Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has begun sowing distrust in next year’s elections, alarming lawmakers and the courts alike.
Details: In speeches, Bolsonaro, a former military captain, has been questioning the integrity of an electronic ballot system that’s been in place since 1996 and suggesting he might not even allow elections to happen.
Gunmen abducted at least 60 people and killed one person in northwestern Nigeria after riding motorbikes into five villages and firing into the air, Reuters reports.
The big picture: The abductions come amid an increase in armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom in Nigeria, predominately in northwestern areas.
The State Department announced on Friday it started investigating mysterious health incidents impacting U.S. diplomats, as well as other government employees, in Vienna, Austria, per the Associated Press.
Why it matters: Some of the symptoms resemble "Havana Syndrome," which has been used to describe mysterious brain injuries suffered by embassy staff in Cuba in late 2016 and the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China, in early 2017.
Iran's deputy foreign minister said Saturday that efforts to finalize an agreement with Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear deal must wait until hardliner Ebrahim Raisi assumes the presidency.
Why it matters: The Biden administration has said it would like see a deal in place before Raisi's inauguration next month.
Diplomats making up the international Core Group, which includes the United States, called on Ariel Henry, the man slated to succeed Jovenel Moïse, to form a new government in Haiti, according to a statement released on Saturday.
Why it matters: Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph has assumed the acting presidency following Moïse’s assassination though he and Henry are two of four who have claimed such power, underscoring the depth of the country’s democratic and political crisis.
Colombia has one of the highest protest death tolls in the world since the beginning of the pandemic, with one death every 36 hours, according to a report by the transitional justice and anti-impunity body Special Jurisdiction for Peace.
Details: At least 42 people were killed while demonstrating, and 24 — more than half — died in May, the group found.
The Greek government issued special measures for the island of Mykonos in response to the latest coronavirus outbreak, including a 24-hour "[p]rohibition of music," Deputy Minister of Civil Protection and Crisis Management Nikos Hardalia announced Saturday.
Details: The music ban will kick off at 6 p.m. local time Saturday. A traffic ban will also go into effect between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Sunday, "with the exception of work reasons and serious health reasons," per a release from the country's general secretariat for civil protection.
The health minister for the United Kingdom tweeted on Saturday that he tested positive for COVID-19 following two doses of the vaccine against the virus.
Driving the news: Sajid Javid, who has been in his role for three weeks, has publicly backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to fully reopen England's economy and lift mask requirements and social distancing rules starting Monday.
President Biden will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi at the White House on July 26, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
Why it matters: The meeting comes amid increasing concerns over recent rocket and drone attacks conducted by Iran-backed militia groups against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria.
Burkina Faso, Djibouti and Ethiopia are set to receive around 1 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine in the coming days as part of the United States' global donation of roughly 80 million vaccines, the Gavi vaccine alliance said on Friday.
Why it matters: 49 African countries in total will have access to approximately 25 million doses donated by the U.S., which should help the African Union achieve its goal of vaccinating at least 60% of the African population.
At least four security officials who were in charge of protecting President Jovenel Moïse the night he was assassinated were issued travel restrictions on Friday as part of an investigation into the killing, Haitian prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude said per the Washington Post.
Why it matters: Among the restricted security officials is Dimitri Hérard, chief of security at Haiti's presidential palace, who was arrested Thursday.
President Biden will nominate former New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall as his ambassador to New Zealand, tapping another onetime senator to serve in his state department.
Why it matters: Biden is drawing heavily on politicians, longtime aides and former diplomats as he fills out his ambassadorial ranks, giving short shrift to pure political donors.
Following days of heavy rainfall in Germany and Belgium, rivers and reservoirs have burst through their banks to create a rare flood event that's left more than 125 people dead.
State of play: The equivalent of two months of rain has fallen on some areas over the last one to two days, per AP, citing the French national weather service.
The Biden administration warned U.S. businesses on Friday about the risks of doing business in Hong Kong amid China's crackdown on political and economic freedoms once enjoyed in the region.
Why it matters: The new advisory, along with new sanctions against Chinese officials, will likely heighten tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Greenland announced Friday that it will suspend all oil exploration, saying the territory "takes the climate crisis seriously."
The big picture: While no oil has been found yet, many had hoped potential vast reserves could "help Greenlanders realize their long-held dream of independence from Denmark by cutting the annual subsidy of 3.4 billion kroner ($540 million) the Danish territory receives," AP notes.
All 19 passengers and crew aboard a small Russian plane that went missing earlier Friday survived after the aircraft made a hard emergency landing in Siberia, AP reports.
The big picture: The An-28 plane disappeared from radars on Friday while flying over the Siberian region of Tomsk. Passengers and crew did not sustain any serious injuries and are being flown to the city of Tomsk.
Pulitzer-prize winning Reuters photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed Friday in Afghanistan while covering a clash between Afghan forces and the Taliban, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: An Afghan official told Reuters that Afghan special forces had been fighting to retake a market area near a border crossing with Pakistan. Siddiqui was killed alongside a senior Afghan officer in Taliban crossfire.
Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down Thursday amid months of deadlock and years-long turmoil over the country's economic collapse.
Driving the news: His departure sinks the chances of forming a government to pursue immediate reforms for recovery, per AP, and is likely to bring greater instability to Lebanon.
