Western hemispheric leaders gather for UNASUR countries meeting at Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, 18 April 2009

OBAMA - SUMMIT: Cuba has been a dominant theme at the Summit of the Americas.  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and other leaders are pressing Mr. Obama to lift the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.  Mr. Obama says he wants to see a change in U.S.-Cuban relations, but also democratic change on the communist-led island. Cuba is excluded from the summit. This past week, President Obama lifted restrictions on travel and money transfers by Cuban-Americans to the island. The other main topics among the leaders at the hemispheric meeting in Trinidad and Tobago have been how to revive their economies,

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, 14 Apr 2009

maintain trade and keep the global financial crisis from causing more poverty. Mr. Obama announced Saturday the formation of a 100-million dollar program to help small entrepreneurs in the Western Hemisphere. 

SUMMIT SDBR: VENEZUELA:  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says heexpects to send an ambassador back to the United States soon, in a move that would come months after both nations expelled the other's envoys.
The Associated Press quotes a State Department official as saying the United States and Venezuela will work on returning ambassadors to both Washington and Caracas.
The United States has had contentious relations with Venezuela, reaching a new low in September when Mr. Chavez expelled the American ambassador and the U.S. reciprocated.

USAF photo of a MQ-1L Predator UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, 2006 file photo

PAKISTAN - VIOLENCE:  Pakistani officials say three people were killed and five wounded when missiles fired from a suspected U.S. drone targeted a militant stronghold in northwest Pakistan's South Waziristan region Sunday.
South Waziristan is known as a stronghold for Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who is accused of orchestrating the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The drone strike came a day after a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a military convoy at a security checkpoint in the northwest, killing 25 soldiers and police and tpassers-by.  62 security personnel and civilians were wounded in the attack Saturday near the town of Hangu in North West Frontier Province.

MEXICO - DRUGS:  Mexico's public security ministry says eight law enforcement officials were killed Saturday when gunmen tried to a free drug cartel suspect from a police convoy. Authorities say the law enforcement officials came under attack when they left an airport in the western state of Nayarit after picking up nine suspects, including a top member of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel -- Jeronimo Gamez. Gamez was arrested in Mexico City in January.  The public security ministry says the gunmen failed to free the prisoners and escaped in three trucks. 

KOREAS - TENSIONS:  South Korean officials say they they have accepted a

Inside a Korean factory at Kaesong

North Korean proposal for talks on their joint industrial complex, in Pyongyang's first official contact with Seoul in more than a year. South Korean Unification Minister spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo told reporters Sunday that officials of the two sides plan to meet in the border town of Kaesong on Tuesday to discuss the factory complex. Saturday the unification ministry said that North Korea proposed a meeting in the Kaesong industrial zone, without specifying what the talks would be about. South Korean officials have repeatedly called for access to a South Korean who has was detained at the complex last month for allegedly criticizing North Korea.

Thai soldier looks at the bullet-riddled automobile of Sondhi Limthongkul, 17 Apr 2009

THAILAND POL: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called for calm in his weekly televised address Sunday, after a week of deadly protests and an assassination attempt on a leading opposition activist. Mr. Abhisit vowed to find those responsible for the attack on Sondhi Limthongkul in Bangkok on Friday.
The deputy national police chief (Jongrak Jutanond) said he believes five men armed with AK-47s and M-16s were involved in the assault that wounded Sondhi, his driver and an aide. The Prime Minister urged people Sunday not to use the assassination attempt to widen violent protests against the government.  Doctors (at Chulalongkorn Hospital) say Sondhi is recuperating well after having bullet shards removed from his head, but his driver is still in critical condition.

CHINA - US MILITARY: The top officer in the U.S. Navy has praised

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead at the Pentagon (File photo)

cooperation between the U.S. and Chinese navies in fighting piracy and downplayed a recent confrontation between the two countries in the South China Sea. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead told a news conference in Beijing Sunday he had a good briefing on China's navy in a meeting with Chinese Admiral Wu Shengli on Saturday. Roughead said he and Wu discussed an encounter between the U.S. warship Impeccable and Chinese vessels in March. The American side claims the Impeccable was operating in international waters, while Beijing says the U.S. ship was in China's Exclusive Economic Zone. Roughead also praised U.S.-China cooperation in counter-piracy efforts off the coast of Somalia.

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