Downing Street has rejected an offer from the United States to help the UK and Argentina resolve their latest dispute over the Falkland Islands. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the offer after renewed tensions were triggered with the beginning of a round of exploratory oil drilling in the Islands’ waters.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner formally requested visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States act as intermediate in the Argentine-United Kingdom Falkland Islands dispute.
Argentina's ambassador to Australia says Melbourne based mining group BHP Billiton will face business sanctions if it pushes ahead with oil exploration in Falklands waters. BHP has a licence to explore off the Falkland Islands and is scheduled to start doing so in the next four months, reports Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Falkland Islands and the political figure of President Barak Obama were among the issues addressed by United States Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela during a Friday mid day press conference in anticipation of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to five countries of the region.
FOUR days into a drilling operation that has captured the attention of the world’s media, Desire Petroleum’s Operations Director Bob Lyons conceded: “This is it: we’re a one trick pony. It’ll either be successful or it won’t. It is very simple.”
United Kingdom oil and gas companies drilling near the Falklands Islands may become takeover targets this year, Deloitte & Touche LLP said in a report released Thursday in London.
The British Ministry of Defence strongly denied Thursday any incident in the Falklands territorial waters involving a Royal Navy South Atlantic patrol and an Argentine Navy corvette, as reported in some London sensational media.
Argentina’s Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana as had been anticipated on Wednesday formally asked United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to interfere in the unilateral decisions Britain has made regarding the Falklands/Malvinas Islands issue and highlighted that from now on everyone has to wait until Ban acts within a good-solicitor framework.
The United Kingdom said on Tuesday it was willing to re-open talks with Argentina but not on Falkland Islands sovereignty or the development by the Islanders of a hydrocarbons industry. The statement came on the eve of a meeting of Argentina’s Foreign minister Jorge Taiana with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
The campaign by millionaire Scots businessman and ex-Para Tony Banks to raise funds for British soldiers traumatised by their wartime experiences will receive a shot in the arm, with the screening in April of a documentary charting his emotional return to the Falkland Islands.