Starting in London his first trip overseas as the new US Secretary of State, John Kerry kept strictly to US policy on the Falkland Islands and refused to comment on the coming referendum when Islanders are expected to decide on their political status and future.
Africa’s fifty four countries joined South America “in recognizing the legitimate sovereignty rights of Argentina over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the adjoining maritime spaces”, announced the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a communiqué in reference to the so called Declaration of Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea.
British tabloid The Sunday Times indicated on Sunday that the Iran-Argentina accord on the investigation of the AMIA bombing case could also hide a joint missile development project. Furthermore, the paper assured “Argentina is developing missile technology that could threaten the Falkland Islands.”
Foreign Secretary William Hague will discuss the United States' position on the Falkland Islands with Secretary of State John Kerry following reports that Washington will not recognise the result of next month's referendum.
A Russian cruise ship Lyubov Orlova, at one time a frequent summer visitor to the Falklands, abandoned and adrift in the North Atlantic has been located about 2.400 kilometres off the west coast of Ireland.
The Falkland Islands government at a public meeting defended their position of not including in the annual budget what they described as ‘windfalls’ from fishing and oil and instead adding the ‘exceptional” excess revenue to the Consolidated Fund.
The 43rd British Islands and Mediterranean Region (BIMR) Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), held in the Falkland Islands on the 12th and 13th February 2013, was described as both fascinating and provoking by delegates.
The Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll left on Monday from Devonport for the West African region and the South Atlantic to undertake a range of tasks in support of British interests worldwide. She replaces in her South Atlantic tour HMS Edinburgh, ‘Fortress of the Seas’ which is to be decommissioned next June.
Albert-Friedrich Gruene of the Falkland Island Philatelic Study Group offers a fascinating insight into Britain and Argentina’s use of the postage stamp over the past 77 years in an illustrated ‘battle’ for the Falklands. The article was published in Penguin News.
The BACTEC team is now fully deployed in the Falkland Islands clearing three minefields: two in the vicinity of Mile Pond and Mullet creek and the third south of the water tanks on the Stanley to Darwin and Goose Green Road. The mine-clearance project for these areas should be over by the end of March.