International

In the face of neurotechnology advances, Chile passes ‘neuro rights’ law

AFP

Chilean lawmakers on Wednesday approved a law establishing the rights to personal identity, free will and mental privacy, becoming the first country in the world to legislate on neurotechnology that can manipulate one’s mind.

This bill, which already passed the Senate last year, could form the basis of future lawmaking in field of human rights in other countries in the face of advances in technology applied to the mind and the brain.

During debates preceding the vote, Senator Guido Girardi, one of the most vocal promoters of the law, said its aim is to protect “the last frontier” of the human being: the human psyche.

“We are happy that this is the start of a global assessment on how technology should be used for the good of humanity,” Girardi said on Twitter.

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The bill will now have to be signed into law by the president.

With this legislation, Chile is striving to be at the forefront of advances in neurotechnology.

Rafael Yuste, a biology professor at Columbia University and one of the world’s top experts in the field, told AFP that researchers have already succeeded in implanting in the brain of mice images of things that they hadn’t actually seen which affected their behavior.

This causes concern among some that such neurotechnology may be used to record people’s mental data as well as to modify it.

That is why, Chile’s law “establishes that scientific and technological development must be at the service of people and that it will be carried out with respect for life and physical and mental integrity”, the Chamber of Deputies said in a statement.

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It intends to safeguard people’s “neurodata” and establish limits on how the contents of a person’s brain can be analyzed and modified.

International

Chile declares state of catastrophe as wildfires rage in Ñuble and Biobío

Wildland firefighting crews are battling 19 forest fires across the country, 12 of them concentrated in the Ñuble and Biobío regions, located about 500 kilometers south of Santiago.

“In light of the severe fires currently underway, I have decided to declare a state of catastrophe in the regions of Ñuble and Biobío. All resources are now available,” the president announced in a post on X.

Authorities have not yet released an official report on possible casualties or damage to homes.

According to images broadcast by local television, the fires have reached populated areas, particularly in the municipalities of Penco and Lirquén, in the Biobío region, which together are home to nearly 60,000 people. Burned vehicles were also reported on several streets.

“The Penco area and the entire Lirquén sector are the most critical zones and where the largest number of evacuations have taken place. We estimate that around 20,000 people have been evacuated,” said Alicia Cebrián, director of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), in an interview with Mega TV.

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In recent years, forest fires have had a severe impact on the country, especially in the central-southern regions.

On February 2, 2024, multiple wildfires broke out simultaneously around the city of Viña del Mar, located 110 kilometers northwest of Santiago. Those fires resulted in 138 deaths, according to updated figures from the public prosecutor’s office, and left approximately 16,000 people affected, based on official data.

International

Former South Korean President Yoon sentenced to five years in prison

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for obstruction of justice and other charges, concluding the first in a series of trials stemming from his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.

The sentence is shorter than the 10-year prison term sought by prosecutors against the 65-year-old conservative former leader, whose move against Parliament triggered a major political crisis that ultimately led to his removal from office.

Yoon, a former prosecutor, is still facing seven additional trials. One of them, on charges of insurrection, could potentially result in the death penalty.

On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court ruled on one of the multiple secondary cases linked to the affair, which plunged the country into months of mass protests and political instability.

International

U.S. deportation flight returns venezuelans to Caracas after Maduro’s ouster

A new flight carrying 231 Venezuelans deported from the United States arrived on Friday at the airport serving Caracas, marking the first such arrival since the military operation that ousted and captured President Nicolás Maduro.

On January 3, U.S. forces bombed the Venezuelan capital during an incursion in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured. Both are now facing narcotrafficking charges in New York.

This was the first U.S.-flagged aircraft transporting migrants to land in Venezuela since the military action ordered by President Donald Trump, who has stated that he is now in charge of the country.

The aircraft departed from Phoenix, Arizona, and landed at Maiquetía International Airport, which serves the Venezuelan capital, at around 10:30 a.m. local time (14:30 GMT), according to AFP reporters on the ground.

The deportees arrived in Venezuela under a repatriation program that remained in place even during the height of the crisis between the two countries, when Maduro was still in power. U.S. planes carrying undocumented Venezuelan migrants continued to arrive throughout last year, despite the military deployment ordered by Trump.