Brazil

Brazilian police have asked the Supreme Court for permission to question former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who they say may have benefited from the corruption scandal roiling state oil giant Petrobras.

Standard & Poor's decision to demote Brazil's debt to junk status on Sept. 9 hit the country's political class right where it should have -- square in the gut.

Last week, German sailor Erik Heil revealed that he had to undergo an operation on a serious skin infection after competing in the Olympic test regatta at Guanabara.

The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory, or ATTO, is a bold new tool in the push to understand climate change and the vital role of rainforests.

Latin American currencies tumbled and stocks joined a global selloff Monday on speculation that the region's economic contraction will deepen as Chinese growth slows down.

Police are the top suspects in three recent massacres, including that of 18 people who were gunned down in several locations within the space of a few hours Thursday in São Paulo.

On the lush savanna in the upper reaches of South America looms a $1.2 billion monument to the deepening troubles of Brazil.

Huge numbers of protesters demanded Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's resignation Sunday, blaming her and the leftist Workers' Party for runaway corruption and looming recession in Latin America's biggest country.

The Mashco-Piro of Peru have turned up repeatedly along river banks in the Madre de Dios region, begging for food from boat travelers. Their brazen appearances with bows and arrows have sown panic in some remote settlements, and they have ransacked others — making off with pans, clothing, machetes, even the occasional rifle, which they do not know how to use.

José Dirceu, once one of the most powerful figures in the Workers' Party, will be held under preventive detention. He is serving the remainder of a prison term under house arrest for his role in a previous cash-for-votes scandal known as the "Mensalão," or "big monthly payment."