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London, Jul 6 (Prensa Latina) The British Chancellor, David Lammy, announced today the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Syria during a historic visit to Damascus, in a turn in Western foreign policy towards this Arab country after more than a decade of conflict.

According to the Sky News portal, this is the first visit by a British minister to Syria in 14 years, following the removal in March of the Syrian Central Bank and 23 entities in the Arab nation from Western sanctions lists.

The UK has maintained a tacit recognition of the current Syrian government following the departure of Bashar al-Asad in 2023.

Lammy justified the move by pointing out that it contributes to stabilizing the region, will facilitate the fight against terrorism and will enable irregular migration to be controlled.

The UK is expected to appoint an ambassador to Damascus in the coming months and Syria is expected to gradually access international funding.

Rio de Janeiro, Jul 6 (Prensa Latina) Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received here the heads of state and government of the Brics member countries for the summit that begins today and ends tomorrow.

The first to arrive was Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Under the theme Strengthening Global South cooperation for a more inclusive and sustainable governance, the 17th summit will address issues such as climate, artificial intelligence (AI), multilateralism, conflicts, among others.

The forum is the main political meeting of the bloc formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, currently expanded with the accession of new countries.

Its objective is to strengthen economic, political and social cooperation among its members and to promote greater influence of the countries of the Global South in international governance.

In the last two years, the Brics has grown from five to 11 permanent members, in addition to including 10 new members.

Managing this expansion is one of the challenges facing Brazil's presidency to consolidate the multilateral cooperation mechanism that seeks to transform the current global power architecture.

The authorities present are also expected to express concerns about the escalation of protectionism and unilateral trade measures, in reference to the tariff war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Brazil chose six strategic priorities for the forum: global cooperation in health, trade, investment and finance, climate change, AI governance, peace and security, and institutional development.

The meeting is also an opportunity to advance climate negotiations and commitments on environmental protection ahead of talks at the UN Climate Conference (COP30), scheduled to be held in November in Belém, capital of the northern Amazonian state of Pará.

Brasilia, Jul 6 (Prensa Latina) Brazil's ruling Workers' Party (PT) and the largest left-wing party in Latin America is holding internal elections today to decide who will be the new president of the political organization.

The first round will be held from 09:00 to 17:00, local time, and if a second round is necessary, the date set is July 20.

Four candidates are vying for the post: Edinho Silva, Romênio Pereira, Rui Falcão and Valter Pomar.

In a debate last month, the candidates warned about the need for changes in the government leadership to avoid a defeat in the 2026 suffrage, as the new helmsman will lead the PT in next year's presidential elections.

Falcão declared that the party is “on the eve of a decisive battle: the elections of 2026″ and pointed out that ”one of us will collectively lead our preparation for the battle for the reelection of President (Luiz Inácio) Lula (da Silva)".

He specified that it will be up to the new leadership “to adjust our political line, our organizational strengthening and the articulation with allies of the popular camp, in a polarized campaign”.

During the debate, Pereira, current secretary of International Relations of the PT, demanded changes in the federal administration in view of the high disapproval currently registered by Lula, according to polls. “Either the government changes or the people change,” he said.

Pomar also agreed with this assessment and called for a change in the political line of the government and the party. He acknowledged the loss of support in the social and electoral base, as confirmed by all polls.

For his part, Silva downplayed the importance of the criticisms and defended the PT's management. “This is being used against us”, he reflected.

He was of the opinion that the Government is hijacked by the National Congress, driven by the amendments.

"We no longer live in a presidential regime. Even in coalition, we see the difficulty of President Lula to govern," he alleged.

Senator Humberto Costa assumed in March the temporary command of the party in place of Gleisi Hoffmann, who was appointed Minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, the portfolio that heads the political articulation of the Government with the Parliament.

Formed by militants in opposition to the military dictatorship (1964-1985), the PT was founded on February 10, 1980 by trade unionists, intellectuals, artists and Catholics linked to Liberation Theology, at the Sion College, in Sao Paulo.

Since its creation, the party has been committed to the defense of democratic socialism. The growing polarization in Brazil now demands an effort to recover spaces for dialogue and consensus.

Rio de Janeiro, Jul 5 (Prensa Latina) Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the fields of science, technology, innovation and digital transformation.

The leaders met in this Brazilian city on the eve of the 17th Brics Summit, a group formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the founding states.

Vietnam is one of the 12 partner countries of the Brics, whose leadership this year belongs to Brazil.

In a message published on social networks, Lula highlighted the recent commercial achievements reached between the two nations after the most recent bilateral meeting, which took place three months ago when he visited Vietnam.

The Brazilian leader described as excellent the current state of relations between the two countries and explained that the MOU signed on Saturday will facilitate technological exchanges, scientific cooperation and will help open new perspectives in the digital field.

According to Lula, he took advantage of the meeting to reiterate to his counterpart Brazil's interest, as current president of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), to open negotiations for a trade agreement with Vietnam.

At the same time, the leaders agreed to promote business missions in the near future in the interest of expanding trade and investment opportunities between the two nations.

We celebrated the concretion of the first export of Brazilian beef to Vietnam and the first export of Vietnamese tilapia to Brazil," he also said about the meeting.

The governments of Venezuela and Colombia today reaffirmed their willingness to strengthen cooperation for mutual benefit, Bolivarian Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez reported on her Telegram account.

The Venezuelan Vice-Minister expressed in the social network that she held a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Mines and Energy of the Neo-Granadine nation, Edwin Palma, on Thursday.

She pointed out that they reviewed the energy agenda between both nations and “we explored new areas of cooperation in hydrocarbons”.

The meeting was attended by the president of the National Mining Agency, José Luciano Sanín; the vice-president of Public Works and Services, Jorge Márquez, and the presidents of the state-owned companies Petróleos de Venezuela, Héctor Obregón, and Pequiven, Román Maniglia.

Also in attendance were the Colombian ambassador in Caracas, Milton Rengifo, and his Venezuelan counterpart in Bogota, Carlos Martínez.

Rio de Janeiro, Jul 6 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel arrived in this city to participate in the XVII Brics Summit, which will be held today and tomorrow under the theme Strengthening the cooperation of the Global South for a more inclusive and sustainable governance.

Díaz-Canel attends for the second time, as head of state, a Brics summit. The first was in Johannesburg, South Africa, then in his capacity as president of the Group of 77 and China.

Accompanying the Cuban leader are Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, the head of the Department of International Relations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Emilio Lozada, and other authorities and officials of the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

Diplomatic circles indicated that Díaz-Canel will take part in two panels and his presence is an opportunity to hold meetings with heads of different delegations of the member countries and partners of the bloc, as well as international organizations.

The sources also pointed out that the Brics space is a moment to denounce the blockade and the aggressive policy of the U.S. government against the island. Under the presidency of Brazil, the Brics, a group formed at its creation by the South American country, Russia, India, China and South Africa, announced in January the entry of Cuba and eight other nations as partners.

These countries became part of the alliance with a status lower than that of full members, but with the possibility of participating in summits and thematic meetings.

Along with Cuba, Belarus, Nigeria, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan joined the Brics as partners. Originally, the group was formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China and had the acronym Bric. Then, as of 2010, it also included South Africa and was renamed Brics.

Negotiations for the enlargement of the group began in 2023.

At that year's summit in South Africa, the entry of six other countries was approved, including Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran.

Although it was part of that list, Argentina, after the inauguration of the ultra-right-wing Javier Milei, left the bloc.

The Brazilian presidency of the Brics began on January 1 and lasts for one year.

Overall, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva established five priorities for discussion throughout the calendar.

Firstly, facilitating trade and investment among the countries in the group, through the development of new means of payment.

Promoting inclusive and responsible governance of artificial intelligence, and improving financing structures to address climate change.

Also, stimulating cooperation projects between countries of the Global South, with a focus on public health and institutional strengthening of the bloc.