
Pope Francis urged countries to welcome and respect migrants and refugees and not to treat them as pawns on the chessboard of humanity. Francis, who has made the defence of the poor and vulnerable a cornerstone of his papacy, said in a message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees that there should be a change in attitude on the part of host countries.

In a fiery speech before the UN General Assembly, Uruguayan president Jose Mujica criticized consumerism and waste, electronic surveillance which ‘poisons’ relations among nations, called for a true globalization and blasted individual greed which has “far outstripped the superior greed of the human specie”.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly Brazilian President Dilma Roussef claimed that spying in the lives and affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and urged the United Nations to play a leading role in protecting Internet users from illegal interception of communications and data, and decried recent allegations of electronic information spying as “serious violations of human rights”.

Southern Europeans are facing four more years of ‘mutti’ (Mom) Angela Merkel — whether they like it or not. Majorities of 82% in Spain, 65% in Portugal and 58% in Italy repudiate the German leader’s handling of the Euro area’s debt crisis, blaming her for drastic cuts in social services, recession and record unemployment, according to a German Marshall Fund poll released last week.

Germany’s Wintershall sealed a 150 million dollar unconventional exploration contract with the Argentine province of Neuquén’s owned Gas y Petroleo de Neuquén to search for oil in the Vaca Muerta formation. The agreement could later be extended to 3.35bn.

Representatives from Paraguay and Venezuela are scheduled to re-take bilateral and Mercosur related discussions on the sides of the UN General Assembly this week in New York, according to Deputy foreign minister Manuel María Cáceres

President Juan Manuel Santos was grateful and ‘accepted with prudence’ his Uruguayan peer Jose Mujica offer to host a peace-talks process in Montevideo with the other big guerrilla movement in Colombia, the ELN, National Liberation Army

Gibraltar has accused Spain of a “crude, last minute” attempt to “disguise and conceal” its normal customs checks at the border, just days ahead of a visit by the European Commission. The EC team arrives on Wednesday and will consist of six experts on EU customs controls and border matters.

The new Argentine ambassador before the Organization of American States, OAS, former Defence and Home Security minister Nilda Garré begins her diplomatic job with a main line of action: ‘claiming the Malvinas Islands sovereignty” and the “resumption of negotiations with the UK”.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday and according to the official agenda has several appointments with political leaders and business representatives.