
Apparent links between Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro and two suspects arrested over the murder of rights activist Marielle Franco are believed to be a coincidence, police said on Tuesday, as the President faced scrutiny over the connections.

As Venezuela's five-day power blackout left homes without water, Lilibeth Tejedor found herself looking for it on Monday in the last place she would have imagined: a drain pipe feeding into a river carrying sewage through the capital, Caracas.

Venezuela's hospitals, already struggling with shortages of supplies and equipment amid an economic meltdown, entered crisis mode last Thursday when the South American nation's power system went down.

The European Union and India have banned the Boeing 737 Max from flying over their airspace to ensure passenger safety. They join a long list of countries in suspending the plane, including the UK. It comes after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday, killing 157 people on board. It was the second fatal accident involving the 737 Max 8 model in less than five months.

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that there are no signs of an impending recession despite slow economic growth, adding that his flagship infrastructure projects are on track.

Venezuela ordered American diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours on Tuesday after President Nicolas Maduro accused US counterpart Donald Trump of cyber sabotage that plunged the OPEC nation into its worst blackout on record.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra swore in actor and former Culture Minister Salvador del Solar as his new prime minister in a cabinet shuffle that may help shore up his slipping approval ratings.

Business groups are exasperated after the Prime Minister's EU withdrawal plan was again rejected by Parliament. They called on MPs to shut down the possibility of a no-deal Brexit and come up with a clear EU exit plan. The City UK, the finance industry body, said leaving without a deal would be an own goal of historic proportions.

Theresa May's EU withdrawal deal has been rejected by MPs by an overwhelming majority for a second time, with just 17 days to go to Brexit. On Tuesday MPs voted down the prime minister's deal by 149 - a smaller margin than when they rejected it in January.

The Brexit deal negotiated by the Government of Theresa May and the European Union was rejected on Tuesday for the second time in the British Parliament despite the adjustments that the Prime Minister managed to reach in the European bloc.