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SYDNEY, Australia, JULY 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Two young Chileans thought they were the object of a joke when they received e-mails saying they would ride the boat-a-cade that would take Benedict XVI to his World Youth Day arrival. Jorge Juárez and Ane Marie Kampp registered for a random drawing on the official World Youth Day page, without thinking seriously that that click would make possible an unforgettable adventure, reported the Chilean episcopal conference. Juárez said he has been serving the Church for years, but what he experienced in Sydney would make him deepen his faith. "I feel the responsibility to...

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has received leads that "Dr. Death" Aribert Heim, the center's most wanted Nazi war criminal, is alive and living in Patagonia, Chile. The center's chief Nazi hunter is due to travel there this week. The hunt for "Dr. Death" Aribert Heim, the Nazi war criminal wanted for murdering hundreds of prisoners in concentration camps during World War II, has intensified after the Simon Wiesenthal's chief Nazi hunter received fresh leads during a visit to South America. Efraim Zuroff, a Holocaust historian who heads the center's Jerusalem office, told media that he had received information that Heim...

Michael Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Munger's recent trip to Chile and the changes Chile has made to Santiago's bus system. What was once a private decentralized system with differing levels of quality and price has been transformed into a system of uniform quality designed from the top down. How has the new system fared? Not particularly well according to Munger. Commuting times are up and the President of Chile has apologized to the Chilean people for the failures of the new system. Munger talks about why such changes take place and why they...

Gasoline would be cheaper if countries ended their oil subsidies and let markets rule. In China, the government caps gas prices. Drivers there pay about half of what Americans pay. In many countries, oil prices are held artificially low, either by fiat or subsidy. The result? Consumption keeps rising, boosting global prices. About half of humanity, from India to Chile, now benefits from cut-rate petroleum prices. In 2008, these countries will account for all the growth in world oil demand, or an additional one million barrels a day, according to Deutsche Bank. Their consumption will be the highest in eight...

4,500-year-old mummies discovered in Chile Saturday, 28 June , 2008, 10:55 Santiago: Eight perfectly preserved mummies, believed to be some 4,500 year old, were found by workers engaged in a restoration project in Chile's far north, Spain's EFE news agency reported on Saturday quoting media report. "These mummies date back to between 2,000 BC and 5,000 BC." archaeologist Calogero Santoro told the daily El Mercurio. The mummies are remains of individuals belonging to the Chinchorro culture, which was one of the first to practice mummification and the perfect condition in which the mummies were found is indicative of their advanced...

Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanos are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Gutierrez (CHILE) The Etna volcano in Sicily rumbled back to life on Tuesday with a "seismic event" followed by a burst of ash, volcanologists said three days after minor eruptions shook the cone. A "seismic...

PUERTO MONTT, Chile (Reuters) - A towering plume of ash from an erupting volcano in Chile's remote Patagonia could collapse back down to devastate the surrounding area, a leading expert warned on Friday. Luis Lara, a geologist and volcano expert with the government's geology and mining agency Sernageomin, says his models show the vast column of ash, which has soared 7.5 miles into the air, at a critical stage. A sudden collapse would shroud vast areas with hot gas, ash and molten rock, killing anything in its way. Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from the immediate vicinity of Chaiten...

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The long-dormant Chaiten volcano blasted ash some 20 miles (30 kilometers) into the Andean sky on Tuesday, forcing the last of thousands to evacuate and fouling a huge stretch of the South American continent.A thick column of ash climbed into the stratosphere and blew eastward for hundreds of miles (kilometers) over Patagonia to the Atlantic Ocean, closing schools and a regional airport. Chilean and Argentine citizens were advised to wear masks to avoid breathing the dangerous fallout.Chilean officials ordered the total evacuation of Chaiten, a small provincial capital in an area of lakes and glacier-carved fjords...

Quarter-size; click for full size.

An "unknown" (meaning it hasn't erupted historically) Chilean volcano erupted starting on Friday. The ash clouds are some of the most impressive I've seen since Pinatubo, and have caused the usual problems in nearby areas. Below is a selection. (Because I'm borrowing mainly from news sources, some of these may not work or may cease working in the near future.)

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Hundreds of people fled remote villages in southern Chile on Friday after a snowcapped volcano erupted, sending minor earthquakes rippling through the region. The Chaiten volcano belched fire and ash on Thursday night, causing more than 60 small tremors in Los Lagos, a region about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of the capital of Santiago. More tremors can be expected in the coming days, warned Emergency Bureau Director Carmen Fernandez. The government evacuated as many as 1,500 people from nearby villages and the town of Chaiten, just 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) from the volcano, as ash...

SANTIAGO, April 26, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A terrorist group calling itself the Insurrectionist Federation has reportedly taken credit for the recent bombing of the University of the Andes in reprisal for a decision of the Chilean Supreme Court prohibiting the distribution of the abortifacient "morning after pill". The bomb detonated in a university bathroom on April 23. Although no one was hurt, ACI Prensa reports that the bathroom suffered severe damage, contrary to media reports that the device was just a "noise bomb". "They say it's just a 'noise bomb' but in reality the bathroom was destroyed and if anyone...

EL PASO — Rafael Ernesto Corvalan Herrera was half way to freedom when his apparent plan to sneak into the United States from Mexico derailed. Corvalan, a 33-year-old illegal immigrant from Chile who has been deported once before, was arrested Sunday afternoon after he got stuck in the rafters underneath an international bridge over the Rio Grande, authorities said. He told U.S. Border Patrol agents that a wheel on a makeshift cart he was using to shuttle himself along the bridge's support beams broke, stranding him in the middle of the span, at least 20 feet off the ground, Border...

After getting the bad end of his own ax in a fight, a bloodied villain limps alone in a stark desert. Mathieu Amalric stumbles to the red, rocky ground. "CUT!" rings loudly from the set of the 22nd James Bond film. Picking up an hour after "Casino Royale" left off, "Quantum of Solace" is the spy franchise's first direct sequel. Filming began in January and has taken the crew from Britain to Panama to this moonlike landscape in northern Chile, which is standing in for Bolivia. It's a place that director Marc Forster said evokes Bond's "isolation and loneliness." "He...

Chilifest 2008 will be held on April 4th and 5th of 2008. Snook, Texas. The most anticipated event in the Brazos Valley - Chilifest. 2008 Gary Allan, Aaron Watson, Pat Green, Stoney LaRue, Randy Rogers Band Chilifest 2008 Friday Night (April 4th)Line-up: The Woods Ryan Turner Granger Smith Bleu Edmondson Owen Temple Gary P. Nunn

THE NEW YORK TIMES March 28, 2008 Santiago Journal Before ’73 Coup, Chile Tried to Find the Right Software for Socialism By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO SANTIAGO, Chile — When military forces loyal to Gen. Augusto Pinochet staged a coup here in September 1973, they made a surprising discovery. Salvador Allende’s Socialist government had quietly embarked on a novel experiment to manage Chile’s economy using a clunky mainframe computer and a network of telex machines. The project, called Cybersyn, was the brainchild of A. Stafford Beer, a visionary Briton who employed his “cybernetic” concepts to help Mr. Allende find an alternative to...

The teens call their public orgies ponceo. On a typical Friday afternoon in the Chilean capital of Santiago, hundreds gather in a leafy urban park for a few hours of sexual experimentation. Surrounded by passing strollers, they trade partners multiple times—mostly engaging in anonymous rounds of oral sex. When the party is over, no contact information is exchanged. Same-gender interactions are commonplace, as the lines between hetero- and homosexuality are blurred, partly by the alcohol and drugs consumed, but also by shifting social mores held by Chilean youth, in contrast to their conservative parents. "Ponceo is about having fun," says...

SH 130 Concession Company LLC finalized the legal details of a financial close with Texas DOT on a $1,360m toll concession to build SH130 segments 5&6 Thursday and Friday last week in bankers' offices in New York City - at Orrick, 666 Fifth Avenue. The actual money flows should occur on Thursday or Friday (Mar 13 or 14) this week, Jose Maria Lopez de Fuentes, president of Cintra North America, told us this morning. Hundreds of documents and over 20 lawyers were involved last week representing TxDOT, private equity people, banks, mostly European, the TIFIA loan group from FHWA, and...

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet officially re-opened on Wednesday the Arturo Prat base in Antarctica which was the first to be established by the Chilean Navy in 1947 but was later closed in 2004. The event was described in Chile as a reaffirmation of the country’s rights over Antarctica. The eleven permanent members of the base, which is being refurbished --and eleven degrees below zero--, received President Bachelet, Defence minister Jose Goñi and the Commander of the Navy Admiral Rodolfo Codina. “This base is going to guarantee Chilean rights and territorial integrity, which is undoubtedly the duty of the Armed Forces”,...

Milton Friedmanesque reforms helped create South America’s most prosperous nation.There are now two South Americas,” says Chilean economist Rolf Lüders, a former prime minister under Augusto Pinochet. The old South America, which remains mired in populism and Marxist rhetoric, includes Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The new South America is democratic and free-market-oriented, and includes Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Chile is undoubtedly the most prosperous and stable country in the group, with an annual real growth rate averaging 5.5 percent over the last 15 years and a per-capita annual income of $12,000, the highest...

As host of what the Guinness book of world records calls the “longest running show on television,” Chilean TV personality Don Francisco has hardly lived a private life. But throughout his 46 years on the air, there has been part of the talk show host’s life about which he has always remained silent. Don Francisco, né Mario Kreutzberger, born to German Jews in Chile, had never felt comfortable speaking in public about his father’s experience in the Holocaust. Not until three years ago, that is, when an invitation to the March of the Living — an international Holocaust remembrance program...

Santiago, Chile (AHN) - Chile has joined the growing number of nations against the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Chilean Senate passed a resolution formally protesting the continued building of a wall on the border, saying it is an insult to Latin American countries. The resolution asks Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to order Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley to inform the U.S. government of its stand and to ask for a halt to the construction. It also sets a national policy to side with Mexico and other Central American countries if they will bring the issue to...

Swedish opera star Tito Beltran has lashed out at his adoptive country ahead of his forthcoming rape trial, describing the country as "worse than Chile during the dictatorship". Believing himself to be the victim of ethnic discrimination, the popular tenor has vowed to burn his Swedish passport after the trial. "Swedes are as racist as they come," Beltran told Chilean newspaper Las Últimas Noticias. "This country doesn't tolerate 'blackheads' [svartskallar], of which I am one," he added. Beltran, 42, is accused of raping an 18-year-old nanny at a hotel in Nötesjö in Skåne following his participation in a Rhapsody in...

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has donated ten million dollars to help build a 400-million dollar high-powered telescope in Chile, media here reported Saturday. Another Microsoft alumnus, Charles Simonyi, has donated 20 million dollars to the project, according to news reports. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is expected to be operational as of 2015, is to be used by primarily by universities, laboratories and private groups. The mountainside observatory in northern Chile, equipped with a high-power digital lens and built at an altitude of more than 2,500 meters above sea level, will be capable of taking detailed photos of supernovas,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2007 – A Chilean winery, through its U.S. marketer, is helping to make sure servicemembers stationed away from home this holiday season can stay in touch with loved ones. On behalf of Santa Rita winery, Michael Preis (back right), a portfolio director for Palm Bay International wine importers, presented a check for $25,000 to Cell Phones for Soldiers on Nov. 11, 2007. Robbie (front right) and Brittany Bergquist (front left) accepted the check at Stew Leonards in Newington, Conn. Meghan Flynn (left), the siblings’ father, Bob Bergquist (second from left), and Stew Leonard (center) also attended...

<p>Salvador Allende Gossens of Chile was an icon of the American left, the first Marxist to assume office via the ballot box. The CIA has been blamed for his overthrow and death, further enhancing his cult standing in Cambridge, Berkeley, and Ann Arbor. Now, 35 years after his election, a book being published today in the U.K., The Mitrokhin Archive, Volume II: the KGB and the World, reveals that Allende was in fact a KGB asset, on the payroll. The London Sunday Times published a valuable summary yesterday.</p>

Searched on Andes volcanoes, and I was thinking of this: Osorno (Chile) But I found this and couldn't pass it up. Reventador (Ecuador) Can't have the first without the second. This was the November 2, 2002 eruption of Reventador.

The drummer for The Police has apologised to the Chilean president after apparently implying that he found her less attractive that her Argentinian counterpart. Stewart Copeland's coarse remark risked overshadowing the Santiago leg of the band's comeback tour of South America, after his comments were picked up by the local press. In an interview given to a Chilean magazine he reportedly said: "Look, the future President of Argentina would be good for one beer; yours (would be good) for four."

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has accused Spain's King Juan Carlos of "arrogance" after he told Mr Chavez to shut up during a summit in Chile.

WEPA40 PHEB 141556 TSUPAC HIZALL-141755- TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 1556Z 14 NOV 2007 THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA... WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. ... A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT ... A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR CHILE / PERU FOR ALL OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS BULLETIN... IT IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME. THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN...

Pinochet family arrested in Chile US bank accounts were found in the name of Pinochet and his relatives The widow and five children of Chile's former military ruler, Gen Augusto Pinochet, have been arrested on charges of embezzlement. They are accused of illegally transferring $27m (£13.2m) to foreign bank accounts during the general's time in power between 1973 and 1990. A judge ordered 17 other suspects to be held, including aides to Gen Pinochet. Gen Pinochet died in December 2006 before he could stand trial on charges of corruption and human rights abuses. More than 3,000 people were killed or...

LONDON (AP) - Super spicy chili sauce being cooked at a London Thai restaurant sparked road closures and evacuations after passers-by complained that the smell was burning their throats, police said Wednesday. London Fire Brigade's chemical response team was called after reports that a strong smell was wafting from the restaurant in the heart of London's Soho district Monday afternoon, a Metropolitan police spokesman said, speaking anonymously in line with force policy. Authorities sealed off several premises and closed roads. The Times of London described shoppers coughing and spluttering as firefighters wearing special breathing masks sought the source of the...

Chilean Homosexual Non-Discrimination Law Fails Following Protest Activist Believes Bill's Proponents Will Try Again on September 11th By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman CHILE, September 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A bill whose opponents warned would make opposition to homosexuality illegal in Chile was quietly defeated last week when it was removed from a scheduled vote in the Chilean Senate, according to Salvador Salazar, president of Muevete Chile! (Go Chile!). The tabling of the measure followed a campaign by multiple groups and individuals to encourage senators to oppose the measure and preserve the Chilean people's right to speak against homosexual behavior. The bill,...

The Other 911 On 11 September 1973, in response to formal requests by his nation's judiciary and legislature, General Augusto Pinochet led a military coup against the regime of the elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende. Allende, an avowed Marxist, had placed foreign agents in positions of power, stolen the private property of Chilean citizens, nationalized many of the country's major industries, and wrecked Chile's economy and sense of public order. The coup succeeded. A military junta assumed control over Chile. Under their rule, stolen property was returned, foreign terrorists within and without Chile were hunted down and eliminated, and...

Proposed Chilean Law Threatens Religious Freedom Would destroy the legal right to oppose homosexual behavior By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman SANTIAGO, September 4, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com)--The Chilean Senate will vote today on a proposed law to extend "non-discrimination" protection to homosexuals, which opponents warn would destroy the legal right to oppose homosexual behavior. The bill, which is called the Law to Establish Measures against Discrimination, has been working its way through the Chilean congress since 2006, and is strongly supported by Chile's socialist president, Michelle Bachelet. It defines "discrimination" as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction based on...sexual orientation". It also lists numerous...

Santiago, Chile - When US Education Secretary Margaret Spellings arrived in Chile this week, she brought an important message. The US wants "Chilean students to know that American higher education is open for business to students from our neighbors," said Ms. Spellings. Her trip to South America this week is an attempt to attract students put off by lengthy visa delays in the years after 9/11. While in Chile, she confirmed the creation of 100 annual scholarships for students who want to complete their doctorate studies in the United States, as well as future programs aimed at furthering education exchange...

An explosion struck on Monday outside the British embassy in the Chilean capital of Santiago, causing minor damage to the building, a Foreign Office spokesman said. The spokesman said there were no reports of casualties so far and that an investigation was under way.

SANTIAGO, Chile - Scientists on Tuesday blamed global warming for the disappearance of a glacial lake in remote southern Chile that faded away in just two months, leaving just a crater behind. The disappearance of the lake in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park was discovered in late May by park rangers, who were stunned to find a 130-foot deep crater where a large lake had been. After flying over the lake Monday scientists said they were able to draw preliminary conclusions that point to climate change as the leading culprit for the lake's disappearance. They suggested the melting of nearby glaciers...

<p>SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- A five-acre glacial lake in Chile's southern Andes has disappeared -- and scientists want to know why. An undated photo shows a lake in the Chilean Andes as it was before May.</p>

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A lake in southern Chile has mysteriously disappeared, prompting speculation the ground has simply opened up and swallowed it whole.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A lake in southern Chile has mysteriously disappeared, prompting speculation the ground has simply opened up and swallowed it whole. ADVERTISEMENT The lake was situated in the Magallanes region in Patagonia and was fed by water, mostly from melting glaciers. It had a surface area of between 4 and 5 hectares (10-12 acres) -- about the size of 10 soccer pitches. "In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal ... we went again in May and to our surprise we found the lake

Two dictators, Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet, both brought tremendous suffering upon the Chilean people -- one through his socialist policies and nationalization of industry, and the other through systematic campaigns of terror.

Chicken bones show Polynesians went to Chile By MAGGIE FOX - Reuters | Tuesday, 5 June 2007 A chicken bone found in Chile provides solid evidence to settle a debate over whether Polynesians travelling on rafts visited South America thousands of years ago – or vice versa, New Zealand researchers have said. The DNA in the bone carries a rare mutation that links it to chickens in Tonga and Samoa, and radiocarbon dating shows it is around 600 years old – meaning it predates the arrival of Spanish conquerors in South America. "These chickens are related to hens from Polynesia,"...

Chile is looking to acquire Uruguay’s unused natural gas permits with Argentina in order to secure a steady supply of gas for Santiago. This proposal comes on the heels of an intensifying energy crisis, with the country’s capital city facing possible residential and commercial gas cuts. In August, Metrogas’ biggest natural gas export contract with Argentina’s Consorcio Sierra Chata will end. It stipulated that Argentina is to supply Metrogas with 1.8 million cubic meters of natural gas daily. But with this contract no longer in effect, the only secure gas supplies for Santiago will be the 750,000 cubic meters cubed...

REFLECTIONS BY THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF The press dispatches bring the news; it belongs to the Astute Class, the first of its kind to be constructed in Great Britain in more than two decades. "A nuclear reactor will allow it to navigate without refuelling during its 25 year of service. Since it makes its own oxigen and drinking water, it can circumnavigate the globe without needing to surface," was the statement to the BBC by Nigel Ward, head of the shipyards. "It’s a mean looking beast", says another. "Looming above us is a construction shed 12 storeys high. Within it...

An interesting footnote and one of the major lies in the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" is that  Mr. Gore and Co. show the Perito Moreno Glacier in So. Argentina as an example of the result of global warming. In fact my wife Marjorie and I have visited this glacier 3 times. First in 1973 and again in 2004 and 2006. It is growing. It is visibly larger and pushing further across Lago Argentina. They used this in the movie twice all the while misrepresenting its growth and in fact stating it is shrinking showing a huge chunk falling off...

The number of people trying to use the metro has almost doubled Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has sacked four ministers, as polls suggest falling support for her government. The last few months have seen protests in the capital, Santiago, over the introduction of a new transport system. In a national TV address, Ms Bachelet said her government owed an apology to Santiago's residents, especially the poor, for the chaos they have faced. It is the second big cabinet reshuffle since she took office in 2006. The first one followed student protests. Increased strain Speaking on Monday evening, Ms Bachelet...

On a fateful day in 1976, Dr. Ivan Insunza was driving to work along the streets of Santiago, the Chilean capital, when members of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's secret police blocked his car and took him to an unknown location. Insunza was never seen alive again and the only clue about his fate appeared in 2006, when his car was found buried in the "Colonia Dignidad" (Dignity Colony), a large farm with a total area of 17,000 square hectares. It was precisely during Pinochet's 17-year rule that the Colony increased its power and influence in Chilean society. On Jan. 17, 2007,...

One week after Chile’s Armed Forces released photos and videos of UFO activity around the country, Chile’s mainstream media has once again gone extraterrestrial with various Chupacabra sightings reported throughout the country. Chupacabra – literally translated as goat sucker – is the name for a mythical creature known for sucking the blood out of farm animals throughout Latin America and the southern United States. Many enthusiasts speculate that Chupacabras are aliens – or escaped alien pets – as evidence of the creature is frequently reported in tandem with nearby UFO sightings. While UFO activity is typically reserved for Chile’s tabloid...

Feminist lesbians from 18 different countries in Latin America took to the streets of Santiago this weekend to protest against the institutionalized homophobia that still exists in many parts of the continent. About 200 lesbian activists had been participating in the Seventh Latin American and Caribbean Lesbian feminist Conference, the first to take place in Chile. The conference culminated with a march on Friday evening, with the initial purpose of protesting against gender discrimination and homophobia. However, after it emerged that Santiago security firm GAMA had thrown a lesbian couple out of a park on the Santa Lucía hill for...