Stories for March 2014

Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 08:06 UTC
UN draft resolution states Crimea's Sunday referendum 'has no validity'

A draft UN Security Council resolution declares that Sunday's planned referendum on Crimea's status “can have no validity” and urges nations and international organizations not to recognize it, according to a copy obtained by Reuters.
Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 08:00 UTC
Queen Michelle Bachelet is back, but that was the easy bit, says The Economist

Michelle Bachelet became the first person since General Carlos Ibañez in 1952 to return to Chile’s presidential palace, La Moneda, for a second term. According to a recent official history of the building, the general was a stickler for fitness.
Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 07:55 UTC
Argentina will be present with a pavilion at the Boston Seafood Expo

Argentina will be present at the Boston Seafood Expo North America, which is considered the most important of the United States and is scheduled for March 16/18, announced the Argentine Foreign ministry indicating it was part of the government's campaign to increase and diversify foreign trade and exports.
Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:58 UTC
Argentine government picks on Swire interview to attack opposition leaders

Argentine cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich claimed that UK's preference to talk about the Falklands/Malvinas dispute with opposition presidential hopefuls, clearly means that “these leaders are willing to a greater flexibility regarding foreign interests in the dispute”.
Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:51 UTC
Creditor nations Paris Club and Argentina will begin debt discussions in May

The Argentine government confirmed on Friday that the Paris Club of creditor nations have invited the country to start formal negotiations towards the end of May, apparently following on the proposal made by the Cristina Fernandez administration last January.
Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:37 UTC
The Crimean oblast at the heart of a dispute that goes deep into Russian history

On February 27, 1954 Pravda published a short announcement on its front page that the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR had decreed on February 19 the transfer of the Crimean oblast' from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:26 UTC
February annual inflation in Venezuela soars to 57.3%; Maduro blames the 'economic war'

Venezuela's annual inflation rate rose to 57.3% in February, the central bank said as violent opposition demonstrations during the month disrupted the economy. However the bank also pointed out that despite the protests inflation slowed on a month-on-month basis to 2.4% from 3.3% in January.
Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:12 UTC
“Crimea means more to Russia than the Falklands to Britain”

Crimea means more to Russia than the Falklands mean to Britain, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after holding last-ditch talks on the region with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry.
Friday, March 14th 2014 - 10:15 UTC
Falklands' referendum a year ago remembered at the Australian parliament

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.
Friday, March 14th 2014 - 10:12 UTC
China's first two months industrial output figures feed fears of a slowdown

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.