■ Chile
Students, police clash
Police using tear gas and water cannons clashed with student protesters in Santiago on Thursday and arrested at least 475 nationwide, officials said. Demonstrators were demanding better public transit, Santiago Governor Adriana Delpiano said. The "Day of the Young Fighter" protest commemorates the 1985 police killings of two students during the regime of late dictator Augusto Pinochet. This year's commemoration was marked by anger over Santiago's reorganized public bus system, which users say causes undue waiting at stops. Police deployed 4,000 officers and a dozen armored personnel carriers around the city for the event.
■ Panama
Police to target gangs
President Martin Torrijos ordered a police crackdown on criminal youth gangs on Thursday. Torrijos spoke after police arrested at least eight suspected gang members in a poor inner-city neighborhood of Panama City where a gangland battle recently caused a fire that killed three children and destroyed more than 100 houses. Torrijos said he would ask Congress to increase prison time for youths convicted of homicide from seven to 12 years. Panama has about 100 youth gangs, officials have said.
■ United States
Agents nab illegal workers
Immigration agents arrested 69 people in raids on a temporary employment agency's offices and workplaces where it hired out undocumented workers, including to the port of Baltimore, Maryland, authorities said. Having "illegal aliens working and having access to our ports is a major security vulnerability," said James Dinkins, special agent in charge for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Agents also seized a bank account on Thursday containing more than US$600,000 from the employment agency, Jones Industrial Network. The employment agency's offices downtown were closed on Thursday. Jones is the only firm that has been targeted criminally, officials said.
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