Chilean voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have given the South American nation a radical new constitution that mandates socialized medicine and a right to free housing, a result that decimates the political ambitions of the country's socialist president.

Chileans are heading to the polls for a referendum on a new constitution that prioritizes social rights and the environment, potentially steering a global investor favorite further away from its pro-market ethos.

Colombia will be governed by a leftist president for the first time after former rebel Gustavo Petro narrowly defeated a real estate millionaire in a runoff election that underscored people’s disgust with the country’s traditional politicians.

Petro’s third attempt to win the presidency earned him 50.48% of the votes Sunday, while political outsider Rodolfo Hernández got 47.26%, according to results released by election authorities.

Santiago, Chile—I woke up early on October 20 after the city’s first night with a curfew since 1987. When I stepped outside, no one was in the streets, and the remains of a crude barricade and a traffic light lay piled near my apartment. A couple of blocks away, a pharmacy had been looted and the burnt husks of six buses sat in the middle of the road. When a tank with a soldier peeping out from the hatch passed in front of me, I almost cried.

Two LDS sister missionaries were assaulted during a home invasion Thursday morning in Temuco, Chile.

"Early yesterday morning, the apartment of four sister missionaries in the Chile Concepcion South Mission was broken into, and at least two of the sisters were assaulted," said Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The missionaries immediately notified police, wh

Sister missionaries in Chile are recovering after their apartment was broken into and two of the women were assaulted Thursday, according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, has signed into law a bill recognising civil unions between same-sex couples.
The law - which will come into effect in six months - gives same-sex and unmarried couples many of the rights enjoyed by married couples.
Several Latin American countries already recognise civil unions.

President Michelle Bachelet sent legislation to Congress on Saturday proposing to allow some abortions in Chile, a socially conservative South American nation that is among the few countries in the world that ban abortion in all circumstances.

The bill would decriminalize abortions in three types of cases: malformation of a fetus, a pregnancy posing a threat to the life of a woman carrying a fetus, and conception caused by rape.