
LIBERTY Lodge, built in the Falklands to house visiting British Falklands War veterans, was officially opened last night by the Commander British Forces Falkland Islands.

Speaker for the Falkland Islands' Legislative Assembly, Darwin Lewis Clifton OBE, has been fined by Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) for dealing in oil shares on the basis of inside information. However, FSA described Mr. Clifton's conduct as non deliberate and said his full cooperation with the investigation had qualified him for a 30% fine reduction.

Brazil's president Lula da Silva had a stunning 84% approval during January the highest since taking office in 2003, according to the latest public opinion poll published this week in Sao Paulo. Meanwhile his Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet is recovering from low records and now has a 53% support the second highest since December 2006 (54.3%).

Chile will be hosting at the end of March the Progressive Leaders' summit which is organized by the British think-tank Policy Network. The previous event was in London, last April hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as head of the Labour party.

US President Barack Obama announced Wednesday his government will impose a salary cap of 500,000 US dollars for senior executives at companies receiving federal economic bailout funds.

Falkland Islands deputy governor Paul Martinez described British press reports on Prince William doing part of his 18 month RAF Search and Rescue (SAR) course in the South Atlantic Islands (claimed by Argentina) as speculation and not correct.

Cordoba and Santa Fe, two big farming provinces in Argentina, are calling on the federal government to suspend crop export taxes for three to six months to help farmers in the face of the worst drought in decades.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has declared a national holiday to mark his 10 years in power. The capital, Caracas, was quieter than usual, as workers and children stayed away from offices and schools.

With the rising threat of further job cuts and economic contraction Europe faces the risk of more social unrest unless measures are taken to quickly tackle the global economic crisis, France's finance minister says. Christine Lagarde said trust in the financial system needs to be restored.

Confirming what was advanced by Mercopress, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday no decision has been taken to post Prince Williams to the Falklands, following news in the British press which caused a strong reaction from Argentina that has sovereignty claims over the South Atlantic islands.