RIOTING, arson attacks and violent clashes wracked Chile for a sixth day yesterday as the death toll rose to 15 in an upheaval that has almost paralysed the country.

President Sebastian Pinera announced a program calling for modest boosts to the lowest incomes and increased taxes on the wealthiest as he sought to calm anger in the streets.

About half of Chile’s 16 regions remained under an emergency decree and some were a under military curfew.

The curfew is the first – other than for natural disasters – imposed since the country returned to democracy in 1990 following a bloody 17-year dictatorship.

Unrest flared in the traditionally stable country last week when a relatively minor rise – less than 4% – in subway fares led to students jumping station turnstiles in protest.

MEANWHILE, early investigations into the injury of two toddlers on an Oslo pavement by a man driving a stolen ambulance suggest it “doesn’t look like a terrorist incident”, officials have said.

A spokesman for Norway’s domestic security agency, the PST, said it is continuing to assist police in Oslo with the case.

A 32-year-old Norwegian man was arrested on Tuesday after injuring two toddlers when speeding in the ambulance while being chased by police.

He was finally stopped after officers shot at the tyres and rammed the vehicle.

Inside the ambulance, police found an Uzi submachine gun, a shotgun and narcotics.

ELSEWHERE, Turkey will not resume its offensive against Kurdish Syrian fighters in north-east Syria, the government has said, after separate agreements reached with the US and Russia.

Turkey’s defence ministry said the US had announced that Syrian Kurdish fighters had completed their pullout from areas Ankara invaded earlier this month, as a five-day ceasefire allowing for the withdrawal expired on Tuesday night.

The statement after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured left shaking hands) announced a separate deal for their forces to jointly patrol almost the entire north-eastern Syrian border after the Kurdish withdrawal.

FINALLY, Hong Kong authorities have withdrawn an unpopular extradition bill that sparked months of chaotic protests that have morphed into a campaign for greater democratic change.

“I now formally announce the withdrawal of the bill,” secretary for security John Lee told the city’s legislature.

Pro-democracy legislators immediately tried to question him but he refused to respond and the assembly’s president said the rules did not allow for debate.