Prime Minister David Cameron reappointed George Osborne as his finance minister on Friday and gave him a bigger cabinet role after Britain's economic recovery helped their party to an unexpectedly big election victory.
The Argentine government on Tuesday sued several energy and support companies that are drilling for oil near the Falkland Islands, the latest chapter of a longstanding dispute over the South Atlantic archipelago, though analysts say it will have little practical effect. The criminal case was filed in Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego province which according to the Argentine constitution includes the Falklands and Antarctica.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has accused Argentina of bullying after it announced on Friday in London that it was starting legal action against companies drilling for oil and gas near the Falkland Islands.
The Permanent Under-Secretary (PUS) at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Simon Fraser, will step down after five years in the role and leave HM Diplomatic Service at the end of July 2015. He was appointed PUS, taking over from Sir Peter Ricketts, in August 2010.
Uruguay and Brazil foreign ministers Rodolfo Nin Novoa and Mauro Vieira will be meeting this week in Brasilia in yet another attempt to push forward the stalled negotiations for a trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, according to the minutes of a meeting of the Uruguayan official with members of the Foreign Affairs committee.
Russia has more claim to Crimea than Britain has to the Falkland Islands, a senior Russian lawmaker insisted Sunday as London again denounced Moscow's “illegal annexation” of the peninsula.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo has renewed his bid to have Gibraltar excluded from the European Union aviation measures. According to Spanish wire reports he raised the issue in Riga during a conference of foreign ministers which was intended to focus on the crisis with Russia and Ukraine.
Young Falkland Islands students studying in the United Kingdom, Kalon Jaffray and Jessica McPhee will be attending the Commonwealth Day events in London, which this year emphasize on the youth of the Commonwealth under the title of ”A Young Commonwealth”.
The British and Spanish foreign ministers sought to highlight a renewed drive toward an ‘ad hoc’ dialogue on Gibraltar this week, but in doing so drew firm red lines that signaled just how difficult that task will prove. The coordinated message was positive and hinted at the possibility of talks ‘in the near future’ if a format could be agreed. But on core issues, there was no change.
United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will open the Diplomatic Academy in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Tuesday 10th February. The Academy, the first in the Foreign Office’s history, will be a centre of excellence and has been established to equip Foreign Office staff with the essential skills for diplomacy in the modern world.