Chile

Elevating tensions with its neighbor, the Peruvian government filed suit in international court against Chile on Wednesday, demanding a greater share of rich fishing waters in the Pacific Ocean. The act sparked outrage in Santiago, where officials vowed to defend the current maritime boundaries. Peru filed its petition at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a body set up to resolve disputes between United Nations member states.

The case of a jailed indigenous-rights activist who has been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days has galvanized support for restive Mapuche Indians seeking the release of prisoners and recovery of ancestral lands in central Chile. Mapuche activists and their allies have converged on this town in the Andean foothills, where Patricia Troncoso is being held in a hospital.

The Chilean government defended its decision Tuesday to back a church-brokered agreement that ended a months-long hunger strike by a jailed Indian-rights activist. A top official in the office of President Michelle Bachelet said Patricia Troncoso was not granted a pardon and would serve out her 10-year sentence -- albeit in a work camp and not in a prison, and with weekend leaves.

A small police plane crashed onto a sports field in Chile's capital Wednesday, killing all six people aboard and five on the ground, authorities reported. The Cessna 210 was approaching the small Tobalaba airport when it went down in the Penalolen district, where residents were taking part in an exercise class sponsored by the city, Chile's air force and local officials said. Five people on the ground were also injured.

From the earliest days of exploration, mariners in Chile's cool southern waters marveled at the abundance of whales. A Jesuit naturalist wrote of the sea "boiling" with the spouts of the leviathans. Among 19th century Nantucket boatmen, the island of Mocha was notorious as the stamping grounds of "Mocha Dick," an ill-tempered sperm whale riddled with harpoons.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Thursday presided over the signing of a number of bilateral scientific, agricultural and educational agreements, highlighting the growing trade and personal ties between California and a nation with one of South America's most dynamic economies.

MEXICO VS. CHILE 8, Telemundo Site -- Los Angeles Coliseum. What -- International friendly. Who -- Mexico and Chile national teams. Update -- It will be Mexico's first appearance in L.A. since its loss to Guatemala last October. It will also be Sven-Goran Eriksson's U.S. debut as Mexico's coach. Because the game is not being played on a FIFA international playing date, clubs are not obliged to release their players, so Mexico will be without its European stars.

After a three-day race to rescue a badly injured Newport Beach sailor stranded in the storm-whipped Pacific, a fishing trawler was expected to pluck Ken Barnes Jr. this morning from his crippled sailboat near the tip of South America. As a worldwide audience followed the rescue operation, attempts to reach the 44-foot ketch have been repeatedly thwarted by fierce weather off the coast of Chile.

Aboard a Chilean fishing trawler 500 miles offshore, rescued Newport Beach sailor Ken Barnes began recounting over a scratchy radio connection his harrowing three days alone near Cape Horn on his disabled 44-foot ketch. "I really haven't had a chance to put this whole experience in perspective," Barnes said from aboard the Polar Pesca I, a 200-foot boat carrying a 35-member crew. "I'm just taking one step at a time. I knew the risks. "I'm feeling fine," he added.

Newport Beach adventurer Ken Barnes Jr., whose three-day rescue at sea held a worldwide audience rapt, stepped onto land Sunday for the first time in 72 days and arrived here in the world's southernmost city offering the first detailed account of his ordeal.