Juan Orlando Hernández, 55, once a US ally in the ‘war on drugs’, found guilty on three counts and faces 40 years in prison
The former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández has been convicted of cocaine trafficking, securing a place in infamy for the one-time US ally in the war on drugs.
Hernández is the first former head of state to be found guilty of drug trafficking in the United States since Panamanian strongman Gen Manuel Noriega was convicted in 1992.
Continue reading...Commission president says pilot delivery is expected to set sail on Saturday but did not say where shipments would land or unload
The EU has announced the opening of a sea corridor this weekend for shipping humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza in the race to stave off a famine that is already claiming lives.
“We are now very close to the opening of the corridor, hopefully this Sunday. And I’m very glad to see that an initial pilot operation will be launched today,” the EU commission president, Ursula Von der Leyen, told reporters after touring harbour facilities at the Cypriot port of Larnaca, the departure point for the aid shipments.
Continue reading...Package ‘fell down like a rocket’ on roof of house near al-Shati refugee camp where people were waiting, a witness says
Five people have been killed and 10 injured in Gaza when they were hit by a pallet of aid parachuted into the territory as part of a humanitarian airdrop.
Witnesses said the accident happened on Friday morning near the coastal refugee camp known as al-Shati, one of the most devastated parts of Gaza, after a parachute attached to the pallet failed to deploy properly and the parcel fell on a group of men, teenagers and younger children hoping to obtain food and other supplies.
Continue reading...Latin-inscribed artwork tells story of Walter Tirel, whose son killed British monarch
The Italian descendants of King William II’s killer want to donate a work of art partly depicting William’s death to a British museum.
The three-slab triptych is owned by the Tirelli family, whose aristocratic origins can be traced back to France, for over 400 years. They have said they believe it was made by a Norman artist in 1100.
Continue reading...President sends in military after mass abduction from school in north-western state of Kaduna
Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has sent troops to rescue more than 250 children kidnapped by gunmen from a school in the north-west of the country in one of the largest mass abductions in recent years.
The mass kidnapping in Kaduna state was the second in a week in Nigeria, where heavily armed criminal gangs on motorbikes target victims in villages and schools and along highways in search of ransom payments.
Continue reading...Loss of Doctors Without Borders services will probably leave void in potentially lifesaving services for migrants
Panama has ordered Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to stop treating people who have crossed the Darién Gap, one of the world’s most dangerous and fastest-growing border crossings.
MSF is one of the largest medical NGOs operating on the dangerous jungle frontier which connects Colombia to Panama and the loss of their services will probably leave a void in potentially lifesaving healthcare services for vulnerable migrants.
Continue reading...Highest court threw out previous convictions of Finnegan Lee Elder, 24, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 23
A new trial has opened for two American men accused of killing an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation after Italy’s highest court threw out their convictions.
Italy’s highest court of cassation ordered a new trial last year, saying it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants, with limited Italian language skills, had understood that they were dealing with Italian police officers when they went to meet an alleged drug dealer in Rome.
Continue reading...Bulgaria’s ‘eternal optimist’ in favour with European finance ministers after first five-year stint encompassing Covid and Ukraine
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, will run for a second five-year term after being nominated by a string of European countries to lead the global lender.
The Bulgarian economist and champion of policies to tackle the climate crisis will be given the support of her home country, which said she had accepted the nomination for another term starting in September.
Continue reading...Grant Shapps visits Ukraine and urges ‘wake up call for the world’; overnight Russian artillery and mortar attacks kill two women and a man in Kharkiv region
Ukraine’s defence ministry said that “overnight, Ukrainian air defenders shot down 33 our of 37 Russian ‘Shahed’ UAVs.”
Here is footage of a woman pulled from the rubble after Russian missiles hit Kharkiv region.
Continue reading...Items by Italian sculptor Umberto Mastroianni taken from exhibition at Vittoriale degli Italiani estate
Gold statues and jewellery made by the Italian sculptor Umberto Mastroianni have been stolen from an exhibition in northern Italy in a €1m (£850,000) heist.
The 20 gold statues and 30 pieces of jewellery were crafted between the 1950s and 1990s by the artist, who was the uncle of La Dolce Vita film star Marcello Mastroianni.
Continue reading...Cruise ships offer crucial income to poverty-hit village of Pond Inlet but opponents say it is vicious cycle
An increase in “last chance tourism” in Canada’s melting Arctic is causing a row between those who warn of the devastation it is causing to the environment and those who rely on income from tourists to survive as hunting becomes increasingly difficult.
Pond Inlet, a village of about 1,600 mostly Inuit people in the territory of Nunavut, received about 3,000 tourists in 2023. Each paid about $15,000 to travel on one of the 25 cruise ships that docked in the village harbour.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Dame Sara Khan warns that framing demonstrations as Islamist extremism is ‘far-fetched and untrue’
A UK government adviser on social cohesion has described attempts to portray protesters on pro-Palestinian marches as extremist as “outrageous” and dangerous.
Dame Sara Khan, who is carrying out a review of the resilience of the UK’s democracy for Michael Gove, said such claims risked further dividing the country.
Continue reading...Documents show officials stressing need to ‘keep the Saudis on side’ after revelations about notorious al-Yamamah deal
Britain’s Ministry of Defence moved questionable payments through its own bank account amid one of the biggest corruption scandals in history, despite concerns the money could be pocketed by the Saudi royal family.
Previously confidential documents show how the MoD agreed to make the payments to a Saudi bank account after the transactions came under scrutiny following an investigation by the UK anti-corruption agency, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Continue reading...Fact-finding mission concludes regime murdered, imprisoned, tortured and raped those who protested the death of Mahsa Amini
The Iranian regime’s human rights violations during its brutal suppression of protests in 2022 amount to crimes against humanity, a UN fact-finding mission (FFM) has said.
Established by the UN human rights council in November 2022 – two months after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests swept the country in response to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini – the FFM has released a report concluding the regime carried out widespread and sustained human rights violations against its own people, which broke international laws and specifically targeted women and girls.
Continue reading...Drone team has bombed tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and ammunition dumps but still Russians are on the move
At night, Sasha and his drone team go in search of the enemy. They set off in a dirt-covered vehicle towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariinka, occupied by Russia since December. They unload a large drone. And then they fly it in darkness across the frontline, above a ghostly landscape of fields and ruined houses, towards the twinkling city of Donetsk. The drone carries a deadly arsenal of six grenades.
Sasha, who uses the call sign “Tourist”, has bombed more than 100 pieces of Russian military equipment. The list includes tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and self-propelled guns, as well as hidden ammunition dumps. Russian howitzers are another key target. Recently his special operations unit forestalled a large-scale attack. It spotted seven Russian tanks massed for a dawn raid and disabled two of them.
Continue reading...Debate has begun on Article 23 – legislation designed to bring laws closer to those of mainland China
Hong Kong’s government has released the draft text of a new national security law that would further tighten control on the city and bring its laws closer in line with mainland China.
The law, known as Article 23, is a domestic piece of legislation defining and penalising crimes related to national security.
Continue reading...Progress to prevent female genital mutilation needs to be ‘27 times faster’, says UN
The number of girls and women who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) has increased by 15% in the past eight years according to new data.
Figures released by the UN children’s agency, Unicef, show that more than 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, compared with 200 million in 2016. The trend is towards girls being cut at a younger age, said Unicef executive director Catherine Russell.
Continue reading...André Ventura is hoping discontent with mainstream politics will hand his Chega party a kingmaker role
Tempting as the tables of savoury pastries were, and strong as the voice of the shaven-headed singer belting out Phil Collins was, they were not the lure that had drawn 200 people to a remote wedding venue in northern Portugal on a cold and ink-black Wednesday evening.
Despite the sign at the opposite end of the hall reading “Let’s get this party started”, the audience’s attention was more focused on a huge campaign poster behind the singer that offered a less hedonistic exhortation: “Portugal needs a CLEAN-UP.”
Continue reading...What appeared to be relatively low-stakes amendments could turn into embarrassing defeat for government
When the Irish government announced it would hold two referendums on International Women’s Day it billed the votes as opportunities to embed inclusivity and equality in a constitution dating from 1937.
Voters will on Friday be asked to delete article 41.2, the so-called “women in the home” provision, and enshrine two proposed amendments on care and family.
Continue reading...US president makes last State of the Union address of this presidential term, with much at stake as he heads into re-election fight against Trump
For some reason, expelled former Republican congressman George Santos has returned to watch the State of the Union from the House floor:
Axios reports he wanted to hang out with the lawmakers who voted to remove him from office last year for being a big-time liar:
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