
The UK Foreign secretary has paid tribute to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who he said left a lasting impression on his country. Chavez, 58, died on Tuesday after being seriously ill with cancer, ending his 14-year rule.

The UK Financial Services Authority repeatedly failed to act on warnings that banks were trying to rig inter-bank lending rates (mainly Libor) at height of the financial crisis, according to an internal review published Tuesday by the regulator.

The Globe and Mail (*) editorial published Sunday, March - As a country that with some justice prides itself as a global beacon for democracy, the United States should abandon its equivocation over the status of the Falkland Islands and agree to throw its considerable weight behind the winner of the referendum asking Islanders whether they wish to remain a UK overseas territory.

The referendum on the fate of the Falkland Islands is a publicity stunt with no legal status, Argentina's ambassador to Britain said on Monday, warning that oil exploitation around the territory was impossible without better regional ties.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was under pressure after his Conservatives were beaten into third place in a key election last March first, by his scandal-hit coalition partners and a Euro-skeptic party.

Falkland Islands Governor Nigel Haywood accused Argentina of “making stuff up” in its relentless verbal assault on the UK and the Islands. With a referendum on whether the Islanders want to remain British less than a week away, Haywood vowed to keep “pushing back” against the “extraordinary” sabre-rattling, UK’s sensationalist tabloid The Sun published.

By Gwynne Dyer - Chinese survey vessels go into the waters around the disputed islands and Japanese patrol ships tail them much too closely. Twice last month Chinese maritime surveillance aircraft flew into the airspace around the Japanese-controlled islands and Tokyo scrambled F-15 fighters to meet them. On the second occasion, China then sent fighters too. Can these people be serious?

The UN Decolonisation Committee has not received any further requests on the Falklands/Malvinas issue, and “there is no such procedure as self-determination regarding the Islands dispute”, according to the C24 president Diego Morejón Pazmiño, standing Ecuadorean ambassador before the UN.

Dubbed the “entente frugale” and criticised by some as a dangerous dilution of military sovereignty, Franco-British defence cooperation is nonetheless growing stronger. Shrinking budgets, a less indulgent United States and Europe’s diminishing military clout in the world have bolstered the two countries’ determination to work together.

Ahead of a much disputed by election at Eastleigh, Hampshire, Prime Minister David Cameron had a chance to make an impression during the PM questions on Wednesday accusing Labour hopeful John O’Farrell of supporting terrorism and Argentina because he wanted Great Britain to lose the Falklands’ war.