Chile court overturns convictions for 1982 murder of former president Frei

  • Judges rule Eduardo Frei Montalva ‘not a victim of homicide’
  • Doctor and driver among six convicted in Pinochet-era death

Chile’s appeals court has overturned the convictions of six people for the murder of the former president, Eduardo Frei Montalva, in the 1980s during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.

The ex-president’s doctors, his chauffeur, an army officer and a former intelligence agent were sentenced to between three and 10 years in jail in January 2019 for the poisoning of 71-year-old Frei in a Santiago clinic in 1982.

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The curse of ‘white oil’: electric vehicles’ dirty secret

The race is on to find a steady source of lithium, a key component in rechargeable electric car batteries. But while the EU focuses on emissions, the lithium gold rush threatens environmental damage on an industrial scale

Even before the new mine became the main topic of village conversation, João Cassote, a 44-year-old livestock farmer, was thinking about making a change. Living off the land in his mountainous part of northern Portugal was a grind. Of his close childhood friends, he was the only one who hadn’t gone overseas in search of work. So, in 2017, when he heard of a British company prospecting for lithium in the region of Trás-os-Montes, Cassote called his bank and asked for a €200,000 loan. He bought a John Deere tractor, an earthmover and a portable water-storage tank.

The exploration team of the UK-based mining company Savannah Resources had spent months poring over geological maps and surveys of the hills that ripple out from Cassote’s farm. Initial calculations indicated that they could contain more than 280,000 tonnes of lithium, a silver-white alkali metal – enough for 10 years’ production. Cassote got in touch with Savannah’s local office, and the mining firm duly contracted him to supply water to their test drilling site. The return on his investment was swift. After less than 12 months on the company’s books, Cassote had made what he would usually earn in five or six years on the farm.

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‘Prevent, discourage, confront’: South American states tackle Chinese trawlers

Huge fleets’ intrusions into Pacific fishing territory prompt Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to join forces

Related: 'It's terrifying': can anyone stop China's vast armada of fishing boats?

Four South American countries have joined forces in a bid to combat illegal fishing by huge Chinese fleets off their coasts.

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Chileans vote by huge majority to replace Pinochet-era constitution – video report

Chileans celebrated on the streets after voting overwhelmingly to tear up the country's constitution, imposed four decades ago under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. 

In Santiago's Plaza Italia, the focus of massive protests last year that led to the poll, fireworks rose above a crowd of tens of thousands of people singing in unison as the word 'rebirth' was beamed on to a tower above. Exit polls showed that 78.24% of people had voted to approve a rewrite, while 21.76% rejected the change. Many have expressed hopes that new guiding principles will temper an unabashedly capitalist ethos with guarantees of more equal rights in healthcare, pensions and education

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Celebrations as Chile votes by huge majority to scrap Pinochet-era constitution

A plebiscite called in response to street protests in 2019 sees 78% of people back a new charter to replace one imposed by military dictator

Chile has voted overwhelmingly in favor of rewriting the the country’s constitution to replace guiding principles imposed four decades ago under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

Jubilant pro-reform supporters took to the streets of the capital Santiago and other cities to celebrate on Sunday night after exit polls showed that 78.24% of people had voted to approve a rewrite, while 21.76% rejected the change.

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Chile: millions head to polls in referendum on constitutional reform

Abolishing Pinochet-era constitution was key demand of last year’s protests

Chilean streets filled on Sunday for the first time since the start of the coronavirus outbreak as millions of people turned out to vote on whether to get rid of the country’s Pinochet-era constitution in favour of a fresh charter drafted by citizens.

A new constitution was a key demand of fierce anti-government protests that erupted last year over inequality and elitism in one of Latin America’s most advanced economies, and have simmered ever since.

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‘This is mutilation’: Chile’s blinded protesters seek justice after Covid lockdown – video

More than 400 people in Chile have suffered eye injuries after being shot by police while protesting against inequality. They allege that police deliberately aimed teargas canisters and rubber bullets at protesters' faces. 

We follow Carlos Puebla, a former construction worker who was blinded in one eye and subsequently lost his job. With Chile hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, he is struggling to pay the rent and feed his family. As Chile exits lockdown and inequality grows ever deeper, he heads back to the streets to seek justice 

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Churches burned amid tense anniversary protests in Chile – video

There were tense scenes in the streets of Santiago as demonstrators clashed with police on the first anniversary of mass protests over inequality that left more than 30 dead and thousands injured. The rallies were largely peaceful early on, but were later marred by the incidents of violence and confrontations with police. Protesters threw fireballs and rocks in the direction of police, with officers responding with teargas and water cannon. Two churches were set alight including San Francisco de Borja, used regularly by the Carabineros police force for institutional ceremonies. Demonstrators are also calling for Chileans to vote in favour of a new constitution in a referendum next weekend

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Chileans rally to rescue elephant seal that got stranded in town

Huge creature took wrong turn after coming ashore and ended up in suburbs of Puerto Cisnes

Chile’s overnight curfew, declared at the end of March to help curb the spread of Covid-19 through the narrow South American country, has not been universally observed by all species. Emboldened by the lack of people and cars, seven mountain lions have been captured on the streets of Santiago in recent months. Now it appears the large cats are not the only creatures keen for a change of scene.

On Monday night, the residents of Puerto Cisnes, a coastal town 1,500km (932 miles) south of the capital, were treated to the decidedly un-swanlike spectacle of a two-tonne elephant seal hauling itself through their neighbourhoods at a surprisingly decent clip.

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Chilean police throw boy, 16, off bridge during protests

Apparent serious assault is latest in series of alleged human rights abuses by Carabineros

Less than a month before Chile votes on whether to replace its Pinochet-era constitution, police have brutally repressed demonstrators in the capital, Santiago.

On Friday evening officers of the Carabineros police force used plumes of teargas and high-pressure water jets to disperse protesters congregating in Plaza Italia, where pockets of violence flared amid a heavy police presence.

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The Mole Agent: the story of the most unusual documentary of the year

An 83-year-old goes undercover in a Chilean nursing home in a warm-hearted and surprising look at age and intimacy

With The Mole Agent, Maite Alberdi set out to make a film noir documentary about a spy in a nursing home. She did not expect it to transform into an aching meditation on isolation and loneliness.

The Chilean film-maker told the Guardian she was initially toying with genre and form. In early scenes, she makes you question whether you’re even watching a documentary because of the heightened noir aesthetic – venetian blinds and high contrast lighting.

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Chile police using Covid-19 quarantine as pretext to crush protest, activists say

Demonstrations over hunger by people thrown out of work by the pandemic have been met with violent repression

Violeta Delgado was at a protest over food shortages under Chile’s coronavirus lockdowns when the police arrived and fired off a volley of teargas rounds.

Delgado, who was seven months pregnant, says she put her hands up to show she was unarmed, but was struck by a police vehicle and knocked to the ground.

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Chile’s indigenous communities face new challenges amid pandemic

Country’s indigenous groups count for 12.8% of population but government response has been criticised as ‘monocultural’

Away from the grey tower blocks and sprawling suburbs of Chile’s capital, Santiago, the country’s indigenous communities are facing new challenges during the pandemic.

The country’s 10 indigenous groups account for 12.8% of the population, scattered from the southernmost tip of Patagonia to the dry plains of the Atacama Desert in the north, and remote Easter Island in the South Pacific.

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Poverty, not just populists, to blame for Covid-19’s impact on Latin America

Mexico and Brazil have been hit hard by the pandemic, but so too have countries that were quicker to respond

Coronavirus arrived in Latin America later than in Europe, but it has taken firm hold. A quarter of global confirmed cases are in the region, and researchers have warned the death toll is likely to triple by October to nearly 400,000.

The two countries with the deadliest outbreaks share populist leaders, Brazil’s rightwing Jair Bolsonaro and Mexico’s leftwing Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

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Coronavirus live news: Trump refers to ‘the Chinese virus’ at rally; Victoria cases hit two-month high

Chile raises deaths to more than 7,000; six on Trump campaign test positive ahead of rally; Spain opens up for British tourists

A national campaign may be needed to teach people in England to wear face masks correctly, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ (Sage) subgroup has said.

Professor Susan Michie said that many people using public transport in England are not wearing their face masks in the right way, and “training” may be needed to ensure they are used effectively.

Tokyo has confirmed 35 new cases of coronavirus.

According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, Japan has had 17,725 cases of the virus, and 955 deaths.

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Latin America and Caribbean exceed 2m cases – as it happened

Iran reports more than 100 deaths for third day in a row; UK death toll rises by 43; Chile deaths rise to more than 7,000. This blog is now closed. Follow our new blog below

We have now closed this blog, but you can stay up to date on all our live coverage of coronavirus on our new global blog below:

Related: Coronavirus live news: World Health Organization reports record daily global case increase

That’s all from me for today – I’ll hand over to my colleague Helen Sullivan to guide you all through the next bit. As always, thanks for following along.

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Global report: Trump says he ordered coronavirus testing to ‘slow down’

Testing a ‘double-edged sword’, says Trump; Chile death toll nearly doubles; Australian state ‘absolutely at risk’ of second peak

Donald Trump told thousands of supporters on Saturday that he had asked US officials to slow down testing for Covid-19 because case numbers in the country were rising so rapidly.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the US president used racist language, referring to Covid-19 as “kung flu”, and described testing for the virus as a “double-edged sword” because it led to the identification of more cases.

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Chile’s health minister quits over government response to Covid-19

Country has one of the highest numbers of daily coronavirus cases relative to population size

A steep rise in coronavirus cases in Chile has plunged the government into crisis and prompted intense criticism of its management of the pandemic.

Divisions between the government and sectors of the medical community led to the resignation of the health minister, Jaime Mañalich, on Saturday, shortly after 234 deaths in 24 hours had been confirmed, the highest daily toll to date. Chile is among the countries with the highest number of daily cases relative to population size.

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Global report: China reports most cases since April as pandemic gathers pace in Latin America

Second wave fears rise in China; Chile health minister resigns; British citizens evacuated from Colombia; European borders reopen

China has reported its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases in months as parts of Beijing remained under lockdown, offering a second-wave warning to the rest of the world as the pandemic rages in South America and global cases approach 7.8 million.

The shock resurgence in domestic infections on Sunday has rattled China, where the disease emerged late last year but had largely been tamed through severe restrictions on movement that were later emulated across the globe.

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