- Philippines challenges China over South China Sea at ASEAN meet
- Mets advance on Lindor blast, Dodgers stay alive in MLB playoffs
- Injury-ravaged Krygios aiming to return at Australian Open
- Greek international Baldock, dead at 31: family
- EU talks deportation hubs to stem migration
- Deaths and repression sideline Suu Kyi's party ahead of Myanmar vote
- S. Africa offers a lesson on how not to shut down a coal plant
- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Mets advance on Lindor grand slam, Yankees and Tigers win
- Taiwan President Lai vows to 'resist annexation' of island
- China's solar goes from supremacy to oversupply
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Zelensky on whirlwind tour of Europe ahead of US vote
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Lindor powers Mets past Phillies into NL Championship Series
- Wildlife populations plunge 73% since 1970: WWF
- 'Sleeper agent' bots on X fuel US election misinformation, study says
- Death toll rises to 109 after Haiti gang attack, official says
- Tigers beat Guardians and on brink of advancing in MLB playoffs
- Argentina MPs back Milei's veto of university funding
- Man City sink Barca in Women's Champions League as Bayern outgun Arsenal
- Greek international Baldock, 31, found dead in pool: state agency
- Florida seaside haven a ghost town as hurricane nears
- Pharrell Williams to co-chair Met Gala exploring Black dandyism
- Wall Street indices hit fresh records as Chinese shares tumble
- Taiwan's president to deliver key speech for National Day
- Sea row on the menu as ASEAN leaders meet China's Li
- Injured Kane won't start England's Nations League clash with Greece
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Mozambique starts tallying votes in tense election
- Zelensky moves to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- Rodgers rejects 'false' suggestions of role in Saleh dismissal
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Lebanon facing 'catastrophic' situation as 600,000 displaced: UN
- US warns Israel not to repeat Gaza destruction in Lebanon
- Musk's X returns in Brazil after 40-day showdown with judge
- Call her savvy? Harris unleashes unconventional media blitz
- Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale
- SoFi Stadium to hold next two CONCACAF Nations League finals
- McIlroy and DeChambeau set for PGA-LIV 'Showdown' in Vegas
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Run blitz edges India and South Africa closer to World Cup semi-finals
Former Brazilian judge Sergio Moro ends campaign for president
Sergio Moro, a former anti-corruption judge and leading third-party candidate in Brazil's presidential election, announced Thursday he is ending his campaign.
Moro had emerged as a key "third way" candidate against poll-leading former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the left and far-right presidential incumbent Jair Bolsonaro ahead of October's election.
But with polls placing him at only eight percent, the 49-year-old opted to end his campaign and "facilitate negotiations between political forces of the democratic center in search of a single presidential candidacy."
"I renounce my presidential candidacy and will be a soldier of democracy to recover the dream of a better Brazil," said Moro, who served as justice minister under President Bolsonaro, on Instagram.
In 2017, Moro sentenced Lula, the current frontrunner in polls, to prison for corruption, though he was released in 2019 and Brazil's Supreme Court annulled those convictions last year.
Moro has also clashed with Bolsonaro, resigning from his government in April 2020 and accusing the president of interfering in police investigations involving his relatives.
"Brazil needs an alternative that frees the country from extremes, instability and radicalization," said Moro, who also announced he would be leaving the centrist Podemos party to join center-right Uniao Brasil.
At the moment, none of the third-party candidates poll above 10 percent, meaning a head-to-head runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro is highly likely.
Political scientist Andre Pereira Cesar, with consulting firm Hold, thinks Moro's departure will benefit the incumbent president.
"Who wins is Bolsonaro, because the voter who would vote" for candidates of a so-called third way "has many more affinities" with him, he explained.
"That voter would never vote for Lula, for ideological reasons," added the analyst, who predicts a runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro is 95 percent likely.
According to the latest survey by the Datafolha institute, Lula remains clearly in the lead, with 43 percent, ahead of Bolsonaro's 26 percent.
Bolsonaro is gaining ground though, reducing the gap from 26 to 17 points compared with the institute's previous poll, in December.
A.Jones--AMWN