
The two presidential candidates who will square off in Brazil's runoff this month are calling for an end to politically motivated violence. Numerous cases of violence were reported in the week before the first round of voting on Sunday and have been ongoing since then. The second round of voting is scheduled Oct. 28.

Brazil's imprisoned former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on Tuesday ended his legal battle to run for the top office in next month's election. Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, head of the leftist Workers Party (PT) that Lula founded, made the announcement in the southern city of Curitiba, where the popular Lula has been jailed on corruption charges since April.