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.

Progressive politicians deal a severe blow to President Milei’s party. On Sunday, Peronist candidates won in local elections in the province of Formosa and the city of Rosario, pushing President Javier Milei’s Freedom Advances party into a distant third place.

The results of these provincial elections may be seen as a prelude to the upcoming national legislative elections in October, when Argentina’s far-right will attempt to counter a resurgent Peronist movement, currently undergoing a process of reorganization following former President Cristina Fernandez’s placement under house arrest.

In Santa Fe, voters chose mayors, city council members and local leaders in 365 municipalities. In that province, “United to Change Santa Fe” — a coalition led by Gov. Maximiliano Pullaro’s Radical Civic Union (UCR) — won in 17 of the 19 major cities.

Another surprise came in Rosario, one of the province’s largest cities, where Peronist candidate Juan Monteverde claimed victory with 30.6% of the vote, beating far-right contender Juan Aleart, who received 28.8%. This marks the first Peronist win in Rosario in more than 50 years.

“The only way to save this democracy we have is to participate more and generate projects that try to represent the majority, even knowing that we are different. Because there is a social majority in Rosario, Santa Fe, and Argentina that does not agree with what is happening.”

“Today, the people of Rosario defeated the president, the governor and the mayor,” Monteverde said. “They voted without fear, against the political machines, and they won because there is a social majority that is struggling and disagrees with what is happening. But it lacked a political force to represent it. In Rosario, that force has now emerged.”

Freedom Advances won in just 2 out of 365 districts, securing 34 city council seats. Despite the modest results, Karina Milei — the president’s sister and secretary of the presidency — celebrated the outcome with fanfare.

In Formosa, Peronist Gov. Gildo Insfran cemented his dominance with more than 67% of the vote. His next goal is to push for a constitutional reform that would allow him to run for re-election in 2027. The far-right Freedom Advances party garnered just 11% of the vote.

From her residence in Buenos Aires, Cristina Fernandez spoke with the two Peronist leaders to congratulate them on their victories. “A few minutes ago, I spoke with my comrade, Gov. Gildo Insfran, to congratulate him on the excellent results for Peronism in the election of constitutional convention delegates and provincial lawmakers,” she posted on social media.

Argentina is currently in the midst of a marathon of staggered provincial elections throughout 2025. On Oct. 26, Argentines will vote to renew half of the country’s legislature by electing 24 senators and 127 representatives.

Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón has not been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, following her headline-making 2025 Oscar campaign controversy.

The 53-year-old Spanish actor, who made history as the first-ever openly trans individual to be nominated for an Academy Award in any acting category, was notably left off this year’s list of 534 artists and executives to receive the prestigious invitation.

It’s typical of first-time nominees to receive an invite. In fact, Wicked star Ariana Grande, Anora’s Oscar-winning actor Mikey Madison, Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice), Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown), and Best Supporting Actor winner Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain), all of whom landed their first Oscar nomination at the March ceremony, were among the names on the invitation released Thursday.

“We are thrilled to invite this esteemed class of artists, technologists, and professionals to join the Academy,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang. “Through their commitment to filmmaking and to the greater movie industry, these exceptionally talented individuals have made indelible contributions to our global filmmaking community.”

Gascón’s Emilia Pérez co-star Zoe Saldaña, who won Best Supporting Actress at the latest ceremony, was also not on the list as she is already a member.

According to the organization’s rules, an Oscar nomination gives a person automatic consideration for Academy membership. For the Acting Branch, it exempts them from having to meet the rules of “a minimum of three theatrical feature film credits, in all of which the roles played were scripted roles, one of which was released in the past five years, and all of which are of a caliber that reflect the high standardsof the Academy.”

Gascón’s absence from the list makes her the second first-time Best Actress nominee from the past 10 years to not be invited immediately following their nomination, according to TheWrap. Roma’s Yalitza Aparicio, 31, who earned a Best Actress nomination in 2019, was not offered AMPAS membership until 2020.

While the Academy has not given a public statement about Gascón’s exclusion from the invitees, it comes months after her Oscar campaign fell apart.

A week after her historic Oscar nomination, the actor faced accusations of racism and Islamophobia when old social media posts resurfaced.

She later deleted the tweets, issuing an apology “to those I have caused pain.”

“I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt,” Gascón said in a statement at the time. “As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”

The controversy didn’t stop there. The next month, she gave a tearful, hour-long interview with CNN en Español, insisting that she was “not a racist.”

Still, Netflix distanced itself from Gascón, removing her from promotional emails and editing the film’s posters to give Saldaña more prominence.

While it remained uncertain if she would even attend the 2025 Oscars, she did make a surprise appearance after skipping the red carpet.

In the months since, Gascón has landed her first role post-scandal in a 19th-century-set Spanish western titledTrinidad, directed by Laura Alvea and José Ortuño.

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.