid having to comply with separate court orders to suspend accounts peddling misinformation.

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On September 2, Brazil’s Supreme Court unanimously upheld the decision to ban X, with all five judges offering their support.

Explaining the decision, Justice Flavio Dino said, “A party that intentionally fails to comply with court decisions appears to consider itself above the rule of law.”

But that failed to quell the uproar, particularly among members of the far right in Brazil, who considered the shuttering of X as an infringement of their free-speech rights.

Bolsonaro, a figurehead of Brazil’s far right, seized the moment to call for protest.

“When freedom of expression and the press are threatened, democracy cries out for help,” he wrote on social media on September 4.

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“Therefore, I call on all Brazilians who love freedom and our democracy: Come to Paulista Avenue next Saturday, September 7!”

Bolsonaro himself has had clashes with De Moraes, who formerly led the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), which oversees Brazil’s elections.

In the lead-up to the 2022 presidential elections, Bolsonaro, the incumbent, spread misinformation about electoral fraud. After he lost the vote, Bolsonaro and his allies proceeded to challenge the results, using unfounded claims to sow suspicion.

The result was weeks of protests and a violent assault on Brasilia’s government buildings on January 8, 2023, as Bolsonaro’s supporters looted the premises.

De Moraes led the Superior Electoral Court in voting to ban Bolsonaro from office until 2030 for his role in spreading false information.

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At the Independence Day protest in Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro re-upped his false claims about the 2022 election.

“The 2022 elections were completely biased by the president of the Superior Electoral Court, Alexandre de Moraes,” he told the crowd, adding that the January 8 riot was a “set-up”.

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Video: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

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Video: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

new video loaded: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

Prosecutors in Switzerland ordered Jacques Moretti to be detained after investigators questioned him and his wife, Jessica Moretti. Officials are looking into whether negligence played a role in last week’s deadly fire at their bar, Le Constellation.

By Meg Felling

January 9, 2026

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Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’

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Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’

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Greenland’s leadership is pushing back on President Donald Trump as he and his administration call for the U.S. to take control of the island. Several Trump administration officials have backed the president’s calls for a takeover of Greenland, with many citing national security reasons.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night, according to The Associated Press. Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory and a longtime U.S. ally, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s statements about U.S. acquiring the island.

Greenland’s party leaders reiterated that the island’s “future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”

“As Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends,” the statement said.

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TRUMP SAYS US IS MAKING MOVES TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND ‘WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT’

Greenland has rejected the Trump administration’s push to take over the Danish territory. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump was asked about the push to acquire Greenland on Friday during a roundtable with oil executives. The president, who has maintained that Greenland is vital to U.S. security, said it was important for the country to make the move so it could beat its adversaries to the punch.

“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said Friday. “Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”

Trump hosted nearly two dozen oil executives at the White House on Friday to discuss investments in Venezuela after the historic capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.

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“We don’t want to have Russia there,” Trump said of Venezuela on Friday when asked if the nation appears to be an ally to the U.S. “We don’t want to have China there. And, by the way, we don’t want Russia or China going to Greenland, which, if we don’t take Greenland, you can have Russia or China as your next-door neighbor. That’s not going to happen.” 

Trump said the U.S. is in control of Venezuela after the capture and extradition of Maduro. 

Nielsen has previously rejected comparisons between Greenland and Venezuela, saying that his island was looking to improve its relations with the U.S., according to Reuters.

A “Make America Go Away” baseball cap, distributed for free by Danish artist Jens Martin Skibsted, is arranged in Sisimiut, Greenland, on March 30, 2025. (Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

FROM CARACAS TO NUUK: MADURO RAID SPARKS FRESH TRUMP PUSH ON GREENLAND

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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump’s threats to annex Greenland could mean the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“I also want to make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops. Including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2.

That same day, Nielsen said in a statement posted on Facebook that Greenland was “not an object of superpower rhetoric.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stands next to Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a visit to the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen on April 28, 2025. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

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White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller doubled down on Trump’s remarks, telling CNN in an interview on Monday that Greenland “should be part of the United States.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed Miller about whether the Trump administration could rule out military action against the Arctic island.

“The United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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What Canada, accustomed to extreme winters, can teach Europe

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Euronews spoke to Patrick de Bellefeuille, a prominent Canadian weather presenter and climate specialist, on how Europe could benefit from Canada’s long experience with snowstorms. He has been forecasting for MétéoMédia, Canada’s top French-language weather network, since 1988.

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