By Eduardo Gamarra (*) – Peru is in the midst of a political and civil crisis. Weeks of protest have culminated in thousands descending on the capital amid violent clashes and running battles with police.
Chilean authorities spoke Sunday of 24 fatalities, nearly 1,000 people injured, and some 800 houses destroyed in the past five days by wildfires spreading fast in amid a highly-irregular heat wave with strong winds and temperatures above 40°C in areas 500 km south of Santiago.
Researchers at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) will develop new and ambitious ideas to tackle critical global environmental challenges, such as global sea-level rise from Antarctica, thanks to new funding.
Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) announced Sunday that turnout for the national referendum called by President Guillermo Lasso seeking endorsement after 18 months in office had reached 80.74 %. Ecuadorians were also voting to elect the members of the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS), in addition to municipal authorities.
At least 26 people were arrested, including an underaged suspect, late Saturday in Lima amid new demonstrations against the government of President Dina Boluarte, it was reported. Five people -4 protesters and 1 police officer- also needed to be hospitalized due to the injuries sustained during the street clashes in which law enforcement used pellets and teargas. Several journalists have denounced having been beaten by the Police trying to control peasant unions, private organizations, and student groups.
Wind-chill temperatures in Rio de Janeiro reached 58°C Saturday before a storm broke out, leaving eight people missing following a shipwreck off Guanabara Bay. It was the highest temperature since 2009 when wind-chill measurements started to be taken. By Sunday the temperature dropped to 41.1 °C amid a strong storm. The boat capsized at sea off Paquetá Island in the middle of the storm.
Illegal miners known as garimpeiros are beginning to leave the lands of the Yanomami indigenous peoples after a federal raid to evict them was announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara told reporters Sunday.
The benchmark index of international food commodity prices declined in January for the tenth consecutive month, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported.
Over 1,200 people died in Türkiye and Syria as hundreds of buildings collapsed in the areas hit by an earthquake of 7.8-degree magnitude with its epicenter in the border city of Gaziantep. Rescue teams were searching for people trapped under the rubble. Humanitarian aid was reported on its way from various parts of the world. There were a total of 22 aftershocks, some of them strong.