Argentina presses Britain on Falklands air link

Thirty years after the Falklands war, and with tensions still high, Argentina offered to launch direct flights to the islands on Tuesday and asked Britain to resume South Atlantic fishing talks. The proposals were made in two diplomatic notes delivered in London by Argentina's ambassador Alicia Castro, a government statement said, referring to the disputed islands as the Malvinas. "The Argentine proposal is... (to) review the current situation and establish regular direct flights between mainland Argentina and the Malvinas islands operated by Aerolineas Argentinas," the statement said. President Cristina Kirchner first made the proposal in an address to lawmakers last month, suggesting two to three flights a week on the national flag carrier. The diplomatic note appeared to formalize the proposal. Under current rules, the closest regular air link out of the islands is flown by LAN Chile from Port Stanley all the way across South America to Santiago and Punta Arenas. Buenos Aires' second proposal was to "restart negotiations on renewing the mandate of the South Atlantic fisheries committee," a move towards resuming cooperation on fish conservation, the statement said. Argentina's 1982 invasion of the remote islands triggered a 74-day war, which ended in a humiliating defeat for Argentina after British prime minister Margaret Thatcher sent in a naval task force to reclaim the archipelago. The conflict over the islands, which Britain has ruled since 1833, cost the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British troops.