International

Brazil’s Lula undergoes vocal cord surgery

Photo: Carlos Costa / AFP

| By AFP |

Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva underwent surgery to remove a lesion from his vocal cords upon his return from a trip to Egypt and Portugal, a hospital in Sao Paulo said Monday.

The 77-year-old — with a trademark raspy voice after a bout of throat cancer a decade ago — was admitted on Sunday and has already been discharged after the “laryngoplasty,” the Syrian-Lebanese hospital said in a statement.

“Good morning. I am already home after a small procedure yesterday. Everything is sorted out. I am fine, have a good week,” Lula wrote on Telegram.

The hospital said that surgeons had carried out the “removal of a leukoplakia on the left vocal cord,” a white lesion detected by doctors during a routine medical exam on November 12.

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Doctors noted there were no new tumors present. Lula was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2011, shortly after he left office following two presidential terms between 2003 and 2010.

He went into remission the following year after undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Lula was elected for a third term as president last month, in a razor-thin victory over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

In his first trip abroad since the election, he traveled to the global climate summit COP27 in Egypt, and then to Lisbon, before returning to Brazil on Saturday.

Lula was a smoker for more than 50 years before quitting in 2010 after being hospitalized for high blood pressure.

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His typically hoarse voice became notably more ragged throughout the long election campaign, and was at times barely audible.

International

Hiroshima survivor who embraced Obama dies at 88

The emotional embrace between Barack Obama and Hiroshima survivor Mori—who was eight years old when the United States dropped the atomic bomb in 1945—resonated around the world.

According to Asahi Shimbun and other local media, Mori died on Saturday at a hospital in Hiroshima.

Mori, known for his research on the fate of American prisoners of war in Hiroshima, was thrown into a river by the force of the explosion on August 6, 1945, during the atomic bombing of the city.

In a past interview with AFP, ahead of his meeting with Obama at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 2016, Mori recalled the chaos and desperation that followed the blast.

He described how, after emerging from the water, he encountered injured civilians seeking help amid the devastation, an experience that stayed with him throughout his life.

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In 2016, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he paid tribute to the victims of the first atomic bomb used in warfare. During the visit, Mori was visibly moved as he met the president, sharing a brief but powerful moment that symbolized remembrance and reconciliation.

The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in the deaths of approximately 140,000 people, including those who succumbed to radiation exposure in the aftermath.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people and contributing to the end of World War II.

International

Colombia seeks ‘total suffocation’ of armed groups with regional support

Colombia is advancing a strategy aimed at the “total suffocation” of illegal armed groups, seeking to corner them in border regions with the support of Ecuador and Venezuela, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said in an interview with AFP.

According to the minister, coordinated pressure from neighboring countries—backed by United States—aims to dismantle criminal networks that use cross-border routes to traffic Colombian cocaine toward North America and Europe.

For decades, armed groups involved in Colombia’s internal conflict have relied on border territories as strategic rear bases to evade military operations and maintain logistical support.

However, Sánchez said that dynamic is beginning to change.

“We expect a total suffocation between both nations so they have no spaces where they can live or feel safe […] to close off any room they might have,” he stated during the interview in Bogotá, less than five months before the end of President Gustavo Petro’s term.

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Regional developments have reinforced this strategy. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation, Washington has increased its influence in Caracas, where interim leader Delcy Rodríguez has implemented a renewed anti-narcotics policy.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa—a key U.S. ally in the region—has launched a two-week security plan under strict curfews to combat criminal gangs, with U.S. support.

Sánchez argued that these combined efforts leave illegal organizations with fewer escape routes and operational spaces, effectively placing them in a “dead end.”

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.