Brazil police retook control of the country’s presidential palace late on Sunday (January 8), after supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro had invaded and defaced it.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from their rampage, but the invaders left a trail of destruction, throwing furniture through the smashed windows of the Planalto Palace in Brasilia.
The uprising, which lasted a little over three hours, underlined the severe polarisation that still grips the country days after the inauguration of leftist President Luiz Inacio *********
GERMANY: DELEGATION CALLS CHINA THREAT TO TAIWAN UNACCEPTABLE—SF
A delegation of parliamentarians from Germany’s Free Democratic Party (FDP) arrived in Taiwan on Monday (January 9) in a show of support for the island’s democracy amid military threats from its neighbour China.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, head of the German parliamentary defence committee and member of the governing coalition partner FDP, led the delegation together with Johannes Vogel at their meeting with Taiwan’s President of the Legislative Yuan, Yu Shyi-kun.
During their 4-day visit, meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier Su Tsang-Chang are also on the agenda, coming as a precursor to a visit by German Education Minister Betting Stark-Watzinger, also of the FDP, set for later this spring.
