“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preparing to announce what could be his costliest pre-election giveaway yet with a plan to offer debt relief to millions of people. Under the proposal, outlined Friday by the ruling AK Party, the government would erase interest payments accumulated by consumers up to the last day of 2022,” Bloomberg reports.

“It could also allow for an extensive restructuring of debts ranging from student loans and administrative fines to water bills.”

Financial Times: “The depth of Brazil’s divisions were exposed by an opinion poll published by Atlas Intelligence this week. Some 38 percent of Brazilians said the storming of the government buildings was partly or wholly justified, almost 40 percent said they did not believe Lula had really won the presidential election and 36.8 per cent favoured military intervention to invalidate the result.”

“A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday authorized including former president Jair Bolsonaro in its investigation of who incited the Jan. 8 riot in the nation’s capital, as part of a broader crackdown to hold responsible parties to account,” the AP reports.

“According to the text of his ruling, Justice Alexandre de Moraes granted the request from the prosecutor-general’s office, which cited a video Bolsonaro posted on Facebook two days after the riot. The video claimed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wasn’t voted into office, but rather was chosen by the Supreme Court and Brazil’s electoral authority.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) said “that ousted Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro should be extradited from Florida after his radical supporters attacked key government institutions in Brasília over the weekend following his election loss,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Castro: “Jair Bolsonaro is in Florida, hanging out with Donald Trump. He’s a dangerous man. They should send him back to his home country of Brazil.”

“Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, stormed the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential offices on Sunday to protest what they falsely believe was a stolen election,” the New York Times reports.

“It was the violent culmination of incessant rhetorical attacks by Mr. Bolsonaro and his supporters against the nation’s electoral systems.”

Wall Street Journal: “Television images showed protesters breaking windows inside Congress and swarming up the ramp at the entrance to the presidential palace, many dressed in Brazil’s green and yellow national colors, as riot police arrived on the scene.”

“Two days before leaving office, ending a tumultuous four years as the race-baiting, Amazon-developing, coronavirus-downplaying, vaccine-skeptical leader of Latin America’s largest country, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro remained defiant in a teary farewell address on Friday, defending his record and saying the election that led to his ouster was not impartial, but condemning violence against the result,” the Washington Post reports.

“Then he flew to Florida, Brazilian media reported, where in the past he has met with former president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. He apparently planned to skip the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday, when the outgoing leader traditionally presents the presidential sash to his successor, a ceremony intended to reaffirm the country’s young democracy.”

Haaretz: “On the day he left office in June 2021, Netanyahu departed from tradition and refused to hold a public ceremony with his replacement, Naftali Bennett. Now that he’s coming back, he has again chosen not to have such an event. He will have a short handover meeting with Yair Lapid in private. As far as Netanyahu is concerned, the last 18 months were an aberration and not something to be dignified by a ceremony.”

“His greatest success in the period he was out of office was in creating an atmosphere of impermanence about the government. He often received help here from the governing coalition’s haphazard conduct – but it was above all his achievement. It was an atmosphere engineered firstly through his many proxies on social media and their incessant, toxic campaign against the members of the government. There were also noisy groups of activists gathering outside the homes of the weaker links in the coalition, until two of them – members of Bennett’s Yamina party – cracked.”

“More critically, despite not having any positions or public funding to allocate, Netanyahu managed to maintain an iron grip on the 52 lawmakers in his own camp. Not one of them was tempted to join the coalition for even a single vote.”

Associated Press: As Israel’s Netanyahu returns to office, troubles lie ahead.

“Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, announced on Wednesday that he had succeeded in forming a coalition government that is set to bring him back to power at the helm of the most right-wing administration in Israeli history,” the New York Times reports.

“A court in Turkey sentenced the mayor of Istanbul, the country’s most populous city, to two years and seven months in prison Wednesday on charges of insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council,” the AP reports.

“The court convicted Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and also imposed a political ban that could lead to his removal from office.”

“Peru’s newest president, Dina Boluarte, gave in to protesters’ demands early Monday announcing in a nationally televised address that she will send Congress a proposal to move up elections,” the AP reports.

“Outgoing Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has broken an almost six-week silence after his election defeat in October, telling supporters they will decide his next steps,” the Financial Times reports.

Said Bolsonaro: “Who decides where I go are you. Who decides which way the armed forces go are you.”

“The head of Brazil’s electoral authority on Wednesday rejected the request from President Jair Bolsonaro and his political party to annul ballots cast on most electronic voting machines, which would have overturned the Oct. 30 election,” the AP reports.

“While tens of thousands of supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro camp outside military facilities across Brazil to protest his election loss, members of Bolsonaro’s inner circle are meeting with advisers to former president Donald Trump to discuss next steps,” the Washington Post reports.

“That movement is facing a reckoning not unlike that of the American right after Trump’s 2020 loss over how to sustain itself when its charismatic standard-bearer has been defeated.”

“Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has challenged the election he lost last month to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, arguing votes from some machines should be ‘invalidated’ in a complaint that election authorities met with initial skepticism,” Reuters reports.

“Bolsonaro’s claim seems unlikely to get far, as Lula’s victory has been ratified by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and acknowledged by Brazil’s leading politicians and international allies. Still, it could fuel a small but committed protest movement that has so far refused to accept the result.”

“New Zealand’s highest court ruled on Monday that the country’s current voting age of 18 was discriminatory, forcing parliament to discuss whether it should be lowered,” Reuters reports.

“The case, which has been going through the courts since 2020, was bought by advocacy group Make It 16, which wants the age lowered to include 16 and 17 year olds.”

“Benjamin Netanyahu moved closer to becoming Israel’s prime minister for a record sixth term after President Isaac Herzog said Friday that he would hand him a mandate to form a coalition expected to be made up of right-wing, ultranationalist and religious parties,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Thousands of people are expected to hold a demonstration in London on Saturday, demanding an immediate general election, as well as action to combat the worsening cost of living crisis,” The Guardian reports.