Once a chief of staff for former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula), Jose Dirceu was sentenced to 23 years in prison as part of the corruption scandal surrounding the  oil company Petrobras, international media reported.

The Brazilian Senate is set to decide on Wednesday if President Dilma Rousseff should go on trial after an earlier call to halt action against her was reversed, the Financial Times (FT) wrote.

A former senator was arrested by Brazilian police on Tuesday for allegedly taking bribes in connection with the corruption investigation into the state-owned oil company Petrobras, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said.

Brazilian authorities have charged Joseph Safra and five others with corruption in an alleged scheme to bribe government officials in exchange for favorable tax decisions, a news release by federal prosecutors said Thursday.

A Supreme Court justice has blocked the appointment of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s former president, to a cabinet position, leaving him open to face corruption charges in a lower court, the Guardian said. 

More than one million Brazilians took the streets across the country on Sunday demanding removal of President Dilma Rousseff in light of a major corruption scandal rocking the nation’s headlines, El Pais reported.

Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva was charged late Wednesday with money laundering and tax misrepresentation, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said, and prosecutors want him arrested, according to the Guardian.

Brazil’s Supreme Court voted unanimously yesterday to allow corruption charges to proceed against Eduardo Cunha, Brazil’s Lower House speaker, who is accused of taking millions in bribes.

Brazilian authorities issued an arrest warrant for campaign strategist Joao Cerqueira de Santana Filho and his wife, Monica Regina Cunha Moura, on allegations of corruption, according to the Financial Times. 

A suspected drug courier was caught Sunday at the Dusseldorf airport with 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of cocaine hidden in his luggage. Police also arrested nine others in connection with an international drug trafficking investigation, according to a joint news release from prosecutors and police in Bochum, a city northeast of Dusseldorf. 

A radio journalist whose broadcasts explored alleged corruption and malfeasance by politicians and police has been murdered in Pernambuco state, Brazil. 

Homicides committed by military police have been removed from official statistics published by the governor of Sao Paulo state, Brazil, according to reports.

The treasurer of Brazil’s ruling party Joao Vaccari will go to trial on corruption and money-laundering charges, according to court papers revealed on Monday.

British engineering firm Rolls-Royce has been accused of bribing state-controlled Brazilian oil company Petrobras for a US$ 100 million contract.