Gibraltar received a record number of cruise passengers in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest statistics released by the Gibraltar Government. The figures represent a slight increase over the same period in 2011, which itself marked a sharp rise over previous first-quarter cruise business.
Dutch Oceanwide Expeditions reported that 74 passengers and 21 crew members from the Antarctic expedition cruise ship MV Plancius , stranded in South Georgia have been transferred to a rescue ship and are on their way to Montevideo.
The Falkland Islands fishing industry must, “use it or lose it,” Director/Owner Beauchene Fishing Cheryl Roberts told the local weekly Penguin News referring to the Falklands containerisation link with the rest of the world.
Spain will discuss a joint response with the United States to Argentina‘s forced nationalization of the YPF oil company, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said on Thursday.
Argentina's government said on Thursday that it had agreed with France's Total to work together to boost natural gas output by 2 million cubic metres per day at two Patagonian fields where YPF – which is being nationalized – also has a stake.
Argentina's move to nationalize local oil company YPF, controlled by Spain's Repsol, was strongly criticized by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé.
“You build history the way you can, not the way you want”, said Argentine president Cristina Fernandez during an official ceremony in which she referred to the “recovery” of the country’s main oil and gas corporation YPF, in the midst of the dispute with Spain’s Repsol.
Argentina will seize natural-gas producer YPF Gas SA as part of plans to boost control of its natural resources and increase production, two days after seizing oil producer YPF SA.
The Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute has reached the US capital triggering an interesting exchange in the Washington Post, involving the newspaper and the ambassadors from Argentina and the UK.
The US government finally broke silence regarding the YPF controversy and expressed “deep concern’ over the expropriation plans. A State Department spokesman said on Wednesday the plans “could have an adverse effect on the Argentine economy.”