Falkland Islands

• Tuesday, January 31st 2012 - 05:35 UTC

  Malvinas dispute a ‘bilateral issue’ which is not included in the EU agenda

  

  European Union ambassador in Buenos Aires Alfonso Diez Torres said that the Falklands/Malvinas issue does not figure in the foreign affairs agenda of the EU, it’s a bilateral issue and he does not see any reason to amend the Lisbon treaty to exclude the disputed South Atlantic Islands as demanded by Argentina.

• Monday, January 30th 2012 - 15:35 UTC

  Keith Padgett interim Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands

  

  Last Friday it was announced that Keith Padgett, Financial Director for the Falkland Islands Government, has been appointed interim Chief Executive of the Islands until a replacement is appointed for outgoing CE, Tim Thorogood.

• Monday, January 30th 2012 - 06:25 UTC

  Contruction of St Helena airport begins next May, should be ready in 48 months

  

  The Argentina press announced on Sunday the construction of an airport in the middle of the Atlantic Island of St Helena, a British Overseas Territory and which would become a crucial hopping point for the Falklands/UK air bridge.

• Saturday, January 28th 2012 - 07:09 UTC

  UK praises naming of Argentine ambassador to London, calls for “strengthened cooperation”

  

  The British government acknowledged on Friday the naming of the new Argentine ambassador to the United Kingdom, and stated that they hoped the coverage of the long-vacant position will permit “the strengthening of cooperation” between the two countries.

• Friday, January 27th 2012 - 10:50 UTC

  Greenpeace claims CFK is ‘ill-advised’ regarding Malvinas environmental claims

  

  The Argentine chapter of Greenpeace suggested President Cristina Fernandez, CFK, is ‘ill-advised’ when she claimed on Wednesday no environmental group has criticized what is “going on in Malvinas” in direct reference to oil exploration and fisheries in the Falklands.

• Friday, January 27th 2012 - 02:51 UTC

  Argentine Senate and House of Commons absorbed by Falklands’ debate

  

  A new round of exchanges on the Falklands/Malvinas dispute took place on Thursday when an Argentine Senate Committee unanimously voted in favour of debating a declaration bill “strongly repudiating” British Prime Minister David Cameron’s “colonialist” statements, while a British minister accused Argentina of “sabre-rattling.”

• Friday, January 27th 2012 - 02:44 UTC

  Falklands’ oil industry says first round of exploration was “hugely successful”

  

  Falklands’ oil industry sources said the round of oil exploration began in 2010 with the “Ocean Guardian” rig and just concluded, involving Rockhopper Exploration and Desire Petroleum, was “hugely successful” with several major oil and gas discoveries.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 18:58 UTC

  MP proposes British Overseas Territories be represented in Westminster

  

  Conservative backbench MP Andrew Rosindell has called for the Isle of Man and other Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories, including the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands to be represented in Westminster.

• Thursday, January 26th 2012 - 04:28 UTC

  CFK on Malvinas: in this upside down world “we are called colonialists and bad guys”

  

  Fully recovered from the thyroidectomy and with her irony sharp as ever, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, CFK, resumed office on Wednesday and in an hour plus colloquial speech in Casa Rosada spent a good twenty minutes talking about Malvinas, colonialism and promised more rigour in the campaign to have the UK sit and discuss Falklands sovereignty.

• Wednesday, January 25th 2012 - 23:51 UTC

  UK says Falklands’ self determination is a universal right enshrined in UN charter

  

  The UK will not negotiate the Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty “until the Islander so wish to” said on Wednesday a spokesperson from the Foreign Office.