[World Affairs Overview]

Falklands to pay Thatcher tribute

UK: The Falkland Islands plans to hold a public day of mourning to coincide with the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister who waged war with Argentina in 1982 to retake the archipelago.

The islands' government said a memorial service will be held at the Christ Church Cathedral in capital Stanley next Wednesday, shortly after the funeral.

Thatcher died on Monday following a stroke aged 87.

Many in Britain consider Thatcher's decision to send a military task force to liberate the Falklands following the Argentine invasion as her finest hour. The 1982 war cost a total of 649 Argentine and 255 British lives.

AFP

Test-tube baby pioneer Robert Edwards dies

UK: British scientist Robert Edwards, who was awarded a Nobel prize for his pioneering work in developing in vitro fertilisation (IVF), died on Wednesday aged 87, his university announced.

Edwards spent his career making the dream of having a baby come true for millions of people worldwide, running into conflict with the Catholic Church and fellow scientists on his way.

He was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine in 2010, three decades after the birth of the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, in 1978, and five decades after he first began experimenting.

“It is with deep sadness that the family announces that Professor Sir Robert Edwards, Nobel prizewinner, scientist and co-pioneer of IVF, passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 10, 2013 after a long illness,” the University of Cambridge said in a statement.

His work was motivated by his belief, as he once described it, that “the most important thing in life is having a child. Nothing is more special than a child”.

AFP

US thanks Cuba

US: The United States thanked Communist Cuba on Wednesday for its swift help in the case of American parents who snatched their two sons from their grandmother's care and fled to the Caribbean nation.

“We do appreciate the Cuban authorities' extensive cooperation to resolve this situation quickly,” said Patrick Ventrell, a State Department spokesman.

The United States and Cuba broke off full diplomatic ties in the early 1960s and Americans are not allowed to spend money in Cuba unless they have special US government permission.

But “this was law enforcement cooperation and we're pleased that it was so extensive and we were able to resolve this quickly,” Ventrell added.

A US plane carrying Joshua Hakken, his wife Sharyn Patricia and their sons, aged two and four, landed in Tampa from Havana early Wednesday, local media reported.

AFP