One year on from the Falkland Islands' referendum and public diplomacy efforts are paying dividends according to Members of Legislative Assembly Mike Summers and Michael Poole, reports the latest edition of the Penguin News.
China's industrial output rose 8.6% in January and February, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Retail sales - a key measure of consumer spending - also increased 11.8% from the year before, government figures show. The figures were less than analysts had been expecting, adding to fears of a slowdown.
New Zealand's Fonterra has admitted four food-safety violations following a botulism scare last year that led to recalls of milk products in China. Government officials had filed charges against the dairy company, accusing it of processing and exporting dairy products which did not meet standards.
Foreign Office minister for Latin America Hugo Swire MP, who recently visited the Falklands, sent a letter to Falkland Islanders thanking the warm reception and congratulating them on their strong sense of identity and community. The letter was published in this Friday's edition of the Penguin News.
Demining work did not take place this summer in the Falkland Islands, because efforts were focused on agreeing a multi-year plan for the next round of mine clearance operations, Member of Legislative Assembly Mike Summers stated this week.
Farm land sales in Uruguay totaled a record 1.3bn dollars in 2013, involving 1.868 operations and 370.927 hectares, which is 10% more than in 2012, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food ministry's Stats Office, DIEA. Uruguay's farmland covers approximately 17 million hectares and the most dynamic buyers are the pensions funds, says the report.
Venezuela said the current political unrest in the country poses no danger to the future of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas(ALBA) and the oil initiative PetroCaribe.
Venezuela's state prosecutor said on Thursday the death toll from a month of violent protests had risen to 28, after the nation's top court ordered opposition mayors to dismantle barricades set up by street protesters.
US Secretary of State, John Kerry has rejected the possibility that the Barack Obama administration would side with Argentina in the long-standing dispute with hedge funds over the defaulted bonds from the 2001/2 meltdown. Still the US official praised what he considered some “positive steps” by the Cristina Fernandez government.
Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman said he must be doing the right things regarding the Falklands/Malvinas issue because the Foreign Office prefers to talk to members of the opposition.