Chile declares state of emergency amid riots over income inequality

Workers at the world's biggest copper mine, Chile's Escondida, have approved a strike after rejecting the final contract offer proposed by multinational owners BHP. The workers are asking for a one-time bonus to recognize their work during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as education benefits for their children. Escondida workers staged a 44-day strike in 2017, the longest in the history of Chilean mining. The strike caused $740 million in losses for the company.

Chilean senate head and centre-left candidate, Yasna Provoste, meets with supporters in Santiago as the countdown to the presidential election in November begins. A handful of other rallies were also held in the capital.

Chile's opposition moves to impeach the country's president, Sebastian Pinera, for the controversial sale of a mining company through a firm owned by his children, which appeared in the Pandora Papers leaks, Congressman Tomás Hirsch says.

The first solar thermal power plant in South America hopes to reduce reliance on fossil fuels while maintaining jobs for the coal industry's workers.

President Sebastian Pinera was involved with the controversial sale of a mining company in 2010, as revealed in the Pandora Papers. If impeached, he could have faced five years in prison.

On 19th December, Chile heads to the polls to choose a new president. The run-up to the elections have been deeply polarising, and the country's feminists fear that the unexpected frontrunner - far-right lawyer José Antonio Kast - could set women rights back by decades.

Some 30 countries around the world have already legalised gay marriage, but just a handful of them are in Latin America. They include Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and now Chile can be added to that list. People there celebrated this week as the Chilean Congress voted to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption. The decision now needs to be signed by the president, who backs the law.

Ahead of Chile's presidential run-off on Sunday, FRANCE 24's Cole Stangler takes a closer look at the country's economy and the contrasting visions of far-right candidate José Antonio Kast and left-wing contender Gabriel Boric.

At least 100 homes were burned down and 400 people were left homeless on Monday after fire broke out in a slum in the city of Iquique in northern Chile, local authorities reported.

Out of 24 members of Gabriel Boric's Cabinet, 14 are women. Leftist Boric also appointed a former Central Bank chief as finance minister, which has been seen as a shift to the political center.

More and more people are crossing into Chile, most of them coming from Venezuela. Anti-immigration protesters are demanding tighter control of the borders. But that's unlikely to deter desperate Venezuelans fleeing political upheaval and poverty.

When a large lagoon in central Chile dried up, climate change seemed the likeliest culprit. But researchers found a more insidious threat: systematic privatization of water. Could a new constitution change all that?