UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Security Council voted unanimously Thursday, April 13, to end the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti in mid-October after 13 years, sending a strong signal that the international community believes the impoverished Caribbean nation is stabilizing after successful elections. The peacekeepers helped normalize a country in chaos after political upheaval in … Continue reading
MIAMI (AP) — A quarter-century after he vanished on the eve of a major drug indictment, the last of Miami’s fabled “cocaine cowboys” was in custody Thursday, April 13, nabbed on a suburban bike ride with his wife near Disney World. Prosecutors say the man living under an assumed name is Gustavo “Taby” Falcon, who … Continue reading
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — Four young men found dead in a park from injuries inflicted by a sharp-edged object were killed in a way that is consistent with the methods of the MS-13 street gang, according to police, who declared war against gang violence in the suburbs of Long Island. The victims, ranging in … Continue reading
PHOENIX (AP) — A fugitive accused of pulling the trigger to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent was captured in Mexico more than six years after a slaying that exposed a bungled gun-tracking operation by the U.S. government. Mexican authorities arrested Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes on Wednesday, April 12, as the U.S. government has pushed hard to … Continue reading
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday, April 13, urged all countries that provide troops for U.N. peacekeeping missions to hold soldiers accountable for sexual abuse and exploitation, an appeal that came after she cited an Associated Press investigation into a child sex ring in Haiti involving Sri Lankan peacekeepers. She also … Continue reading
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets in wealthy eastern Caracas amid a tropical downpour Thursday, April 13, to support a protest movement that is gaining steam even as it turns more deadly. Venezuela officials confirmed earlier in the day that a fifth person had died in the wave of anti-government … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Over the last year Ada and Anuma II have broken Marta Llanes’ television and computer key board, chewed her telephone to pieces and ruined much of her furniture. She has forgiven them every transgression. It’s hard to stay angry at a baby chimpanzee when it clambers up your leg and into your … Continue reading
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government says it has started the process of giving residency permits to 588 Cuban migrants who have been stranded in the border city of Nuevo Laredo since the U.S. ‘changed its immigration policy in January. The National Immigration Institute says the permits don’t constitute political asylum or refugee status … Continue reading
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The arrest of an ex-governor of the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas caps a five-year, seemingly desultory search for the ruling-party politician accused of organized crime and money laundering. It may have been one of the least serious searches in history. Analysts say the government was loath to arrest one of … Continue reading
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Thousands of protesters demanding new elections faced off with security forces who launched tear gas and stood shoulder-to-shoulder blocking roadways in the Venezuelan capital Monday, April 1o. Demonstrators covered their faces to protect against the plumes of tear gas that wafted through the streets of Caracas. A few threw rocks as … Continue reading
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis urged young people to lead the church’s future Saturday, April 8, even as he voiced doubts that he’d be around much longer to see it. The 80-year-old pope referred to his own mortality twice in the span of a few minutes during a vigil service to rally enthusiasm for the … Continue reading
DALLAS (AP) — Thousands of people marched and rallied in downtown Dallas on Sunday, April 9, to call for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system and end to what organizers said is an aggressive deportation policy. Organizers who called Sunday’s event the “Dallas Mega March” said President Donald Trump’s executive orders restricting travel from … Continue reading
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions toured the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday, April 11, and unveiled what he described as a new get-tough approach to immigration prosecutions under President Donald Trump. The nation’s top law enforcement official outlined a series of changes that he said mark the start of a new push to rid … Continue reading
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government has barred opposition leader Henrique Capriles — twice a major presidential candidate — from running for office for 15 years, a surprise move sure to ratchet up tensions amid a growing street protest movement Capriles read from excerpts of the comptroller general’s order at a rally Friday, April 7, … Continue reading
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The smells and sounds of Tijuana smack us as soon as we open the doors of our bug-splattered rental, a Jeep Renegade: food stalls selling roasted corn, churros and hot dogs; a near-empty bar blaring the oompa-oompas of norteno, Mexico’s answer to polka. This is our last stop. We have just … Continue reading
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government fired tear gas and rubber bullets at some of the thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro who poured into the streets of Caracas Saturday, April 8, amid a weeklong protest movement that shows little sign of losing steam. The demonstrations in the capital and several other cities came … Continue reading
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on Sunday, April 9, for an investigation against a leading opposition politician for falsely suggesting the government was carrying out a Syria-like chemical attack against protesters. Caracas-area Mayor David Smolansky on Saturday denounced the presence of a previously unseen red gas used to scatter thousands of … Continue reading
TABIO, Colombia (AP) — While the real Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is locked up in a cold, tiny cell in New York, his career as a drug lord apparently over, his fictional counterpart is free and in top form in Colombia, where the Univision network and Netflix are filming a television series about his life. … Continue reading
PUERTO BELLO, Colombia (AP) — Coca production in Colombia has surged to levels unseen in two decades of U.S. eradication efforts, according to a White House report released Tuesday, March 14. Cultivation of the plant used to make cocaine rose 18 percent last year from 2015, with coca crops planted on an estimated 188,000 hectares … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Organization of American States wants regional governments to suspend Venezuela from the Washington-based group unless general elections are held soon to break a political impasse that he said Tuesday, March 14, is destroying the country’s democracy. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro made the request in a 75-page report … Continue reading
MEXICO CITY (AP) — More than 250 skulls have been found over the last several months in what appears to be a drug cartel mass burial ground on the outskirts of the city of Veracruz, prosecutors said Tuesday, March 14. Veracruz state’s top prosecutor, Jorge Winckler, said the clandestine pits appeared to contain remains of … Continue reading
PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge has said the Border Patrol in Arizona violated court orders by failing to properly preserve surveillance video related to a lawsuit claiming the agency detains migrants in inhumane conditions. U.S. District Judge David Bury on Monday, March 13, partially granted a motion to hold the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector … Continue reading
VIENNA (AP) — The chief U.S. State Department counter-narcotics official on Tuesday, March 14, hailed a pending United Nations move to control substances used to make a deadly synthetic drug, but acknowledged it will not put an immediate dent in illegal trafficking of the chemicals. Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield said the U.N.’s proposal … Continue reading
GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — Miguel Cabrera hit a tying homer and Rougned Odor delivered a go-ahead single during a three-run rally in the ninth inning that carried Venezuela past Italy 4-3 on Monday, March 13, night and into the second round of the World Baseball Classic. In a one-game tiebreaker that determined the final team … Continue reading
MADRID (AP) — A Cuban singer and music producer has filed a plagiarism lawsuit against pop stars Shakira and Carlos Vives for allegedly copying his work in the Colombian duo’s award-winning music hit “La Bicicleta .” Livan Rafael Castellanos, also known as Livam, said he wants a court to decide whether parts of his 1997 … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 