The Vatican Press Office has announced that Pope Francis will meet Argentine President Cristina Fernández on Monday at 8.50 AM Buenos Aires time. It will be the first official meeting the pontiff holds with a head of state.
The Falkland Islands have spoken, and have spoken clearly and loud for all countries in the world to listen, said Ian Hansen, member of the elected Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly currently on a tour of Caribbean countries to deliver the message from the March 10/11 referendum.
The following editorial on the Falkland Islands issue was published by the United Arab Emirates Gulf News.
The referendum by the 2,500 inhabitants of the British-administered Falkland Islands has not contributed to finding a political solution to the dispute between Britain and Argentina that has run for centuries.
Canada’s Globe and Mail had an editorial on the Falklands referendum.
Not since the halcyon days of the Soviet Union has a vote been so lopsided, but there was no fraud or coercion. Ninety-two per-cent turnout; over 98% support for the Falkland Islands to retain its status as a British Overseas Territory.
John Carlin, the British writer and journalist who works for Spain’s leading newspaper El Pais, with a high degree of irony strongly criticized Argentina’s claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands as an ‘epic idiocy’.
A major conflict could be brewing between Argentina and Brazil after Rio’s Vale decided to cancel a 6 billion dollars potash development project in Mendoza and the Argentine Labour minister issued a mandatory conciliation which actually impedes implementation of the closing down decision.
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman revealed that the Argentine government had received on Friday morning a letter from Interpol stressing that the memorandum of understanding signed between the Argentine and Iranian governments last month meant a “positive progress” for the investigation of the AMIA bombing.
British Prime Minister David Cameron stated on Friday that Pope Francis had been wrong to say last year that Britain had usurped the Falkland Islands from Argentina, saying he respectfully disagreed with the new Pontiff. His words have been interpreted as a message anticipating the Argentine government’s possible attempts to get the new pope involved in the dispute.
Argentina’s GDP expanded 1.9%, following an increase of 2.1% in the last quarter of 2012, compared to the 8.9% of 2011, according to the official but questioned national stats office Indec release on Friday.
In his first public Mass, Pope Francis urged the Catholic Church on Thursday to stick to its roots and shun modern temptations, warning that it would become just a compassionate NGO if it forgot its true mission.