International

Rosangela da Silva hopes to be a different kind of Brazilian first lady

AFP | Eugenia Logiuratto

Rosangela da Silva, a sociologist and left-wing activist who married Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in May, has promised to give new meaning to being first lady if her husband wins Brazil’s election.

“I am as in love as if I were 20 years old,” the former two-term president has said of his wife, a long-time member of the Workers Party.

He is 76, she 56. This age difference seems to have breathed new life into Lula, a leftist icon in Brazil. He was deeply saddened by the 2017 death of Marisa Leticia, his wife of 30 years, with whom he has four children.

His first wife, Maria de Lourdes, died in 1971.

“When you lose your wife, and you think, well, my life has no more meaning. Then suddenly, this person appears who makes you feel like you want to live again,” Lula told Time magazine in an interview published in May.

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Rosangela da Silva was born in the south of Brazil and earned a sociology degree from the university in Curitiba, capital of Parana state. She worked there for 20 years for Itaipu Binacional, a public utility that runs the Itaipu dam, one of the world’s biggest.

In 1983 she joined the Workers Party, which Lula had co-founded two years earlier.

– A kiss outside prison –

Brazilian press reports say the two have known each other for decades, but Lula’s press people say their romance began only in late 2017 at an event with left-leaning artists.

But the love affair between this smiling woman with long chestnut hair and the aging lion of the Brazilian left became widely known only in May 2019, while Lula was serving a prison sentence on a corruption conviction.

“Lula is in love, and the first thing he wants to do when he gets out of prison is get married,” said one of his lawyers after a visit with Lula.

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In the end, the two wed only this year. It was a discreet ceremony — by Lula’s standards. The 200 guests included celebrities like singer Gilberto Gil, who had served as culture minister under Lula.

While Lula was in prison, “Janja,” as Rosangela is nicknamed, would pen affectionate tweets about him. “All I want to do is hug you and cuddle with you non-stop,” she wrote on his 74th birthday.

In November 2019, shortly after Lula’s release from prison, they shared a kiss before a crowd gathered outside the prison in Curitiba, where Lula had spent 18 months locked up.

While she has been active in Lula’s campaign, on stage and on social media, Rosangela da Silva is very private with her personal life. The magazine Veja says she was previously married for more than 10 years and has no children.

– Campaign song –

“I want to give new meaning to the role of first lady, by focusing on topics that are priorities for women, such as food insecurity or domestic violence,” she said last month.

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Since the Supreme Court vacated Lula’s conviction in early 2021, allowing him to run for president again, Janja has traveled with him often, including to other countries.

She was one of the stars of his campaign kickoff on May 7, playing a new version of the song that was his signature tune during his first presidential campaign in 1989.

And she is helping to organize a campaign event on Monday bringing together celebrities, intellectuals, social activists and top Brazilian musicians.

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International

IEA warns Middle East conflict could spark worst energy crisis in decades

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East could trigger the worst energy crisis in decades, warned Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), who described the situation as “very serious.”

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Birol compared the current scenario to the oil crises of the 1970s, noting that during those events the world lost around five million barrels of oil per day in each crisis.

“Today, we have lost 11 million barrels per day—more than the two major oil shocks combined,” he said.

The Turkish economist referred to the conflict that began on February 28, following attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran, which have significantly disrupted global energy markets and driven oil prices higher.

Birol warned that the global economy is facing a “very, very serious threat” and expressed hope that the crisis will be resolved soon.

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“No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues in this direction. Global efforts are urgently needed,” he emphasized.

International

Colombian Air Force Hercules plane crashes during takeoff with troops onboard

A Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Colombian Air Force was involved in a “tragic accident” while taking off from Puerto Leguízamo, in the Putumayo department of southern Colombia, as it was transporting troops, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez reported on Monday.

The minister stated on social media that the exact number of victims and the causes of the crash have not yet been determined. He also extended his condolences to the families affected and urged the public to avoid speculation until official information is confirmed.

“This is a deeply painful event for the country. Our prayers are with the victims and their families,” Sánchez said, adding that emergency protocols have been activated and an investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, President Gustavo Petro expressed hope that there would be no fatalities in what he described as a “horrific accident that should not have happened.”

Petro also highlighted ongoing efforts to modernize the country’s air fleet and reiterated the need to acquire new helicopters and transport aircraft to strengthen military mobility, particularly in remote regions.

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According to local media reports, approximately 110 soldiers were on board the aircraft. So far, at least 20 injured military personnel have been rescued.

International

Paris prosecutors alert U.S. over alleged deepfake strategy linked to Elon Musk

The Paris Prosecutor’s Office said on Saturday that it had alerted authorities in the United States over suspicions that tech entrepreneur Elon Musk may have encouraged the spread of sexualized deepfake content on the social platform X to artificially boost the company’s valuation.

According to prosecutors, the controversy surrounding explicit AI-generated videos—reportedly linked to Grok, the platform’s artificial intelligence system—may have been deliberately triggered to increase the market value of X and X AI.

The office added that the alleged strategy could be tied to the planned June 2026 public listing of a new entity formed through the merger of SpaceX and X AI.

French authorities said they contacted the U.S. Department of Justice as well as legal representatives at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this week to share their concerns.

Responding on X in French to a report about the case, Musk referred to French prosecutors using an offensive term.

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When contacted, X’s legal representative in France did not immediately comment.

Grok, the platform’s AI system, has its own account on X, allowing users to interact with it or request content generation. For a period, users were able to tag the bot in posts to generate or edit images, a feature that may have facilitated the spread of such material.