
By Mike Summers (*)
Published in The Washington Times
In 1776, a group of American patriots wrote a letter to their king informing him they were unhappy with their political status and had plans to change it. Americans know this story well. That letter, the Declaration of Independence, formed the United States' profound belief that we all have certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Argentina took on Tuesday its legal battle with holdout creditors to the US Supreme Court by appealing an adverse decision handed down by a lower US court in October of last year, according to Telam the official news agency from the Argentine government.

Chinese stocks touched a four-and-a-half-year low on Tuesday amid persistent concerns over the government's credit-tightening policy. The Shanghai Composite SSE index fell as much as 5.8% at one point, before a late rally meant it ended down 0.3%.

Spanish oil corporation Repsol's board is scheduled to consider on Wednesday a non-cash compensation offer from Argentina over the seizure of its majority stake in energy firm YPF, according to the Spanish government news agency EFE.

British Minister for Europe David Lidington strongly protested on Tuesday to Spanish Minister, Íñigo Mendez de Vigo, following an incident in British Gibraltar territorial waters, when allegedly shots were fired.

Leaders of an Argentine indigenous community together with Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Perez Esquivel met on Monday with Pope Francis and requested he intercedes before Argentine president Cristina Fernandez so that she receives a delegation from the Qom community.

Colombia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization signed an agreement on information security that will allow exploring future cooperation and consultation in areas of common interest. The agreement was signed on Tuesday in Brussels by NATO Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow and the Defense Minister of Colombia, Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno.

Ghana's Supreme Court has ruled that the seizure of an Argentine warship that led to a weeks-long ordeal last year was “fundamentally and patently wrong,” a copy of the decision released last Friday said.

A last-minute no-show by Pope Francis at a concert where he was to have been the guest of honor has sent another clear signal that he is going to do things his way and does not like the Vatican high life.

PHD student James Muirhead, based in Bristol’s Brunel Institute, is preparing for a trip to the Falkland Islands where he hopes to collect memories of the SS Great Britain which was abandoned there at Sparrow Cove in 1937.