Over in Brazil,... former Brazilian President "Lula" da Silva has been banned from running in elections this year, after the appeals court upheld the corruption-related convictions on Wednesday local time.<br /> <br /> The court's verdict was delivered in the southern city of Porto Alegre, where thousands of his supports gathered, as da Silva vehemently denied the corruption charges, stating that he's a victim of political witch-hunt to stop him from running. This comes after he was found guilty of accepting a luxury apartment and refurbishments worth more than 1-million US dollars as a bribe, to secure lucrative contracts for construction firm OAS with Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras. With the latest decision,... his initial sentence of 9 years and 6 months has been increased to 12 years and 1 month. <br />
