Head of Brazil cleared in campaign case
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s top electoral court handed President Michel Temer a victory late Friday, voting to reject allegations of campaign-finance violations that could have removed him from office.
After four days of deliberations, judges voted 4-3 in a case that many viewed as a measure of whether Temer could remain in office amid a ballooning corruption scandal and single-digit popularity.
Last month, a recording emerged that allegedly captured Temer endorsing hush money to ex-House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, a former Temer ally serving 15 years in prison for corruption and money laundering. Soon after that, details came out that Temer was being investigated on allegations he received bribes.
Temer has denied wrongdoing and vowed to stay in office.
Fight over food turns deadly in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia — At least 14 people, most of them civilians, were killed Friday as soldiers clashed over food aid in drought-ravaged Somalia’s southwestern city of Baidoa, where tens of thousands of people have streamed in seeking assistance.
The fighting broke out at a distribution site after some soldiers tried to steal food sacks meant for displaced people, and other soldiers guarding the aid stopped them, said police Col. Isaq Hassan.
At least 20 people were injured. Some were in critical condition, a nurse at Baidoa’s main hospital, Mohamed Ahmed, said.
Tens of thousands of people have been fleeing to Baidoa and other Somali cities in search of food and support, overwhelming local and international aid agencies. More than half a million people across the country have been displaced.
Tunnel under Gaza schools appalls U.N.
JERUSALEM — A United Nations aid agency that helps Palestinians in Gaza condemned the territory’s Hamas rulers on Friday after discovering a tunnel running under two of the agency’s schools for boys.
Hamas has built a sophisticated network of tunnels in Gaza used for smuggling, storing weapons and for gunmen to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks.
Israel has long accused Hamas of exploiting civilian infrastructure and of using supplies for military installations instead of civilian projects.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said Friday that it was “unacceptable that students and staff are placed at risk in such a way.”
The agency said it is sealing the tunnel under its premises and will ban students and the staff from the building until the matter is resolved.
The tunnel was found on June 1 under the Maghazi Elementary Boys A&B School and the Maghazi Preparatory Boys School during construction work, according to the U.N. agency. Both schools were empty at the time because of summer vacation.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum his group “strongly condemns UNRWA’s allegations.” Barhoum said Hamas clarified the issue with other militant groups, which denied having any “resistance-related works” in the area.
Catalan leader defies Spain, sets vote
MADRID — Catalonia will have a referendum on independence Oct. 1, the president of the region said Friday, defying Spanish courts and the conservative government in Madrid.
Long-standing objections to the referendum, which was announced by the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, mean that it is unclear how the vote could be held and whether it would be considered binding. But the decision nonetheless raises the stakes in a separatist dispute that has been at the heart of Spanish politics for five years.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, with the support of the Spanish judiciary, has promised to block efforts to hold a referendum and vowed to maintain Spanish unity and resist the secessionist push from Catalonia.
Spain has a monarchy, and Puigdemont said that Catalan voters would be asked if they wanted a Catalan state in the form of a republic. “It is time for Catalans to decide their future,” Puigdemont said on Friday.
Catalonia held a nonbinding independence vote in November 2014, but it was declared illegal by Spanish courts. Voters had overwhelmingly backed independence at that time, although large numbers of Catalans chose not to take part, and it is unclear what the turnout might be in October if the referendum is not approved by Madrid.