
United States President Barack Obama addressed American leaders in the meeting currently taking place in the City of Panama praising the diplomatic rapprochement between Washington and Cuba which he called “a new beginning” in the bilateral relation.

Cuban President Raul Castro was received with a standing ovation as he readied to address the VII Summit of the Americas, held in Panama City, in a historic presentation. The Caribbean leader stressed the importance of the rapprochement with the United States but questioned the US policy towards Venezuela.

British Special forces have carried a raid on the Falkland Islands to test the garrison's security amid fears that Argentina may try to land commandos on the Islands, according to a piece published in the Sunday Express. Apparently such routine exercises are carried out in UK highly sensitive bases and defense compounds.

US President Barack Obama announced that Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff will visit Washington on June 30, almost two years after she cancelled a trip over a US spying scandal. Obama made the announcement during a bilateral meeting with Rousseff, on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama City.

Addressing the Americas summit in Panama, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez strongly criticized United States policies towards the hemisphere, particularly Venezuela, and expressed 'surprise' at the parallelism between the Caracas/Washington current dispute and the latest round of Falklands' exchanges between London and her government. President Barack Obama was not present during the Argentine leader's speech on Saturday.

Colombia's FARC rebels cannot be submitted to the same judicial processes as common criminals under a possible peace deal, the Marxist group said on Friday. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) made the comments after President Juan Manuel Santos said in an interview that the biggest hurdle to signing peace would be getting the group to agree to face justice after 50 years of war.

Brazilian police arrested on Friday three former congressmen broadening their corruption investigation beyond state-run oil giant Petrobras to state lender Caixa Economica Federal and the federal health ministry.

Argentine ambassador in London, Alicia Castro complained about being summoned to the Foreign Office over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands dispute revealing she asked the British official if it was “an expression of British humor or a political paradox”, since the UK has failed to comply with international law for the last five decades.

US President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro on Friday shook hands and sat near each other at the historic Panama Summit of the Americas, a new milestone in efforts to shed decades of animosity. Obama and Castro greeted each other as UN chief Ban Ki-moon looked on, before taking their seats with other regional leaders at a Panama City convention center.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is attending the VII Summit of the Americas in Panama City where she is expected on Saturday to strongly criticize the United Kingdom over the 'militarization' of the Falklands/Malvinas and revelations of massive espionage of Argentina by London.