Showing posts with label because. Show all posts
Showing posts with label because. Show all posts

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Argentina pulls out of meeting to discuss Falkands because representatives from the islands would be present

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Argentine foreign minister Hector Timerman pulled out of the meeting, due to be held in London, after representatives of the Falkland Islands government were slated to attend.

Argentina does not recognise the government as legitimate.

In a statement Mr Timerman described the islanders as the 'colonists from the Malvinas.'

Residents were widely expected to have told Argentina they should respect islanders' rights and leave them in peace.

It is believed that the majority of the 3,000 islanders want to remain under British rule.

This latest diplomatic spat is likely to further raise the tensions between the UK and Argentina over the future of the islands.

In a strong statement Mr Timerman said he was sorry that Mr Hague "can't meet without the supervision of the colonists from the Malvinas".

The curt letter added: 'It's a shame that you reject a bilateral meeting. You need not keep trying to put together meetings during my visit to London. Leave that job to our own efficient embassy.'

Mr Timerman invited Mr Hague to meet with him in Buenos Aires, where he said "my fellow foreign ministers can freely meet with whomever they wish without being pressured or having their presence conditioned on meetings that they haven't asked for and don't interest them".

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has in recent years strongly asserted her country's demands for the Falklands to come under its sovereignty despite the opposition of the islanders.

Earlier this month, she had an advert published in British newspapers claiming that Argentina had been stripped of the islands in "a blatant exercise of 19th century colonialism".

Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly insisted the residents of the Falklands must decide their own future and a referendum on the islands' political status is to be held in March.

In a statement released before Mr Timerman turned down the meeting, the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands stressed that their representatives, Dick Sawle and Jan Cheek, would not be "negotiating any deal".

"Rather we are anticipating a full and frank exchange of views," the assembly said.

"Indeed we look forward to giving Mr Timerman some very direct messages on the unacceptability of Argentina's actions against the Falkland Islands in recent years.

"We demand that our rights be respected, and that we be left in peace to choose our own future and to develop our country for our children and generations to come.

"It is only right that he should hear this directly from us, as well as from Mr Hague."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are aware that Argentine foreign minister Hector Timerman is due in the UK next week, and have invited him to come to the Foreign Office to meet the Foreign Secretary and representatives of the UK Government and the Falkland Islands Government."


View the original article here

Thursday, February 7, 2013

A load of old rubbish? Council to remove bins because they collect the wrong type of litter

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The local authority is concerned that bins are being used for commercial and residential waste that should be collected directly from businesses and homes.

In future the council plans to only place bins in busy areas, including shopping and tourist streets and outside schools, fast food restaurants, Tube stations and bus stops.

The council has already carried out a trial of the new plans on Earl’s Court Road, and reported only a very slight increase in littering.

“Both types of ‘abuse’ waste can fill litter bins very quickly as they tend to be full bags rather than ‘on-the-go’ litter,” a report compiled for the local authority said.

The authority has denied that the decision to withdraw the number of bins was about saving money, as it is already spending around £60,000 on new bins for the area.

However, residents have said the policy would lead to “chaos” as people would not look for a bin elsewhere.

William Casey, 20, a chemical engineering student from north London, speaking told the London Evening Standard: “People would just leave [litter] if they have nowhere else to put it. They can’t carry it around. I just hope they leave them next to the station for people’s recycling.”

A report on the proposals by the council’s head of waste and street enforcement, stated: “There are two schools of thought regarding litter bins; one is that litter bins are needed for the public to use, indeed that some members of the public look for litter bins in which to deposit waste, otherwise they may take it home or drop it on the street. The other is that litter bins attract more rubbish, some of which can be unpaid-for commercial waste and domestic waste.”

The decision to reduce the number of bins follows the controversial experiment the council undertook to implement a “naked streets” policy of removing all road markings, signs and pedestrian barriers on one road in the borough.


View the original article here