BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's highest court on Wednesday upheld most of a controversial presidential decree raising the country's financial operations tax (IOF), handing a revenue-boosting win to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called a U.S. decision to impose visa bans on officials involved in former President Jair Bolsonaro's trial "arbitrary" and "baseless," and said foreign interference in the judiciary was "unacceptable.

Police in Brazil swooped on the home and political headquarters of Jair Bolsonaro early Friday, searching the properties, ordering the former president to wear an electronic ankle tag, barring him from speaking to foreign officials or approaching embassies and prohibiting him from using social media.

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A bill to overhaul environmental regulations in Brazil was passed by the country's lower house Thursday, drawing criticism by the environmental minister who floated the possibility of a presidential veto.