In one of the most polluted rivers in Central America, a vulnerable crocodile species is thriving despite living in waters that have become a sewer for Costa Rica's capital, experts say.. "The Tarcoles River is the most polluted river in Costa Rica, and one of the most contaminated in Central America.
At least three people including an adolescent girl were killed and 11 others wounded Friday when a 16-year-old shooter opened fire on two schools in southeastern Brazil, officials said.. He then left that school -- a public primary and secondary school -- and went to a nearby private school, where he killed an adolescent girl and left two other people wounded, officials said.
A global wildlife summit that ends Friday passed resolutions to protect hundreds of threatened species, including sharks, reptiles, turtles as well as trees.. 3) Weird and wonderful turtles CITES approved varying levels of protection for around 20 turtle species from America and Asia.
French President Emmanuel Macron will raise concerns about the effects of American industrial subsidies and tax breaks during talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington next week, a top French official said Friday.. - 'Gap' - The tension over US industrial policy is one of several areas of friction between the European Union and Washington that Macron will raise next week during his state visit.
European interior ministers welcomed Friday an EU plan to better coordinate the handling of migrant arrivals, after a furious row over a refugee rescue boat erupted between Italy and France.. "The Ocean Viking crisis was a bit of improvisation," Schinas admitted, defending the new plan from his commission to better coordinate rescues and migrant and refugee arrivals.
Police stepped up their presence on the streets of Honduras Friday after President Xiomara Castro declared a state of emergency to quash a rise in gang activity in the Central American nation.. "To strengthen efforts to recover lawless areas in the neighborhoods, in villages, in departments, I declare a national state of emergency," said Castro on Thursday.
Taliban restrictions on the freedoms of women and girls could amount to a crime against humanity, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan said Friday.. Richard Bennett and other UN rights experts said the Taliban's targeting of women and girls deepen "flagrant violations of their human rights and freedoms that are already the most draconian globally and may amount to gender persecution -- a crime against humanity".
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was on Friday named head of the Socialist International (SI) as the movement of centre-left parties gathered in Madrid for a three-day congress. . The telegenic 50-year-old takes over from former Greek prime minister George Papandreou as head of the SI, a movement grouping 132 political parties from around the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday told a group of mothers whose sons are fighting in Ukraine that he shares the pain of those who have lost loved ones in the conflict.. "I want you to know -- I personally and the entire leadership of the country share this pain," Putin told the group ahead of Mother's Day, which is celebrated in Russia on Sunday.
Nearly half of Kyiv residents were still without electricity on Friday as engineers battled to restore services two days after Russian strikes hammered the country's energy grid.. Cars queued outside petrol stations in Kyiv on Friday to stock up, AFP journalists said.
