Ban Ki-Moon ran into trouble on his first day of work as UN secretary-general on Tuesday over Saddam Hussein's execution when he twice failed to state the United Nations' opposition to the death penalty and stressed instead that capital punishment should be a decision of every country.
Brazil's Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim, met Wednesday with United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab in New York as part of efforts to get World Trade Organization talks restarted, but both called the discussion preliminary.
China's central bank under international pressure to make the yuan more flexible will in 2007 pursue a stable currency policy to promote economic growth.
Argentina's Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Secretariat, SAGP y A, established a total 2007 allowable catch, TAC, of 340.000 tons of common hake (Merluccius hubbsi) which is 10.5% lower than last year's TAC of 380.000 tons.
Venezuela and Argentina are forecasted to top economic performance in the region in 2007, above 6% growth, with Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru and Dominican Republic following at levels ranging 5%, according to a top World Bank official.
A Taiwanese flagged vessel was arrested by the Argentine Coast Guard accused of fishing inside Argentina's EEZ and is currently en route to Comodoro Rivadavia.
Uruguay's Minister of Economy Danilo Astori announced Wednesday the country's economy would expand 4.6% in 2007, after having finished the third year running of expansion above the region's average.
Argentina's stock market ended 2006 with an unprecedented yearly average increase of 35 percent which placed it among the world's top ten performers, the Argentine Institute for Capital Markets (IAMC, in its Spanish acronym), said in a report. Several other world markets also reached record highs.
Bolivian President Evo Morales suppressed by decree the right of US citizens to enter this country freely, in reciprocity with a similar measure taken by the US government.
Starting his first day of work, new Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon vowed Tuesday to end mistrust of the United Nations and called for action to tackle daunting problems from crises in the Middle East and Darfur to reducing extreme poverty by half by 2015.