
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff rejected calls for her resignation on Friday midst a political storm deepened by a massive corruption scandal and blamed her opponents for causing a crisis that has damaged the Brazilian economy. She also confirmed her Finance minister Nelson Barbosa.

Sao Paulo state prosecutors in Brazil are seeking the arrest of former President Lula da Silva on charges of money laundering and identity fraud for concealing ownership of a beachfront apartment, his foundation said on Thursday. The effort to arrest the former president raised the stakes dramatically in the current crisis and was likely to further polarize protests on Sunday calling for the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff.

The private visit to Paraguay of Falkland Islands lawmaker Phyllis Rendell and her strong statements regarding sovereignty and the future of the Islands had an immediate reaction from the Argentine ambassador in Asunción Eduardo Zuain, who described the statements as an unnecessary provocation.

Stephen Hawking has called for Britain to stay in the EU, saying that a Brexit would be a disaster for UK science. A letter to the Times newspaper signed by more than 150 fellows of the Royal Society argues that leaving the EU would devastate research.

Argentina is investigating whether the local unit of Brazil's Odebrecht paid bribes to government officials, an Argentine prosecutor said this week, deepening the regional fallout from the biggest corruption scandal in Brazil’s history.

Prosecutors in Brazil asked Wednesday that powerful ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was questioned this week in a huge corruption probe, be placed under formal investigation. The press service of the Sao Paulo state prosecutors' office said precise details of the request were not yet known and that a news conference would be held Thursday.

The member of the Falklands/Malvinas legislative assembly Phyllis Rendell on a private visit to Paraguay openly stated that the South Atlantic archipelago claimed by Argentina is a British Overseas Territory and underlined that the sovereignty issue was settled with a war between the two sides over thirty years ago.

Miguel Galuccio confirmed he will be resigning as Argentina's YPF CEO and said he will guarantee an “ordered transition” ahead of the appointment of his successor. In a statement released on Wednesday, Galuccio said he will remain in his position until the upcoming Ordinary Shareholders Assembly takes place. He is expected to leave the state-run company after April 30.

Buckingham Palace said it had launched an official complaint with Britain's press watchdog on Wednesday over a newspaper report that Queen Elizabeth backs a British exit from the European Union, saying the monarch remains politically neutral.

Spain’s Socialist party would continue to advocate “dialogue and friendship” with Gibraltar even if the UK voted to leave the European Union, the PSOE’s MP for Cádiz said during a visit to the Rock.