Lula

French President Emmanuel Macron joined social media users Thursday in their jokes that likened his cozy pictures with Brazilian President Lula to those from a wedding album.

Brazil criticized the "paralysis" of the U.N. Security Council on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine as it opened a G20 meeting Wednesday where the international community's deep divisions were on display.

G20 foreign ministers open a two-day meeting Wednesday in Brazil, with the outlook bleak for progress on a thorny agenda of conflicts and crises, from the Gaza and Ukraine wars to growing polarization.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's comparison of Israel's military campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust has unleashed a diplomatic firestorm, with Brazil recalling its ambassador Monday and Israel declaring Lula "persona non grata."

Leaders of the BRICS group have invited Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates to join - a move aimed at increasing the influence of the bloc, which has vowed to defend the "global south", Reuters reported.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said that he supports more countries joining the BRICS group of large developing nations, which currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The group will hold a summit in Johannesburg from Aug. 22 to 24. The meeting will have in hand a list of others desiring to join ther group.

Argentina and Brazil, South America's largest economies, took aim at an "unacceptable" EU stance in negotiations with the Mercosur bloc for a free trade deal long delayed due to stated European environmental concerns.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met Monday with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro, vowing a new era for a relationship that was severed under far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro.

Day 451 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

Three months after leaving for the United States in the final hours of his term, Brazil's ex-president Jair Bolsonaro is returning home Thursday to reenter politics -- complicating life for his successor and nemesis, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.