Foreign News

Cocaine worth $330m found in Ecuador banana shipment

Published

4 years ago

2023/02/28

Priyan

The cocaine parcels were found in a container full of bananas bound for Belgium (pic BBC)

BBC reported that police in Ecuador have found almost 8.8 tonnes of cocaine in a shipment of bananas bound for Belgium.

Police commander Fausto Salinas said the drugs would have been worth an estimated $330m (£275m) had they reached their destination.

Ecuador has become one of the main transit countries for cocaine produced in neighbouring Peru and Colombia. Last year, more than 200 tonnes of the drug were seized in the Andean country, much of it in the port of Guayaquil.

With Ecuador the world’s largest exporter of bananas, smugglers often try to hide their illegal consignments among the fruit which is shipped from Guayaquil to destinations all over the globe. This latest haul was found inside a container full of banana cases destined for Belgium.

Belgium has become the country where the largest quantities of cocaine have been seized within the European Union in recent years, with the port of Antwerp the main entry point for the illegal drug.

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Foreign News

Head teacher evacuated 900 children minutes before school washed away by Nepal floods

Published

1 day ago

2026/08/30

Priyan

A head teacher’s quick decision to evacuate his school saved 900 pupils from deadly flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border

Rajendra Dawadi tells the BBC he was tipped off about incoming flood waters and moved students to higher ground with just minutes to spare. One pupil says she and her friends survived by just 10 seconds and watched as a nearby bazaar was swept away

Wednesday’s disaster has killed at least 794 people and more than 2,500 people are missing in Nepal, local officials say

In Tibet, the official death toll is 16, with 546 reported to be missing, according to Chinese state media –

[BBC]

Foreign News

Ferry carrying 260 people capsizes off northern Cyprus coast

Published

1 day ago

2026/08/30

Priyan

A ferry carrying around 260 people has capsized off the coast of northern Cyprus with a search underway for survivors, according to local media.

The catamaran-style boat was travelling from the port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, and started sinking a few kilometres off the coast of the island state on Sunday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

Ex-White House teleprompter operator ordered to pay $172,000 for Trump speech bets

Published

2 days ago

2026/08/29

Priyan

The staffer was found to have made tens of thousands of dollars through betting on what the president would say in his speeches (BBC)

A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay more than $172,000 (£127,000) for using inside information to bet on US President Donald Trump’s speeches.

Gabriel Perez was found to have made trades on what the president would say during addresses between December 2025 and February 2026 on Kalshi – a prediction markets platform where users can bet on real-world events.

Its regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said Perez would have to surrender profits of $107,539.02 (£79,452) and pay a civil penalty of $65,000 (£48,000).

The White House has not yet commented. In July then press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Perez was on unpaid leave and would not return to his post.

Announcing the settlement on Friday, the CFTC said Perez had “misappropriated” his prior knowledge of Trump’s speeches to place bets “in breach of his duty of trust and confidence”.

It said his civil penalty had been reduced due to his “exemplary co-operation” with the investigation.

Perez has also been banned from trading for three years.

Writing on X, Kalshi’s lead lawyer Bobby DeNault welcomed the decision: “It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences.”

(BBC)