
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos are pledging to strengthen ties in areas like science, security and tourism as Colombia transitions into a post-conflict era. Netanyahu arrived in Bogota on Wednesday for the second-leg of his trip as the first Israeli prime minister to visit Latin America.

Conservative presidential candidate Sebastian Piñera is maintaining a wide lead in the polls ahead of Chile's November election, though the race to challenge him in a potential runoff is tight, according to a monthly survey. Piñera, who was president of Chile between 2010 and 2014, captured 34% of voter intentions in the survey by GfK Adimark, up from 32% last month.

Uruguay has a new vice-president following the resignation of the questioned and discredited Raul Sendic. On Wednesday mid-morning, Lucia Topolansky, wife of ex president Jose Mujica received unanimous support from the General Assembly (123/123). Under the Uruguayan constitution the head of the most voted Senate group of the winning party in the last election, in this case the MPP (Popular Participation Movement), leads in the presidential succession line. She is the first woman to occupy such a post.

Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday used the first Latin America visit of a sitting Israeli prime minister to praise President Mauricio Macri's effort to solve the bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center, AMIA, in 1994 that killed 85 people.

The next round of Brexit talks has been postponed by a week to allow more time for consultation. The fourth round of UK-EU negotiations, due to begin on 18 September, will start on the 25th instead.

Uruguay has requested that the Falkland Islands stand at the Great Britain pavilion in the country's main agriculture and industrial show, Expo-Prado, be withdrawn, following an emphatic statement and disappointment from Argentina regarding the Falklands/Malvinas question dispute.

The number of migrants arriving in Europe through Spain has more than doubled this year, according to the head of the European Union’s border agency. Frontex director Fabrice Leggeri said “we have registered almost 14,000 arrivals in Spain, arriving from Morocco, from the western part of the Maghreb”.

The government's bid to extract the UK from EU law in time for Brexit has passed its first Parliamentary test. MPs backed the EU Withdrawal Bill by 326 to 290 in a Monday late-night vote despite critics saying it represented a “power-grab” by ministers.

By Andrew Francis FIG Postmaster - A country's stamp issues are important for many reasons. They are an indication of sovereignty, are a chance to promote the country throughout the world and raise money for the government.

Prime Minister Theresa May has phoned US President Donald Trump over a threat to jobs at Bombardier in Belfast from a trade dispute. In 2016, Canadian firm Bombardier won an order to supply up to 125 CSeries passenger jets to US airline Delta. The wings for the CSeries are made at Bombardier's Belfast plant.