BRAZIL
Ex-president to stand trial
Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must stand trial on charges of money laundering and corruption, a judge ruled Tuesday. Judge Sergio Moro said there is enough evidence to start a judicial process against Silva, his wife and six others in a widening corruption probe centered on the country’s huge state-run oil company, Petrobras. Prosecutors have called Silva the “maximum commander” of the Petrobras graft scandal. Prosecutors allege billions of dollars in bribes were paid to win inflated contracts from the company.
BOTSWANA
U.S. pastor to be deported
A U.S. pastor who has made anti-gay comments is being deported, Botswana’s government announced Tuesday, shortly after he spoke on local radio and called the people killed in the June shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando “disgusting.” The tweet by the government said Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church of Tempe, Ariz., “has been declared a prohibited immigrant” but did not give details. The Orlando attack left 49 people dead. Neighboring South Africa earlier this month prevented Anderson from entering the country, saying he and church members allegedly promote hate speech and “social violence.”
Greece
Officials to move refugees
Authorities on the island of Lesbos called for the immediate evacuation Tuesday of thousands of refugees to the Greek mainland after fires started by rioting residents gutted a detention camp. But European Union officials appeared cool to the idea. More than 4,000 people were housed at the camp in Moria on Lesbos where the fire broke out late Monday, destroying or damaging about 160 tents, according to Greek officials. No injuries were reported at the camp, about 5 miles north of the island’s main town. Nine migrants were arrested on public disturbance charges.
CONGO
Election protests turn deadly
More than 44 people have been killed in Congo in two days of street clashes between security forces and protesters angered over a delayed presidential election, a senior Human Rights Watch researcher said Tuesday. Police said more than 100 people have been arrested in the unrest. Thousands took to the streets of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, on Monday to oppose a delay which they call an effort by President Joseph Kabila to stay in power beyond the end of his mandate in late December.
Compiled from wire reports