SAO PAULO, Brazil – Lula says trash must return to U.K.: President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva announced that 1,760 tons of hazardous waste which arrived illegally from the United Kingdom in 90 shipping containers must return to where they came from. “We do not want to import anyone's garbage and neither would we send others our garbage,” said Lula. The containers full of household garbage and hospital waste were shipped to several Brazilian ports. The British embassy said the trash would be sent back to the U.K. and announced three arrests in connection with the illegal exports.

[EFE, Reuters]

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – New education minister takes office: Alberto Sileoni was named education minister by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in a cabinet shake-up after her government’s midterm election defeat. He replaces Juan Carlos Tedesco, who will go on to direct the ministry's planning and evaluation unit. Seleoni is a lawyer, history professor and education policy expert and until now had been vice minister for education. His challenges include secondary education reforms and improving opportunities for underprivileged students.

[La Nación, Los Andes, EFE]

LIMA, Peru – Ruling party holds on to Congress with alliance deals: The governing Peruvian Aprista Party (PAP) has apparently managed to secure the control of Congress from 2009-2010 in the forthcoming July 26 ballot. PAP congressmen renewed their alliances with the center-left and pro-Fujimori Union for Peru (UPP) and other smaller, more conservative parties. Opposition spokesmen from the Nationalist Party, National Unity Party and centrist UPP dissidents acknowledged that the elections were not likely to affect President Alan Garcia's popularity.

[El Comercio, Los Andes, DPA]

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – Unasur not considering regional Bolivarian army: Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, as temporary head of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), revealed that the bloc had not yet discussed the creation of a regional “Bolivarian” army. Bachelet recalled that the proposal had originally been put forward by Bolivian President Evo Morales during the bicentenary celebrations of his country's war of independence in La Paz. According to Bachelet, Unasur will only consider “initiatives that receive majority support and move towards greater defense policy transparency.

[Los Tiempos, EFE]