Brazil's electoral court allows samba school parade honoring President Lula

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) unanimously rejected a request to suspend a samba school parade that will honor President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The court's ministers warned the school, Acadêmicos de Niterói, about the risks of committing electoral violations, but experts defended the decision. The parade has become a political flashpoint, with former minister Damares Alves filing a complaint against the school and a federal audit office proposing to suspend a public grant for the event.

Separately, Lula underwent a minor medical procedure to remove excess skin and appeared with a mark on his head. In other political news, a fake AI-generated video circulated online, falsely claiming that Central Bank President Roberto Campos Neto had fled to the U.S. with a dossier against Lula and a Supreme Court justice.