International

• Monday, March 4th 2013 - 06:41 UTC

  Independence party strikes serious setback for PM Cameron in by-election

  

  British Prime Minister David Cameron was under pressure after his Conservatives were beaten into third place in a key election last March first, by his scandal-hit coalition partners and a Euro-skeptic party.

• Monday, March 4th 2013 - 06:32 UTC

  Falklands’ governor tells The Sun “Argentina keeps making stuff up”

  

  Falkland Islands Governor Nigel Haywood accused Argentina of “making stuff up” in its relentless verbal assault on the UK and the Islands. With a referendum on whether the Islanders want to remain British less than a week away, Haywood vowed to keep “pushing back” against the “extraordinary” sabre-rattling, UK’s sensationalist tabloid The Sun published.

• Monday, March 4th 2013 - 06:27 UTC

  Grillo wants a referendum on the Euro and a review of Italy’s debt situation

  

  Beppe Grillo, the leader of the 5-Star Movement that shocked the Italian political system has said he wants an online vote on Italy's membership of the Euro, in an interview with a German magazine published.

• Monday, March 4th 2013 - 06:08 UTC

  EU begins campaign to uncover extent of branding fraud with horse meat

  

  The European Union wide campaign to determine the extent of branding fraud in the food industry, with horse meat sold as beef, commenced on the weekend. Over 2,250 processed food items will be tested for DNA in member states.

• Monday, March 4th 2013 - 05:43 UTC

  Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands: Another Falklands?

  

  By Gwynne Dyer - Chinese survey vessels go into the waters around the disputed islands and Japanese patrol ships tail them much too closely. Twice last month Chinese maritime surveillance aircraft flew into the airspace around the Japanese-controlled islands and Tokyo scrambled F-15 fighters to meet them. On the second occasion, China then sent fighters too. Can these people be serious?

• Monday, March 4th 2013 - 05:06 UTC

  The “entente fugale” and the French point of view on defence of the Falklands

  

  Dubbed the “entente frugale” and criticised by some as a dangerous dilution of military sovereignty, Franco-British defence cooperation is nonetheless growing stronger. Shrinking budgets, a less indulgent United States and Europe’s diminishing military clout in the world have bolstered the two countries’ determination to work together.

• Saturday, March 2nd 2013 - 08:27 UTC

  On Monday congregation of cardinals begins process to vote for a new Pope

  

  On the first day that the Church is without a Pope, Cardinal Angelo Sodano announced that the first general congregation of cardinals will take place next Monday morning. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, made the date public in an official letter sent to the world’s cardinal on Friday March first.

• Saturday, March 2nd 2013 - 07:55 UTC

  Argentina offers to pay ‘holdouts’ but on same terms as those who accepted debt restructuring

  

  President Cristina Fernández defended on Friday her debt reduction policies and blasted the so-called vulture funds and multilateral organizations but also admitted Argentina was willing to pay holdouts on the same conditions that those who accepted the 2005 and 2010 debt restructuring.

• Friday, March 1st 2013 - 16:05 UTC

  IAG insists Iberia “must adapt to survive”; forecasts profit this year

  

  British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) has pledged to push through a plan to shrink Spanish arm Iberia by 15% and deliver a profit rebound this year following a group-wide loss last year.

• Friday, March 1st 2013 - 13:29 UTC

  Euro-zone unemployment reaching 12%; Greece and Spain above 26%

  

  Unemployment in the Euro zone reached a new high of 11.9% in January, as an additional 201,000 people joined the jobless ranks in the crisis-battered bloc, latest data showed Friday. The unemployment rate has been increasing relentlessly since the middle of 2011.