Prensa Latina

President Lula begins the last week of his presidency on Monday with various ribbon-cuttings and farewells throughout the country.
After his weekly Coffee with the President radio program today, he will inaugurate the new offices of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development in the capital, where the last annual meeting of that organization will be held.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, now free on bail in the UK, believes his extradition to USA is politically impossible because he is at risk of being killed there.

Assange told The Guardian newspaper it would be unlikely for British authorities to hand him over to the United States if he has public support in the UK.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he believes the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-III) will be the cornerstone of the world’s security for the next decade.
“I also think that U.S. President, Barack Obama, did a good job when accomplishing the ratification of the START-III in the Senate,” Medvedev said at a Friday press conference.

The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) begins today a new stage with Guyana as temporary president, making firm steps towards regional integration.

The report, presented by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa during the inauguration of the fourth Summit held in Georgetown, marked the favorable course of discussions.

A tsunami triggered by a 7.7 magnitude quake in Western Indonesia has killed 113 people while another 500 are missing, local authorities reports today.
The powerful jolt that struck the island of Sumatra yesterday just 20 kilometers (13 miles) beneath the ocean floor was followed by at least 14 aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The US Agency for International Development will give US$50 million this year to finance Venezuelan opposition groups, according to US government documents released in Caracas. In an interview with Radio Nacional de Venezuela, analyst Eva Golinger said the documents prove that USAID plans to fund even political parties, to campaign for the September 28 congressional elections

The Argentine film “Cuestion de principios” (A Question of Principles) by Rodrigo Grande opens the 5th Latin American Cinema Festival in Sydney on Wednesday, which will screen over 60 movies in almost 20 days.
“Cuestion de principios” is inspired by the book of the same title by the late writer Roberto Fontanarrosa, who helped the filmmaker with the script.

The presidential candidate of the Workers Party, Dilma Rousseff, today expanded to 17.9 percentage points her lead in the preference of Brazilian voters for the general elections in October. According to the results of the survey by Sensus Company, commissioned by the National Confederation of Transport, Dilma has the support of 46 percent of intending voters.

The only sustainable way to overcome the crisis is to reactivate the economy and create jobs, the general director of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Juan Somavia, affirmed on Monday.
Addressing the International ILO Assembly, he also said it was imperative to fight not just the fiscal deficit, but also the lack of decent jobs.

Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) called on Israel to soften its blockade on the Gaza Strip and broaden the list of items allowed into the territory.
The extreme situation in Gaza was the focus of the agenda of the meeting of EU Foreign ministers, who failed to condemn explicitly the violent Israeli attack at a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza on May 31.