Author: Crespn

Land devoted to the cultivation of coca leaves in Peru increased by 18 percent between 2021 and 2022, with some 95,000 hectares (367 square miles) now being used to grow the raw ingredient for cocaine, the government’s anti-drug authorities have said. Though the cultivation of coca is legal for traditional purposes such as being chewed for energy or administered as an antidote for altitude sickness in the Andean nation, analysts and government officials estimate that some 90 percent of Peru’s crop is now used in the illicit drug trade. Based on data from 20 monitored areas, Peru’s national anti-drugs commission DEVIDA…

BRASILIA, Brazil — A representative of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday handed a set of diamond jewelry he received during his presidency over to a state bank, as ordered by a government watchdog amid an investigation into the gifts. Federal police and prosecutors are investigating whether the goods brought into the country from Saudi Arabia were public gifts that Bolsonaro improperly tried to prevent from being incorporated into the presidency’s public collection, or private gifts that Bolsonaro tried sneak into Brazil without paying taxes. The Senate’s transparency commission also is investigating whether the sale of a refinery by Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant…

IN a stellar football career that spanned four decades, Willie Donachie played alongside some truly exceptional centre backs. But the former Manchester City and Scotland left back is in no doubt whatsoever about who the very best was – Gordon McQueen. McQueen, who has passed away at the age of 70 following a battle with vascular dementia, won the English title with Leeds United, the FA Cup with Manchester United and made 30 appearances for Scotland in his heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. For Donachie, who was devastated when he learned of his close friend’s death today, there was nobody better in his…

They called out the names of their friends, sometimes their predecessors, some of them martyred, some having lived long lives, others short, but all rooted in radical closeness to the Gospel. Fr. Jose Luis Loyola gently told them not to worry if tears came. But mostly tranquility filled the Mass that closed the 48th board meeting of the Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious, or CLAR, in Lima, Peru. They ended late on June 5, with flags from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean draped over an altar, remembering their fallen friends, giving thanks for their lives. Women and…

Peru has attracted millions of dollars in forest conservation projects over the years, has a series of international agreements and targets to protect forests and has 254 public and private parks and protected areas — but these mechanisms have had little to no effect as deforestation skyrockets in the country, says a new study. Peru, which has the second-biggest share of the Amazon Rainforest after Brazil, has lost an average of more than 326,000 acres of forest per year since 2001. This spiked in 2020 when it lost nearly 502,000 acres — the equivalent of almost 379 football fields. The new study by…

Winning a gold medal in Peru was just a stepping stone for Lily Pullen. After the Pan American Championship in Peru this past April, Pullen was in Japan this past weekend playing in the Utsugi Cup held in Takasaki City. Pullen, a-soon-to-be-freshmen at Oskaloosa High School, knew at a very young age she loved the game of softball. What she didn’t know was that her love of the game would have to continue without her favorite coach and fan, her dad Brian. Brian started coaching Lily’s first competitive softball team at Mid-America Ball Park in Shawnee when she was just…

by Miao Zhengming In September 2021, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia announced a new security partnership called AUKUS. In March 2023, Joint Leaders Statement on AUKUS mentioned that its first major initiative was to support Australia in acquiring conventionally-armed and nuclear-powered submarines, making Australia the seventh member of the exclusive club of nuclear propulsion states. Just as a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said, nuclear submarine cooperation between the three countries involves the transfer of large amounts of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium from nuclear weapon states to a non-nuclear state, which poses a serious risk…

Top-ranked South American surfers have been giving it their all this week at the Punta Rocas Open Pro international tournament, which wrapped up Sunday at Peru’s leading surfing spot, Punta Rocas Beach, just south of Lima. The second edition of this World Surf League (WSL) event kicked off Thursday with the Men’s Qualifying Series (QS 1000) and Junior Tour competitions. Some 80 percent of the 135 competitors are either Brazilian or Peruvian, setting up a Brazil-Peru clash “for leadership in the region,” Sebastian Rubio, spokesman for the RDV Surf association, which organized the contest, told Xinhua. “The level is quite…

Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese has been released from a Madrid police station after giving evidence in the wake of incidents which took place at the team hotel on Monday evening. Peru are in Madrid to play a friendly against Morocco on Tuesday night in Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium. They were welcomed by a crowd of hundreds of fans at their hotel in the north of the city after training on Monday and problems arose when Gallese and other members of the squad greeted fans, crossing a security cordon to do so. Video images show them exchanging pushes and words with…

Forward Rony Barbosa described his Brazil call-up as a unique moment and promised to contribute in “some way” as he prepares to make his international debut against Morocco. The 27-year-old Palmeiras attacker is among nine uncapped players in the Brazil squad for Saturday’s clash in Tangier and he is expected to be given at least some game time by interim manager Ramon Menezes. “I can’t believe I’m here with these players that I’ve only seen in video games,” Rony told reporters. “I’ll try to contribute in some way, but the most important thing is the experience of being with these…