
U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa on Monday turned back an effort by Argentina's government to remove the court-appointed mediator in the dispute with creditors that triggered a 'selective default' situation by the country last week. He also revealed that the default condition was at his direction and was 'accurate'.

Argentina's economy probably will contract in 2014, the head of the United Nation's body for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC said on Monday, as fallout from a new sovereign debt crisis will keep the country out of money markets.

A candle-lit vigil at Westminster Abbey and a lights out event have concluded a day of ceremonies marking 100 years since Britain entered World War One. People were invited to turn off their lights for an hour until 23:00 BST, the time war was declared on 4 August 1914.

Argentina’s debt problems threatens to worsen trade tensions in Mercosur, adding to the economic woes of Brazil in a tense election year and causing headaches in Uruguay as the Argentine economy looks likely to plunge deeper into recession.

By Eileen Appelbaum (The New York Times) - There is no way to construe as fair the United States court ruling that Argentina cannot pay 93% of its creditors, unless it first pays a small group of hedge funds. It's not fair to the 93% of bondholders who negotiated a restructuring of Argentina’s debt in 2005 and 2010 with reduced payments.

Russia has been ordered to pay about 2.5bn dollars to former shareholders in defunct oil group Yukos by the European Court of Human Rights. Russia's Justice Ministry said the ruling was unfair and it had three months to appeal against the decision.

The Falklands/Malvinas war, the 2001 default and the 2014 default are the three events that are going to go down, in recent Argentina history, as the three worst strategic mistakes committed by the country, according to political analyst and historian Rosendo Fraga.

Unemployment in the extreme south Chilean region of Magallanes was the lowest in the country during the April/June quarter, 2.3%, according to the latest report from the country's stats office, INE. This is 0.5 percentage points less than the previous quarter and 1.4 percentage points below a year ago.

The following article by Peter Eavis and Alexandra Stevenson was published in The New York Times and addresses the current litigation between Argentina and the speculative funds. The hedge fund firm of billionaire Paul E. Singer has about 300 employees, yet it has managed to force Argentina, a nation of 41 million people, into a position where it now has to contemplate a humbling surrender.

The crew of the Royal Navy warship HMS Portland returned home to a rapturous welcome in Plymouth on Friday after a successful seven-month deployment to West Africa, the Falkland Islands and the Caribbean. The vessel that was replaced by HMS Iron Duke in its Atlantic deployment spent four weeks in the Falklands.