Chile

20 October 2019; AFP: Three people died in a fire in a supermarket being ransacked in the Chilean capital early Sunday, as protests sparked by anger over social and economic conditions rocked one of Latin America's most stable countries.

Santiago's Mayor Karla Rubilar told reporters two people burned to death in the blaze and another later died in hospital, after the huge store controlled by US retail chain Walmart was looted.

SANTIAGO, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A total of 41 subway stations were damaged and at least 308 people were arrested during protests on Friday against an increase in metro fares in Santiago, Chilean Minister of National Defense Javier Iturriaga said on Saturday.

The violent protests prompted the government to declare a state of emergency and the deployment of soldiers in the provinces of Santiago and Chacabuco, as well as in the Metropolitan municipalities of Puente Alto and San Bernardo.

SANTIAGO, Sept 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced a 5 billion U.S.-dollar investment plan to renovate and expand the country’s railway network.

“Trains are not just going to be part of the daily life of Chileans as passengers, but also part of our country’s economic life,” said Pinera.

“We are making a great effort so the railways will not only improve the quality of life of our compatriots, but also make a great contribution to the development of our country,” Pinera added.

SANTIAGO, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Central Chile is in the midst of what scientists have called a Mega Drought -- an uninterrupted period of dry years since 2010, local media reported Saturday.

The Chilean government has declared an agricultural emergency in parts of the country with an aim to unveil relief programs for drought-stricken farmers.

The capital Santiago, home to about half of the country's population of 18 million and the nearby region of Valparaiso bear the brunt of this year's drought, the worst in six decades, reports said.

SANTIAGO, July 27 (Xinhua) -- A vehicle from the Chinese brand King Long will become the first natural gas bus to join capital Santiago's public transport system, the Chilean Ministry of Transportation and Communications said Saturday.

The Chinese bus will join Santiago's Metropolitan Mobility Network that integrates subway, rental bikes and suburban trains, and begin circulating in August, the ministry said.

It will serve the Route 104 operated by bus company STP Santiago and connect the communes in eastern Santiago.

LA SERENA, Chile (AP) — Tens of thousands of tourists and locals gaped skyward Tuesday as a total eclipse of the sun darkened the heavens over Chile and Argentina.

Tourists from around the world gathered to witness the cosmic spectacle, which began in the morning as the moon crossed in front of the sun and cast a shadow that passed over a tiny uninhabited atoll in the South Pacific and headed to South America. Chile and Argentina were the only inhabited places where the total eclipse could be seen.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Two months before Tamara Lagos was born in 1984, her father was killed by agents of the Chilean dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Soon after, her mother took her into exile in Argentina. But when Lagos finally returned to Chile five years later, she was unable to secure a birth certificate with her father’s surname because he wasn’t alive to claim her as his child. The quest for redress eventually led her to the Supreme Court, which finally ordered the Chilean civil registry in April to correct Lagos’ identity document.

SANTIAGO, May 11 (Xinhua): At least six people were killed and 30 others injured after a bus overturned in the La Araucania region of south-central Chile, according to the Pullman bus company that owns the vehicle on Saturday.

The accident occurred Saturday morning, claiming the lives of four women and two men, one of whom was a Paraguayan citizen, said Jose Silva, manager of corporate affairs.

Causes of the accident have yet to be determined, given the bus was currently on technical revisions, Silva told the electronic news site EMOL.

SANTIAGO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Chile is "very interested" in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), president Sebastian Pinera said on Tuesday.

During a meeting with foreign correspondents in Santiago, Pinera confirmed he will attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing in April, saying "I will participate in everything that is beneficial for Chile."

23 Mar 2019; DW: Seven right-wing presidents of South American nations gathered in Chile's capital Santiago on Friday to announce a new political association dubbed Forum for the Progress of South America, or Prosur.

The bloc would function "without ideology and bureaucracy, but with a total commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights," Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said.