Brazil that aspires to a permanent seat of the expanded UN Security Council along with India, strongly advocated the need for inclusion of great nations of the South in the global decision making bodies to create a more representative international order.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro fired verbal attacks at each other on Monday in Panama over the closure of a key opposition television station in Venezuela that has prompted mass protests.

Gosport on the western side of Portsmouth harbour has again led other British towns with the first public commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 1982 war.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday that rich nations should pay poorer countries to preserve their forests because the rich are responsible for most of the world's greenhouse gas emissions
Less than 24 hours after the Buenos Aires City elections results were made official, Argentine president Nestor Kirchner jumped into the run off dispute scheduled for next June 24 between the Conservative winner of the first round Maruicio Macri (46%), and his protégé and Education Minister Daniel Filmus (24%).

Today Argentina's capital will be voting for a new mayor (governor) and given the political significance of Buenos Aires City June 3 will be signaling the beginning of five long months of electoral battling culminating October 28 with the election, most probably, of another Kirchner (Mr. or Mrs.)
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, defended Sunday the concept of democracy enshrined in the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which includes citizen participation, separation of powers, respect for human rights and respect for freedom of expression and of the press among the basic values of an inclusive democracy.
Battle for conservation of sharks and cedar trees begins in The Hague
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is expected to call for new limitations on commercial fisheries and timber, particularly certain species of sharks and cedar trees which are extensively used for furniture and humidors.
President Hugo Chavez threatened to terminate the broadcast licences of private media outlets seen as sowing unrest in Venezuela, just days after the nation's oldest private TV station was forced off the air when the Venezuelan government refused to renew its broadcast license.

Buenos Aires City Conservative candidate Mauricio Macri on Sunday night was almost doubling the votes of his runner up but still short of the 50% plus one needed, and will therefore have to face a run off nest June 24 in the election for mayor of Argentina's capital.