Chile has signed a decree to remove cannabis from the country’s list of hard drugs.
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The decree also authorises the sale of medicines containing derivatives of the plant.
The document has not officially been published, but Associated Press obtained a copy ahead of the formal announcement.
Under the law, the sale of cannabis, as well as the planting and transporting it, will still be illegal and carry a prison sentence of five to 10 years.
World news in pictures
World news in pictures
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1/30 28 September 2016
Rescuers evacuate residents through floodwaters brought by typhoon Megi in Ningde, eastern China's Fujian province. Typhoon Megi smashed into the Chinese mainland, killing one person, after leaving a trail of destruction and four people dead in Taiwan
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2/30 28 September 2016
A CalFire firefighter surveys a hot spot in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Loma Prieta, California. The Loma Fire has charred more than 2000 acres and burned multiple structures in the area
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3/30 28 September 2016
A civil police officer carries a girl to a safe place during the demolition of over 300 settlements of the Bukit Duri neighbourhood located on the Ciliwung river banks, in order to improve the riverside infrastructure planned by the government in Jakarta. Authorities ordered the slum residents to vacate their settlements built on riverbanks and for the residents to relocate to new flats, as the government is trying to clear the flood-prone area, where more than 900 homes were demolished a year earlier
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4/30 27 September 2016
A woman eats and struggles with her umbrella against powerful gusts of wind generated by typhoon Megi across the the island in Taipei, Taiwan. Schools and offices have been closed on Taiwan and people in dangerous areas have been evacuated as a large typhoon with 162 kilometers- (100 miles-) per-hour winds approaches the island
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5/30 27 September 2016
Alstom employees stage a protest in front of its headquarters in St Ouen, north of Paris, asking not to close a plant in Belfort, eastern France, which employs 400 people. Alstom's situation is considered by many French politicians as symbolic of France's difficulty of keeping a strong industry at home
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6/30 26 September 2016
A man poses as he gathers with others at Bogota's Bolivar main square, to celebrate the historic peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Colombia will turn the page on a half-century conflict that has stained its modern history with blood when the FARC rebels and the government sign a peace deal. President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the FARC, Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre, Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez, are set to sign the accord at 2200 GMT in a ceremony in the colorful colonial city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast
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7/30 26 September 2016
Tourists pose in front of the illuminated Eiffel Tower during an event to mark the Breast Cancer Awareness month in October in Paris
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8/30 26 September 2016
A nail house is seen in the middle of an area covered by a dust screen in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China
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9/30 26 September 2016
Students at the Durban University of Technology march as countrywide protests demanding free tertiary education continue, in Durban, South Africa
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10/30 26 September 2016
Palestinian women throw sweets at the militants from the al-Nasser Brigades, an armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), while marching on their vehicles during a rally to commemorate the 16th anniversary of their group in Gaza
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11/30 26 September 2016
A supporter of Awami Ittihad Party (AIP), a pro-India party, is detained by Indian police during a protest demanding to hold a plebiscite, in Srinagar
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12/30 25 September 2016
A dog wipes out during the Surf City Surf Dog competition in Huntington Beach, California
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13/30 25 September 2016
Indian folk dancers from the Panghat Group of Performing Arts perform during a dress rehearsal for an event to mark the forthcoming Hindu festival 'Navaratri', or the Festival of Nine Nights, in Ahmedabad
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14/30 25 September 2016
An artisan hangs decorative pieces at a pandal, or a temporary platform, for the upcoming Hindu festival of Durga Puja, in Kolkata, India
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15/30 25 September 2016
Runners take the start of the 43rd Berlin Marathon in Berlin
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16/30 25 September 2016
The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) is seen on its first day of operation in Pingtang, in southwestern China's Guizhou province. The world's largest radio telescope began operating in southwestern China, a project which Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life
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17/30 25 September 2016
Australian knight Philip Leitch (R) has a floral basket on his helmet smashed by an opponent at the St Ives Medieval Fair in Sydney, one of the largest of its kind in Australia
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18/30 25 September 2016
A security guard working at the Cascade Mall places flowers at a makeshift memorial in Burlington, to the five victims killed in a shooting at the mall. The 20-year-old man suspected of killing the five people with a rifle at a Macy's makeup counter had a string of run-ins with the law in recent years, including charges he assaulted his stepfather
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19/30 25 September 2016
A man works in a rice field where rice crop is planted in a shape which looks like a map of China, ahead of China's National Day, in Shanghai, China
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20/30 25 September 2016
Law enforcement officials inspect a boat overturned on a jetty, off Miami Beach. Authorities said that Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Fernandez was one of three people killed in the boat crash the day before. Fernandez was 24
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21/30 24 September 2016
Syrians await to receive treatment at a make-shift hospital following air strikes on rebel-held eastern areas of Aleppo. Heavy Syrian and Russian air strikes on rebel-held eastern areas of Aleppo city killed at least 25 civilians, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, overwhelming doctors and rescue workers
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22/30 24 September 2016
A fire broke out on a tanker belonging to the Mexican state oil company PEMEX, causing no injuries, according to a company official, in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Boca del Rio in Veracruz state, Mexico
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23/30 24 September 2016
Participants attend a competition of the 2016 XTRAIL Expedition at Kanas National Geological Park in Altay, China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
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24/30 23 September 2016
Protesters march in the streets during another night of protests over the police shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina
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25/30 23 September 2016
Campaigners pose on a 'United To Stop Trump' cardboard wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate to urge Americans living abroad to register and vote in Berlin, Germany
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26/30 23 September 2016
A man rests on his cart after unloading plastic jugs near a shop at a main market in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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27/30 23 September 2016
Staff inspect the presentation before the Swiss Cheese Awards competition in Le Sentier, Switzerland. One hundred and fourty-two experts have to choose the best out of 777 cheeses from 353 producers competing in 28 categories
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28/30 23 September 2016
Israeli settler bride Yael Levi (C) is surrounded by friends and relatives during her wedding ceremony at the plaza outside the Cave of the Patriarchs also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is a holy shrine for Jews and Muslims, in the heart of the divided city of Hebron in the southern West Bank
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29/30 22 September 2016
A South Korean army special forces soldier breaks bottles with his hand during the Naktong River Battle re-enactment in Waegwan, South Korea. South Korean Defense Ministry reenacted one of the important battles as part of commemoration events for the 66th anniversary of the Korean War
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30/30 22 September 2016
Women wait on a street in Pyongyang, North Korea
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Chile’s Congress will now debate the legality of the drug, and could possibly relax the laws on medical and personal use. It comes after a Chilean municipality became the first in the country to legalise medical marijuana as part of a Government-backed pilot programme to help ease the pain of cancer patients.
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