Washington DC, July 23.─ Cuba essentially has an "occupation army" in Venezuela with 
15,000 Cubans who currently inhabit the South American country, Secretary General of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro said in a Senate hearing this week.
"There are currently about 15,000 Cubans in Venezuela," Almagro said during his testimony before U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday, Panapost reported Thursday. "It's like an occupation army from Cuba in Venezuela."
Caracas, July 16.─ Venezuela's opposition coallition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) is holding a so-called popular referendum, unauthorized by the government, against the policies of President Nicolas Maduro this Suday.
The vote is organized by the opposition coallition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), not only in all districts in Venezuela but in all 85 countries where Venezuelan citizens reside.
The ballots include three questions on whether the voters reject and do not recognize the presidential decision to call the Constituent Assembly without gaining the support of the Venezuelans in a proper referendum, whether the voters demand the country's Armed Forces to protect the 1999 Constitution and the decisions of the National Assembly, as well as whether they agree on holding free elections and creating a national unity government.
Paris, Jul.14.─ French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed President Donald Trump to Paris Thursday, saying he was prepared to set aside differences over Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord in order to work together on other issues.
President Emmanuel Macron: "I disagree with the way the Paris Agreement and its importance is being interpreted by the U.S. We talked about this disagreement, as we should amongst leaders, before and after the decision taken by President Trump. Should this get in the way of the discussions on all other subjects? Definitely not, under no circumstances."
Accra, July 7.─ The issue of whether municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) should be elected or not has taken centre stage in the country’s political discourse for some time now, with stakeholders expressing mixed views on the issue.
Reiterating, once again, his commitment to the election of MMDCEs when he addressed an orientation programme for the 199 approved MMDCEs by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development at the Institute of Local Government Studies at Ogbojo in Accra, President Akufo-Addo noted: “I belong in the group that has always advocated the direct, popular election of chief executives. It is now a manifesto commitment of the ruling party, the NPP, and so you must be aware that it is going to be fulfilled.”
Montreal, July 3 (DP.net).─ More than 400 people from 30 countries took part in the 17th IOPD Conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from 16 to 19 June. Over the course of these four days, 80 speakers spoke and debated in various plenary sessions, workshops and other events on the theme of “Participation without exclusion”.
Montreal is putting together documents on the content of the conference but you can already see videos (at the foot of THIS PAGE) of some of the sessions, as well as videos containing interviews with some of the speakers. You can also see more photographs of the conference at THIS LINK.
A consensual Final Declaration was adopted on the issue of "Participation without Exclusion", supporting "the commitments made by the international community through various international agendas, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the new program for cities and human establishments, to promote the implementation of institutional, political, legal and financial mechanisms to establish inclusive platforms allowing effective participation by everyone in decision-making".
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