Partners grabbed for fresh Falklands dance

The Falklands’ first commercial oil discovery will make the islands in the South Atlantic rich, bringing the British territory of 2,563 people US$10.5-billion in tax revenue over 25 years. As the bounty transforms the fishing and tourism-dependent economy, tensions may worsen with Argentina, which claims sovereignty over the islands and their mineral wealth. The Latin American country last year threatened to sue any company involved in Falklands drilling and its foreign minister said yesterday the islanders have no right to self-determination.

STANLEY — An overwhelming 99.8% of Falkland Islands voters have backed keeping their government just the way it is: a British Overseas Territory. Of the 1,517 valid votes cast, only 3 islanders voted “no” to the question: “Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?” One vote was somehow lost, officials said Monday.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the Argentine president, appealed to Pope Francis on Monday to intervene in the diplomatic war over the Falkland Islands, as she condemned the “British militarisation of the South Atlantic”. She became the first foreign head of state to meet the Pope, a fellow Argentine, when she was granted a private audience in the Vatican a day before his papacy is formally inaugurated.

The Holy Trinity, a warship used to land the first Argentine forces in the Falklands War with Britain in 1982, has sunk, the navy said. Arturo Puricelli, the defence minister, said the loss of the Holy Trinity was due to "negligence in the best-case scenario, or an attack" aimed at making the government look bad. He did not go into detail.

In the United States, Margaret Thatcher is regarded as the British Ronald Reagan, the "Iron Lady," the Cold War Bodicea who backed America against the Soviet Union, and won. She's also a progressive icon of female power — the first woman premier, a gender barrier that has yet to fall in the U.S.

Next month will determine the eventual fate of the Falkland Islands. The resolution will come through a referendum among the islanders themselves. Argentina isn't happy about it.

Argentina rallied regional support at a summit in Mexico as a British oil rig began drilling in the disputed seas around the Falkland Islands.After losing a short but bloody war over the south Atlantic islands with Britain in 1982, Argentina is furious over the British oil drilling operations in the potentially rich seabed around the archipelago.Leaders from Latin American and Caribbean nations at the two-day summit in the Mexican resort of Cancun were expected to sign up for a resolution backing Argentina, the country's officials said here.