MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[Defense and Falklands, PM Burnham call with Chilean president Kast]]> The leaders began by outlining their shared ambitions to strengthen the two nations’ relationship including on defense, security, science and trade. Ten Downing Street reported on Friday that Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke to the President of Chile, Jose Antonio Kast on Friday 23 October.

]]> Sun, 25 Oct 2026 09:36:00 GMT <![CDATA[Burnham tells Trump of the “economic consequences” of Argentina’s Falklands measures]]> Trump has said in recent weeks that the US position of neutrality on sovereignty over the archipelago is under review British Prime Minister Andy Burnham set out to US President Donald Trump on Friday “the economic consequences that Argentina’s coercive measures have for the United Kingdom and the United States”, in a phone call focused on the Sea Lion oil project north of the Falklands, according to a Downing Street statement quoted by the EFE news agency. Burnham reiterated the islanders’ right to develop their natural resources.

]]> Sat, 24 Oct 2026 08:32:00 GMT <![CDATA[Kast and Paz open the way in La Paz to normalising Chile-Bolivia relations]]> “President Paz, today we stop turning our backs on each other. We did not come just for a gesture, we came to begin making history,” Kast said after the bilateral meetings Chilean President José Antonio Kast and his Bolivian counterpart Rodrigo Paz pledged on Friday in La Paz to move towards normalising diplomatic relations “at the highest level”, broken off since 1978, during a visit the Chilean government described as historic as the first official bilateral visit by a Chilean president to Bolivia in more than seven decades. The two governments signed economic integration and border security agreements, although they did not announce the restoration of embassies.

]]> Fri, 16 Oct 2026 21:50:00 GMT <![CDATA[A tornado and an unusual spring hailstorm overwhelm Santiago, Chile]]> An electrical storm with hail, unusual in the middle of spring, flooded streets, homes and businesses in Santiago, Chile, on Tuesday and produced a tornado that the Chilean Meteorological Directorate preliminarily classified as EF0, the lowest intensity category. The national disaster prevention and response service declared a red alert in the Metropolitan Region, five days after the mudslide that hit the Las Condes district.

]]> Wed, 14 Oct 2026 07:01:00 GMT <![CDATA[A mudslide sweeps away cars and a bus in Santiago after the wettest October on record]]> Las Condes mayor Catalina San Martín put the number of homes with some damage at around 2,000, 55 of them with serious habitability problems A torrent of water, mud and rocks swept away cars and a public transport bus on Thursday in San Carlos de Apoquindo, in the Las Condes district at the foot of the Andes in eastern Santiago, Chile, after a week of record rainfall. The official toll is six injured, with no deaths or missing, and President José Antonio Kast has declared a disaster zone in the district.

]]> Fri, 09 Oct 2026 20:53:00 GMT <![CDATA[British Airways restores non-stop London-Buenos Aires flights and adds a daily Santiago service]]> According to the airline, it will be the only non-stop flight between London and Buenos Aires British Airways will operate a daily non-stop flight between London Heathrow and Buenos Aires from March 28, 2027, continuing on to Santiago, Chile. A direct route between the British and Argentine capitals has not operated since October 2023.

]]> Tue, 06 Oct 2026 22:31:00 GMT <![CDATA[Falklands Chamber of Commerce backs the Punta Arenas route despite Argentine warnings]]> “Now we need to see this continue and see the ship at sea heading to the islands, and then we can start to talk about it being a success. Success comes when the goods arrive,” Summers said The president of the Falkland Islands Chamber of Commerce, Mike Summers, has defended reopening trade with Chile's Magallanes region despite Argentina's campaign against economic activity linked to the archipelago, and warned that this week's business meeting in Punta Arenas will only be a success once cargo starts crossing the sea.

]]> Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:19:00 GMT <![CDATA[Scientific workshop on Illex Squid in Vigo with the participation of Falkland Islands]]> The workshop forms part of an international scientific cooperation process that began with meetings held in Chile and Panama and continued with a scientific gathering in Bangkok Argentine unions linked to the fishing, maritime and port industries have complained bitterly to the International Transport Workers Federation against a workshop on the Shortfin Squid (Illex Argentinus) organized by OPPC3, in Vigo with the suppot of the Sustaianble Fisheries Partnership, and to which Argentina allegedly has not been invited, but it does include the Falkland Islands.

]]> Sat, 03 Oct 2026 17:11:00 GMT <![CDATA[Punta Arenas and Falklands businesses hold more than 800 meetings]]> The event precedes a direct sea link using a Chilean-flagged vessel operated by Easter Island Naviera, which the company plans to launch between mid-November and the end of the year Business people from Punta Arenas, in southern Chile, and from the Falklands held 822 business meetings over two days, at an event the organisers described as a success and which serves as a prelude to the reopening of a direct sea route between the Chilean city and Stanley, planned for the coming months.

]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2026 21:33:00 GMT <![CDATA[Chile's defence minister backs trade between Punta Arenas and the Falklands]]> Asked how closer trade ties would fit with regional commitments, Barros said the “potentially most contentious” point is oil and mining exploration Chile's Defence Minister Fernando Barros Tocornal has backed the development of commercial activity between the Magallanes region and the Falklands, saying his country's support for Argentina's sovereignty claim does not imply restrictions on trade with the archipelago. He made the remarks in an interview with Radio Polar in Punta Arenas during a visit to the region on September 24 and 25.

]]> Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:02:00 GMT