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STANLEY, Falkland Islands – An overwhelming 99.8 percent 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. The referendum was aimed at showing the world that the residents' self-determination must be considered in any discussion about the future of the remote South Atlantic islands that are claimed by both...

Residents of the Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly to remain a British Overseas Territory, an official said late Monday. The question put to voters was: "Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?" More than 99% of voters said yes, according to Darren Christie, public relations manager for the Falklands Islands government. Just three people voted no. Turnout was 92%. "Speaks for itself, I think," Christie said about the vote. Monday marked the final day of a two-day referendum on the disputed Falkland Islands, which Argentinians call Las Malvinas....

The FCO organizes press conferences like weddings, visitors on one side, hosts on the other, and inevitably the first question that came whistling from the British side of the aisle was about the Falklands’ planned March 10 to 11 referendum. Islanders will be asked, “Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an overseas territory of the United Kingdom?” That they will answer with a resounding “Yes!” is not in doubt. That’s the sort of enthusiasm Brits wanted from Kerry too. Instead they got this: Let me be very clear about our position with respect...

The Falklands Islands will be under Argentinian control within 20 years, the South American country's foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, has said in an interview with the Guardian. Visiting London for the first time, he ruled out a military solution to the 130-year-old sovereignty dispute but claimed the world increasingly recognised that the islands were a product of colonialism. He accused the British government of being motivated by a fanatical desire to hold on to the islands and claimed "the United Kingdom has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity to find a solution for the Malvinas". He said: "I...

<p>Argentina’s defense chief expressed shame Wednesday after a Navy destroyer sank at its moorings, putting on display the declining fortunes of a once-proud fleet.</p> <p>The ARA Trinidad led Argentina’s 1982 sea war against Britain, but has long been mothballed and used for spare parts to sustain what’s left of Argentina’s Navy.</p>

Today the Telegraph is reporting that British Royal Navy strategists take seriously the nationalistic trash-talk emanating from leftist twit Cristina Kirchner: there's already planning for contingencies ranging from a simple show-of-force to another direct military challenge to British sovereignty in the Falklands (which Argentinians refer to as El Malvinas).... In a situation that eerily echoes that of today -except replace 'left wing' with 'right wing'- in April 1982 the South American country had a failing right-wing junta in Buenos Aires -desperate for some populist appeal/diversion to quell domestic (economic) unrest- attempt to buoy public support through an ill-advised nationalistic military conquest. And it worked, for a while: not...

A series of military options are being actively considered as the war of words over the islands intensifies. It is understood that additional troops, another warship and extra RAF Typhoon combat aircraft could be dispatched to the region ahead of the March referendum on the Falkland Islands’ future. The options being proposed by planners at the Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, north-west London are also said to include a “show of force” such as conducting naval exercises in the South Atlantic. These could involve the deployment of the Royal Navy’s Response Task Force Group, a flotilla comprising destroyers, a frigate,...

Defence chiefs prepare new plans to defend Falkland Islands Defence chiefs have drawn up new contingency plans designed to prevent hostile action by Argentina towards the Falkland Islands. By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent 9:00PM GMT 12 Jan 2013 A series of military options are being actively considered as the war of words over the islands intensifies. It is understood that additional troops, another warship and extra RAF Typhoon combat aircraft could be dispatched to the region ahead of the March referendum on the Falkland Islands’ future. The options being proposed by planners at the Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, north-west...

London (CNN) -- Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has again opened the dispute over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, accusing the British government of blatant colonialism. Known to the Argentinians as Las Malvinas, the two countries went to war over the territory in 1982 after the then military government in Argentina landed troops on the islands. In an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron and published in British newspapers Thursday, the Argentinian leader said "Britain, the colonial power, has refused to return the territories to the Argentine Republic, thus preventing it from restoring...

Argentina’s president called on Britain on Thursday to relinquish control of the Falkland Islands, accusing London of taking part in an act of “blatant colonialism” in claiming the wind-swept archipelago. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner published an open letter in the Guardian newspaper urging Prime Minister David Cameron to honor U.N. resolutions which she says backs her case for the return of the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas. She has made several similar demands in the past. …

Sir Rex Hunt, who was governor of the Falkland Islands during the Argentine invasion in 1982 which triggered the Falklands War, has died aged 86. A statement said Sir Rex, who had retired to Stockton on Tees, died in hospital on Sunday night. The Legislative Assembly of the Falklands said he would be forever remembered for his years of service. He was captured by the Argentine invasion force during the Falklands War and expelled from the islands. He was granted the Freedom Of Stanley in 1985 to recognise his contributions to the islands. Sir Rex, who grew up in Redcar...

Sir Rex Hunt, who was in charge of the Falkland Islands when Argentina invaded in 1982, has died aged 86. Sir Rex was considered a hero in the Falklands for his courage in organising the resistance to the Argentine invasion. He was taken prisoner by the Argentine invasion force and expelled to Uruguay. But when Britain recaptured the islands following the 74-day war he returned as Governor and remained in post until 1985. The Falkland Islands Government said it had received the news with 'great sadness'. In a statement it added: 'He will forever be remembered in the islands for...

One was an Australian computer hacker; the other a head of state. They did not speak each other’s language; and their first encounter was a videolink conversation across 6,000miles. ....“Welcome to the club of the persecuted!” a beaming Mr Correa[President of Ecuador]told the grinning Australian. ...on Mr Assange’s Russian television chat show in May, the Ecuadorean discussed at great length his resentment of American“imperialism”, and his vehement dislike of big business, media barons and “elites”. ..........Mr Assange nodded knowingly....... The two men laughed and joked as they congratulated each other on their pariah status. ......On Thursday, Mr Correa’s government announced...

While publicly claiming neutrality between Argentina and the U.K. during the 1982 Falklands War, President Ronald Reagan’s administration had developed plans to loan a ship to the Royal Navy if it lost one of its aircraft carriers in the war, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, told the U.S. Naval Institute on June 26. Lehman and then Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger agreed to support U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with the loan of the amphibious warship USS Iwo Jima , he said.

The Falkland Islands, the South American islands subject to a bitter territorial dispute between the United Kingdom and Argentina, are to have a referendum over their links to the UK. Here's a full statement from David Cameron, via The Guardian: "I have always said that it is up to the Falkland Islanders themselves to choose whether they want to be British and that the world should listen to their views. Thirty years ago they made clear that they wanted to stay British. That's why British forces bravely liberated the island from Argentine invaders. Now the Argentine Government wants to put...

The Argentine foreign ministry on Monday declared "illegal and clandestine" the activities of Desire Petroleum, Falkland Oil and Gas, Rockhopper Exploration, Borders and Southern Petroleum, and Argos Resources on the grounds that they are drilling in Argentine waters. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the companies were operating "in a sovereign area of the Argentine nation and as such fall within its specified laws and rules". The companies "are not authorised by the Argentine government under law 17.319 on hydrocarbons", she added. According to the Argentine foreign ministry, her declaration opened the way for the "immediate launch" of criminal proceedings....

In his talks with President Obama in March, David Cameron reportedly gained assurances from the White House that Washington would stop pressing for negotiations between London and Buenos Aires over the sovereignty of the Falklands. If such an assurance was given, it was surely worthless. As Mercosur Press (South Atlantic News Agency) has just reported, the State Department is once again calling for UK-Argentina negotiations, ahead of next week’s Organisation of American States summit in Bolivia:

In his talks with President Obama in March, David Cameron reportedly gained assurances from the White House that Washington would stop pressing for negotiations between London and Buenos Aires over the sovereignty of the Falklands. If such an assurance was given, it was surely worthless. As Mercosur Press (South Atlantic News Agency) has just reported, the State Department is once again calling for UK-Argentina negotiations, ahead of next week’s Organisation of American States summit in Bolivia: “Our policy is unchanged. We believe that this is a bilateral issue that needs to be worked out directly between Argentina and the United...

Bristling with cutting-edge technology and carrying an awesome array of weaponry, the Royal Navy’s new destroyer HMS Dauntless is said to be one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful warships. But the £1 billion ($1.61 billion) vessel was left helpless and stranded—when a £10 ($16) fuse apparently blew. Dauntless was left without power and plunged into darkness. According to one source on board, the ship was ‘drifting for several minutes’ before the fault was corrected. No official cause for the problem has been given, but Navy insiders suggested that the fuse blew because a complicated water-cooling system had not been...

Alicia Castro tried to pull Argentina's immediate neighbours into the dispute, claiming UK diplomatic and business relations could be damaged if the islands were not handed over to Buenos Aires. She said Las Malvinas – Argentina's name for the Falklands – would be better off if they cut their ties with the UK.