International

Lula could win Brazil vote in first round: poll

AFP

Leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has increased his lead over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro 10 months out from Brazil’s elections and could win in the first round, a poll found Thursday.

Lula, who led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, has 48 percent of the vote to 22 percent for Bolsonaro, found leading pollster Datafolha.

Despite a push from the political center for a “third-way” candidate, no others reached double digits in the poll.

Ex-justice minister Sergio Moro has nine percent of the vote, former Ceara state governor Ciro Gomes seven percent and current Sao Paulo state Governor Joao Doria four percent, it found.

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Eight percent of respondents said they would cast blank ballots or abstain, while two percent were undecided, Datafolha said.

That means if the elections were held today, Lula would have enough votes to win in the first round. Brazilian electoral law requires a candidate to win more than half of all valid votes, subtracting blank and spoiled ballots.

Lula, 76, a charismatic former steelworker, was hugely popular as president. But his image was badly tarnished when he was jailed on corruption charges in 2018.

Lula, who calls the case against him a conspiracy, was released in 2019. The Supreme Court annulled his convictions this year, clearing the way for him to run again.

He immediately emerged as the top challenger to former army captain Bolsonaro, 66. The incumbent’s popularity has plunged amid a recession and his government’s missteps on Covid-19, which has claimed more than 615,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States.

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Datafolha’s previous poll, in September, found Lula with 44 percent of the vote to 26 percent for Bolsonaro.

Neither has officially declared a candidacy.

The new poll was carried out from December 13 to 16 with 3,666 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.

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.