Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was detained for questioning in a federal investigation of a bribery and money laundering scheme that police said had financed campaigns and expenses of the ruling Workers Party.

Close to 1m demonstrators marched in cities and towns across Brazil to protest a sluggish economy, rising prices, and corruption — and to call for the impeachment of left-wing president Dilma Rousseff.

A huge offshore oil discovery could raise Brazil’s petroleum reserves by 40% and boost the country into the ranks of the world’s major exporters, officials said.

Soldiers guarded natural gas fields and refineries across Bolivia today after President Evo Morales ordered the sector nationalised, threatening to evict foreign companies unless they handed over production control within six months.