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Chile is gearing up for a presidential runoff next Sunday after neither top candidate clinched a definitive win in teh first round of voting. Independent candidate Sebastian Pinera, a conservative billionaire, is in the lead at present against former president Eduardo Frei. It is the largest show of support an independent candidate has seen in recent history. The two main candidates faced off in a televised debate late on Monday as their campiagns reach the final stretch. At the centre of that debate was Chile’s human rights record. Some of Pinera’s conservative supporters are known to have backed Augusto Pinochet’s dicattorship decades ago. Amid this flurry of political activity, a new memorial msueum is opening this week in Santiago, the capital, a projcet led personally by Michelle Bachelet, the current president. The museum is a tribute to tens of thousands of victims, who like herself, suffered under Pinochet’s dicatatorship. Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman has this report (12 Jan 10).

The main headlines on Al Jazeera English, featuring the latest news and reports from around the world.

Residents in southren Afghanistan are accusing Nato and Afghan troops of killing 13 civilians after opening fire on a group of demonstrators.

Nato insists the only person kileld was a sniper.

The shootings happened in Helmand province, where people were protesting against a raid in which troops allegedly destroyed copies of the Quran.

Hashem Ahelbarra reports.

Januray 10, 2010

An Iranina nuclear physicist has been killed in Tehran – a killing the government is placing squarely on the shoulders of the US and Israel. The US has denied this calling it absurd. Massoud Ali Mohammadi was leaving for his job at Tehran University, when a bomb placed on a motorcycle near his house went off. Al Jazeera’s Alireza Roneghi reports form Tehran (12 Jan 10).

The recent anti-government demonstrations in Iran have once again highlighted its stark political divisions. The country remains tense after clashse between security forces and tens of thousands of opposition supporters in December. Eight people died on Ashura, one of the holiest days in the Shai Muslim calendar. Iran has been simmering since protests erupted after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the disputed Presidential elections in June. The pro-reformist opposition called the vote fraudulent but Irans government blamed western powers especially the U.S., UK and Israel for orchestrating those protests.

In this episode of Riz Khan we ask, how far will the Iranian government go in deailng with this ongoing political crisis? And what role, if any, should the international community play? Joining the conservation is Iranian-American journalist and writer Azadeh Moaveni, author of the book "Honeymoon in Tehran" about life under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Also with us is political anaylst Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich and former U.S. diplomat Hillary Mann-Leverett, who presently heads Stratega, a political risk consultancy that works on Middle East issues.