A short weekly recap of the political and cultural stories that moved the fastest between September 28 and October 4, 2026.
Brazil heads to a runoff. Sunday’s first round didn’t settle it: Senator Flávio Bolsonaro finished ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — more than 47% to Lula’s 44% once over 98% of the vote was counted, NPR reported — and the two meet again in an October 25 runoff. Reuters described a campaign dominated by corruption scandals, economic anxiety and accusations of U.S. meddling, with the 45-year-old son of former President Jair Bolsonaro trying to return his father’s movement to power against an 80-year-old Lula seeking a fourth term. The third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishers were all right-wing, and early results showed the right gaining in Congress, particularly the Senate, NPR said — while Jair Bolsonaro serves a 27-year sentence under house arrest for plotting to overturn the 2022 result.
Dodik’s camp sweeps in Bosnia. Bosnian Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik — banned from office and not on the ballot — declared victory for his party in Sunday’s general election, AP reported. His ally Zeljka Cvijanovic had more than 55% for the Serb seat on the three-member presidency with nearly 90% counted; Darijana Filipovic held a commanding lead for the Croat seat; and Bosniak incumbent Denis Becirovic led Bakir Izetbegovic by fewer than three points. Dodik credited Trump’s 2024 “magnificent victory” and Putin’s support. Turnout was 42%, down from 2022, in the country’s first vote using electronic voter identification and ballot scanners, which delayed openings at some polling stations.
Quebec on the eve. Quebec votes Monday with the separatist Parti Québécois the front-runner in polls, The Canadian Press reported via CBC. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon pitched “a significant change in direction” after eight straight years of Coalition Avenir Québec government, while rivals warned against his promise of a sovereignty referendum before the end of a first term; Liberal leader Charles Milliard urged federalists to vote strategically. The backdrop is a deepening trade fight: Washington’s ban on Canadian beer, wine, spirits, molasses, motorcycles and whey took effect Tuesday, CBC News reported. Trump predicted Canada would come in and say, “Sir, we are sorry.”
Merz in Kyiv, sirens included. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Sunday and pledged another €1 billion in military aid plus €350 million for energy repairs as air-raid sirens and explosions rang out across the capital, Reuters reported. Touring the Academy of Sciences, where at least two people died in a drone strike last week, he said “these barbaric attacks on the civilian population of Ukraine must stop.” German officials said executives traveling with him signed 14 deals worth roughly €6.6 billion, including IRIS-T air-defence missiles from Diehl Defence. A Russian drone hit Kyiv’s Northern Bridge during the visit, DW reported. “We will not be intimidated,” Merz said.
Supreme Court opens its term. The justices return Monday, the first Monday in October, with arguments in ExxonMobil and Suncor’s bid to toss Boulder, Colorado’s climate-damages suit, Reuters reported; nearly 60 state and local governments have filed similar suits, the Trump administration backs the companies, and Justice Samuel Alito has recused. On Thursday the court also agreed to hear the administration’s policy of mandatory detention, without bond hearings, for immigrants who entered illegally — a policy hundreds of judges have declared unlawful, Reuters said. Challenges to AR-15-style rifle bans (December 2), Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship voting rules (December 8) and third-country deportations (December 9) are also on the calendar, CBS News reported.
No shutdown, but a purse fight. The new fiscal year began Thursday without the usual cliff — a stopgap signed September 2 funds the government through December 11, the Congressional Research Service noted. The fight moved to Trump’s $810 million “pocket rescission” of health, education and other funds sent to Congress just before the fiscal year expired. The Government Accountability Office said Tuesday the maneuver violates the 1974 budget law: “The President may not force the expiration of budget authority Congress has already enacted and did not rescind,” Roll Call reported. Budget director Russ Vought fired back on X that GAO “has become hyper partisan,” while Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins was among those vowing to fight it.
Pentagon shake-up, Iraq exit. In a “State of the Force” address at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled last spring’s cut to a 20% reduction in general and flag officer positions by January 1, 2027, and announced a new four-star command for autonomous and robotic warfare, AP reported. “I call it accountability and long overdue,” he said; Sen. Mark Kelly said Hegseth is “purging a generation of great leaders.” The same day, the U.S. said it had completed its withdrawal from Iraq after troops left their last bases in Erbil, CNN reported, ending the 12-year anti-ISIS mission; Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called it a “new phase,” and Iran-aligned militias celebrated.
Horn of Africa and Red Sea flare-ups. Eritrea severed diplomatic ties with Ethiopia on Thursday after Addis Ababa closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled 10 Eritrean diplomats, Al Jazeera reported. By Saturday the TPLF confirmed it had withdrawn from Mekelle as federal forces and allied fighters entered Tigray’s capital, less than four years after the Pretoria peace deal. Across the water, Yemen’s Houthis claimed a ballistic missile and drone strike on an Aramco facility in Riyadh on Saturday as smoke and flames rose near the site; the Saudi-led coalition called the claim “misleading,” Al Jazeera said.
France’s school revolt. High-school protests over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and run-down buildings spread from Paris across France, with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez saying 1,747 people were arrested on Friday alone, BBC News reported. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 735 of the country’s 3,700 schools were affected, and Nuñez warned, “We are sliding into riot and urban violence.” It lands six months before next year’s presidential election, with planned budget cuts touching education funding fueling the anger.
The through-line: voters on three continents leaned toward nationalists and the right — Bolsonaro forcing a runoff, Dodik’s camp sweeping Bosnia, and the PQ on Quebec’s doorstep — while Washington’s week ran on institutional fights over the purse, the generals and the docket, and wars from Kyiv to Tigray to Yemen kept grinding on.
Sources: NPR; Reuters; AP via CBC; The Canadian Press via CBC; CBC News; Reuters; DW; Euronews; Reuters; Reuters; CBS News; CRS; Roll Call; AP; CNN; Al Jazeera; Al Jazeera; Al Jazeera; BBC News
