International

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 18:18 UTC

  Controversy over the cost of the funeral; William Hague to the rescue

  

  The cost of Lady Thatcher’s funeral next Wednesday will be revealed afterwards, but the Daily Mirror has estimated it could be as high as £10m. The taxpayer is expected to foot most of the bill, with the Thatcher family agreeing to make an unspecified contribution.
  Foreign Secretary Hague said Britain could “afford” to cover some of the costs.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 18:03 UTC

  Details of Lady Thatcher’s funeral; Cristina Fernandez not in the invite list

  

  Britain has decided not to invite Argentine President Cristina Kirchner to the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Downing Street said on Thursday. The decision follows on a special request from the Thatcher family.However Ambassdor Alicia Castro will be invited since according to diplomatic protocol Britain has normal relations with the UK, and it is a state to state issue.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 15:26 UTC

  Crucially different from Hong Kong

  

  By Steve Tsang (*) - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fought a war with Argentina to defend the Falklands, but she negotiated with China over the future of Hong Kong. Should the apparent success of British diplomacy in securing an acceptable future of Hong Kong be a shining example for a similar solution for the Falklands?

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 15:17 UTC

  Gibraltar represents a road map

  

  By Jose C. Moya (*) - The recent referendum’s near unanimous support for British rule seems to leave little space for negotiations. The passing of Thatcher -- who was seen as a liberator by most Islanders -- will, if anything, harden their position by reviving memories of the war. And the position of the Argentine population is equally hard, if the recent revival and political use of the issue by the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is any indication.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 07:37 UTC

  Cooperate and move on

  

  By Fabian Bosoer and Federico Finchelstein (*) - In Argentina, the passing of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher brings memories of a seemingly irresoluble conflict. The conflict stands as a metaphor of a larger history of global misunderstandings.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 07:31 UTC

  Confidence behind the Falklands

  

  By Klaus Dodds (*) - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s death does not represent an opportunity to resolve the long-standing sovereignty dispute over the Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas. If anything it is a reminder of how entrenched her legacy is to this particular aspect of British foreign and security policy.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 07:12 UTC

  Margaret Thatcher, an Iron legacy for Latin America

  

  By Rafael Rincon - The following piece tries to explain how Lady Thatcher was seen in Latin America and the reactions her death has triggered in the region. ‘An Iron legacy’ was written by Chilean commentator Rafael Rincon, an expert in international relations and strategy and also linked to the oil industry.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 07:04 UTC

  Pinochet followers call Lady Thatcher an “extraordinary world stateswoman”

  

  Followers of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinocher published two obituaries in the country’s leading newspaper expressing their condolences on the death of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whom they describe as “an extraordinary stateswoman” and friend of Chile “in very difficult moments in recent history”

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 07:00 UTC

  Costa Cruises pay a million Euros fine to dismiss criminal charges

  

  Costa Cruises accepted a one million Euros fine as part of a settlement with the Italian government that would dismiss possible criminal charges for last year's ‘Costa Concordia’ shipwreck, which killed 32 people.

• Thursday, April 11th 2013 - 02:54 UTC

  Parliament pays tribute to Lady Thatcher but there were also critical voices

  

  Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday paid tribute to Baroness Thatcher as an “extraordinary leader and an extraordinary woman”. Cameron told the British parliament at the start of a specially convened session the former prime minister “defined and overcame the great challenges of her age”.