Latin America

Hunted by the United States, whistleblower Eduard Snowden will seek asylum in Ecuador, reports RT news from Moscow on Sunday.

The FBI confirmed this week that drones are carrying out surveillance within the United States. FBI Director Robert Mueller called the drone use “very seldom,” while acknowledging regulations to address privacy concerns have yet to be completed.

Welcome to this Week in Palestine, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, for June 15 to the 21st 2013. As Israeli soldiers and settlers attacks targeting Palestinians escalated this week the newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister resigns his post. These stories and more, coming up.

Seventeen years ago, TWA Flight 800 crashed off Long Island, killing all 230 people aboard. The official government investigation blamed mechanical failure, but now a group of former investigators are petitioning the National Transportation Safety Board to reopen the probe, saying the original report was falsified.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange announced Wednesday that he will remain in the Ecuadorian embassy in London even if the sexual offense charges that were brought against him in Sweden are dropped, as the United States has already prepared an extradition request.

Brazil is witnessing some of its largest protests in decades, after some 240,000 people protested Monday. Tens of thousands continue to take the streets. The demonstrations were initially sparked by an increase in bus fares in São Paulo, but the uprising soon spiraled nationwide amid outrage over government corruption, inequality, failing public services and police brutality against demonstrators.

As the prison-wide hunger strike at Guantánamo enters its 133rd day, a group of top U.S. doctors and public health specialists are calling on their colleagues in the military to boycott the mass force-feeding of prisoners.

In what is being hailed as a victory for reform and moderation inside Iran, the cleric Hassan Rouhani has won the Iranian presidential election. A former nuclear negotiator, Rouhani has called for greater engagement with Western countries, while urging respect for Iran’s right to nuclear energy.