International

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:32 UTC

  Opposition admits it will be hard to beat Chancellor Merkel in September

  

  Germany's two main opposition parties traded warnings against joining forces with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives after September's election if they fail to win their own left-of-centre majority.

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:27 UTC

  Italian president confirms PM Monti until a new government can be formed

  

  Italian President Giorgio Napolitano ruled out standing down early to make way for new parliamentary elections, following the failure of attempts to form a government this week. He stressed that Prime Minister Mario Monti retained full authority at the head of a caretaker administration until a new government can be formed

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:13 UTC

  Cameron and Rajoy scheduled to meet this month, says Madrid media

  

  The prime ministers of Spain and Britain will meet in Madrid during the second week of April, according to a weekend report in ABC. The article said the meeting between Mariano Rajoy and David Cameron would centre primarily on the Euro-zone crisis.

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:05 UTC

  Unasur calls on all sides involved to ensure peace and security in the Korean peninsula

  

  The Union of South American Nations, Unasur expressed deep concern and called on all sides involved to ensure the preservation of peace and security in the Korean peninsula.

• Saturday, March 30th 2013 - 10:15 UTC

  Falkland Islands: More stunts can be expected from Argentina says visiting diplomat

  

  “I THINK there is no doubt that the Argentine Government will continue to look for opportunities to pull stunts of one kind or another.”
  The speaker was Dr Peter Hayes, the Director of the FCO’s Overseas Territories Directorate who was paying a short visit to the Falkland Islands last week.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 10:15 UTC

  Falklands’ sovereignty belongs to the ‘whole of Latinamerica’ says Uruguay

  

  Foreign minister Luis Almagro said on Wednesday that Malvinas Islands’ sovereignty belongs to the whole of Latinamerica and as part of Latinamerica and the Caribbean, “we will defend the territorial integrity of the continent”.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 09:56 UTC

  Argentina prepared to offer suing ‘vulture funds’ a 25-year bond, says Ambito

  

  Argentina plans to offer suing “holdout” creditors a 25-year bond equal to the face value of their debt when the country defaulted in 2002, local financial daily Ambito Financiero reported on Wednesday.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 09:40 UTC

  “Only a mentally ill would want to govern Italy now” says frustrated Bersani

  

  The head of Italy's centre-left bloc has hit an impasse in his efforts to form a government and said only a mentally ill person would want to govern Italy now. Pier Luigi Bersani was rebuffed by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement on Wednesday.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 09:30 UTC

  All EU eyes on Cypriot banks which open Thursday with tough deposit controls

  

  Cyprus trucked out cash for its banks on Wednesday night to prepare them to reopen to a siege by anxious depositors, with tough controls imposed on the use of currency to avert a bank run as a result of its harsh rescue deal.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 09:26 UTC

  Frustration with Hollande at its peak; Thursday he will address the French people

  

  French President Francois Hollande's popularity rating has fallen to its lowest level since he came to power, according to a poll released a day before he is due to address the nation to ask for patience as he attempts to revive the economy.