Chile

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In Chile's Desert, Racers Wreak Havoc on Ancient Art

The geoglyphs in Alto Barranco are being crisscrossed with tire tracks

(Newser) - "This landscape has stayed the same for 25 million years," says archaeologist Gonzálo Pimentel of Chile's Atacama Desert. The blistering sun and scant rain have left the desert little changed until about a thousand years ago, when ancient Indigenous peoples began carving massive geoglyphs—depictions of...

Unto a Chilean Zoo, a Rare White Rhino Is Born

Silverio is the third calf for his parents, in an uncommon success story

(Newser) - Hannah, a 13-year-old southern white rhinoceros, has delivered a newborn calf in a rare zoo birth for the almost endangered species. The arrival of the male calf, named Silverio, two weeks ago marked the third time that a white rhino has ever been born in South America, reports the AP...

Ex-Forestry Official Accused of Planning Fire That Killed 137

Volunteer firefighter allegedly started Chile blaze

(Newser) - A Chilean judge has ordered the detention of a volunteer firefighter and a former forestry official for allegedly planning and causing a mammoth forest fire in the Valparaiso region that caused 137 deaths and made 16,000 people homeless in February. The court in Valparaiso ruled the two men, who...

Underwater Mountains Serve Up Dozens of New Species

On this expedition in the South Pacific, at least 50 new ones emerged

(Newser) - Over 40 days exploring an 1,800-mile underwater mountain chain extending from Chile to Easter Island, an international team of scientists discovered an entirely unknown species once a day on average. The team led by Erin Easton of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Javier Sellanes of Chile'...

Bird Flu Continues to Wreak Havoc, Killing Seals Worldwide

Tens of thousands of seals, sea lions have died, and scientists aren't sure how to slow the spread

(Newser) - Avian influenza is killing tens of thousands of seals and sea lions in different corners of the world, disrupting ecosystems and flummoxing scientists who don't see a clear way to slow the devastating virus . The worldwide bird flu outbreak that began in 2020 has led to the deaths of...

What Killed Poet Pablo Neruda? New Inquiry Aims to 'Clarify'

Chilean court reopens investigation into Nobel laureate's 1973 death amid rumors of poisoning

(Newser) - Chile is again probing the mystery of what killed Nobel laureate poet Pablo Neruda the day before he was to flee the country amid a 1973 coup. Considered Chile's national poet and greatest intellectual, Neruda had been a close friend of socialist President Salvador Allende, who killed himself rather...

Chile Ex-President Drowned After Crashing Into Lake

All 3 passengers in Sebastian Pinera's helicopter survived

(Newser) - Chilean prosecutors on Wednesday released more details about the death of former President Sebastian Pinera, saying he drowned after the helicopter he was piloting crashed into a lake, the AP reports. Pinera, 74, died on Tuesday after a flight over Lake Ranco, more than 560 miles south of Santiago. The...

Chile Struggles to Contain Fatal Forest Fires
Hundreds Missing in
Devastating Chile Fires
UPDATED
Feb 5, 2024 5:03 PM CST

Hundreds Missing in Devastating Chile Fires

Death toll in central Chile hits 122

(Newser) - Volunteers in central Chile tried to remove charred metal, broken glass, and other debris Monday from neighborhoods devastated over the past several days, as officials raised the death toll to 122. Hundreds of people remain missing. The fires appeared to have diminished by Monday morning after burning intensely since Friday...

After Latest Airstrike, Calls for End to Israeli 'War Crimes'

Arab nations condemn Israeli strike on refugee camp as groups claim use of white phosphorus

(Newser) - Dozens of people entered the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt on Wednesday in what appeared to be the first time foreign passport holders have been allowed to leave the besieged territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than three weeks ago, the AP reports. Egyptian state-run media...

Measuring Error Cancels Winner's World Record

Route at Pan American Games turns out to be almost 2 miles too short

(Newser) - Peru's Kimberly García thought she set the world record in the women's 20 kilometers walk race at the Pan American Games in Chile. She later found out she didn't. Organizers of the largest multi-sports in the continent said in a statement that the times of the...

The Remains Were Obliterated. Chile Will Search for Them

50 years after Pinochet's coup, the Chilean government will look for the missing

(Newser) - September will bring with it the 50th anniversary of the coup that brought down Chile's democratically elected government and established Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in its stead—and ahead of that anniversary, Chile on Wednesday is set to move forward with its plan to find the remains of those...

Pilot Dies During Miami-Chile Flight

Plane lands in Panama for emergency care

(Newser) - A veteran airline pilot died on a flight that had taken off from Miami on Monday, USA Today reports. The LATAM Airlines plane, which was headed to Santiago, Chile, landed in Panama City, Panama, because one of its three command crew members had a medical emergency, airline officials said. First...

This Nation Spends the Most Time Online

South Africans spend average 578 minutes per day on the internet, per Atlas VPN

(Newser) - It can be hard to accurately estimate how much time we spend online, though Atlas VPN notes that for many of us, it's a "significant portion of our day." Using data on internet usage trends among internet users 16 to 64 years old, the VPN service found...

Fire Scorches Easter Island's Iconic Statues

Authorities say the damage is 'irreparable'

(Newser) - A forest fire that swept through a national park has done irreversible damage to some of Easter Island's most famous landmarks, authorities say. The fire scorched around 250 acres of an area that's home to numerous moai statues, the Telegraph reports. The huge stone figures are sometimes called...

Chileans Roundly Reject Proposed New Constitution

Proposal would have enshrined more rights than any constitution in the world

(Newser) - Chilean voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed new constitution on Sunday, dealing a major political blow to President Gabriel Boric, according to the New York Times, and bringing an "abrupt ending to a long and sometimes painful process that had promised a political revolution … but instead leaves Chile deeply...

South America's Lithium Reserves Are a Boon—Maybe

'Wall Street Journal' looks at the obstacles in extracting one of world's biggest reserves

(Newser) - As the appetite for electric vehicles grows, the Wall Street Journal sees an obstacle in the way of production expanding at a similar clip: South America. The continent is one of three places on Earth—the others being Australia and China—that have substantial reserves of lithium, the metal needed...

For Easter Island Head, a 'Profoundly Significant' Move

Moai held at Chile's national museum since 1878 to rejoin the Rapa Nui on Easter Island

(Newser) - A century and a half after it was removed from Easter Island, a giant moai is about to head home. The 1,500-pound moai statue housed at Chile's National Museum of Natural History since 1878 will next week begin a five-day journey back to Easter Island , a Chilean territory,...

Leftist Millennial Wins Presidency in Chile

Gabriel Boric, 35, is nation's youngest modern president

(Newser) - Former leftist student leader Gabriel Boric will be under quick pressure from his youthful supporters to fulfill his promises to remake Chile after the millennial politician scored a historic victory in the country's presidential runoff election, per the AP . Boric spent months traversing Chile, vowing to bring a youth-led...

This Dino Species Has 'Something Never Seen Before'
This Dino Species Has
'Something Never Seen Before'
in case you missed it
Dec 5, 2021 11:40 AM CST

This Dino Species Has 'Something Never Seen Before'

Fossil of dog-sized stegouros shows it had a tail that could slash, slice like an ancient Aztec weapon

(Newser) - A fossil found in Chile is from a strange-looking dog-sized dinosaur species that had a unique slashing tail weapon, scientists reported Wednesday. Some dinosaurs had spiked tails they could use as stabbing weapons, and others had tails with clubs. The new species, described in a study in the journal Nature...

Chileans Vote in Tight, Polarized Presidential Election

Frontrunners are a conservative and a former protest leader

(Newser) - Chileans were voting for a new president Sunday following a polarizing campaign in which the leading candidates vowed to chart starkly different paths for the region's most economically advanced country staggered by a recent wave of social unrest. Pre-election polls point to a large number of undecided voters but...

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