Zone 3- Euro-Americas Summary Week # 95

Week # 95 – Dated Nov 22nd-28th, 09’

WESTERN EUROPE

A former head of MI6 criticized British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government over its funding for and handling of the Afghan mission. Also Foreign Office officials testified last week at an inquiry probing Britain's role in the war that Iran and Libya, not Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, were Britain's main security concerns before the invasion of Iraq.
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has announced the nominations for his new team, with conservatives to the fore and more women members than the outgoing EU executive.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has urged Iran to endorse a plan that would strip it of most of its enriched uranium, saying Tehran could not defuse fears about its nuclear program with proposals that included keeping the material.

US/CANADA
President Obama is due to attend the opening of the Dec. 9th Copenhagen Climate Conference, where he reportedly plans to "put on the table" a U.S. commitment to cut carbon emissions by 17 percent over the next decade.
Meanwhile two former Canadian military commanders have denied accusations of having ignored warnings that Afghan authorities might torture and abuse detainees handed over to them.

LATIN AMERICA
Honduras' Supreme Court ruled last week that ousted President Manuel Zelaya cannot legally return to office, dimming the possibility of his reinstatement after a June coup.
Meanwhile at least a 1,000 people held a protest in Rio de Janeiro against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during his Brazilian visit. Venezuela was the final leg of the Iranian leader's three-country goodwill tour of Latin America, after stops in Brazil and Bolivia. Ahmadinejad's visit triggered small protests and was condemned by Chavez opponents as well as Venezuela's Jewish community. However Chavez's enthusiastic embrace of Iran has made Venezuela a gateway for the Iranian government to make diplomatic inroads in Latin America.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's personal approval ratings jumped from 76.8 percent in September to 78.9 percent in November, banking on a good economic performance during the international financial crisis and the nation’s positive image abroad.
Valuing truth over the right to privacy, Argentina's Congress has authorized the forced extraction of DNA from people who may have been born to political prisoners slain during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.
Meanwhile Argentina's unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in the third quarter from 7.8 percent a year earlier as a slowing economy pushed up joblessness.
Thousands of Mexicans rallied last week to show support for “shadow president” Manuel Lopez Obrador—who believes his country’s top job was stolen from him in 2006.
According to the Mexican Health Ministry the H1N1 flu virus, first detected in April in Mexico, has claimed 610 lives and infected more than 65,000 people in the country.
In the eastern Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines nearly 56 percent of voters rejected a referendum that would have replaced the British monarch with a president chosen by Parliament.

AUSTRALASIA
Australia moved to tighten security at its main immigration centre last week after a riot by 150 asylum-seekers, reportedly wielding pool cues, broomsticks and tree branches, left 37 wounded.
The Church of Scientology in Australia, founded in 1953 by the late U.S. science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, is under scrutiny. A senate vote to launch an inquiry into possible criminal activity is due to be held this week.
Australia's opposition leader Tuesday pledged his party's support for contentious legislation proposed by the government aimed at curbing the country's greenhouse gas emissions. Australia is one of the world's worst carbon dioxide polluters per capita because of its heavy reliance on its abundant coal reserves.

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