International
Sao Paulo mayor, who fought Covid and cancer, dies at 41
AFP/Editor
The mayor of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer of the digestive system, the hospital where he was being treated announced.
Mayor Bruno Covas had been hospitalized on May 2 as the cancer, first diagnosed in 2019, spread through his body.
His medical team said Friday that his condition was terminal.
News of his death, announced by the city’s Syrian-Lebanese Hospital, prompted an outpouring on social media, with thousands of supporters expressing condolences for the moderate politician and solidarity with his family.
Covas, a member of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, had positioned himself in the center of a polarized country, seeking to emerge as the moderate leader of a new political generation in a Brazil ruled by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
As he led his city’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, Covas himself contracted Covid-19 last August. After recovering, he easily won re-election, with nearly 60 percent of the vote.
Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic capital with a population of more than 12 million, has lost 29,000 lives to the coronavirus.
This year, when Covas’s cancer took a turn for the worse, he had asked the city’s Chamber of Councillors for a 30-day break to allow him to focus fully on his health.
“My body is demanding that I dedicate more time to treatment, which is entering a more demanding phase,” he said on Twitter.
Deputy Mayor Ricardo Nunes, a centrist, is expected to complete Covas’s term, which runs until 2024.
Covas, a trained lawyer whose grandfather Mario Covas was one of the most influential politicians in the country, began his political career at age 26, winning his first election in 2006 as a deputy in the Sao Paulo Assembly.
He later served as the city’s environmental secretary.
Covas was elected deputy mayor in 2016 and became mayor two years later when then-mayor Joao Doria resigned to seek the state’s governorship.
Covas was elected to a full term in November 2020.
International
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
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