Putsch in Burkina, presidential in Brazil, revolt in Iran...

BRAZIL

Bolsonaro-Lula towards the second round

The voters gave the lie to the polls, some of which announced a possible victory for Lula by K.-O. from the first round. On October 2, the left-wing candidate certainly came out on top with 48.4% of the vote against Jair Bolsonaro (43.2%). But this score is far from the expected 15 point difference. The ex-president (2003-2010) and the outgoing president (2019-2022) will face each other on October 30 in the second round. "Bolsonarism has clearly been underestimated", recognizes the "lulist" senator Humberto Costa in the online media Brasil 247, opposed to the outgoing president.

USA-VENEZUELA

Prisoner exchanges

Two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro sentenced to eighteen years in prison for drug trafficking in 2016 were pardoned by Joe Biden on October 1. And this, against the release of seven American citizens imprisoned by Caracas for five years. Among them, five executives from the gas station company Citgo, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil group PDVSA whose headquarters are in Texas. "The news has been badly received by the Venezuelan community living in the United States, underlines the Spanish-speaking daily of Miami, El Nuevo Herald. Now, they believe, any American in Venezuela can be accused of anything to serve as currency exchange."

BURKINA FASO

A putsch... against the putschists

Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba did not last long at the head of the "country of upright men". Eight months after his coup, another group of soldiers ousted him on October 2, citing "the continued deterioration of the security situation". The hardest part remains for Burkina Faso's new strongman, captain Ibrahim Traoré, 34. "The second coup in less than a year must now be used (...) to relaunch the fight against the terrorist hydra" warns the Wakat Sera site. A colossal task while the local branches of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are still claiming more victims.

IRAN 

Bloody repression

The Iranian women's revolution continues. Three weeks after the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested in Tehran for a poorly put on veil, protests for women's rights continue and the authorities respond with violence, with more than a hundred dead according to NGOs. "The repression against the demonstrators is bloody, points out the IranWire news site. The government is trying to create a climate of terror in all Iranian cities, but the protesters continue to take to the streets." The movement has now reached the universities and a general strike has been launched.

SWEDEN-DENMARK

Mysterious sabotage in the Baltic Sea

Underwater explosions and four leaks discovered in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which connect Russia to Europe. Since September 26, the whole world has been wondering about the sabotage very close to the Danish and Swedish coasts, and all eyes are on Moscow. "It seems that the Russian war in Ukraine has reached the Baltic Sea and transformed its depths into battlefields", underlines the German newspaper Der Spiegel. These leaks are the result of "deliberate acts", according to the Danish Prime Minister, and have released thousands of tonnes of methane into the atmosphere.

RUSSIA

Putin annexes four Ukrainian regions

Nothing stops Putin's headlong rush. At the end of a vitriolic speech, the Russian president signed on September 30 the annexation of four Ukrainian regions during a major ceremony organized in the Kremlin. "The Russian leader's rambling address focused on Western sins and left key questions about Ukraine unanswered," notes the Guardian. Among them, the way in which the Kremlin intends to keep control of these territories which have been the subject of a dazzling counter-offensive by kyiv since the end of August. Two days later, kyiv announced the recapture of the town of Lyman, located in the newly annexed region of Donetsk.

INDONESIA

Drama in a football stadium

It is one of the worst tragedies in football history. At least 125 people died on Saturday (October 1) during a crowd riot at the stadium in the city of Malang, east of the island of Java, when thousands of fans invaded the field and were sprayed tear gas by the police. "The most disturbing thing is that this disaster could have been spared us if the police had avoided using excessive and unnecessary force," insists the Jakarta Post, for which the investigation requested by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, "should focus on why police fired tear gas to disperse crowds despite FIFA ban".