RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Animals at Rio de Janeiro’s BioParque zoo received popsicles and frozen treats Tuesday as the city faced another day of extreme heat during Brazil’s summer.
Jaguars, monkeys and other animals were given an iced diet prepared according to each species’ needs, zoo officials said. Some received frozen fruit, while others were offered mixtures containing frozen blood.
A group of monkeys were handed watermelon popsicles by zoo keepers. A jaguar tried to fish out ground chicken popsicles from a tray that floated in its water tank.
“When she tries to fish out the frozen food, she ends up ingesting water as well,” said Letizia Feitoza, a biologist at the zoo. “This is important for her hydration.”
Zoo officials said the frozen foods are part of routine animal care and help provide thermal comfort during periods of extreme heat. Similar initiatives were carried out last summer as high temperatures affected much of Brazil’s southeast.
Temperatures in Rio de Janeiro rose over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Sunday and Monday, prompting city authorities to issue a Level 3 heat alert and warn of health risks linked to prolonged exposure.
The high temperatures haven’t stopped residents from visiting the Bioparque Zoo, where they watched the animals licking on their red popsicles.
“I thought it was really cool,” said Lorena Carvalho, a teacher visiting the zoo. “I think it brings them more comfort.”
About 2,500 Brazilian police and soldiers launched a massive raid on a drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, arresting 81 suspects and sparking shootouts that left more than 100 people dead, officials said.
Brazilian police said Wednesday the death toll stood at 119 killed, including four police officers, but Rio de Janeiro’s state public defender’s office told the Agence France-Presse that 132 people were killed in the raids.
Rio state Gov. Claudio Castro initially put the death toll at around 60 on Wednesday, but warned that the real figure was likely higher as more bodies were being taken to a morgue and counted.
Residents of a favela in Rio lined up more than 40 bodies at a plaza in their low-income neighborhood on Wednesday, a day after the operation, AFP reported. The corpses were placed near one of the main roads in the Penha Complex.
The operation included officers in helicopters and armored vehicles and targeted the notorious Red Command in the sprawling low-income favelas of Complexo de Alemao and Penha, police said. Rafael Soares, a journalist covering crime in Rio, told BBC News Brasil that the Red Command had been on the offensive in the city in recent years, reclaiming territory it had lost to its rivals, First Capital Command.
The police operation was one of the most violent in Brazil’s recent history, with human rights organizations calling for investigations into the deaths.
Castro said in a video posted on X Tuesday that 60 criminal suspects had been “neutralized” during the massive raid that he called the biggest such operation in the city’s history. Some 81 suspects were arrested, while 93 rifles and more than half a ton of drugs were seized, the state government said, adding that those killed “resisted police action.”
Rio’s civil police said on X that four officers died in Tuesday’s operation. “The cowardly attacks by criminals against our agents will not go unpunished,” it said.
Police officers escort a suspect arrested during the Operacao Contencao (Operation Containment) out of the Vila Cruzeiro favela, in the Penha complex, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 28, 2025. / Credit: MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty Images
Residents scrambled for cover and shops closed their doors amid police claims that the gangs were using drones to fight back, AFP reported.
Castro posted a video on X of what he described as a gang-controlled drone launching a projectile from the cloudy sky.
“This is how the Rio police are treated by criminals: with bombs dropped by drones. This is the scale of the challenge we face. This is not ordinary crime, but narcoterrorism,” he said.
State officials said at least 50 of those killed were “indicated by police as suspected of being criminals,” BBC News reported. Dozens of people were injured, including civilians caught in the crossfire, according to the BBC.
The United Nations’ human rights body said it was “horrified” by the deadly police operation, called for effective investigations and reminded authorities of their obligations under international human rights law.
César Muñoz, director of Human Rights Watch in Brazil, called Tuesday’s events “a huge tragedy” and a “disaster.”
“The public prosecutor’s office must open its own investigations and clarify the circumstances of each death,” Muñoz said in a statement.
Footage on social media showed fire and smoke rising from the two favelas as gunfire rang out. The city’s Education Department said 46 schools across the two neighborhoods were closed, and the nearby Federal University of Rio de Janeiro canceled night classes and told people on campus to seek shelter.
Suspected gang members blocked roads in northern and southeastern Rio in response to the raid, local media reported. At least 70 buses were commandeered to be used in the blockades, causing significant damage, the city’s bus organization Rio Onibus said.
The operation Tuesday followed a year of investigation into the criminal group, police said.
Gov. Castro, from the conservative opposition Liberal Party, said the federal government should be providing more support to combat crime — a swipe at the administration of leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Gleisi Hoffmann, the Lula administration’s liaison with the parliament, agreed that coordinated action was needed but pointed to a recent crackdown on money laundering as an example of the federal government’s action on organized crime.
Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and a number of ministers met in response to the operation on Tuesday afternoon. Chief of staff Rui Costa requested an emergency meeting in Rio on Wednesday, with him in attendance as well as Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski.
Emerging from Rio’s prisons, the Red Command criminal gang has expanded its control in favelas in recent years.
“Russian roulette”
Rio has been the scene of lethal police raids for decades. In March 2005, some 29 people were killed in Rio’s Baixada Fluminense region, while in May 2021, 28 were killed in the Jacarezinho favela.
While the Tuesday’s police operation was similar to previous ones, its scale was unprecedented, said Luis Flavio Sapori, a sociologist and public safety expert at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais.
“What’s different about today’s operation is the magnitude of the victims. These are war numbers,” he said.
He argued that these kinds of operations are inefficient because they do not tend to catch the masterminds, but rather target underlings who can later be replaced.
“It’s not enough to go in, exchange gunfire, and leave. There’s a lack of strategy in Rio de Janeiro’s public security policy,” Sapori said. “Some lower-ranking members of these factions are killed, but those individuals are quickly replaced by others.”
The Marielle Franco Institute, a nonprofit founded by the slain councilwoman’s family to continue her legacy of fighting for the rights of people living in favelas, also criticized the operation.
“This is not a public safety policy. It’s a policy of extermination, that makes the everyday life of Black and poor people a Russian roulette,” it said in a statement.
“Everyone is terrified”
AFP saw police in the Vila Cruzeiro neighborhood of Penha district guarding about 20 young people huddled together and sitting on the sidewalk, heads bowed, barefoot and shirtless.
“This is the first time we’ve seen drones (from criminals) dropping bombs in the community,” said a Penha resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Everyone is terrified because there’s so much gunfire,” she added.
A woman cries outside Getulio Vargas Hospital shortly after her relative was brought here by police due to injury during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization
Tuesday’s operation halted ground traffic on many of the seaside city’s main streets.
“We’re left without buses, without anything, in this chaos and not knowing what to do,” said Regina Pinheiro, a 70-year-old retiree, who was trying to return home.
NITEROI, Brazil (AP) — Performers twisted and twirled above the sand on a beach across the bay from Rio de Janeiro in an aerial circus show that sought to draw attention to the widespread problem of violence against women in Brazil.
Six women and two men performed the piece titled “Alone we are petals, together we are roses” for the first time on Saturday in Niteroi city with Rio’s famed landmarks — the Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf Mountain — in the background.
At the beginning, a woman in a pink bodysuit and with an attitude struts around on stilts. The male artists knock her to the ground. But the victim reappropriates her body by exploring its physical strength and gains courage from her connections with other women. At the end she returns on even higher stilts.
“After we go through all of this, we grow even more. We become stronger. Not that this is a good way of learning how to be a woman, but we end up stepping into it,” said Rosa Caitanya Hamilton Azevedo, a 31-year-old artist who plays the victim’s part and who has also suffered from gender-based violence.
Juliana Berti Abduch, who has also been a victim of this form of violence, created the Suspended Circus Acrobatics project in 2020. The group’s first performance in 2023 focused on domestic violence. She said the new piece isn’t a continuation of that show, but a way to keep addressing and fighting violence in its many forms.
Partaking in the project can be healing for the artists who have been subjected to gender-based violence, who arrive fearful and traumatized, according to Berti Abduch.
“From the moment they start the classes, they begin to overcome their limitations. This helps a lot in life in general. I’m certain that the project helped make the women feel much more secure,” Berti Abduch said after her piece’s debut.
Approximately 100 people gathered to watch the performance, some of whom were passing by and stopped, intrigued by the visually striking sight involving aerial hoops, trapezes and silks, on a beach packed with people lifting weights and playing volleyball.
“I found it impactful,” said Fabiane Curione de Medeiros, who was in the audience. “I think the message — that women need to unite and expose the violence — needs to become a reality.”
More than one in three women in Brazil was a victim of sexual or gender-based violence over the course of a year, according to a 2025 report by the think tank Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, the highest number since records began in 2017. All forms of violence against women have increased since then.
An example of the ongoing struggle for women’s rights in Brazil is the legal status of abortion. While it is permitted in three circumstances, including in cases of rape, in practice women often face significant barriers in accessing these services.
During the performance, a series of alarming statistics are blasted from a nearby amplifier, including the fact that a woman was raped every six minutes in Brazil last year, also according to the forum on public safety.
“The show generates a heavy atmosphere, because we talk about the situation. But we also show that there are paths and strategies to fight against it,” said Hamilton Azevedo.
“The performance in itself is a strategy. We wanted to move away from that place of sadness and hold onto hope that the future will be better. And build that future through art, sport and the empowerment of women,” she said.
Some are well-worn warnings as familiar as the changing of seasons. Others are slow burns that end with a bang. Still others are just plain eerie.
Stories of spiritual entities, paranormal activity and creepy cryptids are passed through generations the world over, becoming local legends that only sometimes reach across borders and cultures.
So if the sordid tales you grew up with no longer make you shiver, it’s time to reanimate your roster with global tales of ghosts, hauntings, and petrifying processions.
With Halloween nigh, and the season in many parts of the world ripe for campfires and spooky stories, people gravitate toward fear even in a complex and sometimes scary world. Here are some favorites — lore and fiction, with maybe some truth sprinkled throughout — that The Associated Press gathered from its journalists around the planet:
A visitor dressed in a ghost costume at Goosebump market as a part of Halloween festival in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
China: The corpse walkers
A visitor dressed in a ghost costume at Goosebump market as a part of Halloween festival in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A street sign for Balete Drive is seen in Quezon City, Philippines, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Dogs walk in a dimly lit portion of supposedly haunted Balete Drive in Quezon City, Philippines, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Roberto Perez, a 53-year-old who works part-time near Balete Drive, is seen here in Quezon City, Philippines, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
An effigy is seen near a railway track where two commuter trains collided in 1987, killing 139 people, in Bintaro, Indonesia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
A young girl walks next to a railway track near the scene of a 1987 train collision that killed 139 people in Bintaro, Indonesia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
Motorists ride near a railway track where two commuter trains collided in 1987, killing 139 people, in Bintaro, Indonesia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
A woman walks in an important Brazilian historical construction from the 18th century named Arco do Teles, in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Bruna Prado/AP Photo)
If you were out on the road in China in the old days — if you believe the stories, that is — you might have encountered a strange procession.
First, a man carrying a white paper lantern and scattering fake paper money ahead of them, chanting, “Yo ho, yo ho.” Then, a towering, hooded black figure wearing a ghastly mask and marching in an awkward, wooden gait. Bringing up the rear, another man guiding the giant by touch, perhaps with a black cat.
They were corpse walkers — and the giant was the corpse.
Bad things happen when someone gets buried far from home: Without descendants to feed their spirit and keep their grave clean, they’ll have a hard time settling in. They could even come back as a hungry ghost. So when a traveler died, the family would hire people who knew the strange art of walking a stiff body home.
When interviewer Liao Yiwu asked about memories of corpse walkers in the 2000s, some said they’d use a black cat to imbue the body with static electricity to make it walk. Others said there was a third man hiding under the cloak and giving the corpse a piggyback ride.
People kept their distance, he wrote, but the corpse walkers were always welcome at inns because they paid three times the normal rate and were said to bring good luck.
— By David Cohen in Bangkok
France: The legend of St. Denis
One of France’s oldest spooky legends is also one of its most gruesome, because it involves a walking headless corpse.
Said to have been Paris’ first bishop, Denis — later St. Denis — went on to lend his name to what is now the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, famous for its magnificent basilica, its soccer stadium and the Olympic village that housed athletes during the Paris Games.
The third-century Roman rulers of what was then Gaul were apparently less than thrilled that Denis and companions Rustique and Éleuthère were making converts. Even after tossing them in prison, Denis continued to celebrate Mass. In some accounts, Denis suffered all manner of unspeakable tortures to make him renounce his faith — not just run-of-the-mill flagellation, but also mauling by famished wild beasts and being locked in a scorching oven.
Eventually, the three were sentenced to death and beheaded.
Legend has it that Denis’ corpse, lifted by two angels, picked up his severed head and walked from the Mount of Martyrs — the supposed execution site now called Montmartre — for about 6 kilometers (nearly 4 miles) before collapsing in the village of Catulliacum, now the town of Saint-Denis.
In Montmartre today, Suzanne Buisson Square has a statue of St. Denis holding his head, which he is said to have washed in the waters of a fountain there before staggering away with it.
— By John Leicester in Paris
Mongolia: The death worm
Slithering beneath the vast dunes of the Gobi Desert, legend has it, is the monstrous Mongolian Death Worm. It kills prey by squirting lethal venom and can even electrocute from a distance. So goes the folklore that has since inspired depictions of deadly giant worms in movies and fiction. In Mongolia, the creature is known as olgoi khorkhoi, which roughly translates as “intestine worm.”
The critter became known abroad after American paleontologist and explorer Roy Chapman Andrews wrote about it in his 1926 book, “On the Trail of Ancient Man: A Narrative of the Field Work of the Central Asiatic Expeditions.” During a meeting with the Mongolian premier, Andrews was asked to capture a specimen of the giant worm.
“None of those present ever had seen the creature, but they all firmly believed in its existence and described it minutely,” he wrote. “It is shaped like a sausage about two feet long, has no head nor legs and is so poisonous that merely to touch it means instant death.”
Some believe the lore began with a more common animal — a snake called the Tartar sand boa. Others, undeterred, believe the giant worms exists. Subsequent expeditions have yet to yield any proof.
— By Emily Wang Fujiyama in Beijing
Brazil: Bárbara of the Pleasures
It’s the turn of the 19th century, and colonial Rio de Janeiro is bustling. There are merchants, vendors, enslaved people, sailors — and a Portuguese immigrant, about 20 years old, named Bárbara. Legend says she stabbed her sleeping husband to run off with a lover, who then began exploiting her. Bárbara killed him, too, and was on her own.
As the story goes, she turned to sex work inside the Teles Arch. The dank, dark passage led off the plaza where the Portuguese emperor sat, and members of the royal court became faithful clients of the beautiful courtesan known as Bárbara of the Pleasures.
But age and disease caught up to her. One chronicler, Hermeto Lima, wrote in 1921 of a hole in Bárbara’s nose, her bulging eyes, scratched eyelids and skeletal hands.
To rejuvenate, Bárbara started washing with animal blood. When that failed, it’s said, she used blood from infants abandoned in the Wheel of the Exposed — the revolving compartment for foundlings outside a Catholic institution. Between 1738 and 1848, 20,966 babies were left in the wheel, according to text of an imperial ministry report provided by Esther Arantes, a retired professor in the infancy department of the State University of Rio de Janeiro.
Paulo Knauss, 58, director of the Museum of the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute, shows how to use the “wheel of the exposed” or “wheel of the foundlings,” a 1738 mechanism used to deposit newborns for charitable institutions, at the Museum of the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
A “wheel of the exposed” or “wheel of the foundlings,” a 1738 mechanism used to deposit newborns for charitable institutions, is seen at the Museum of the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
Arantes’ archival research yielded no evidence of Bárbara, but Rio’s rumor mill claimed otherwise:
Whenever someone brought a baby to the wheel, “the miserable woman, like a toad, came out from her hiding place, and ran to steal the child,” Lima wrote, adding Bárbara would make sure to drip its blood upon her leprous ulcers.
Bárbara disappeared, but her story lingers. Word is that she still prowls Teles Arch by night, surviving on the blood of babes.
The “madam” in question often walked around hostels with her red heels, especially at night, the sound of “koi koi” trailing behind her. You dare not come out if anyone raised an alarm that they heard the sound. Sometimes horrified students ran out and hostels were shut until morning, or even for days.
The backstory? No one knows for sure, but one popular theory was that she was fired as a teacher and died days later — vengeful, jobless and sad.
— By Dyepkazah Shibayan in Abuja, Nigeria
Britain: The Talbot Hotel
A sobbing woman. Ghostly, dressed in white — or, sometimes, black. And a storied oak staircase with royal connections.
The spooky stories revolve around a staircase that still stands at The Talbot Hotel in Oundle — a United Kingdom market town about 85 miles (135 kilometers) north of London that’s been around since the 1500s.
Mary, Queen of Scots — rival to England’s Queen Elizabeth I — is said to have descended the very same flight of steps on the way to her execution in 1587. But at the time, the multilevel structure was part of nearby Fotheringhay Castle, the site of Mary’s beheading.
Nearly four decades later, the Talbot was rebuilt using stones and other material salvaged from the abandoned Fotheringhay — including the castle’s storied staircase.
Guests and staff have reported seeing a ghostly woman on the stairs, and some have said they heard sobbing in the wee hours — all thought to be the doomed queen. The Associated Press has visited several times and can confirm quality coffee and cakes, but not the presence of ghosts.
— By Laurie Kellman in London
Indonesia: Ghosts of the Bintaro train tragedy
The Bintaro train tragedy of October 1987 is well known in Indonesia. The head-on collision between two commuter trains in the southern area of Jakarta is considered one of the deadliest train accidents in the country’s history.
The collision killed 139 passengers, giving rise to many mystical stories around the railway.
In the 37 years since the crash, many local residents and railway workers have reported seeing apparitions of people dressed in old, bloodstained clothing, wandering near the tracks where the tragedy took place. As the local urban legend goes, these ghostly figures are believed to be the spirits of those who perished in the accident and remain unable to move on to the afterlife. Some people also say there was a figure wandering around and looking for his body parts.
In 2013, another train accident happened at the same track, only 200 meters (yards) from the 1987 accident. The commuter train hit a petrol truck in the crossing gate, killing seven people, including the train engineer.
— By Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia
Japan: Yotsuya Kaidan
One of Japan’s most famous kaidan, or ghost stories, is named after the area in Tokyo where the tragic story takes place. Called Yotsuya Kaidan, it’s an unforgettable tale of that archetypal powerless woman whose only recourse for revenge against the man who betrays her love is to become a ghost.
Oiwa, a beautiful woman and wife of the handsome but heartless samurai Iemon, is weak after giving birth to their baby. Iemon is having an affair, and the other woman, seeking to make sure Iemon dumps Oiwa, tricks her into taking poison, thinking it’s medicine, so her face becomes disfigured.
Written in the 19th century and staged as various Kabuki plays and made into dozens of movies, a particularly scary scene is that moment when Oiwa discovers her horrible transformation, a telling moment that speaks volumes about human vanity and frailty. When she combs her hair before a mirror, it falls out in clumps. She sees her twisted, discolored face and cries out: “Is this my face? Is this my face?”
After Oiwa dies, she haunts Iemon, appearing everywhere — perhaps merely his delusion. Iemon is eventually driven to madness.
— By Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo
Kenya: The legend of Ngong Hills
In Kenya, a Maasai folktale about an ogre who used to raid villages for food is told to children. It goes like this:
The ogre lived deep in the forest and would raid neighboring villages to kill cattle — the Maasai community’s symbol of wealth — despite many warriors keeping guard.
The ogre fell in love with a beautiful Maasai woman named Sanayian and he transformed into a Maasai warrior to win her heart. He then revealed his real identity to Sanayian — who then told the warriors. The warriors, using Sanayian as a bait, speared the ogre while he was meeting with his love.
Even after he transformed back into an ogre, he could not survive. He fell and died. His five fingers, it is said, formed the five peaks that are the present-day Ngong Hills, in the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, and a popular hiking destination.
— By Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Kenya
The Philippines: The ghost on Balete Drive
Ask anyone in Manila about Balete Drive and many will associate it with the mysterious “white lady” who appears at night.
The street, named after trees that used to line its sidewalks in suburban Quezon city, has been the subject of scary stories that have been told and retold since the 1950s. There are claims that a beautiful woman with long hair dressed in white would sometimes suddenly appear at night — then just disappear without a trace.
It is said that the sightings were reported by taxi drivers working on late-night shifts. Some claim she would appear asking for a ride and then suddenly disappear from the passenger seat as the vehicle moves. Others say her image would appear at the rearview mirror of drivers driving alone and vanish just as quickly.
“I haven’t seen her,” says 53-year-old Roberto Perez, who works part-time near Balete Drive, “but when I pass there between midnight to about 1:30, I get goosebumps, so I just quickly turn to another street.”
The tale’s origins are unknown. There are varying accounts why the ghost appears along Balete Drive, but the most common story is that decades ago, a girl died due to a car accident along the street. Horror movies in the Philippines have been produced based on this urban legend.
— By Celine Rosario in Bangkok and Aaron Favila in Manila, Philippines
Hungary: The marble bride
Through the branches of stately trees on a leafy avenue in Hungary’s capital, passersby can spot an unusual figure keeping solemn watch from above: the statue of a woman with a mournful expression peering from a stone balcony.
The sculpture, known as the “marble bride,” is unlike any of the other frescoes on surrounding buildings in Budapest, and the mystery of its presence has produced legends going back nearly a century.
In one, a young couple shared an apartment in the building when the husband was called to fight in World War I. The wife waited patiently on the balcony each day for his return, and when a letter arrived with news of his death on the front, the woman died of a broken heart.
But the letter had been mistaken. When the husband returned home and found his wife had died, he had a sculpture carved in her honor and placed where she had spent so many days faithfully waiting.
Another legend says that the husband never returned from the war and, unable to accept his death, the woman stayed waiting on the balcony and eventually turned to stone, and still waits today for a reunion that will never come.
— By Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary
Thailand: Lady Nak of Phra Khanong
Bangkok is home to one of Thailand’s most famous pieces of folklore: the tragic love of Mae Nak, or the Lady Nak of Phra Khanong.
The young and pregnant Nak was waiting for her husband, Mak, to come back from war to their home on the banks of Phra Khanong canal. Nak and her baby died during childbirth, but Mak still came home to see them waiting. With his unwavering love, Mak rejected warnings that Nak was a ghost until he saw her stretching her arm from the upper-floor porch to the ground to pick up a lime. He fled, and Nak started terrorizing the town in grief and fury.
In one variation of the story’s ending, Nak was stopped either by a shaman who captured her in a clay jar, or a powerful Buddhist monk who performed a rite to rest her spirit in peace.
The story has been reinterpreted into dozens of movies, with the critically acclaimed 1999 version becoming the first Thai movie to gross over 100 million baht — about $2.7 million at the time. The shrine dedicated to Nak at Wat Mahabut, the temple where her body is believed to be buried, is famous for worshippers seeing their prayers about love and children being answered.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro — already notorious for street muggings, corrupt politicians, ruthless militias and Kalashnikov-toting drug traffickers — has a new public enemy: plushies. Or, more specifically, the joystick-controlled claw machines that dispense them.
On Wednesday, Rio police carried out 16 search warrants targeting the machines that elicit exhilaration among children and adults alike. But police said the claw machines defraud users who believe scoring stuffed animals to be a test of skill. In fact, they are games of chance — just like slot machines — and therefore illegal, according to their press office.
Officers seized claw machines, laptops, tablets, cell phones, a firearm and — yes — furry friends. They are investigating whether organized crime groups may be the invisible hand behind the claw because they already run slot machines and a popular lottery known as “Animal Game” across the city. Police in Brazil’s southern Santa Catarina state carried out an additional three search warrants Wednesday as part of the same operation.
A claw machine sits inside a metro station in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. The Rio police press office said they were carrying out search warrants targeting claw machines because they are considered games of chance and therefore illegal. (AP Photo/Hannah-Kathryn Valles)
It marked the second such police crackdown, following another in May during which officers apprehended 80 machines. Not only were those machines stocked with counterfeit plushies, but subsequent analysis of their programming found winning pulls were permitted only after a set number of attempts, police said in their statement Wednesday. Facilitating such sporadic, successful snags is an electrical current to the otherwise enfeebled claw so it holds fast to its prize, the statement said.
That programming isn’t disclosed to naive users, including children liable to blow their pocket money on what’s effectively a crap shoot. Claw machines can be found in Rio’s shopping malls, subway stations, supermarkets, arcades and toy stores.
Among Rio’s claw aficionados is Alessandra Libonatti, 41, who has played for nearly three decades. She remembers the machines causing a stir when they first appeared in the city; she had only seen them before in movies. These days she tends to play once a week, whether alone or at the mall with friends who share her “peculiar” hobby.
She likes the low-investment adrenaline rush and, by her own account, she’s a talented clawmaster who has honed her techniques to maximize success, from scouting the stuffed animal landscape to precise positioning of the claw. She treasures a manatee with jaguar spots that she pulled in on a trip to the nation’s capital with friends.
“When I pass by a machine, I give it a look to see if there’s a stuffed animal that makes it worth it to play,” she told The Associated Press. “Because it’s not always worth it; sometimes it’s clearly a waste of money.”
A claw machine stands at a toy store in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hannah-Kathryn Valles)
Claw machines may have been feats of skill in decades past, but most modern machines have built-in programming allowing operators to predetermine their profitability, said Jeremy Hambly, a claw game aficionado from the Milwaukee area. His ClawStruck YouTube channel shows how many different models work, he previously told the AP. He said odds should be posted prominently on machines for users to review.
Most U.S. states consider claw machines games of chance and specifically exempt them from gambling statutes, as long as they comply with certain rules specific to those states. According to industry officials, it’s in arcades’ best interests to have customers win so they’ll keep playing.
But lately it’s tough going for Rio’s claw connoisseurs, Libonatti said. And she chalks that up to changes made to the machines that didn’t escape her exacting eye.
“The current machines are crap. The claws are weaker,” she wrote in a text message to a friend in April, reviewed by the AP.
“Amiga, yessssss!” her friend replied. “I went back to the machines where I always got (stuffed animals) in recent weeks and they’re soooooo weak!”
Local online media outlet G1 dubbed the phenomenon the “weak claw scam.”
The nearly 13,000 stuffed animals police detained in May were initially destined for destruction, but a request from state lawmakers found favor with a judge who spared them. Instead, police donated the plushies to families who lost their homes in the massive floods of southern Rio Grande do Sul state, particularly children in shelters.
The fate of the stuffed animals seized Wednesday was still unclear.
___
Associated Press writer Bruce Shipkowski contributed from Trenton, New Jersey.
Taylor Swift is mourning one of her fans after announcing that they died prior to her show in Brazil on Friday.
“I can’t believe I’m writing these words but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young,” she wrote on Instagram following her Eras Tour concert in Rio de Janeiro.
She continued: “I’m not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it. I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil.”
Swift didn’t provide additional details in her announcement although Brazil’s Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported that a 23-year-old fan – Ana Clara Benevides – fainted and was treated at Rio’s Estádio Nilton Santos before being sent to a local hospital, where she later died.
Her cause of death was cardiorespiratory arrest, the newspaper said.
📲| @taylorswift13 on the passing of a fan before tonight’s show:
“I can’t believe I’m writing these words but it is with shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this. There’s very little information I… pic.twitter.com/z8CF6zhCoY
Swift’s Rio show occurred on a night where fans faced extreme temperatures amid a dangerous heat wave in Brazil.
Officials reported around 1,000 fans fainted at the event while some concertgoers vomited and suffered from severe dehydration, according to Folha de S.Paulo.
The concert occurred just days after Rio saw its heat index – a combination of air temperature and humidity – hit 58.5 degrees Celsius (137 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, The Associated Press noted.
It marked the highest-ever recorded heat index in the city.
Videos shared on social media Friday showed fans calling for “water” at the venue as Swift, who noticed the chants from the stage, appeared to point out the concertgoers to staff.
“Sorry, it’s just very hot so if somebody says they need water when it’s this hot, they really need it,” she said.
Last night, on a balmy evening in Rio de Janiero, the fashion set ascended the Santa Teresa hill for what was meant to be a sunset showing of Carolina Herrera’s resort 2024 collection. But Mother Nature had other plans. With the majority of the crowd dressed in the house’s pieces, the rain commenced; fortunately, ponchos were on-hand to cover the guests’ looks, and soon, the deluge ceased for just long enough for a select few to be seated for the main event. (The rest opted to dry off and instead saw the models at the after-party, where they hit the dance floor clad in the new resortwear.)
The runway was a parade of the elegant designs in vibrant colors, with prints and patterns that have fast become signatures of designer Wes Gordon’s take on Herrera. The clothes are exactly what you’d want to pack for a tropical destination such as Rio, from crochet column gowns to multi-colored stripe knit hot pants and cardigan sets. In particular, the white shirt and ball skirt, an iconic combination of the house, was given the island treatment—both via stripes (on top) and two-toned ocean blues with a slit down the middle and a rosette that sits low on the waist (on the bottom), styled with bare feet and shoulder-grazing gold earrings.
The collection included a few men’s looks as well—a first for the brand—along with an all-Brazilian cast on the runway, with legends such as Isabeli Fontana and Caroline Trentini walking. Also in attendance was Carolina Herrera’s daughter, Carolina A. Herrera, the brand’s creative director of fragrances and beauty, who offered to take us along as she got ready.
More From ELLE
Here, scroll through our gallery to see her prep process.
Sarah Zendejas is the Senior Fashion Market Editor at ELLE Magazine. She is forever on a quest to find the best in fashion and accessories.
Some 200 protesters gathered beneath Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous Sugarloaf Mountain to protest the ongoing construction of ziplines aimed at boosting tourism, alleging it will cause unacceptable impacts.
The four steel lines will run 755 meters (almost 2,500 feet) over the forest between Sugarloaf and Urca Hill, and riders will reach speeds of 100 kph (62 mph). Inauguration is scheduled for the second half of this year, and an online petition to halt work has been signed by almost 11,000 people.
Sugarloaf — known in Portuguese as Pao de Açucar — juts out of the earth at the entrance to Rio’s bay. The United Nations heritage center named it a World Heritage Site in 2012 along with Rio’s other marquee mountains and, years earlier, Brazil’s heritage institute designated it a national monument.
The cable cars to its summit draw hundreds of thousands of Brazilian and international tourists each year, all eager to take in the panoramic views of the sprawling city’s beaches and forested mountains.
It is also a popular spot for sport climbing and birdwatching with preserved Atlantic Forest in a conservation unit, which towers over the sleepy Urca neighborhood. As such, the prospect of riders buzzing down wires while screaming wildly has united mountaineers, environmental activists and residents in opposition. They caution UNESCO could withdraw its heritage status. One protester on Sunday held a sign reading, “S.O.S. UNESCO,” and the group often broke out into chants of “Zipline out!”
“We are completely opposed to the transformation — which in truth has been happening for some time — of the summits of Urca Hill and Sugarloaf into an entertainment hub,” said André Ilha, a former director of biodiversity and protected areas of Rio state’s environment institute and founder of environmental nonprofit Ecological Action Group.
“This is inducing people to go there for reasons that aren’t why the cable car was conceived: To appreciate the landscape,” he said.
Many residents of Urca are likewise displeased.
“We live in a small, peaceful neighborhood. There will be visual and audible impact; no one goes down a zipline in silence,” said Aurimar dos Prazeres, president of a residents association. “And it isn’t one zipline. It’s four of them. One hundred people going down each hour. That’s craziness, and very big impact.”
Parque Bondinho Pao de Açúcar, which operates the cable cars and is behind the 50-million reais ($9.5-million) project, said in a statement that sound tests indicate noise from riders will not be perceptible from below, nor will it affect climbing routes. It says it has obtained all the necessary authorizations and licenses for the project from the national heritage institute and municipal authorities, and it touts the ability to drive tourism.
“In addition to the great integration with nature, the intention is to improve the experience of our visitors and make the visit to the Parque Bondinho Pao de Açucar Park even more pleasant and unforgettable,” the company says on the zipline’s website.
The company also says it consulted the community ahead of time. Residents, at least, say that’s not true.
Prazeres told The Associated Press her association wasn’t approached until after work was already underway, and amid complaints. Juliana Freire, president of another residents association, told the AP the company brought up its intention to develop the zipline during a 2022 meeting about another subject, but never made any formal presentation.
Freire says the national heritage institute that gave its OK to the zipline had recently barred construction of a lifeguard tower on the beach below Sugarloaf.
Ilha told the AP that the project was presented to the natural monuments council, comprised of government and civil society, but that members had been awaiting presentation of an additional sound study. The company said in its statement that further studies on sound and traffic are underway.
Activists on Sunday also expressed concern the zipline is a harbinger of future interventions. The company that administers the cable cars is studying a project that would modify the structure atop Sugarloaf’s summit.
Opponents have nicknamed it “the castle of horrors” and warn of all sorts of potential constructions — almost none of which appear in the company’s proposal. The company says the future project wouldn’t entail expansion of its current footprint nor the opening of new stores, and is meant to facilitate observation of the landscape, improve accessibility for disabled people and separate the flow of tourists, workers and cargo.
HOUSTON (AP) — A United Airlines flight bound from Houston to Rio de Janeiro has returned to Bush Intercontinental Airport for an emergency landing shortly after takeoff, the airline said.
Flight 129 returned to the airport Tuesday night because of “a mechanical issue,” according to a statement from United Airlines.
The airline did not describe the nature of the problem and an airport spokesperson did not immediately return messages for comment Wednesday morning.
The airline said the plane landed safely, passengers got off and United Airlines made arrangements to get them to their destination.
The flight tracking website FlightAware reported the aircraft was a Boeing 767 flying to Rio de Janeiro that departed Houston at 8:52 p.m. and returned to the airport, landing at 10:50 p.m.
Ash Wednesday is just around the corner (February 22). So you know what that means.
Carnival celebrations for 2023 are in full force around the world. It’s a time when people – particularly those in areas with strong Roman Catholic traditions – indulge their wild side before the solemn, introspective days of Lent commence.
With so many participants (more than a million in some cities) and so many different celebration spots (from the Americas to Asia), there’s bound to be a lot of fascinating tidbits to uncover surrounding Carnival.
To go with the party vibe, here are some wild Carnival facts, figures and customs:
The world’s biggest annual Carnival, held in Rio de Janeiro, naturally generates a lot of economic activity for Brazil. But the expected amount for 2023 is positively eye-popping, according to a report from Reuters.
“We believe the economy will generate five billion reais ($971.55 million) during Carnival alone, a record,” Ronnie Aguiar, the president of the Rio Tourism Company (Riotur), recently told the news agency.
That’s what the power of roughly 5 million people freely spending after pandemic restrictions will do for you.
After a two-year hiatus, around 80,000 tourists from abroad are expected to show up for 2023, according to the International Air Transport Association.
The Venice Carnival began in 1162 as a military celebration. From there, it morphed into good ol’ party time – until 1797.
That’s when dour Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, put the kibosh on the revelries (Austrians had just started calling the shots in Venice at the time). He also banned Venetians from wearing masks. Talk about a party pooper.
During the 19th century, Venetians tried to jump-start a big public gathering, but they were able to muster only small, private fêtes.
Then in the height of the Disco Era, the Italian government came to the party-time rescue. It helped Venice relaunch Carnival in 1979. It’s now grown into one of the world’s most renowned, complete with grand masked balls and flotillas in the canals.
Speaking of masks, the Venice Carnival is famous for its mysterious and fancy face coverings. And the nicer ones can cost you quite a few euros.
Some high-end Venice masks go for €400 (about $425) or even more. That’s a lot to pay to be stylishly incognito, but they provide a classic keepsake.
What masks are to Venice, beads are to New Orleans.
The throwing of beads and other trinkets to the crowds during Mardi Gras was started in the early 1870s. In fact, they’re called throws.
How many are tossed out? Tons of them. Literally.
A few years back, cleaning crews removed a whopping 93,000 pounds on a five-block stretch of St. Charles Avenue downtown from clogged storm drains. That works out to 46.5 tons.
In the small Spanish Mediterranean port city of Águilas, they’re also into throwing stuff. Here, it’s eggs – but they’re not filled with yolks.
Months before Carnival, locals collect eggshells, then paint them or cover them in striking colors and fill them with confetti. In Spanish, it’s called cascarones de confeti.
They’re used in a battle in which Don Carnal, who represents the Roman god Janus, is at war with Doña Cuaresma (Mrs. Lent). Don Carnal always loses.
Geez – there really is something about Carnival and throwing things.
Each year, the town and the townspeople getcovered in colored flour, which is thrown on locals and tourists alike. You might want to bring some protective eyewear if you attend. Check out the madness in this YouTube video.
India definitely knows how to throw a celebration – Diwali and Holi anyone?
While exporting those to the world, Indians are also making their unique contribution to Carnival in Goa, which was a Portuguese – and therefore Catholic – colony for centuries.
The Goa Carnival is full of the usual parades, colorful costumes and elaborate floats, but the Carnival here mixes with local Goan culture and Hindu traditions.
In one old Goa Carnival tradition, people throw their old utensils out of their kitchen windows when the parade passes. Another is when people get into playful fights throwing colorful powders at each other, similar to the Holi Festival.
Back in Rio, they’re definitely enjoying all things samba, but they also shake it up, baby.
Turns out Brazilian-beat Beatles songs are the rage at one of the many Rio street parties known as blocos. There are more than 500 blocos, according to Carnivaland.net.
At Aterro do Flamengo (Flamingo Park), the Sargento Pimento party is dedicated to playing Beatles music.
Rio ain’t the only game in Brazil when it comes to Carnival. A favorite among Brazilians is the Recife & Olinda Carnival. Fewer tourists show up, so if you’re looking for true local flavor, the mutual party thrown by these two northeastern coastal cities could be for you.
And don’t miss the bonecos, giant papier-mache puppets, in Olinda. They are up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) tall and are paraded through the streets.
Olinda concentrates on daytime events, while the nighttime is the right time for Recife.
In the Caribbean’s Trinidad and Tobago, you can sit back and watch and listen. Or you can join in. It’s called playing mas, according to online experts Carnivaland.net.
To play mas, you have to join a masquerade band, but you just can’t show up. You must first pick out a mas band you’d like to be a part of and don their costumes (some are sexy, some are more conservative).
Joining a mas band isn’t free, but some are all inclusive, providing your costume, food and drinks, bathroom areas and more.
NEW YORK — Ryan Seacrest will usher in 2023 on “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” from Times Square, with iconic bands from the 1980s and 1990s as well as a member of BTS and a TikTok sensation.
Duran Duran, fresh off an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, will play from a catalogue that includes hits like “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “The Reflex” and “Rio.” R&B and pop group New Edition will celebrate their 40th anniversary by performing a medley of chart-toppers and solo hits like “Rub You The Right Way,” “My Prerogative,” “Poison,” “If It Isn’t Love,” and “Cool It Now.”
J-hope, South Korean songwriter and member of BTS, will play a medley of his “= (Equal Sign),” “Chicken Noodle Soup” and the band’s “Butter.” And Tik-Tok star Jax will sing pop hits “Victoria’s Secret” and “90s Kids.” Singer and rapper Farruko will perform from Puerto Rico.
Actress and producer Liza Koshy will return as co-host alongside Seacrest, actor-singer Roselyn Sanchez will co-host from Puerto Rico and Billy Porter will be back in New Orleans for the Central Time Zone countdown.
There will be pre-taped performances in Disneyland from Aly & AJ, Bailey Zimmerman, Ben Platt, Ciara, Fitz & The Tantrums, Halle Bailey, Lauren Spencer Smith, Maddie & Tae, Shaggy and TXT. And from Los Angeles, there will be performances by Armani White, Betty Who, Dove Cameron, Finneas, Nicky Youre and Wiz Khalifa.
Seacrest, inheritor of ABC’s legendary “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” from Dick Clark, reached 19.6 million viewers between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., last New Year’s Eve, according to Nielsen. During the 15-minute interval where the ball dropped in New York’s Times Square, his audience jumped to 24.2 million people.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In the run-up to Brazil’s presidential election, many feared a narrow result would be contested and spell the death knell for Latin America’s largest democracy.
So far, however, the worst fears have been averted, despite a nail-biting victory for former leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, and ongoing protests by some of Bolsonaro’s supporters across the country.
The conservative leader’s allies quickly recognized da Silva’s victory, the military stayed in the barracks and vigilant world leaders swooped in to offer support for da Silva and nip in the bud even the thought of anything resembling the Jan. 6 insurrection that overtook the U.S. Capitol.
“All of Bolsonaro’s escape valves were shut off,” said Brian Winter, a longtime Brazil expert and vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas. “He was prevailed upon from all sides not to contest the results and burn down the house on his way out.”
Bolsonaro gave a video statement Wednesday calling for an end to the protests by his supporters. “I know you’re upset. I’m just as sad and upset as you are. But we have to keep our heads straight,” he said. “Closing roads in Brazil jeopardizes people’s right to come and go.”
That leaves a more vexing challenge: how the 77-year-old da Silva, universally known as Lula, unites a deeply divided country, rights a wobbly economy and delivers on the outsize expectations spurred by his return to power.
One thing is clear, if anyone can do it, it’s the charismatic da Silva — whose political skills are admired even by his detractors.
“That’s what we need, someone not only who can address inequality but also inspire our emotions and ideas,” said Marcelo Neri, director of the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s social policy center and a former Strategic Affairs Minister for da Silva’s handpicked successor, Dilma Rousseff.
In many ways, the conservative movement Bolsonaro helped ignite — if not the politician himself — has emerged stronger from the vote, Winter said. His allies were elected as governors in several key states and his Liberal Party has become the largest in Congress, curtailing da Silva’s ability to advance his own agenda after a decadelong malaise that has left millions of Brazilians hungrier than when da Silva last held office in 2010.
What’s more, Brazil’s demographics seem to favor Bolsonaro’s aggressive brand of identity politics — including an anti-LGBTQ agenda and hostility to environmentalists — that have earned him the moniker the “Trump of the Tropics.”
The country’s own statistics institute forecasts that the number of Brazilians identifying as evangelical Christians — who preelection polls show overwhelmingly favored Bolsonaro and skew right — will overtake Roman Catholics within a decade.
Thousands of Bolsonaro’s supporters thronged a regional army headquarters in Rio on Wednesday, demanding that the military step in and keep him in power. Others showed up at military installations in Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina and the capital of Brasilia. Meanwhile, truckers maintained about 150 roadblocks across the country to protest Bolsonaro’s loss, despite the Supreme Court’s orders to law enforcement to dismantle them.
At one of the road blockades held by truck drivers in the interior of Sao Paulo state, a car drove into the crowd and injured several, including children and members of the police.
Since the return of democracy in the 1980s, all Brazilian leaders have been guided to varying degrees by a common belief in strong state-led enterprises, high taxes and aggressive wealth redistribution policies.
Bolsonaro initially attempted to run a more austere, business-friendly government, that is, until the social devastation wreaked by COVID-19 and his own sinking electoral prospects ultimately led him to loosen spending controls and emulate the policies he once attacked.
How da Silva will govern is less clear. He squeaked out a narrow victory of barely 2 million votes after building a broad coalition united by little more than a desire to defeat Bolsonaro. And with promises to maintain a generous welfare program in place through 2023, he will have limited fiscal space to spend on other priorities.
His running mate from another party, former Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckim, was a nod to centrist, fiscally conservative policies that made da Silva the darling of Wall Street during his early years in power. This week, da Silva tapped Alckim to lead his transition team.
Also standing alongside him on the victory stage Sunday night, however, were several stalwarts of the left who have been implicated in numerous corruption scandals that have plagued his Workers’ Party and paved the way for Bolsonaro’s rise.
Although da Silva’s supporters have downplayed the concerns about corruption — the Supreme Court annulled the convictions that kept him imprisoned for nearly two years — for many Brazilians he is a symbol of the culture of graft that has long permeated politics. As a result, he’s likely to be held to a higher ethical standard in a country where almost every government has been accused of vote buying in Congress.
“This wasn’t just a fever dream by his opponents,” Winter said of the corruption allegations that have long dogged da Silva’s party.
Da Silva’s victory coincides with a string of recent victories by the left in South America, including in Chile and Colombia, whose leaders revere the former union boss. During his first stint in power, da Silva led a so-called pink wave that promoted regional integration, rivaled U.S. dominance and put the rights of overlooked minorities and Indigenous groups at the center of the political agenda.
Under Bolsonaro, Brazil largely retreated from that leadership role, even if the sheer size of its economy alone means a return to leadership is never far off.
Scott Hamilton, a former U.S. diplomat, said that da Silva will have to make a tough choice on whether to use Brazil’s considerable leverage to pursue an ambitious foreign policy to tackle entrenched problems or simply use his star power on the world stage to shore up support at home.
“Basking in not being Bolsonaro will get him lots of positive attention in itself,” said Hamilton, whose last post, until April, was as consul general in Rio. “The more ambitious path would involve trying to help resolve some of the toughest political issues where democratic governments in the region are in trouble or extinguished.”
COMENDADOR LEVY GASPARIAN, Brazil (AP) — A Brazilian politician attacked federal police officers seeking to arrest him in his home on Sunday, prompting an hours-long siege that caused alarm and a scramble for a response at the highest level of government.
Roberto Jefferson, a former lawmaker and an ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, fired a rifle at police and threw grenades, wounding two officers in the rural municipality Comendador Levy Gasparian, in Rio de Janeiro state. He said in a video message sent to supporters on WhatsApp that he refused to surrender, though by early evening he was in custody.
The events were stunning even for Brazilians who have grown increasingly accustomed to far-right politicians and activists thumbing their noses at Supreme Court justices, and comes just days before Brazilians go to the polls to vote for president.
The Supreme Court has sought to rein in the spread of disinformation and anti-democratic rhetoric ahead of the Oct. 30 vote, often inviting the ire of Bolsonaro’s base that decries such actions as censorship. As part of those efforts, Jefferson was jailed preventatively for making threats against the court’s justices.
Jefferson in January received permission to serve his preventative arrest under house arrest, provided he complies with certain conditions. Justice Alexandre de Moraes said in a decision published Sunday that Jefferson has repeatedly violated those terms — most recently by using social media to compare one female justice to a prostitute — and ordered he be returned to prison.
“I didn’t shoot anyone to hit them. No one. I shot their car and near them. There were four of them, they ran, I said, ’Get out, because I’m going get you,’” Jefferson said in the video. “I’m setting my example, I’m leaving my seed planted: resist oppression, resist tyranny. God bless Brazil.”
Later, Brazil’s federal police said in another statement that Jefferson was also arrested for attempted murder.
Bolsonaro was quick to criticize his ally in a live broadcast on social media. He denounced Jefferson’s statements against Supreme Court justices, including the threats and insults that led to his initial arrest, and Sunday’s attack. He also sought to distance himself from the former lawmaker.
“There’s not a single picture of him and me,” Brazil’s president said. His opponents promptly posted several pictures of the two together on social media.
Bolsonaro also said he dispatched Justice Minister Anderson Torres to the scene, without providing details on what his role would be.
Bolsonaro’s base had mixed reactions, with some on social media hailing Jefferson as a hero for standing up to the top court. Dozens flocked to his house to show support as he remained holed up inside. They chanted, with one group holding a banner that read: “FREEDOM FOR ROBERTO JEFFERSON”.
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is campaigning to return to his former job, told reporters in Sao Paulo that Jefferson “does not have adequate behavior. It is not normal behavior.”
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court convicted lawmaker Daniel Silveira for inciting physical attacks on the court’s justices as well as other authorities. Bolsonaro quickly issued a pardon for Silveira, who appeared beside the president after he cast his vote in the election’s first round on Oct. 2.
The runoff vote between Bolsonaro and da Silva is set for Oct. 30
“Brazil is terrified watching events that, this Sunday, reach the peak of the absurd,” Arthur Lira, the president of Congress’ Lower House and a Bolsonaro ally, wrote on Twitter. “We will not tolerate setbacks or attacks against our democracy.”
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, two diametrically opposed candidates for Brazil’s presidency, have started a four-week race to pursue votes ahead of a winner-take-all runoff.
After garnering more than 90% of the vote in Sunday’s first round, leaving their competitors far behind, incumbent President Bolsonaro and ex-President da Silva are already eyeing options that can push them over the top, whether political alliances or endorsements from candidates now eliminated.
Political analysts say Bolsonaro will seek to capitalize on an unexpectedly strong showing by the right wing as a whole to shore up support from politicians seeking advantageous alliances while da Silva — who won the first-round vote — reaches out to moderates.
The election will determine whether a leftist returns to the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or whether Bolsonaro can advance his far-right agenda for another term.
Many polls had indicated leftist da Silva had a significant lead, with some suggesting he could even clinch a first-round victory. Most showed margins that neared or exceeded double digits. But Bolsonaro came within just five points of da Silva, forcing an Oct. 30 runoff.
While da Silva’s tally of 48.4% of the vote was within most polls’ margins of error, Bolsonaro’s 43.2% far exceeded most of them. The president’s allies running for Congress and governorships also outperformed polls.
“The far-right has shown great resilience in the presidential and in the state races,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.
Speaking after the results, da Silva said he was excited to have a few more weeks of campaigning and the opportunity to go face-to-face with Bolsonaro and “make comparisons between the Brazil he built with the Brazil we built during our administrations.”
“I always thought that we were going to win these elections. And I tell you that we are going to win this election. This, for us, is just an extension,” da Silva said.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro seemed to appeal to poorer voters, who make up a significant chunk of da Silva’s base. He highlighted high inflation that has boosted the cost of food and has hurt the approval ratings of leaders worldwide.
“I understand there is a desire from the population for change, but some changes can be for the worse” he said. Bolsonaro added that he wanted to keep Brazil from adopting leftist economic policies that would put it on a troubled economic path similar to those of Argentina and Venezuela.
It still isn’t clear why polls missed the mark on support for Bolsonaro and right-wing candidates.
Some analysts suggest voters had been embarrassed to tell pollsters they backed Bolsonaro and instead listed another candidate, said Arilton Freres, director of Curitiba-based Instituto Opinião. “But that in itself doesn’t explain everything,” he added, saying outdated census data also may have had an impact on the design of the polls.
Bolsonaro and allies have repeatedly cast doubt on the polls, and pointed instead great turnouts at his street rallies. “Many people were carried away by the lies propagated by the research institutes,” Bolsonaro wrote Monday on his Twitter profile.
The right’s positive night extended to races for congressional seats and governorships, especially candidates with Bolsonaro’s blessing.
Bolsonaro said his party’s showing could bring fresh endorsements ahead of the runoff as other parties strike alliances in exchange for support. Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party will surpass da Silva’s Workers’ Party to become the biggest in the Senate and the Lower House, with a total of 112 seats, or 23 more than its main rival — though still are short of what is needed to pass legislation by itself.
The right’s stronger-than-expected showing in Brazil’s populous southeast especially could benefit Bolsonaro, analysts say. His former infrastructure minister topped the race to govern Sao Paulo and will go to a runoff. The governor of Rio de Janeiro, an ally, won reelection outright, and the governor of the second most populous state, Minas Gerais, indicated he will endorse Bolsonaro in a video message Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, da Silva’s campaign is likely to focus on winning over the centrist vote, especially in Brazil’s most populous state, Sao Paulo, where da Silva’s politically moderate running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, is a former governor, independent political analyst Thomas Traumann said.
Bolsonaro has expressed no interest in bringing defeated presidential candidates to his side, while da Silva has said he already reached out to competitors, who garnered about 8% of the vote combined. Analysts say there was a last-minute migration of votes from some of those candidates to Bolsonaro.
Simone Tebet and Ciro Gomes, the third- and fourth-place finishers, together earned 8.5 million votes. The difference between Bolsonaro and da Silva in the first round amounted to 6.1 million votes, and more than 30 million people abstained.
Before the election, Tebet hinted she might urge her backers to vote for da Silva and in televised debates, she vehemently criticized Bolsonaro’s four years in office. After results came out on Sunday, she gave her coalition of political parties 48 hours to clarify who it will back, saying after that deadline she will make her own position public.
Center-left Gomes was a minister in da Silva’s government before breaking with him, and in 2018 became openly hostile. That would make a possible endorsement more awkward, despite their ideological common ground, said Marco Antônio Teixeira, a public administration professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Sao Paulo.
“I want to make something clear: Lula is the favorite, period. As the momentum is Bolsonaro’s, people forget that,” Traumann said.
Even if da Silva does come out on top, his administration will face tough opposition in Congress, according to Rey.
“Part of the big centrist bloc will be Bolsonarista, although we don’t yet to what extent,” she said. “And Lula will have to deal with this.”
___
Bridi reported from Brasilia. AP writers Mauricio Savarese, Daniel Politi and David Biller reported from Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s top two presidential candidates were neck-and-neck late Sunday in a highly polarized election that could determine if the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or keeps the far-right incumbent in office for another four years.
The race pits incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro against his political nemesis, leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There are nine other candidates, but their support pales to that for Bolsonaro and da Silva.
With 91.6% of votes counted, da Silva had 47.3%, ahead of Bolsonaro with 44.2%, according to the electoral authority.
It appears increasingly likely neither of the top two candidates will receive more than 50% of the valid votes, which exclude spoiled and blank ballots, which would mean a second round vote will be scheduled for Oct. 30.
“We will most likely have a second round,” said Nara Pavão, who teaches political science at the Federal University of Pernambuco. “The probability of ending the election now (in the first round) is too small.”
Recent opinion polls had given da Silva a commanding lead — the last Datafolha survey published Saturday found a 50% to 36% advantage for da Silva among those who intended to vote. It interviewed 12,800 people, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The election wound up being far tighter than anticipated, both in the presidential contest and those for governorships and congressional seats.
“The far-right has shown great resilience in the presidential and in the state races,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.
“It is too soon to go too deep, but this election shows Bolsonaro’s victory in 2018 was not a hiccup,” he added.
Bolsonaro outperformed in Brazil’s southeast region, which includes populous Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states, according to Rafael Cortez, who oversees political risk at consultancy Tendencias Consultoria.
“The polls didn’t capture that growth,” Cortez said.
Bolsonaro’s administration has been marked by incendiary speech, his testing of democratic institutions, his widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years.
But he has built a devoted base by defending conservative values, rebuffing political correctness and presenting himself as protecting the nation from leftist policies that he says infringe on personal liberties and produce economic turmoil.
While voting earlier Sunday, Marley Melo, a 53-year-old trader in capital Brasilia, sported the yellow of the Brazilian flag, which Bolsonaro and his supporters have coopted for demonstrations. Melo said he is once again voting for Bolsonaro, who met his expectations, and he doesn’t believe the surveys that show him trailing.
“Polls can be manipulated. They all belong to companies with interests,” he said.
A slow economic recovery has yet to reach the poor, with 33 million Brazilians going hungry despite higher welfare payments. Like several of its Latin American neighbors coping with high inflation and a vast number of people excluded from formal employment, Brazil is considering a shift to the political left.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly questioned the reliability not just of opinion polls, but also of Brazil’s electronic voting machines. Analysts fear he has laid the groundwork to reject results.
At one point, Bolsonaro claimed to possess evidence of fraud, but never presented any, even after the electoral authority set a deadline to do so. He said as recently as Sept. 18 that if he doesn’t win in the first round, something must be “abnormal.”
Da Silva, 76, was once a metalworker who rose from poverty to the presidency and is credited with building an extensive social welfare program during his 2003-2010 tenure that helped lift tens of millions into the middle class.
But he is also remembered for his administration’s involvement in vast corruption scandals that entangled politicians and business executives.
Da Silva’s own convictions for corruption and money laundering led to 19 months imprisonment, sidelining him from the 2018 presidential race that polls indicated he had been leading against Bolsonaro. The Supreme Court later annulled da Silva’s convictions on grounds that the judge was biased and colluded with prosecutors.
Social worker Nadja Oliveira, 59, said she voted for da Silva and even attended his rallies, but since 2018 votes for Bolsonaro.
“Unfortunately the Workers’ Party disappointed us. It promised to be different,” she said in Brasilia.
Others, like Marialva Pereira, are more forgiving. She said she would vote for the former president for the first time since 2002.
“I didn’t like the scandals in his first administration, never voted for the Workers’ Party again. Now I will, because I think he was unjustly jailed and because Bolsonaro is such a bad president that it makes everyone else look better,” said Pereira, 47.
Speaking after casting his ballot in Sao Bernardo do Campo, the manufacturing hub in Sao Paulo state where he was a union leader, da Silva recalled that four years ago he was imprisoned and unable to vote.
Bolsonaro grew up in a lower-middle-class family before joining the army. He turned to politics after being forced out of the military for openly pushing to raise servicemen’s pay. During his seven terms as a fringe lawmaker in Congress’ lower house, he regularly expressed nostalgia for the country’s two-decade military dictatorship.
His overtures to the armed forces have raised concern that his possible rejection of election results could be backed by top brass.
On Saturday, Bolsonaro shared social media posts by right-leaning foreign politicians, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, who called on Brazilians to vote for him. Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed gratitude for stronger bilateral relations and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also praised him.
After voting Sunday morning, Bolsonaro told journalists that “clean elections must be respected” and that the first round would be decisive. Asked if he would respect results, he gave a thumbs up and walked away.
Leda Wasem, 68, had no doubt Bolsonaro will not just be reelected. Wearing a jersey of the national soccer squad at a polling place in downtown Curitiba, the real estate agent said an eventual da Silva victory could have only one explanation: fraud.
“I wouldn’t believe it. Where I work, where I go every day, I don’t see a single person who supports Lula,” she said.
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Savarese reported from Sao Bernardo do Campo. AP writers Daniel Politi and Carla Bridi reported from Curitiba and Brasilia.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilians were voting on Sunday in a highly polarized election that could determine if the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or keeps the far-right incumbent in office for another four years.
The race pits incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro against his political nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There are nine other candidates, but their support pales to that for Bolsonaro and da Silva.
Recent opinion polls have given da Silva a commanding lead — the last Datafolha survey published Saturday found a 50% to 36% advantage for da Silva among those who intended to vote. It interviewed 12,800 people, with a margin of error of two percentage points.
Agatha de Carvalho, 24, arrived to her local voting station in Rio de Janeiro’s working class Rocinha neighborhood shortly before it opened, hoping to cast her ballot before work, but found 100 others were already lined up. She said she would vote for da Silva, and called Bolsonaro “awful.”
“A lot of people died because of him during the pandemic. If he hadn’t done some of the things he did, some of those deaths could have been avoided,” she said.
Bolsonaro’s administration has been marked by incendiary speech, his testing of democratic institutions, his widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years.
But he has built a devoted base by defending traditional family values, rebuffing political correctness and presenting himself as protecting the nation from leftist policies that infringe on personal liberties and produce economic turmoil.
Luiz Garcez, 49, in the southern city of Curitiba, said Bolsonaro’s presidency has been “among the best in history” because “he built a lot and helped the country.”
A slow economic recovery has yet to reach the poor, with 33 million Brazilians going hungry despite higher welfare payments. Like several of its Latin American neighbors coping with high inflation and a vast number of people excluded from formal employment, Brazil is considering a shift to the political left.
Gustavo Petro in Colombia, Gabriel Boric in Chile and Pedro Castillo in Peru are among the left-leaning leaders in the region who have recently assumed power.
Da Silva could win in the first round, without need for a run-off on Oct. 30, if he gets more than 50% of valid votes, which exclude spoiled and blank ballots. Brazil has more than 150 million eligible voters, and voting is mandatory, but abstention rates can reach as high as 20%.
An outright win by da Silva would sharpen focus on Bolsonaro’s reaction to the count. He has repeatedly questioned the reliability not just of opinion polls, but also of Brazil’s electronic voting machines. Analysts fear he has laid the groundwork to reject results.
At one point, Bolsonaro claimed to possess evidence of fraud, but never presented any, even after the electoral authority set a deadline to do so. He said as recently as Sept. 18 that if he doesn’t win in the first round, something must be “abnormal.”
The two frontrunners have key bases of support: evangelicals and white men for Bolsonaro, and women, minorities and the poor for da Silva.
Da Silva, 76, was once a metalworker who rose from poverty to the presidency and is credited with building an extensive social welfare program during his 2003-2010 tenure that helped lift tens of millions into the middle class.
But he is also remembered for his administration’s involvement in vast corruption scandals that entangled politicians and business executives.
Da Silva’s own convictions for corruption and money laundering led to 19 months imprisonment, sidelining him from the 2018 presidential race that polls indicated he had been leading against Bolsonaro. The Supreme Court later annulled da Silva’s convictions on the grounds that the judge was biased and colluded with prosecutors.
Marialva Santos Pereira, 47, said she would vote for the former president for the first time since 2002.
“I didn’t like the scandals in his first administration, never voted for the Workers’ Party again. Now I will, because I think he was unjustly jailed and because Bolsonaro is such a bad president that it makes everyone else look better.”
Speaking after casting his ballot in Sao Bernardo do Campo, the manufacturing hub in Sao Paulo state where he was a union leader, da Silva recalled that four years ago he was imprisoned and unable to vote.
“I want to try to make the country return to normality, try to make this country again take care of its people,” he told reporters.
Bolsonaro grew up in a lower-middle-class family before joining the army. He turned to politics after being forced out of the military for openly pushing to raise servicemen’s pay. During his seven terms as a fringe lawmaker in Congress’ lower house, he regularly expressed nostalgia for the country’s two-decade military dictatorship.
His overtures to the armed forces have raised concern that his possible rejection of election results could be backed by top brass.
Traditionally, the armed forces’ involvement in elections has been limited to carrying voting machines to isolated communities and beefing up security in violent regions. But this year, Bolsonaro suggested the military should conduct a parallel count of the ballots.
While that didn’t materialize, the Defense Ministry said it will cross check results in over 380 polling stations across Brazil. Any citizen or entity is able to do the same, consulting a vote tally available at each station after ballot closure and online.
On Saturday, Bolsonaro shared social media posts by right-leaning foreign politicians, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, who called on Brazilians to vote for him. Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed gratitude for stronger bilateral relations and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also praised him.
After voting Sunday morning, wearing a T-shirt with the green and yellow of Brazil’s flag, Bolsonaro told journalists that “clean elections must be respected” and that the first round would be decisive. Asked if he would respect results, he gave a thumbs up and walked away.
Because the vote is conducted electronically, preliminary results are usually out within minutes, with the final result available a few hours later. This year, all polls will close at 5 p.m. Brasilia time (4 p.m. EDT; 2000 GMT).
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Savarese reported from Sao Bernardo do Campo. AP writer Daniel Politi reported from Curitiba.
