
Uruguay's president Jose Mujica said the latest world events show that Europe 'has lost clout' in global affairs, and has lost strength as 'peace mediator', and this role could be “much better performed by Latin America”.

The European Commission opened Private Storage Aid for butter, Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) and certain cheeses in order to alleviate the impact of Russian restrictions on imports of EU dairy products and to limit the negative effects on the internal market.

Finland-based Arctech Helsinki Shipyard has been contracted to build three icebreaking stand-by vessels for Russian shipping company Sovcomflot, for a total cost of 380 million dollars.

Russia will ban all imports of US food products as well as fruit and vegetables from the European Union after President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for Western sanctions against Moscow, a state news agency reported today.

Russia has been ordered to pay about 2.5bn dollars to former shareholders in defunct oil group Yukos by the European Court of Human Rights. Russia's Justice Ministry said the ruling was unfair and it had three months to appeal against the decision.

Sharply higher interest rates around the world could combine with weaker growth in emerging markets to slice as much as two percentage points off global growth in the next five years, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Amid mounting criticism of Russia over the MH17 plane tragedy and conflict with Ukraine, FIFA rejects calls for the country to be stripped of 2018 World Cup hosting rights and says a boycott is no solution to the crisis.

President Cristina Fernández used her Twitter account on Sunday to comment on last week’s heavy agenda with the visit of Russia’s and China’s presidents and the BRICS-UNASUR summit in Brazil. “It has been an important week for Argentina,” she said.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff and her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have restated their aim of doubling bilateral trade between the two nations to a value of 10 billion dollars a year, in a meeting held a day before the sixth summit of the BRICS group on Tuesday.

President Cristina Fernandez confirmed Russia’s interest in investing in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale formation in Patagonia and announced that a Russian delegation will travel soon to the area, which holds one of the largest shale gas and oil reserves of the world.