9th Senate writes AU, ECOWAS, others at first plenary

A Brazilian Senate committee has backed criminal charges against President Jair Bolsonaro over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. A 1,200-page report accuses the president of downplaying the disease and questioning the safety of vaccines, exposing the public to mass infections. However, the Senate committee doesn't have the power to bring charges, and it's unlikely that the attorney general or lower house speaker will open criminal proceedings, since they are both Bolsonaro allies. We tell you more.

The law would have made homophobia a crime that is treated similarly to racism. Right-wing lawmakers were particularly opposed to the proposal.

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Thursday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Thursday.

Despite announcing his retirement last month, outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte has indicated that he will not be bowing out of politics after all.

President Sebastian Pinera was involved with the controversial sale of a mining company in 2010, as revealed in the Pandora Papers. If impeached, he could have faced five years in prison.

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Wednesday.

A report by a US Senate Committee has raised concerns by whistleblowers about the safety approval process for new aircraft, in the wake of the deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. Senators spoke to whistleblowers at Boeing, its supplier GE, and engineers working for the Federal Aviation Administration. It found the FAA's certification process had been "eroded" and that the agency had "increasingly delegated away its authority". Our business editor Stephen Carroll tells us more.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has withdrawn his candidacy for the Senate in the country's May 2022 elections, according to the election commission. He reaches term limit as president in 2022.

Why are Mali's neighbours coming down hard? A harsh embargo has been decided after coup leaders in that landlocked West African state reneged on their promise of a quick return to civilian rule. How harsh? We talk border closures and trade embargoes. It's not as if the region has never seen a putsch before: look no further than neighbouring Guinea.

Thousands of Malians take to the streets after the junta calls for protests against sanctions imposed by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS. Also, on the 11th anniversary of Ben Ali's ouster, hundreds of demonstrators in Tunisia defy a ban on public gatherings to protest against President Kais Saied's power grab. And we bring you the latest from the Africa Cup of Nations. Our reporters on the ground have all the day's action.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended Burkina Faso in response to Monday's coup that removed the democratically elected President, Roch Marc Christian Kabore. The decision was taken during a virtual extraordinary summit of heads of state of the bloc, held on Friday, January 28, 2022.

Representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Monday met with the ousted President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Kabore. Prior to the meeting there had been no information about the whereabouts or condition of the former leader. While the delegation did not reveal where the meeting with Korbare took place, the head of the mission, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, said he was in good health.