Chilean president pushes whaling ban

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President Michelle Bachelet pushed to permanently ban whaling along Chile’s sprawling coast at the opening Monday of the weeklong International Whaling Commission meeting, writes the Associated Press.

Bachelet endorsed making Chile’s coastal waters -- a stretch more than 3,100 miles long and up to 200 miles from shore -- a whale sanctuary. The proposal still must be approved by Congress.

Los Angeles Times Buenos Aires Bureau Chief Patrick J. McDonell reported from Chile in April on whales that were making a comeback to Chile’s southern waters, where they were once close to extinction.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

*edited: video added