EX-PRESIDENT LEADS CHILE VOTE BUT FACES RUNOFF
CHILE» Billionaire SANTIAGO, businessman Sebastian Pinera easily led in returns from Chile’s presidential election Sunday, buoyed by support from Chileans who hope the former president can resuscitate a flagging economy, although he wasn’t getting enough votes to avoid a runoff.
With more than 90 percent of votes counted, Pinera had nearly 37 percent, against almost 23 percent for Sen. Alejandro Guillier, an independent center-left candidate, and 20 percent for Beatriz Sanchez, who ran for the leftist Broad Front coalition. Five other candidates shared the remainder. Pinera needed to get 50 percent of the votes to win outright. He will face the No. 2 finisher, which seemed likely to be Guillier, in a runoff election Dec. 17.
State lawmakers upset wildfire money left out of White House disaster aid request.
Every day, Mike Thompson hears a new story about how last month’s fires in northern California have affected people’s lives. Insurance is being denied. Tourism is down. Some companies have laid off workers.
“Block after block of homes are wiped out and cars are melted down to their skeletal remains,” the Napa Valley congressman said of his travels in Santa Rosa over the weekend.
And yet none of the $44 billion that the White House requested of Congress on Friday for supplemental disaster aid includes funding to rebuild California after the fires — which killed 43 people and destroyed nearly 9,000 structures — a move that’s sparked an outcry from Thompson and his fellow lawmakers.
“I think it’s very disappointing. Folks throughout California were ravaged by this fire, and we should ensure they get the help and support they need,” Thompson said Sunday.
Border Patrol agent dies after being injured in Texas.
Authorities are searching Texas’ Big Bend for potential suspects and witnesses after a U.S. Customs Border Patrol agent was fatally injured responding to activity there.
Authorities did not provide any details Sunday on what caused the agent’s injuries or what led to them.
Border Patrol spokesman Douglas Mosier says in a statement that agent Rogelio Martinez and his partner were transported to a local hospital, where Martinez died. Martinez’s partner is in serious condition. His name wasn’t released.
Border Patrol records show that Big Bend accounted for about 1 percent of the more than 61,000 apprehensions its agents made along the Southwest border between October 2016 and May 2017. The region’s mountains and the Rio Grande make it a difficult area for people to cross illegally into the U.S. from Mexico.
“Justice League” disappoints in U.S. with $96 million opening.
Only in the modern era of superhero films could a $96 million opening weekend be considered anything less than impressive. But that’s the situation Warner Bros. and DC’s “Justice League” find themselves in.
The superhero mashup came in well under expectations, which had pegged it for a $110 million launch in North American theaters. If studio estimates hold, it will also have the dubious distinction of being the lowest-opening film in the DC universe.
One film that did have a heroic showing this weekend was “Wonder,” an adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s novel about a child with a facial deformity that stars Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay.