Thousands of protesters armed with stones, sticks and Molotov cocktails clashed with police on Sunday as one of Latin America's biggest music festival opened, in the latest spurt of a four-month-old wave of grassroots anger over economic inequality and other woes.
A man died of carbon monoxide poisoning after a supermarket was torched in Chile's capital Santiago on Friday, bringing the death toll from a resurgence in violent unrest rose to three. A mob looted and then set fire to the supermarket in southern Santiago in the early hours of Friday.
Chile's central bank is expected to hold its benchmark rate at 1.75% in January, a poll of 62 traders showed on Friday, then keep it there through 2020 as seeks to spur the ailing economy following months of unrest in the key mining nation.
Chile state miner Codelco filed with regulators on Friday a plan to begin exploration for lithium in its Maricunga salt flat holdings, a key step in advancing development of the country's second richest deposit of the metal needed for batteries.
Chile’s environmental regulator on Monday charged state oil company ENAP with improper fracking in Tierra del Fuego, a wild, largely unpopulated region at the southern fringe of the South American continent.
Economic activity in Chile dropped 3.3% in November, led by a slump in mining activity, the central bank has said, and officials predicted low growth for the coming year as the country reels from anti-government unrest. The prediction is based on Chile’s economic activity index or IMACEC (Indicador Mensual de Actividad Economica).
University entrance exams to be taken by 300,000 students around Chile were disrupted in some cities by fresh protests over inequality and elitism, with some students blocking access to test sites and burning exam papers.
The copper price is unlikely to rebound in 2020 even if trade tensions between the United States and China subside, the head of Chile mining trade union Sonami said on Tuesday.
A voracious fire in the Chilean city of Valparaíso began on Tuesday and extended until after Christmas Eve on Wednesday, leaving about 245 homes destroyed, 2000 people without power and a dozen injured. The authorities believe that the fires in the tourist city were intentional.
Chile's gross domestic product grew 3.3 percent in the third quarter of 2019 compared with a year earlier, the central bank said on Monday. The market had predicted relatively strong growth during the July through September period, citing improving prospects for the country's all-important mining industry.