
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit off the coast of Chile, near the coastal city of Coquimbo today.

More than 3,200 workers at Chile's huge Chuquicamata copper mine plan to go on strike this week after union-management talks broke down, state-run miner Codelco - the world's largest copper producer - said on Wednesday.

The international airport of Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile had to be evacuated on Wednesday afternoon following a bomb threat. Apparently the emergency was called after a passenger started yelling he was carrying an explosive device hidden in his clothes, immediately forcing airport authorities to empty the terminal.

For Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, this last cruise season was positive while the coming 2019/20 is expected to be even better with some 130 calls and over 94.000 passengers with an estimated increase of 34%, according to Patricia Lopez Manieu, General Manager of the Austral Ports Company, EPA, from Punta Arenas.

For 26 years, Chilean business tycoon Carlos Cardoen has been unable to travel abroad for fear of arrest. Cardoen is accused of illegally importing the bomb-making element zirconium from the US, which added a potent incendiary effect to cluster bombs his company, Cardoen Industries, sold to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime in the 1980s and 1990s.

Chilean President Sebastian Piñera kicked off an investment forum in Beijing this week with an invitation for China to use Chile as a jumping off point to do business in Latin America, even as Washington has warned Chile to proceed with caution.

A 15,600-year-old footprint discovered in southern Chile is believed to be the oldest ever found in the Americas, according to researchers.

The foundation created by the late creator of U.S. clothing brands Esprit and The North Face turned over 407,000 hectares (1 million acres) of forest, mountain, lakes and glaciers in Patagonia to the government of Chile on Friday, the Tompkins Conservation Foundation said.

China and Chile should connect their development strategies and promote interconnectivity between Chile and other Latin American countries, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday.

The Chilean government has announced that it will begin proceedings to withdraw from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the regional bloc from which it suspended its membership last year.