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.
Gross domestic product (GDP) in the US in the last three months of 2012 has been revised from showing contraction to growth. The Commerce Department's second estimate was that the economy had grown at an annualised 0.1%. The first estimate was a 0.1% contraction.
US President Barack Obama has signed into effect a wave of steep spending cuts which he has warned could damage the US economy. The cuts - known as the sequester and drawn up two years ago will take 85bn dollars from the US federal budget this year.
The US Air Force has chosen Brazil’s Embraer for a 427 million dollars contract to supply light attack planes to Afghan forces, the company said Thursday, despite competition from an American bid.
Jack Lew won the Senate Finance Committee’s approval to become US Treasury secretary and a full vote in the upper house confirmed Chuck Hagel as the next US defense secretary. The Senate approved the nomination Tuesday in a vote of 58 to 41.
Starting in London his first trip overseas as the new US Secretary of State, John Kerry kept strictly to US policy on the Falkland Islands and refused to comment on the coming referendum when Islanders are expected to decide on their political status and future.
Foreign Secretary William Hague will discuss the United States' position on the Falkland Islands with Secretary of State John Kerry following reports that Washington will not recognise the result of next month's referendum.
By Fernando Petrella (*) - The following article by an Argentine former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs was published as a column in the Buenos Aires media. The following reproduction in English is not necessarily literal but tries keep to its spirit as much as possible.
Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry won overwhelming confirmation from his fellow US senators as secretary of state, succeeding Hillary Clinton as the top US diplomat. The vote was 94-3. Dissenters were Republicans Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Texans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. Kerry.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged US lawmakers to lift the country's borrowing limit to avoid a potentially disastrous debt default, warning that the economy was still at risk from political gridlock over the deficit.