Turkey: 2 Dead, 5 Hurt In Shooting At Local Cleric’s Office

Oppositions don’t win elections, received Westminster wisdom tells us. Governments lose them. And in Britain’s July 4 election, the ruling Conservatives lost big. After a 14-year governing streak defined by Brexit, a pandemic, and an astonishing period of political and financial turbulence that ushered in three Prime Ministers in just one year, the world’s most successful political party—which since 1945 has been in power twice as long as it’s been out of it—has been shunted back into opposition.

SAO PAULO — Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds the far-right leader received from Saudi Arabia during his time in office, according to a source with knowledge of the accusations. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] A second source confirmed the indictment, although not for which specific crimes.

Mexico’s incoming president announced her appointees for top posts Thursday, but hopes for a fresh approach were dashed by the re-appearance of old faces in the new cabinet. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum announced that Rosa Icela Rodríguez, who headed outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s failed security strategy, will serve as the next interior secretary. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] That is Mexico’s top domestic political post, responsible for handling negotiations with protesters and Mexico’s 32 powerful state governors.

Rishi Sunak, the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party and the country’s current Prime Minister, is standing for re-election on Thursday, July 4. Sunak has been Prime Minister since October 2022 and is married to Akshata Murty, who comes from a wealthy family in India. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Murty’s father, N. R. Narayana Murthy, is worth approximately $4.7 billion according to Forbes, making him the 669th richest person in the world, per the publication’s real-time estimations on July 4.

LONDON — British voters are picking a new government Thursday in a parliamentary election that is widely expected to bring the Labour Party to power against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric. A jaded electorate is delivering its verdict on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010.

Tensions between enraged Turkish groups and Syrian refugees living in Turkey have reached a boiling point this week, forcing Turkey to close its main border crossing into northwest Syria. The Bab al Hawa border crossing—the main trade and passenger channel for over 3 million people—as well as the Bab al Salam and other smaller crossings are closed until further notice.