- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
Lula launches presidential campaign to 'rebuild Brazil'
Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched his campaign for a new presidential term Saturday, vowing to rebuild Brazil after what he called the "irresponsible and criminal" administration of far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.
The campaign launch sealed a remarkable political comeback for the 76-year-old leftist icon, four years after he was jailed on controversial corruption charges.
"We're ready to work not only to win the election on October 2, but to rebuild and transform Brazil, which will be even more difficult," the charismatic but tarnished steelworker-turned-politician told a rally in Sao Paulo.
"We need to change Brazil once again... We need to return to a place where no one ever dares to defy democracy again. We need to send fascism back to the sewer of history, where it should have been all along," he said in his trademark gravelly voice.
It was hardly a secret Lula, who has enjoyed a long -- though shrinking -- lead in the polls, would jump into the campaign, which does not officially start until August.
Lula, who led Brazil through an economic boom from 2003 to 2010, has been in unofficial campaign mode since March last year, when the Supreme Court annulled the corruption convictions that sidelined him from politics.
The Supreme Court's finding of bias on the part of the lead judge in the case, Sergio Moro -- who went on to become Bolsonaro's justice minister -- instantly set up this year's elections as a polarizing clash between arch-enemies Lula and Bolsonaro.
- Surprise return -
Lula left office 12 years ago with approval ratings of 87 percent, after presiding over a golden period that lifted some 30 million Brazilians from poverty.
But the onetime shoeshine boy's towering legacy came crashing down with the explosion of "Operation Car Wash," a sweeping investigation that uncovered a massive corruption scheme centered on state-run oil company Petrobras.
Lula was convicted on bribe-taking charges and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
He started his sentence in April 2018, removing him from that year's presidential race, which Bolsonaro won on a wave of outrage against Lula and his Workers' Party (PT).
Lula, who calls the case a conspiracy, was released pending appeal in November 2019 but was barred from politics until last year's ruling.
In a Brazil deeply divided over Bolsonaro's combative style, social media polemics, weak performance on the economy and chaotic handling of Covid-19, Lula returned to the ring with the immediate status of front-runner.
- 'Disastrous' gaffes -
But Bolsonaro, 67, has narrowed the gap in the latest polls -- and made it clear he won't leave power without a fight.
Lula has meanwhile made a series of recent gaffes, alienating voters from several key groups with politically tone-deaf remarks on abortion, the police and the middle class.
He has also looked out of sync with world leaders he aspires to rub elbows with again -- saying, for example, that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is "as responsible as" Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the Ukraine war.
"He has made several disastrous statements in recent weeks," Sylvio Costa, founder of news site Congresso em Foco, told AFP.
"And, above all, Lula needs to go to the street."
The veteran leftist said he would now do just that, criss-crossing the country to meet with "the people."
Wearing a sharp navy suit, his shirt open at the collar, he stuck strictly to the script at his rally, rather than speaking off the cuff as he typically does.
But he was short on tangible planks for his platform.
"Instead of promises, I present the immense legacy of our administration," he told the cheering crowd of thousands.
Lula has reportedly shaken up his campaign team recently, removing long-time ally Franklin Martins as communications chief.
Courting the wary business sector and seeking to build a broad base, Lula has tapped market-friendly centrist Geraldo Alckmin -- the opponent he defeated in the 2006 presidential race -- as his running-mate.
"Brazil today has the most disastrous and cruel government in its history," Alckmin, a former Sao Paulo governor who was home with a mild case of Covid-19, told the rally by video link.
"Lula is our only hope."
P.Serra--PC