Foreign News
Peru’s PM quits amid claims of influence peddling
Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otarola has resigned after audio recordings, allegedly featuring him using his influence to help his love interest get government contracts, were released by the media.
Otarola tendered his resignation on Tuesday after television programme Panorama broadcast the recordings over the weekend.
Announcing his resignation, Otarola told reporters in Lima he had been framed by political opponents. He claimed his rivals had manipulated and edited the recordings, which he said were made before he entered office in 2022. However, Otarola said on X that he was resigning “to give peace of mind to the president and recompose the cabinet”.
In the audio recordings, Otarola, 57, appears to be speaking to Yazire Pinedo. The 25-year-old woman landed contracts worth $14,000 this year to do archive and administrative work for the government.
In one of the recordings, he allegedly tells her: “Tell me, then, my love, so we can talk. You know these things are annoying, they are a pain, but you also know that I love you.”
Ordered home from Canada by President Dina Boluarte after the scandal erupted over the weekend, Otarola has denied any violation of Peruvian labour laws or other wrongdoing.
“I understand the gravity of the political circumstances, but I repeat that I did not do anything illegal,” he said on Monday on X.
Pinedo said on Tuesday that the leaked conversations with Otarola, who is married and has five children, were from 2021. She acknowledged having had a brief “perhaps sentimental relationship” with him. The president’s office said in a statement that it would hear Otarola out before deciding what to do. Prosecutors said they will investigate him for possible conflict of interest and “illegal sponsorship”.
With Otarola’s departure, the other 18 members of the cabinet must also resign, according to Peruvian law. The president can choose to reinstate each of them.
Boluarte, 61, came to power in 2022 after then-President Pedro Castillo, a left-wing leader, tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, leading to his quick removal and arrest.
Violent protests followed in several cities to demand Boluarte step down and for elections to be held.
About 50 people were killed in the ensuing crackdown by security forces, according to an estimate by Human Rights Watch, which accused the authorities of extrajudicial and arbitrary killings.
Multiple legal proceedings were launched after the crackdown to investigate if Boluarte bears any responsibility for the deaths.
(Aljazeera)
North Korea has cancelled the Pyongyang marathon for unspecified reasons, a tour agency linked to the event has said.
British-owned Koryo Tours, which describes itself as the official partner of the marathon, said on Monday that it had received notice of the cancellation from North Korea’s athletics association.
A message it attributed to the association said the marathon was being cancelled “due to some reasons”.
The annual event was established in 1981 to celebrate the birth of North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung. The 2026 race was set to take place on 5 April.
The message, purportedly from the North Korea athletics association’s general secretary, thanked “all the Elite Marathoners and Amateur Runners of the world who are interested in Pyongyang International Marathon”.
The message gave no further explanation on what the reasons for the cancellation were.
Koryo Tours said it understood the decision was final and had been taken “at a level above the organisers of the event itself”.
It said it would be seeking clarification on the circumstances surrounding the decision.
The tour company added that neither organisers nor event partners were involved in making the decision, and said it recognised “this announcement will be disappointing to many runners who had already registered or were planning to participate”.
Koryo Tours, based in Beijing, China, offers several marathon packages to foreigners, departing from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang.
Packages start from €2,190 ($2,529; £1,894) for 2.5 nights in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, including a marathon place and “highlights” of the capital and tickets were sold out this year, according to the agency’s website.
It said all deposits paid will be returned and runners have the option to retain their deposit for a future event or North Korea tour.
A date for the 2027 marathon has not yet been set.
The event had only returned last year after it was suspended for five consecutive years due to the Covid pandemic.
It is open to both amateur and some professional athletes and offers several race distances – 5km (3.1 miles), 10km (6.2 miles), half marathon (21.1km; 13.1 miles) or full marathon (42.2km; 26.2 miles).
[BBC]
Twenty-three people have been rescued by helicopter crews in Ontario, Canada, after the ice shelf they were standing on broke, sending the group floating into Lake Huron.
Ontario Provincial Police said on social media that the rescue began around noon (16:00 GMT) on Sunday after “winds and current moved the ice shelf away from shore” approximately 2km (1.2 miles).
The rescue involved two helicopters making multiple trips to pluck people off the shelf as it continued to fracture into more pieces in the Owen Sound, about 200km north-west of Toronto.
One member of the group said that he only realised the ice he was fishing on had detached from shore when he noticed that his GPS showed him moving.
Members of the rescued group described harrowing moments, with several of them becoming partially submerged in the cold waters as they sought out the thickest ice on the floe, or sheet.
“I looked at my GPS. We were moving,” fisherman Kevin Fox wrote, identifying himself on Facebook as one of those who were caught up in the incident. “I turned around and saw waves forming behind us.”
He said that he and several others started running towards a route that they hoped still connected to shore.
“We decided to run toward one side of the bay, but when we got there the ice had already separated from shore. We turned and ran the other way, but the ice there was breaking apart too,” he wrote.
Some started phoning their families, said Fox, adding: “It’s something I will never forget – seeing grown men crying while saying goodbye to the people they love.”
Fellow fisherman Alfie How told The Owen Sound Sun Times that they eventually “just sat down as a group and said this could be the end”.
Fox told the paper that the rescue occurred during high wind, and the group was concerned that the helicopters would not be able to fly.
“It was being eroded,” Fox said. “It kept getting smaller, and smaller.”
Police say several members of the group suffered hypothermia, but that everyone was expected to make a full recovery.
“Great teamwork and a quick response by all involved,” police added.
Last month in the US state of Vermont, police rescued a group of ice skaters who had also become trapped on floating ice.
Using kayaks and ferry boats, rescuers brought the group back from the icy Lake Champlain.
Officials warn that ice fishing conditions can change rapidly during the relatively warm daylight hours.
[BBC]
At least 23 people have been killed in Nairobi after heavy rain overnight caused severe flooding in Kenya’s capital city.
Police said about 30 people had been rescued but many others drowned after being swept into rivers – some have been electrocuted.
Kenya’s military has been deployed to help people trapped inside their cars as police described widespread damage to properties as well as road closures.
Several flights bound for Nairobi Airport had to be cancelled or diverted to the coastal city of Mombasa.
“The torrential rains have led to significant flooding, unfortunately resulting in 23 fatalities so far, the destruction of property, road closures, and the displacement of residents,” police said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
[BBC]
Prime Minister on official visit to Manila, Philippines
It is the government’s responsibility to ensure women’s rights are realized in everyday Life, and are not confined merely to Laws – PM
North Korea cancels Pyongyang Marathon for ‘some reasons’
Canadian officials rescue 23 people who floated away on ice sheet
India offered sanctuary to Iranian ship three days before US sank it
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