News In Brief

Argentina, Chile settle touchy channel dispute

Argentina and Chile have successfully concluded negotiations at the Vatican on a treaty to settle the Beagle Channel dispute, which brought the two countries to the brink of war in 1978, Foreign Ministry sources said Monday.

The heads of the Argentine and Chilean delegations at the talks will now return to inform their governments about the progress achieved. Sources say the signing of a formal treaty is only a matter of time.

The Vatican had been mediating for five years in a dispute over several islands in the Beagle Channel, at the tip of South America.