Asteroid fragment thought to have caused large crater and loud noise but uncertainty remains as no streak of light seen in sky Nicaragua's government said that a mysterious boom heard in the capital was made by a small meteorite that left a crater in a wooded area near Managua's airport. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said on Sunday that a committee formed by the government to study the event...
Officials appeal for witnesses after residents report a loud boom but no one reports seeing the space rock streaking in the sky Nicaraguan officials have appealed for witnesses to a meteorite strike that left a 12m-wide crater near Managua's international airport on Saturday night. Residents reported a loud boom as the meteorite crashed but scientists said no one had come forward who had seen the streak...
Swaths of rainforest affected by 'narco-deforestation' caused by landing strips and roads built by and for drug traffickers According to Kendra McSweeney: "Drug trafficking is causing an ecological disaster in Central America." McSweeney, a geographer at Ohio State University, is the co-author of a recent report on the little-known phenomenon of "narco-deforestation" that is destroying...
Rising temperatures resulting from climate change are fuelling the growth of rust, a disease ravaging coffee plantations in Central America. We report from Nicaragua's Jinotega hills, where starving villagers are desperate to save their livelihoods In pictures: embattled coffee farmers in Central America Under the coffee bushes, Rosibel and Benjamín Fijardo are on their knees, scraping carefully...
Across Central America, the changing climate has caused catastrophe for those who depend on the region's most important cash crop: coffee. In the last two years, warmer temperatures and higher humidity levels have contributed to the spread of the roya - or coffee rust a fungus that attacks leaves and fruits. Whole plantations have been destroyed and tens of thousands of campesinos have lost their jobs....
Independent counsel who painstakingly investigated the Iran-Contra scandal As the independent counsel investigating the Iran-Contra scandal, Lawrence Walsh, who has died aged 102, spent six futile years tying together the massive disregard for the law within Ronald Reagan's US presidency. Walsh managed to precipitate 11 convictions, mostly for lesser offences dealing with the cover-up, but saw all...
$50m grants scheme will support delivery of reproductive health services in Uganda, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Nicaragua Grassroots organisations are to share in a multi-million dollar project to improve family planning and reproductive health services for women and girls in Africa and Latin America. Groups in Uganda, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Nicaragua will be able to apply for advocacy grants as part...
ve been here since '52," one old hand said. Even grandees of the big television networks joined the sprint across the grounds and into the lift, copies in hand. Inside the cinema-like forum, all was concentrated silence punctuated by an occasional profanity or a murmur of "My God, North lied all along" from the readers. Until 11 o'clock sharp. With a "Ladies and gentlemen, the members of the President's...
Nicolás Maduro says whistleblower has 'told the truth in spirit of rebellion', while Nicaragua also weighs asylum offer Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro said on Friday he had decided to offer asylum to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who has petitioned several countries to avoid capture by Washington. "In the name of America's dignity ... I have decided to offer humanitarian...
Initiative (IM-Defensoras) in the Mexican capital. "And, of course, we are committed to continue." IM-Defensoras is a three-year-old effort to provide women rights defenders in the region with protection mechanisms that are gender-sensitive and adapted to different contexts, and that go beyond traditional options usually focused on organising some kind of police guard or facilitating exile. The initiative...
s largest potential wind resources and vast biomass capacity, but renewables in Central America have grown rapidly; Mexico is challenging Brazil in wind, leads the region in solar and has huge geothermal reserves. The potential scale of Brazil's green economy hints at the overall size of this market, with the Carbon Trust pointing to the country's " $200bn low carbon opportunity". In 2013 the UK's...
Critics say constitutional changes approved by national assembly could keep leader Daniel Ortega in power for life Nicaraguan lawmakers have approved constitutional changes that would allow President Daniel Ortega to be re-elected indefinitely, a move that his critics say is designed to keep the Sandinista leader in power for life. The largely Sandinista national assembly voted for the amendments...
s difficult for conservative candidates to move forward because inequality is such an entrenched issue," said Ana Quintana, a Latin America expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "And it's hard to implement free-market, institutional reforms when you need to make sure a significant portion of the population can get enough to eat." Latin America's right could once identify itself as pro-business...
s parliament is poised to approve a package of constitutional reforms that will remove presidential term limits and strengthen the hand of the Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega. Critics fear the changes, which would also allow members of the military to hold civilian government posts, are a sign of increasingly authoritarian tendencies. A plenary session of parliament voted 64-26 in favour of the bill,...
s clash described the armed band as common criminals. Ortega's government has not spoken about the group. Such a mass killing is unusual in Nicaragua which has had one of the lowest crime rates in Central America since armed political conflicts in the 1980s. The area of the shootout was a stronghold for the Contra rebels who fought the Ortega-led Sandinista movement in the 1980s. Sandinistas overthrew...
s president, Daniel Ortega, is pushing for changes to the constitution that would cement his second term in office by removing provisions that appear to rule it invalid. Critics have warned that if the change is enacted presidents would be able to serve unlimited consecutive terms in office. Nicaraguan lawmakers on Wednesday began studying the proposal by Ortega to remove an article in the constitution...
s equality Britain's glass ceiling for women in business and politics means it languishes behind the Nordic countries and some developing nations in the league table of gender equality, according to a report released on Thursday night. Research by the World Economic Forum found that the UK had failed to improve its 18th place in the rankings following a steady decline from 9th since 2006. As in 2012,...
s groups protest over introduction of mediation for crimes such as violent assault and sexual harassment Thousands of women in Nicaragua have taken to the streets to protest against legal changes that could push female victims of crime to sit face-to-face with their abusers. Law 779 , which came into effect in June 2012 and criminalises violence against women, has been under siege from conservative,...
s pro-Sandinista activism was in America's finest tradition. Where's that political courage now? Candidates to run one of the world's most important cities must address a host of issues. Voters want to know how they will handle problems ranging from subway service to income inequality. Now, a new and fully unexpected question has burst into the race for mayor of New York: what did you do in the cold...
s leaks have damaged US relations with allies Venezuela's offer of asylum could be NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's "last chance" to avoid extradition to the US, an influential member of the Russian parliament suggested Sunday. Alexei Pushkov, who chairs the Duma's foreign affairs committee and is seen to have the ear of the Kremlin, made the comment in a tweet , having previously stated his views...