Mexico will start awarding the construction of its seventh refinery as soon as March 2019, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced at an event at the Dos Bocas port, in the Gulf of Mexico. Revealing his plans for the country’s refining system Lopez Obrador also said Mexico will invest $8bn in the new processing facility at Dos Bocas, which will have crude processing capacity of 340,000 daily barrels, making it Mexico’s biggest refinery.

US President Donald Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman and ex-TV host Heather Nauert to be his new ambassador to the UN, positioning a relatively inexperienced newcomer in one of the most high-profile positions in US diplomacy, numerous media outlets state. According to sources Nauert has already accepted the job and now Trump will make the announcement official through his favourite social media - Twitter later today.  

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday warned that the US will suspend its obligations under the Cold-War era nuclear pact, dubbed Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in the next 60 days, in case Russia doesn't come back into compliance. The 60-day grace period was granted by the US as a concession to European partners who wanted to give Moscow a last chance. 

Veteran leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office as Mexican president on Saturday, vowing to see off a “rapacious” elite in a country struggling with corruption, chronic poverty and gang violence on the doorstep of the United States. Backed by a gigantic Mexican flag, the 65-year-old took the oath of office in the lower house of Congress, pledging to bring about a “radical” rebirth of Mexico to overturn what he called a disastrous legacy of decades of “neo-liberal” governments.

Brazil has withdrawn on Wednesday its offer to host a large UN conference on climate change next year, in the latest signal that Latin America’s largest nation no longer aspires to be an influential player in efforts to mitigate the effects of a warming planet. As a reason to pull the offer, the country cited "the current fiscal and budget constraints, which are expected to remain in the near future," according to a foreign ministry statement.

President Donald Trump has warned on Monday that Britain “may not be able to trade with the US” because of Theresa May’s Brexit deal in comments that could torpedo her hopes of winning Parliament’s backing. Yet, he stressed that the agreement May reached with Brussels on Sunday “sounds like a great deal for the EU.”

The United States and South Korea have scaled down their next major joint military exercise, scheduled for the spring of 2019, so the war games are not a hindrance to diplomacy over ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis announced on Wednesday.

Venezuela's former national treasurer admitted receiving over US$1bn in bribes as part of illicit foreign currency operations that involved a local television mogul, according to court documents released on Tuesday. Alejandro Andrade, who ran the treasury for four years under late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, after being his bodyguard, reportedly received properties, platinum and gold Rolex watches and Mercedes Benz vehicles thanks to the scheme, the documents from the Southern District of Florida say.

International police body Interpol elected South Korean police veteran Kim Jong-yang as its next president on Wednesday. The choice was made during Interpol’s meeting of its 194 member states, in Dubai for their annual congress and the final decision was conducted under strong pressure from US and European diplomats who said choosing the Russian candidate, who had been considered the front-runner, could jeopardise the independence of the world’s largest international policing organization. 

The Trump administration is reportedly getting ready to add Venezuela to the US list of state sponsors of terrorism in in what would be a dramatic escalation against the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro. The designation, which was reported by Washington Post, citing US officials and internal government emails, would place Venezuela on a list reserved for governments repeatedly accused of supporting "acts of international terrorism", such as Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan.