Politics

• Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 08:06 UTC

  UN draft resolution states Crimea's Sunday referendum 'has no validity'

  

  A draft UN Security Council resolution declares that Sunday's planned referendum on Crimea's status “can have no validity” and urges nations and international organizations not to recognize it, according to a copy obtained by Reuters.

• Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 08:00 UTC

  Queen Michelle Bachelet is back, but that was the easy bit, says The Economist

  

  Michelle Bachelet became the first person since General Carlos Ibañez in 1952 to return to Chile’s presidential palace, La Moneda, for a second term. According to a recent official history of the building, the general was a stickler for fitness.

• Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:58 UTC

  Argentine government picks on Swire interview to attack opposition leaders

  

  Argentine cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich claimed that UK's preference to talk about the Falklands/Malvinas dispute with opposition presidential hopefuls, clearly means that “these leaders are willing to a greater flexibility regarding foreign interests in the dispute”.

• Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:51 UTC

  Creditor nations Paris Club and Argentina will begin debt discussions in May

  

  The Argentine government confirmed on Friday that the Paris Club of creditor nations have invited the country to start formal negotiations towards the end of May, apparently following on the proposal made by the Cristina Fernandez administration last January.

• Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:37 UTC

  The Crimean oblast at the heart of a dispute that goes deep into Russian history

  

  On February 27, 1954 Pravda published a short announcement on its front page that the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR had decreed on February 19 the transfer of the Crimean oblast' from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

• Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:26 UTC

  February annual inflation in Venezuela soars to 57.3%; Maduro blames the 'economic war'

  

  Venezuela's annual inflation rate rose to 57.3% in February, the central bank said as violent opposition demonstrations during the month disrupted the economy. However the bank also pointed out that despite the protests inflation slowed on a month-on-month basis to 2.4% from 3.3% in January.

• Saturday, March 15th 2014 - 04:12 UTC

  “Crimea means more to Russia than the Falklands to Britain”

  

  Crimea means more to Russia than the Falklands mean to Britain, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after holding last-ditch talks on the region with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry.

• Friday, March 14th 2014 - 10:15 UTC

  Falklands' referendum a year ago remembered at the Australian parliament

  

  One year on from the Falkland Islands' referendum and public diplomacy efforts are paying dividends according to Members of Legislative Assembly Mike Summers and Michael Poole, reports the latest edition of the Penguin News.

• Friday, March 14th 2014 - 09:18 UTC

  Falkland Islanders right to self determination reaffirmed by Minister Swire

  

  Foreign Office minister for Latin America Hugo Swire MP, who recently visited the Falklands, sent a letter to Falkland Islanders thanking the warm reception and congratulating them on their strong sense of identity and community. The letter was published in this Friday's edition of the Penguin News.

• Friday, March 14th 2014 - 09:08 UTC

  Falklands focused on a multi-year plan of mine clearance

  

  Demining work did not take place this summer in the Falkland Islands, “because efforts were focused on agreeing a multi-year plan for the next round of mine clearance operations,” Member of Legislative Assembly Mike Summers stated this week.