Prensa Latina

The Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff, said on Monday that the expansion of the federal network of education will promote a big social change in the growth of the country.

With just 48 hours to the start of a nationwide strike, the number of participants called for by labour unions, students federations, and environmental and human rights organisations continues to increase. The mobilisation is supported by more than 80 social organisations, besides a number of opposing parties, said Arturo Martinez, president of the United Labour Federation.

Ecuador’s first wind farm to generate electricity will begin to be built in September in the southern province of Loja, according to the Electricity Corporation of Ecuador (Celec). The project, worth 34 million US$, will provide a total of 15 megawatts to the national power system, and should be operational in 2012.

President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo regretted on Tuesday that the ability to recover ill-gotten lands is not only in the hands of the executive, and urged the judiciary and the Legislature to intervene to find a solution. Land reform is one of the country’s historic debts and it requires the involvement of all social sectors, Lugo said at the ceremony for Children’s Day.

Since May protests have been ongoing in Chile against the profit-making Education system. Chilean students mobilized to demand a profound reform in education, rejected on Sunday the possibility of negotiating with Congress and reaffirmed they would hold further marches throughout August.

The Students Federation of Chile, the School of Professors and the Assembly of Secondary School Students confirmed on Wednesday that they will stage a march and a national strike to demand quality public education. The students will continue their mobilization and discuss in meetings countrywide the stand to be adopted against the government proposals.

Negotiators from Vietnam and China have reached consensus to resolve their maritime dispute in the East Sea, according official. Spokesperson for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Nguyen Phuong Nga confirmed the positive result of talks held between representatives of both governments to overcome recent tensions.

Cuban President Raul Castro announced at the 7th period of sessions of the seventh legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power that Cuba is working on updating the current immigration policy, by reformulating and drawing up a group of regulatory measures in that sector based on the current and foreseeable future conditions.

The Egyptian Armed Forces Supreme Council raised the alert against what it considered an attempt to bring about a breaking-off between the people and the army after clashes with demonstrators on Friday. The military junta asked the population to be prudent, to neutralize such attempts and not to be manipulated by a “suspicious plan” to destroy Egypt’s stability.

Nearly 17,000 workers at Chile´s National Copper Corporation, went on strike on Monday to protest about the privatization of the mining company. The strikers planned a national rally in Plaza de la Ciudadania outside the presidential palace, where copper miners, the teachers’ union and student federations will demand the re-nationalization of the copper mining industry.