No curto espaço de uma semana, o Brasil viu-se como protagonista em duas questões centrais para a humanidade. Primeiramente quando Lula é condecorado pela ONU com a medalha pelos esforços no combate à fome, fato que a mídia comercial escondeu, para espanto geral. Segundo porque neste final de semana o presidente do Brasil, após conseguir o apoio da Rússia para suas gestões, desembarca em um Irã ameaçado levando uma mensagem clara ao mundo: os problemas devem ser resolvidos pelo diálogo não por sanções, muito menos pela guerra, que, comprovadamente, veja-se hoje o Iraque e o Afeganistão, só trazem solução para o caixa da indústria bélica, a principal economia dos EUA.

O Brasil soube buscar aliados - Rússia, China, Turquia, França - para abrir um espaço de negociação política, que se revelou possível e correto. A posição brasileira de que os EUA - e outras potências - possuindo imensos arsenais nucleares, não tinham moral para buscar acordos que limitem a disseminação de armamento nuclear, abre caminho para outras iniciativas de paz.

The uranium transfer deal transforms Iran and Turkey into strategic allies without undermining Turkey's standing in the West.

Brazil and Turkey, which were represented by their presidents in the talks, invested significant diplomatic cache in the negotiations. It is rare for non-permanent members of the Security Council to intervene in a process led by nuclear powers, and in many ways the result could be seen as a revolt by smaller powers over the rights to nuclear power and prestige.

The deal widens a divide between a group of countries led by the U.S., on the one hand, and developing nations on the other, over the right of Iran and other developing nations to use nuclear energy.

Europe's common currency fell to a four-year low against the dollar Monday as fears mounted that deep cuts in government spending to combat the region's debt crisis could severely damage Europe's economic recovery.

The pain of the European debt crisis is spreading, with the plummeting euro making Chinese companies less competitive in Europe, their largest market, and complicating any move to break the Chinese currency's peg to the dollar.

The deal, negotiated by Turkey and Brazil, calls for Iran to ship 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low enriched uranium to Turkey, where it would be stored. In exchange, after one year, Iran would have the right to receive about 265 pounds of material enriched to 20 percent from Russia and France.

In a SPIEGEL interview, Jean-Claude Trichet, the 67-year-old president of the European Central Bank, discusses the largest financial rescue package in the history of Europe, the role and importance of speculators in the euro crisis and the weakness shown by politicians in the euro zone member states.

Political leaders and central bankers on both sides of the Atlantic struggled over the weekend to persuade jittery investors that Europe would pull through its sovereign debt crisis, saying that it would be helped by a stronger-than-expected economic recovery in the United States.

Could euro devaluation increase the size of the U.S. deficit? Marshall Auerback explores the possibility, and what it means if deficit hysteria continues unchecked.

¿Por qué hay enormes déficits presupuestarios en todo el planeta? No es porque, de repente, todos los funcionarios del mundo se hayan convertido en apparatchiki de estilo soviético. Es, y por mucho, porque una economía global en declive ha llevado a menores ingresos y a un mayor gasto público en la red de seguridad social. El colmo de la ignorancia económica es proponer la destrucción de esa red de seguridad social a partir de una extrapolación de las equivocadas lecciones proporcionadas por los particularísimos problemas en que se ha metido a sí propia la eurozona.

O governo espanhol anunciou a redução de 5% dos salários dos funcionários públicos, o congelamento de salários e o corte de investimentos públicos para enfrentar a crise econômica que afeta o país. Na Grécia, sindicatos convocam quinta greve geral contra corte de pensões anunciado pelo governo. Para analista do Financial Times, origem da crise da dívida dos governos é a prodigalidade de amplos segmentos do setor privado, e do setor financeiro, em particular. "Os mercados financeiros financiaram a orgia e, agora, em pânico, estão se recusando a financiar a faxina resultante", diz Martin Wolf.

Parece que Europa no encuentra de manera definitiva el camino de la recuperación. Si ayer las dudas sobre una posible recaída en la recesión hicieron que la Bolsa viviera sus peores momentos desde el inicio de la crisis y la caída de Lehman Brothers allá por septiembre de 2008, hoy es el presidente del Banco Central Europeo, Jean- Claude Trichet, quien califica la situación de "dramática" y de la peor vivida desde la Primera Guerra Mundial.

Nie wieder eine solche Krise: Der europäische Zentralbankpräsident Trichet ruft die Euro-Staaten zur Ordnung. In der "vielleicht schwierigsten Situation seit dem Ersten Weltkrieg" müssten sie endlich ihre Finanzpolitik konsolidieren, sagte er dem SPIEGEL - und bekommt Unterstützung von Kanzlerin Merkel.

As President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva heads to Tehran this weekend to make what many Western diplomats consider a last-ditch attempt at persuading Iran to temper its nuclear ambitions, officials in Washington have expressed concern that the effort could backfire, helping the Islamic republic to block - or at least delay - the United States and its allies from imposing sanctions.

As Spain's credit rating is downgraded a day after Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on Greek and Portuguese debt, how far could the eurozone's debt contagion spread?

French president Nicolas Sarkozy warned of damage to Franco-German relationship if Angela Merkel opposed EU plan

The audacious bid to protect the euro with a massive rescue fund seems to be faltering. The euro is still losing value as investors worry about the consequences of tough austerity measures. German papers on Friday dissect the common currency's ongoing problems.

Greece will unlikely be able to pay off its nearly 300 billion euro debt, but the rescue package will enable it to hold out for a few more years, according to Heinemann. "In the end, there will be a restructuring of Greece's debt… but in the meantime before that happens, other countries will make such progress that the danger of a meltdown will no longer exist," he told Deutsche Welle. "This means maybe in 2012 a restructuring of Greece's debt can be undertaken without shock waves being triggered."