Cuba may be one of the world’s least connected countries but that’s not stopping the Japanese subculture of anime and manga graphic novels spreading among its youth who held their third Otaku festival on Sunday (July 24). Hundreds of “otakus”, or geeky fans, flocked from around Cuba to the event in a Havana theater, defying the sweltering summer heat to roleplay sporting the costumes of their favourite fantasy characters, a practise known as “cosplay”. Some […]
South America
New ‘giant thief’ dinosaur discovered in Argentina
MIAMI ,United States (AFP) — A previously unknown species of meat-eating dinosaur from 80 million years ago has been unearthed in Argentina, adding to the dino family known as the “Giant Thieves,” researchers said Wednesday. The fossil found in Patagonia — an area rich in bone discoveries from the Late Cretaceous Period — is named Murusraptor barrosaensis and may reveal more about the origins of the group known as the megaraptorids, according to the study […]
Dozens of tourists on luxury cruise robbed in Peru’s Amazon
A group of eight criminals robbed a luxury cruise ship at dawn on Thursday (July 14) while it was travelling along the Amazon River, near the Peruvian city of Iquitos, local media reported. According to local media, there were 20 Americans, six Austrians, two New Zealanders and two Peruvians on board the cruise ship “Amazon Discovery” at the time of the robbery. “The robbery took place at 3am in the morning on a boat known […]
Argentines bang pots and pans to protest energy price hike
Residents of Buenos Aires took to the streets of the Argentine capital on Thursday (July 14) banging pots and pans to protest increases to consumer utility prices, days after the conservative government announced price hikes will be capped at 400 percent. The centre-right government of Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced a new cap on increases to consumer gas prices on Monday (July 11) and said it would appeal a court ruling that recently halted the […]
Mexican salsa shipment packed with cocaine
Tubs of spicy salsa being shipped through Mexico were found to have a surprise special ingredient; cocaine. Authorities in Mexico said they have seized hundreds of tubs of salsa with packages of cocaine concealed inside them. Footage released by marines in the Pacific state of Colima on Wednesday (July 13) showed officials cutting open the lids of the red salsa and pulling out bags of cocaine from the sauce. According to officials, 217 salsa tubs, […]
Citibank to close key Venezuela payment account: Maduro
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) by Alexander MARTINEZ Citibank plans to close the account Venezuela uses to make international payments, President Nicolas Maduro said Monday, accusing the US-based bank of mounting a “financial blockade.” “Citibank, with no warning or communication, says that it is going to close the Central Bank and Bank Of Venezuela account. That is what you call a financial blockade,” the embattled president said in televised remarks. He said the move amounted to an […]
Obama says he is ready to ‘pass the baton’ to Clinton
by Michael Mathes CHARLOTTE, United States (AFP) — Barack Obama delivered a forceful plea Tuesday for Hillary Clinton to succeed him as president, praising the character of his former secretary of state whose horizon brightened after the FBI recommended no charges be filed over her email scandal. Obama, returning to a swing state that helped elect him in 2008, laid out a passionate, compelling case declaring he is “ready to pass the baton” to Clinton […]
New tarantula species named in honor of Garcia Marquez
BOGATA, Colombia (AFP) — A new species of tarantula has been identified near the home town of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and in an unusual posthumous honor, the spider has been named for the late Nobel literature laureate, officials said Tuesday. The newly researched “Kankuamos marquezi” is named for both Garcia Marquez and the indigenous Kankuamo group who live in the area of Caribbean Colombia where the writer was born. The newly high-profile arachnid has a […]
Drug experts weigh in on marijuana legalisation in Mexico
Drug experts gathered in Mexico City on Tuesday (July 05) for talks on the regulation of marijuana in the cartel-ravaged country, amidst warnings that opium production is opening up a new front in the war on drugs. The conference called Bioethics and Public Health In Marijuana Regulation brings together thinkers and leading experts in on illicit drugs. It comes after a landmark Supreme Court decision late last year that paved the way for liberalization of […]
Drug experts weigh in on marijuana legalisation in Mexico
(REUTERS) — Drug experts gathered in Mexico City on Tuesday (July 05) for talks on the regulation of marijuana in the cartel-ravaged country, amidst warnings that opium production is opening up a new front in the war on drugs. The conference called Bioethics and Public Health In Marijuana Regulation brings together thinkers and leading experts in on illicit drugs. It comes after a landmark Supreme Court decision late last year that paved the way for […]
Drought kills Paraguay’s thirsty alligators
GENERAL DIAZ, Paraguay (AFP) — A drought in northern Paraguay has driven thousands of thirsty alligators to crowd around lakes and wells, scaring off cattle from the dwindling water sources, environmentalists and locals say. Parched leathery corpses of the reptiles lie on the cracked earth near the Pilcomayo River where the borders of Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia meet. The Chaco region is suffering its worst drought in 19 years, Public Works Minister Ramon Jimenez Gaona […]
S.Korean selfie tourist dies in Peru waterfall: police
PERULIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peruvian police pulled a South Korean tourist dead from under a waterfall in the Amazon jungle, days after he fell in while taking a photo of himself, police said Monday. The man, 28-year-old Kim Jongyeob, slipped and fell 500 meters (1,640 feet) under the waterfall in northeastern Peru last Wednesday, a local police official said. “The tourist was found dead, submerged seven meters deep in the lake where into which the […]
