
While offering a press conference in Washington DC, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip Crowley refused to comment on the recently released Wikileaks cables that mention Argentina and said his government would refrain from doing so in the future.

Oil dropped for a second day in New York as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries considered talks about increasing production because violence is disrupting supplies from Libya.

Repsol, Spain’s main energy group will be investing a minimum of 768 million US dollars for the exploration of oil in the North Slope of Alaska. The operation is a joint venture with the Denver, Colorado US firms 70 & 148 LLC and GMT Exploration LLC, points out a release from Repsol.

A trade agreement with Mercosur should not have to destroy the European beef industry, said on Tuesday a spokesperson for the European Community who added that such fears are ‘exaggerated’.

The European Parliament passed a highly critical report on trade negotiations between the EU and the Mercosur bloc for considering that they may imply “farming concessions damaging to European producers.”

Ms. Nemat Shafik, a national of Egypt and the UK has been nominated to the position of Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She will succeed Mr. Murilo Portugal, who resigned effective March 4, 2011.

President Barack Obama will nominate Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who this year criticized China for not opening its markets, as next US ambassador to Beijing, two administration officials said.

Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera visited both sides of the hotly contested Israeli- Palestine border this weekend. He reasserted his support for an independent Palestinian state, but fell short of formally recognizing the pre-1967 borders.

The number of people who see Brazil as having a positive influence in the world is rising rapidly, according to a BBC World Service poll of 27 countries. The country is regarded positively by 49%, compared with 40% last year - the largest jump by any of the 16 nations respondents are asked to comment on.

China, normally contrary to releasing unemployment figures, has admitted to having a “labour surplus” of 32 million workers, according to Human Resources and Social Security minister Yin Weimin.