WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior State Department official said Tuesday that Flávio Bolsonaro and his family will be granted U.S. visas after his weekend loss to incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a hotly contested race that bucked a trend of conservative electoral results in Latin America.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to visa privacy laws, said “the State Department will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States.”

Bolsonaro, who had President Donald Trump’s tacit support, had been under investigation for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in Brazil and had been ordered to surrender his passport.

The State Department official did not say if Bolsonaro had already left Brazil or if he and his family were en route to the U.S.

Bolsonaro’s campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, said he hadn’t spoken to the defeated candidate since early Tuesday morning.

“We had no news from Flávio or his lawyers about what happened,” Marinho said. “I received a text message from him, he said he wanted to take a break and then he would talk to us. That’s the only message I had from him.”

Bolsonaro’s brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas, had publicly encouraged him to leave Brazil if he lost the election.

Bolsonaro has touted his relationship with Trump and visited the White House in May. The family connections go deeper: Brother Eduardo Bolsonaro was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration and sentenced to four years in prison. A warrant was recently issued for his arrest.

Trump did not offer a full-throated endorsement of Bolsonaro in the runoff against Lula, as he has with some other right-of-center candidates in Latin America. But he suggested on Monday, without providing evidence, that Brazil’s election was “rigged.”

Bolsonaro’s decision to leave Brazil came as a deadline for him to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports expired at noon Tuesday. It remained unclear whether he had complied.

Bolsonaro was served with the order to surrender his passports Monday, a day after his stunning loss. Bolsonaro said he received it outside the home where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup following his 2022 election loss to Lula. After that defeat, Jair Bolsonaro fled Brazil for Florida. He returned three months later.

The sealed Supreme Court order, viewed by The Associated Press, was issued Sunday. Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and has made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.

Bolsonaro raises questions about election he lost

Bolsonaro initially asked for the election results to be annulled after an evening of chaos at some polling places that prompted authorities to extend voting by two hours.

On Monday, he urged the electoral court to investigate alleged election fraud and nullify Lula’s and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin’s candidacies, which the electoral court has never done before.

“I never thought about leaving the country,” Bolsonaro said in a video published on his social media channels. “I will hand over my passports and I will defend myself from this aberration. It is a clear attempt to intimidate me. But I will not be silenced.”

To overturn the result, Bolsonaro would have to present evidence of fraud affecting Lula’s 4.4 million-vote margin and convince the eight-member electoral court before the results are certified on Dec. 18.

Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, received more than 64 million votes, compared with fewer than 60 million for Bolsonaro, a margin of nearly 4%.

A Brazilian diplomat who was not authorized to speak on the matter said his country’s government was aware that Bolsonaro had left the country.

Outside the presidential residence in Brasilia, Lula told a few dozen supporters he did not have precise information of Bolsonaro’s whereabouts, but said he had left Brazil.

Brazil is “the second country” of the Bolsonaro family, Lula added.

“The first is licking American boots,” the reelected president said. “Those who are not liable do not fear. A fellow that secretly leaves his country, that’s because he is liable for something.”

Bolsonaro said in a video posted Monday on his social media channels that he was attempting to organize opposition among his congressional colleagues to the election results. His eight-year term as a senator expires Jan. 31, 2027, which will also cause him to lose special jurisdiction at the country’s Supreme Court.

Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in two cases. In one, he’s accused of using a sports betting company to launder fraudulent deductions from government pensions paid to senior citizens. In the other, he is accused of accepting millions of dollars from a disgraced banker.

He has denied any wrongdoing in both cases, and has claimed Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is heading one of the investigations, is a Lula ally. Prosecutors suspect the funds from the banker were used to pay his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro’s, expenses and to promote Flávio Bolsonaro’s political agenda with the Trump administration, documents show.

Mauricio Marcon, a lawmaker of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, also questioned de Moraes’ objectivity on Tuesday. “Seven minutes after the election, Alexandre de Moraes ordered his passports to be seized,” Marcon said. Bolsonaro “will represent us in a free country. He will continue to be our leader.”

Brazilians had earlier taken to social media to ask where Bolsonaro was. Reporters gathered outside his home in the capital, Brasilia, but he did not appear.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Security of Argentina denied reports the Brazilian senator had entered the country. Brazilian media outlets reported that many Bolsonaro allies had been unable to reach him.

Paulo Figueiredo, a close ally of Bolsonaro’s who lives in the United States, was asked about the senator’s whereabouts and did not answer directly.

“At this moment — following months of intense work that were unfairly thwarted — I have no desire to speak with the press. I kindly ask that you do not persist. Should I have a statement to make on any matter, I will reach out,” Figueiredo said.

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LONDON (AP) — Two men were charged Tuesday with national security offenses over a suspected plot against RAF Fairford, a U.S.-run military air base in England, U.K. police and prosecutors said.

British nationals Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim and Nouman Essghir, both aged 24 and from London, were charged under the National Security Act, the Crown Prosecution Service said. They were due to appear in a London court on Tuesday.

Abdulkarim is charged with assisting Iran’s intelligence service, and Essghir is charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the U.K.

RAF Fairford, in western England, has been used by American bombers to strike Iran during the U.S. war with the country.

Essghir was arrested outside the base on Sept. 27, when police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area and searched for explosives. Scores of residents were evacuated from their homes.

Police later said they had found an accelerant — gasoline — in vans at the scene but no explosives.

Essghir was initially released on bail before being re-arrested last week. Abdulkarim was arrested in the past week. Six other men have been arrested and released on bail as investigations continue.

British authorities have linked Tehran to the incident, which led the U.S. to pull its bombers from RAF Fairford. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the suspected plot was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Iran has denied involvement, although it has said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

Earlier this month, the head of Britain’s MI5 spy agency warned that both Iran and Russia were expanding their attacks against the U.K., and that the RAF Fairford incident was not unique.

Ken McCallum, who leads the U.K.’s domestic security service, said Tehran is seeking to intensify its attacks in Britain beyond the traditional targets of Iranians opposed to the country’s Islamic authorities. He said more than 50 people have been arrested over Iran-linked plots in the past year.

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, the head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the U.K., said, “We have seen a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state … [and] we are working together to intervene, identify and respond to that threat”.

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country is embroiled in unresolved wars, still reeling from Hamas’ 2023 attack and deeply divided over the character of the state and the right person to lead it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces off against a coalition of parties seeking to oust the longtime leader from power. Opinion polls have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.

In Israel’s fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever won an outright parliamentary majority, so political leaders must forge coalitions.

But in a tight race in which nonaligned Arab parties are pushing for heavy turnout, there is a chance that neither Netanyahu’s religious and ultranationalist coalition nor the group of parties looking to remove him has enough support to win a parliamentary majority. That could set off weeks of negotiations before a leader is declared.

Israel’s Arab-led parties could emerge as kingmakers if they agree to support one candidate over the other.

Hanging over the election are lingering tensions with Iran, and Netanyahu has ramped up threats against the country ahead of the vote. He appeared in a video this week standing beside a missile-defense battery and warned Tehran it would face “a devastating blow” if it attacked Israel.

The election is Israel’s first national vote since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in Gaza and related conflicts across the region. The vote serves not only as a referendum on Netanyahu’s lengthy leadership but also on what kind of country Israel should be — heavily influenced by religious and nationalist forces, or more firmly anchored in liberal and secular values.

At stake is the fate of a country whose policies and leadership are being scorned by traditional allies. Since Hamas’ 2023 attack, Israel has found itself increasingly isolated over its conduct in Gaza and in the West Bank, where violence by Jewish settlers has intensified. Public support among Americans has plummeted and stalwart partners in Europe and elsewhere have slapped sanctions on Israel in recent months.

For Israelis, the election presents a chance at charting the country’s course after Netanyahu’s turbulent four-year term.

Netanyahu’s supporters see him as a steady hand and a consummate statesman who they believe has triumphantly guided Israel through multiple wars. They think he is protecting Israel’s Jewish identity while keeping in check what they see as an interventionist judiciary.

His Israeli detractors see him as a polarizing leader who, beset by an ongoing corruption trial, dragged on the war in Gaza and the Oct. 7 hostage crisis for political reasons. They say he is undermining the country’s independent judiciary and weakening its democratic underpinnings. And they accuse him of abetting a system that has allowed ultra-Orthodox religious Jews to avoid enlistment in Israel’s compulsory military.

Eisenkot is viewed by supporters as a capable leader with sterling security credentials who, along with his likely governing partners, could act as a bulwark against creeping illiberalism. As someone personally touched by the conflict — his son and two nephews were killed in Gaza — his backers believe that he feels deeply the pain that still courses through Israel three years after the attacks.

Parties that would likely throw their support behind Eisenkot have vowed to improve Israel’s international standing and work to conscript ultra-Orthodox men while bolstering the independence of the judiciary.

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Los Angeles (AP) — Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said may belong to noncitizens, according to the Los Angeles County registrar and a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The letters are the latest escalation in a legal battle between California and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to root out noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. Data shows illegal voting by people who aren’t U.S. citizens is incredibly rare, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.

Earlier this month, the federal government targeted Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State’s office in a lawsuit that aimed to block them from counting the votes of roughly 20,000 people who are “likely” noncitizen voters. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday.

The Trump administration asked the 9th Circuit court of appeals to rule on the lawsuit barring a decision from the district judge assigned to the case. They set a deadline for Saturday.

Now, according to the LA County registrar’s office, at least 18 counties across the state have received similar letters. They have been given a 48 hour deadline to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote. The letter requests that county officials also sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified.

“Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.

The Justice Department is asking counties to send information about the voters it suspects are noncitizens including social security numbers, ID information, a copy of their registration and more.

That information can help the government and state quickly assess each person suspected of illegally registering to vote, said the letter sent to San Bernardino County voting officials. The letter says the government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters includes 1,133 people from the inland Southern California county.

California’s secretary of state and the Los Angeles County registrar have opposed the federal government’s demands. In legal filings, lawyers for California say the request threatens to delay the certification of the vote and undermine the legitimacy of the November midterms. They have also argued that the federal government’s data is unreliable and that their demands risk disenfranchisement of citizens.

Voting is underway in California, with the state’s more than 23 million registered voters receiving ballots in the mail earlier this month. The state said in legal filings that over 330,000 mail-in ballots have already been counted.

The letters on Friday came on the heels of statewide sweep by federal authorities earlier in the week, where 28 people from the list of 20,000 were charged with illegally registering to vote. Some were also charged with illegally voting and lying on naturalization paperwork. Those charges could lead to years in prison.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump has brokered a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine in the war-ravaged city of Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians, the White House announced on Friday.

The localized ceasefire is set to begin Oct. 29.

The White House said that the first lady had initiated the discussions and that she and a representative worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the ceasefire. There has been no immediate comment from the Ukrainian or Russian governments.

Trump has made children in conflict one of her signature issues as first lady, hosting a U.N. Security Council meeting on the issue earlier this year. She also has personally written to Russian President Vladimir Putin to work to reunite children displaced by the war with their families.

Food and medical supplies have been scarce for months in Oleshky, which sits on the Dnipro River, separating Ukrainian forces from the city’s Russian occupiers. There’s no electricity, heat or running water. Roads leading from town are mined and dotted with burned-out cars. Menacing drones buzz overhead.

Once a city of about 24,000, Oleshky was captured by Moscow’s forces on the first day of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its buildings were shelled and burned, and its infrastructure damaged. Further calamity struck in June 2023 when floodwaters inundated the city after the Kakhovka Dam collapsed from an explosion that an Associated Press investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military, killing hundreds of residents.

Those left in the battered city along Ukraine’s southeastern front face death from hunger or disease as another harsh winter looms. Ukraine has appealed repeatedly for a local ceasefire to organize evacuations. Russia, which as the occupying power is obligated by international law to ensure civilians under its control have what they need to survive, had made no commitment.

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HEBRON, West Bank (AP) — Israeli soldiers shot and killed two men who the military said had launched an attack near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning. At least five people were injured, including some critically.

A few hours later, Israel ordered the army to prepare for a full closure of the West Bank. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it instructed security forces to immediately cordon off the city of Hebron and prepare to fully close all of the West Bank, starting Friday.

Earlier, the army said it prevented a “terror attack against Israeli civilians” and that the gunmen carried an M16 rifle and a handgun. It did not elaborate on the target of the alleged attack. There was also no word on the identities of the two dead and those injured.

The military subsequently set up roadblocks and closures in Palestinian towns in the area.

Emergency responders said five people were injured, some critically, and were being evacuated to hospitals in Israel. A statement from the responders said gunfire was still ongoing as they arrived at the scene of the attack near the Yehuda Junction in the morning.

Two men in their 20s had gunshot wounds to their lower limbs, one was unconscious and seriously injured, the responders said.

“We arrived at a difficult scene while shooting was still taking place in the area,” said Tzuriel Edri with the response team.

An investigation was underway, authorities said.

The deadly shooting comes as Israeli voters will decide next Tuesday whether to grant Netanyahu yet another term as prime minister — or usher in a new era of Israeli politics. The election comes three years after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel’s government has warned of potential attacks by the country’s “enemies” in the lead-up to the election.

Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, known for extremist views, said that the Hebron attack shows that Israel needs to restrict the Palestinians’ freedom of movement in the West Bank.

“The lives of the residents of Judea and Samaria, of the settlers, the lives of the soldiers, the lives of the police officers, the lives of our fighters are a million times more important than freedom of movement,” he said, using an Israeli reference to the West Bank.

Ahead of the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack that triggered the war, Netanyahu said the Palestinian militant group could attack Israel in a bid to influence the outcome of the elections. He did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

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