UNASUR summit to discuss prospects of regional integration.

QUITO, August 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The leaders of 11 member-countries of
the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) will meet here on Monday for
a summit timed to the transfer of the UNASUR rotating presidency from
Chile to Ecuador.

"The summiteers are planning to decide on establishing four new
councils within the organisation: on social development, on education,
culture, science, technologies and innovations, on development of the
infrastructure and planning on the struggle with drug trafficking," a
source in the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry said. The existing health
council is planning to consider possible regional cooperation in the
struggle with epidemics taking into account the scale of spreading the
A/H1N1 flu virus in the region. In particular, the UNASUR states intend to
appeal to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on guaranteed supplies of a
vaccine against new flu to the poorest strata of the population, when such
vaccine is developed.
During its rotating presidency Ecuador is also planning to put forward
several initiatives to build up UNASUR. Specifically, the country intends
to create a system of joint efforts to agree on direct foreign investments
to the UNASUR states for their defence from lawsuits of foreign companies.
Meanwhile, Ecuador calls for creating a regional election monitoring
system similar to that in the Organisation of American States. Ecuador is
seeking to avoid the paid hiring of international observers.
The founding treaty of UNASUR, which embraces the territory of 17.6
million square kilometres with the population of over 377 million people
and the aggregate GDP of more than 1.23 trillion dollars, was signed on
May 23, 2008. UNASUR brings together 12 South American countries:
Argentine, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru,
Surinam, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador.

.Lost in Atlantic ship with Rus crew loaded with timber in Finland.

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, August 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The timber carrier Arctic
Sea with the Russian crew, which got lost in the Atlantic, was loaded with
timber in the Finnish port of Pietarsaari. Before this voyage the ship has
been under repairs in Kaliningrad for the fortnight. The timber carrier
with the deadweight of 4,706 tons was to deliver the load of timber to a
port in Algeria, the Russian web edition Maritime Bulletin - Sovfracht
reported.
The crew of the Arctic Sea flying the Malta colours consists of 15
sailors. The Arctic Sea underwent an armed attack near the Swedish island
of Oland in the Baltic Sea. At night unidentified armed criminals in black
clothes and masks approached the ship in a boat. They tied up the crew and
were searching for something for 12 hours, after that they left the timber
carrier not taking away cash or belongings.
The Arctic Sea has not got on the line since June 28. According to
estimates of Maritime Bulletin editor-in-chief Mikhail Voitenko, the
timber carrier disappeared off the Portuguese coast.
"It is absolutely impossible to capture the ship with some criminal
purposes in the European waters," Voitenko, who has dealt with piracy
problems for a few years, said.
"If the ship is not hidden somewhere in Europe currently it may be
anywhere within the range of 3,000-3,500 miles. So, all communication
means are switched off or destroyed aboard the ship and it is going in the
unknown direction," Voitenko believes.
He believes that the criminals will get into contact in the next few
days. A large-scale search operation involving the coast forces of
European countries may be launched in the next two days. No one is
searching for the Artic Sea now.
"The timber carrier and its crew are sound just about hundred
percent," Mikhail Voitenko said, according to his information collected
for the past day. "It is highly probable that the point at issue is some
cargo or material aboard the ship," the Maritime Bulletin - Sovfracht
believes.
The Arkhangelsk-based company operates the Artic Sea timber carrier.

.Seismological station at active volcano Kizimen resumes operation.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, August 10 (Itar-Tass) -- A seismological
station at the Kizimen volcano, which has been active for the last two
months, resumed operation in Kamchatka, a source in the Kamchatka branch
of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences told
Itar-Tass on Monday.
The signal from the seismological station stopped coming to
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky last week. An expedition of seismologists came to
the volcano on August 6. They found out that the causes are purely
technical, the source said.
No drastic changes in the volcano activity were found. Local quakes
are registered on the gigantic volcano, but they are weak. Slight vapour
discharges are noticed on the slopes. No eruption indicators are observed,
specialists said.
Kizimen is one of 29 active volcanoes in Kamchatka. The volcano is
situated 265 kilometres north of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The volcano
giant is 2.5 kilometres high above sea level. The latest eruption was
reported on the Kizimen in 1928-1929.
The volcano is under permanent monitoring. The volcano does not pose a
threat to the settlements now.