
The owner of the New York Stock Exchange is set to take control of a key scandal-hit bank interest rate. NYSE Euronext has won the contract for setting the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (Libor), a government-backed committee announced. Libor is used to set trillions of dollars of financial contracts.

The United States Congress sent a strong letter to Argentine president Cristina Fernandez expressing ‘disappointment’ and ‘deep concern’ over the government’s decision to deny General Prosecutor of the AMIA Case, Alberto Nisman, the opportunity to testify before the House Committee on Homeland Security’.

Bolivia demanded France, Portugal, Spain and Italy reveal who told them that former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard President Evo Morales' flight from Moscow last week.

Pope Francis has visited Lampedusa in the extreme south of Italy to pay tribute to the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives trying to reach the European Union and criticized what he called the globalization of indifference.

The British government announced to Parliament that it will commission a new feasibility study into the resettlement of the British Indian Ocean Territory, BIOT, whose indigenous population the Chagossian was removed in the sixties and early seventies for defense reasons and is an issue that remains highly controversial and sensitive.

The UN food standards body Codex Alimentarius has agreed on new standards to protect the health of consumers worldwide. These include standards on fruit, vegetables, fish and fishery products and animal feed.

Argentina’s flagship the tall mast frigate ARA Libertad which last year was retained in Ghana for 77 days, unexpectedly suspended until 2014 the beginning of its annual instruction trip which was scheduled to leave Buenos Aires this weekend.

Argentina’s Prosecutor General Alejandra Gils Carbo has prevented AMIA case Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman from attending the US Congress. Nisman was expected to expose the 500-page indictment accusing Iran of allegedly “infiltrating” Latin America to establish “intelligence networks”.

Britain and Spain faced another round of diplomatic tension on Wednesday night after four Spanish jets “buzzed” over the BOT Gibraltar, causing delay to a commercial flight. Reports collected by the Gibraltar Chronicle indicate eyewitnesses said the Matador jets flew in from behind Los Barrios and very close to the north end of the Rock.

The Spanish government believes an “error of appreciation” was committed in the incident involving the Galician trawler “Piscator” captured this week in the South Atlantic allegedly operating in Argentine waters. Spain is hopeful that the situation will be resolved in “coming hours”.