International
Meet the feisty woman kingmaker in Brazil’s presidential runoff
AFP | Marcelo Silva De Sousa
A feisty and little-known woman senator has emerged as kingmaker in Brazil’s very close presidential runoff.
Many Brazilians saw Simone Tebet, a lawyer and university professor, for the first time when she took stage the night of August 29 for the campaign’s first televised debate, standing alongside rightwing President Jair Bolsonaro and leftist icon and ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
And in a surprise, Tebet made a strong impression.
When Bolsonaro at one point insulted a woman journalist asking questions at the debate, the senator leapt to her defense, pointing at the president with her index finger and saying in a firm voice: “I am not afraid of him.”
Tebet, 52, finished third in the first round voting with four percent of the votes, far behind Lula, who took 48 percent, and Bolsonaro with 43 percent.
But her share of the pie amounts to 4.9 million votes — and the difference between the two frontrunners was 6.1 million.
Instantly, Tebet became the candidate to woo. And she endorsed Lula.
‘Third option’
Tebet’s candidacy was organized by centrist parties and supported by part of the Brazilian establishment as a way to temper the polarization generated by the far-right president Bolsonaro and the leftist hero of the working class and poor, Lula, of the Workers Party.
Tebet is from the city of Tres Lagoas, which has a population of 125,000, and she was its mayor from 2005 to 2010. It is in the west-central state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where the economy is based on agribusiness.
Tebet is married to a politician from her state and they have two daughters. She is Catholic and describes herself as feminist.
Tebet played a prominent role on a congressional committee that in 2021 investigated the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. And while on this panel, she clashed loudly with Bolsonaro allies.
Tebet was also the first woman to preside over the Brazilian senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee, considered the chamber’s most important panel.
But her biggest jump to notoriety came with her presidential candidacy, which was promoted as a third way between the right and left.
Tebet managed “to fill a lagoon that was empty,” said Marco Antonio Teixeira, a professor of political science at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo.
She succeeded because “she billed herself as an actual third option, strong in her criticisms of Bolsonaro and of the Workers Party in a balanced way, not simply seeking confrontation,” said Teixeira.
In the presidential debates, she challenged Bolsonaro and urged him to show respect for women; the president has a penchant for making remarks seen as sexist.
This helped Tebet grab third place from center-left candidate Ciro Gomes, who polls had predicted would take that spot.
Conservative and close to agribusiness
Up through the midway point of Bolsonaro’s term, Tebet supported his government in 86 percent of the votes taken in the Senate, including one that extended gun-carrying rights to land outside rural properties, according to investigative news outlet Agencia Publica.
Tebet owns three rural estates, one of which sits on land claimed by Indigenous people in Mato Grosso do Sul.
She broke with Bolsonaro after she joined the congressional commission that probed the pandemic, which killed more than 680,000 people in Brazil.
During the campaign for the first round of presidential voting, Tebet promised to bring transparency to huge amounts of money administered by Congress, boost spending on science and technology, and provide scholarships for students at the intermediate level of education to head off school dropouts.
Now, as analysts say Lula has to veer toward the center to win new supporters, Tebet — who has said Brazil is conservative and not ready, say, to legalize abortion — is an important person to have on your side.
Last week, she formally endorsed Lula in the runoff on October 30, while denying that this gesture meant she has given up on creating a third path in Brazilian politics.
Tebet’s party, however, called the Brazilian Democratic Movement, chose to remain neutral in the race between Bolsonaro and Lula.
“What is at stake is bigger than each of us,” she said.
Tebet said she would vote for Lula because of his “commitment to democracy and the constitution,” which she said she does not see in Bolsonaro.
But she criticized Lula, credited with bringing millions of people out of poverty during his rule from 2003 to 2010, for not really “looking in the rear view mirror” and making new proposals for how he would govern if he regains power.
“Tebet has a way of speaking with agribusiness and women that is much more direct than Lula,” said Teixeira.
She can lure for Lula centrist voters tired of the tensions born of Bolsonaro-Lula polarization, he added.
Brazilian press reports have suggested Tebet could become a minister in Lula’s government if he wins. Tebet has denied being interested in such a job.
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(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 30, 2022 Brazilian presidential candidate Simone Tebet (MDB) arrives for a press conference after a presidential debate ahead of the October 2 general election, at the Globo television network studios called Projac in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. - It was the night of August 29, the first televised debate of candidates, when many Brazilians discovered Tebet: a white woman, lawyer and university professor, who would cause a surprise in her first presidential campaign. The senator was third in the first round on October 2, with 4% of the vote, far behind Lula (48%) and Bolsonaro (43%). But he got 4.9 million votes, when the difference between the two arch-rivals was 6.1 million. She thus became the candidate to be courted. And she supported Lula. (Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL / AFP)
International
Florida officials warn against raw milk after dozens sickened
Unprocessed milk from a farm in Florida has sickened at least 21 people, prompting state authorities to issue a public health alert, U.S. media reported Monday.
The 21 cases include six children under the age of 10, all diagnosed with infections caused by E. coli and Campylobacterbacteria linked to raw milk from the farm in the southeastern U.S. state. Local authorities have also warned about the dangers of drinking unpasteurized milk.
Seven people have been hospitalized, two of whom have suffered complications, according to multiple reports.
The Florida Department of Health has urged the public to avoid raw milk consumption and blamed the outbreak on the farm involved—without naming it directly—citing poor sanitary practices.
Florida law prohibits the sale of unprocessed milk for human consumption, although it can be sold if labeled for pets. Pasteurization, which involves heating milk to kill harmful bacteria, is required under U.S. federal regulations for any dairy products sold across states.
Despite these regulations, sales of raw milk have been increasing in recent years, fueled by online promotion from wellness influencers and advocates of unprocessed foods.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warn that raw milk can contain potentially deadly bacteria such as E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria, or Salmonella, which can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea, vomiting, and indigestion to severe complications like kidney failure.
International
Massive wildfire in Southern France kills one, injures nine
Hundreds of firefighters battled on Wednesday to contain a massive wildfire in southern France that has left one person dead and nine others injured.
The blaze, which broke out Tuesday in the Aude department, is the largest recorded in France during the current summer season. Authorities have deployed 1,800 firefighters in an effort to bring it under control.
An elderly woman died in her home in the town of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, while two others were injured—one in serious condition due to burns—according to the local prefecture. Seven firefighters suffered smoke inhalation injuries, and one person remains missing. The wildfire has already scorched an estimated 12,000 hectares of land.
“The fire is spreading very quickly due to unfavorable weather conditions. This is one of the driest areas of the department, and strong winds are fueling the flames,” said Lucie Roesch, secretary general of the Aude prefecture. Rémi Recio, subprefect for the city of Narbonne, added, “The fire is still spreading and is far from being contained or under control.”
The A9 motorway, which runs along the Mediterranean coast between France and Spain, has been closed in both directions between Narbonne and Perpignan, along with numerous secondary roads.
In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the smell of smoke lingers over the charred hectares. A helicopter was seen drawing water from the river below the village and dropping it several kilometers away, AFP reporters observed.
A campsite and at least one village were partially evacuated, with 25 houses and around 35 vehicles damaged, according to a preliminary assessment.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou announced he will visit the affected area on Wednesday.
International
Japan marks 80 years since Hiroshima bombing with call for nuclear disarmament
Japan observed a minute of silence on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a solemn reminder to the world of the horror it unleashed, amid heightened tensions between nuclear powers the United States and Russia.
At exactly 8:15 a.m. local time (23:15 GMT), the moment when the U.S. bomber Enola Gay dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on August 6, 1945, the city paused to remember.
The bombing claimed an estimated 140,000 lives, not only from the devastating blast and fireball but also from the deadly radiation that followed. Three days later, another bomb dropped on Nagasaki killed 74,000 more. Japan’s surrender on August 15 marked the end of World War II.
On a sweltering morning, hundreds of students, survivors, and officials dressed in black laid flowers at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. The city’s mayor, Kazumi Matsui, warned of “an accelerating trend toward military buildup worldwide,” citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stated that Japan has a mission “to take the lead toward a world without nuclear weapons.”
Today, Hiroshima is a thriving metropolis of 1.2 million people, yet the skeletal remains of one building still stand at its center as a powerful reminder of the tragedy.
Wednesday’s ceremony was attended by representatives from around 120 countries and regions, including delegates from Taiwan and Palestine for the first time.
Among the attendees was 96-year-old Yoshie Yokoyama, who arrived in a wheelchair accompanied by her grandson. She told reporters that her parents and grandparents were victims of the bombing.
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