Guatemala

MEXICO CITY — The story is as convoluted as a film noir plot. A prominent lawyer is murdered after he accuses the president of plotting to kill him. But an international investigation finds that the murder was actually planned by the victim himself and carried out in a way that appeared intended to inflict maximum damage on the government. Bizarre as the story is, its conclusion is likely to put an end to a political crisis in Guatemala that has threatened the survival of President Álvaro Colom’s government. Vindicated by the results of the United Nations-sponsored report that has cleared his name, Mr. Colom on Wednesday declared victory over political opponents who had called for his resignation. “This strengthens both my government and my country,” Mr. Colom said in a telephone interview. The lawyer in question, Rodrigo Rosenberg, was shot five times on May 10 while riding his bicycle. A day later, a videotape that he made earlier surfaced. He said, “Unfortunately, if you are … [Read more...] about Report on Lawyer’s Death Eases a Political Crisis in Guatemala

Guatemalan unaccompanied minors who were traveling in a crowded truck are seen with Mexican authorities after being spotted at a checkpoint in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in this handout picture distributed to Reuters on January 26, 2023. Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM)/Handout via REUTERS MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities on Thursday stopped a crowded truck transporting nearly 70 migrants from Guatemala, mostly unaccompanied children, the country’s National Institute of Migration (INM) said in a statement. The INM said federal Mexican agents spotted the truck at a checkpoint in Mexico’s northern Chihuahua state, which borders the United States. It said there were 67 migrants from Guatemala traveling in the truck, including 57 unaccompanied minors, mostly boys, aged between 14 and 17. The group also included a mother and daughter, it added, all without proper migration permits. The truck driver was referred to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, it added, while the … [Read more...] about Mexico finds over 50 unaccompanied kids from Guatemala in migrant truck

MEXICO CITY — Álvaro Colom, who as president of Guatemala from 2008 to 2012 put the country’s forgotten Indigenous communities at the center of his government but faced fierce opposition from the elites, died on Monday at his home in Guatemala City. He was 71. His death was confirmed by his niece Alejandra Colom, who said he had been treated for esophageal cancer. Mr. Colom expanded access to education and health care in a country scarred by deep inequalities and decades of civil war. But his time in office was shadowed by a bizarre scandal in which he was accused of assassination and eventually exonerated by a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission. He also faced the growing reach of Mexican drug cartels, particularly the Zetas, that had allied with local criminal gangs to traffic cocaine. He supported a crusading attorney general who worked with the anti-corruption commission to arrest some of the country’s most violent criminals. But it was his commitment to … [Read more...] about Álvaro Colom, Guatemalan President Who Fought for the Indigenous, Dies at 71

Celeste Cortesi. Image: Instagram/@dion.trinidad via @themissuniverseph Celeste Cortesi has indeed been making noise in the upcoming Miss Universe 2022 pageant as the beauty queen landed on the frontrunners’ list of two international publications. Missosology, an established beauty pageant platform that specializes in analyzing contenders and contests, named Cortesi as its second pick for the title via its Instagram page on Saturday, Jan. 14. Also included in the list are Miss Venezuela, Miss Curacao, Miss Dominican Republic, Miss Puerto Rico, Miss USA, Miss Colombia, Miss Thailand, Miss Jamaica, Miss Mexico, Miss Aruba, Miss Italy, Miss Germany, Miss South Africa, Miss Peru, Miss Bahrain, Miss Vietnam, Miss Mauritius, Miss Portugal and Miss France. Amanda Dudamel of Venezuela emerged as the publication’s top pick for this year’s title. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Missosology (@missosology_org) … [Read more...] about Celeste Cortesi picked as Miss Universe 2022 frontrunner by global pageant observers

close Video Rep. Tony Gonzales on Supreme Court Title 42 decision: 'We got a win tonight' Congressman Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, celebrates the Supreme Court's decision to let Title 42 temporarily remain in effect and calls on the White House to develop a 'long-term solution' for the border crisis on 'Special Report.' The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the case of a Guatemalan transgender woman who is seeking to avoid deportation from the U.S. after a lower court said she didn’t go through the proper process to demonstrate she would be persecuted in her home country if she were deported. The nine justices will ultimately be deciding a technical requirement of U.S. immigration law that says migrants must exhaust "all administrative remedies available" before appealing their immigration decisions in the courts. The Biden administration , a champion for LGBTQ rights, finds itself at odds with a transgender immigrant who entered the U.S. … [Read more...] about Supreme Court to hear immigration case brought by transgender woman against Biden administration

INQUIRER.net stock images PARIS — Know-it-all chatbots landed with a bang last year, convincing one engineer that machines had become sentient, spreading panic that industries could be wiped out and creating fear of a cheating epidemic in schools and universities. Alarm among educators has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks over ChatGPT, an easy-to-use artificial intelligence tool trained on billions of words and a ton of data from the web. It can write a half-decent essay and answer many common classroom questions, sparking a fierce debate about the very future of traditional education. New York City’s education department banned ChatGPT on its networks because of “concerns about negative impacts on student learning.” “While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills,” said the department’s Jenna Lyle. A group of Australian universities said they would change exam formats to banish … [Read more...] about AI, do my homework! Chatbot pits teachers vs tech

A map shows an area of Central and Southern Maya Lowlands that has revealed large and early ancient Maya cities nestled in the area known as the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin (MCKB) of northern Guatemala and southern Campeche, Mexico, after a study using LiDAR laser technology by seven foundations and organizations, in this undated handout image. FARES USA/Handout via REUTERS GUATEMALA CITY — A new high-tech study has revealed nearly 1,000 ancient Maya settlements, including 417 previously unknown cities linked by what may be the world’s first highway network and hidden for millennia by the dense jungles of northern Guatemala and southern Mexico. It is the latest discovery of roughly 3,000-year-old Maya centers and related infrastructure, according to a statement on Monday from a team from Guatemala’s FARES anthropological research foundation overseeing the so-called LiDAR studies. The findings were first published last month in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica. All of the … [Read more...] about Ancient Maya cities, ‘super highways’ revealed in latest survey

Archeologist Amy Thompson speaks with members of the local community who worked with the team of researchers during excavations at the ancient Maya site of Uxbenka, Belize in April 2012. Keith Prufer/Handout via REUTERS WASHINGTON  – An examination of numerous houses excavated at two sites in southern Belize is providing insight into gaping wealth inequality in ancient Maya cities – a disparity that researchers believe was closely linked to despotic leadership. Archaeologists on Wednesday said they studied remains of 180 homes in the medium-sized city of Uxbenká and 93 homes in the smaller nearby city of Ix Kuku’il, which both flourished during the so-called Classic Maya period from roughly 250 to 900 AD. During this time, the Maya produced soaring pyramids and wondrous works of sculpture and painting, employed hieroglyphic writing and excelled at calendar-making and mathematics. The researchers gauged wealth inequality based on the mix of large and smaller homes, along with … [Read more...] about Maya ruins in Belize offer peek at ancient wealth inequality

Archaeologists unearth Ancient Greek execution site SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info A long-lost temple to the ancient god Poseidon has been uncovered near the village of Kato Samiko in the Elis region of Greece, along the Peloponnese peninsula’s Ionian Sea coast. The shrine was unearthed at the so-called Kleidi site, near the ancient town of Samikon by a team of researchers led from the Australian Archaeological Institute and including Germany’s Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Kiel University, as well as the Ephorate of Antiquities of Elis. The existence of a temple to Poseidon along the Peloponnese peninsula’s west coast was long known to historians, having been mentioned in the writings of the ancient Greek historian … [Read more...] about Long-lost temple to Poseidon found on section of Greek coast ‘repeatedly hit by tsunamis’

Click here to read the full article. Establishing herself as one of the world’s few Arctic Circle feature film producers, having set up shop in Norway’s Tromsø, former Mer Films production exec Elisa Fernanda Pirir is launching her own production company, Staer, which is backing productions by Morocco’s Nabil Ayouch and Colombia’s Juan Carlos Arango, among others, as she also develops her first titles by Sami talent. Born in Guatemala, Pirir is joined at Staer by KriStine Ann Skaret, behind the award-winning film “Villagers and Vagabonds” (2020), the co-production “Aswang” (2019) and the premiere-ready “Not That Kind of Guy” (2022). More from Variety Kino Lorber Buys 'Casablanca Beats,' Morocco's Official Oscars Submission (EXCLUSIVE) 'Casablanca Beats' Review: A Lively, Unruly Moroccan Hip-Hop Drama Nabil Ayouch Reflects on the Power of the Arts and 'Casablanca Beats' Born in Guatemala but moving to northern Norway in 2007, Pirir joined Mer Film, the … [Read more...] about ‘The Kings of the World’ Co-Producer Elisa Fernanda Pirir Launches Staer Film (EXCLUSIVE)