Brazil

Not since 2008 has the Amazon been destroyed at a faster rate, according to Brazilian authorities. They say an area more than 12 times the size of New York City was deforested in the span of a year.

A court ordered the release of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, one day after a Supreme Court decision cleared the way. Now, he can remain free as long as appeals of his corruption conviction unfold.

A new study in Brazil finds that urban apartments have more diverse fungi — some healthy, some potentially not — than villages in the Amazon rainforest.

Protesters took to the streets across Brazil this weekend to voice outrage over the fires burning through the Amazon.

As the summit in France wrapped up, Brazil's far-right president tweeted that the international alliance treats his country "as if we were a colony or no man's land."

Tens of thousands of fires have erupted in the Amazon so far this year — a huge spike over 2018 — and critics blame Bolsonaro's policies. He said Friday that protecting the rainforest is "our duty."

Researchers say there's been a huge rise in the number of fires compared with last year. That's likely linked with a similar leap in deforestation since President Jair Bolsonaro took office.

Authorities say inmates belonging to one gang at the prison in Pará state set fire to a building housing members of a rival gang. At least 16 of the dead were found decapitated, officials said.

Hundreds of people died when a ruptured dam unleashed a wave of mining waste in the town of Brumadinho in January. Mining giant Vale said it is committed to fixing the damage.

Spanish authorities say they found the cocaine in the crewman's luggage from the president's advance plane, which had stopped in Seville en route to the economic summit in Japan.