
Ex Brazilian president Lula da Silva has challenged his corruption conviction, arguing that the judge behind his conviction has “proven his bias” by accepting a cabinet post under a political rival. The petition filed on Monday with Brazil's highest court asks Lula, who is currently serving a 12-year sentence, to be freed and his conviction overturned.

Argentina;'s Catholic Church will gradually renounce the 140-million-peso contribution from the federal government, it was announced Sunday. The funding of that specific cult is set forth in the national Constitution. That money makes for 7% of the Church's budget.

Following the arrests of four people, authorities in Argentina have uncovered how a former president may have used bribe money to buy U.S. properties, including luxury condos in New York City and South Florida.

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday defended the White House’s move last week to reimpose sanctions against Iran amid criticism from some conservatives that the action does not go far enough to cripple the country’s economy.

Members of Parliament have been urged to back another Brexit referendum by 1,400 of the UK's top lawyers. They have written to Prime Minister Theresa May to say that Parliament should not be bound by the 2016 vote. “Democratic government is not frozen in time,” the letter said.

For Brazil's right-wing President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, attacking critical press outlets almost daily on social media is not enough. Once in office, he vows to hit their bottom line. With half a billion dollars in public-sector marketing budgets coming under his discretion, the former Army captain is threatening to slash ad buys with adversarial media groups, striking at the financial foundations of Brazil's free press.

British Prime Minister Theresa May and Argentine president Mauricio Macri are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting in the framework of the coming G20 summit to be held in Buenos Aires at the end of the month.

Voters in New Caledonia have rejected independence and decided to remain part of France. Late Sunday night the French government released provisional results showing 78,361 people voted No in the historic referendum, while 60,573 cast their ballot for Yes — a margin of 56.4% to 43.6%.

Uruguay's government asked Congress to allow United States troops and equipment to stay in country during the upcoming G20 meeting in neighboring Argentina, due to be attended by the US, Chinese, Russian and European leaders.

Russia has agreed to assist Cuba purchase modern weaponry by means of a 38-million-euro credit line, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak explained Friday after talks between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez at the Kremlin.