Chile Presents Official Bid To Host World’s Largest Telescope

Judge Alejandro Solis this week indicted six former secret police operatives for torturing Sergio Aguiló Melo in 1981.

Aguiló, now an elected member of Congress, filed the lawsuit in 2005, naming former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet (now deceased) and former Interior Minister Sergio Fernández (still active in national politics with the ultra-conservative UDI party). Aguiló said he realized his case was not as serious as others human rights violations that occurred during the Pinochet dictatorship, but that he wanted to send a “moral signal.”

Scientists hope investigation will lead to national strategy to protect glaciers

Chilean scientists were given the green light this week by the government’s water authority (DGA) to launch a US$52 million research project aimed at documenting the nation’s glaciers.

Scientists from the center for scientific study and investigation (CECS) in Valdivia (Region XIV) will study the effects of global warming on the country’s glaciers, with the goal of creating a national strategy to prevent the permanent loss of these valuable water resources.

A study by conservative think-tank El Instituto Libertad y Desarollo found that over half the students receiving substantial grants to do graduate work at foreign universities are capable of paying for their education by themselves. 

“Chilean scholarships were created to improve the quality of our students without economic prerequisites, but the money is mostly going to people with economic power and who don’t need state funding,” said study author Pablo Eguiguren.