A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck off the coast of central Peru on Friday, the United States Geological Survey said, but a tsunami threat from the tremor has passed.
The USGS said the tremor hit 8.8 kilometers (5.5 miles) from Atiquipa district.
The quake was felt in Lima and a large part of the southern and central coast of Peru.
The mayor of Yauca, Juan Aranguren, told local media that walls came down in his town.
A major highway running through the area also suffered cracks, he said.
“The children were crying, the earthquake was felt strongly,” said a villager from the area.
Speaking to RPP radio, Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen: “I want to convey tranquility. The earthquake has passed, we are making the first evaluations, and so far there are no fatalities to lament.”
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had earlier said “hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts” but later said the threat had passed.
Peru, with some 33 million inhabitants, lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a vast area of intense seismic activity that runs along the west coast of the Americas.
Peru is hit by hundreds of detectable quakes every year.
Japanese scientists make smiling robot with ‘living’ skin have used human cells to develop an equivalent to living skin that can be attached to robotic surfaces to flash a realistic — if creepy — smile.
The University of Tokyo researchers published their findings this week along with a video of the gooey-looking pink material being stretched into an unsettling grin.
They used a “skin-forming cell-laden gel” to create a “robot covered with living skin”, their study in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science said.
The biohybrid robot specialists hope the technology will one day play a role in the invention of androids with human-like appearances and abilities.
“We also hope this will help shed better light on wrinkle formations and the physiology of facial expressions,” and help to develop transplant materials and cosmetics, the team led by Professor Shoji Takeuchi said.
The new material could signal a departure from traditional humanoid robots covered with genuine-looking skin often made of silicone rubber, which cannot sweat or heal itself.
The scientists’ goal is “to endow robots with the self-healing capabilities inherent in biological skin”, but they are not there yet. In previous studies, they grafted collagen onto a cut on lab-grown skin covering a robotic finger to demonstrate how it could be repaired.
But they said conducting similar repair tests on their smiling robotic skin “is a future challenge”.
To create what they described as a “natural smile” that moves fluidly, they gelatinised the skin-like tissue and fixed it inside the robot’s holes, a method inspired by real human skin ligaments.
A badly wounded Joe Biden looked to get his reelection campaign back on track Friday after a debate performance that unnerved supporters and left allies of Donald Trump unable to conceal their glee.
Democrats had hoped to see the president defiantly answering critics who say he is too old for a second term while hammering Trump on his criminal record and the threat they say he poses to democracy.
Instead, many acknowledged, they got a faltering display from a candidate who sounded hoarse for much of the showdown, stumbled over words, pulled punches, often stared open-mouthed and looked confused.
“There are no two ways about it — that was not a good debate for Joe Biden,” Democratic former White House communications chief Kate Bedingfield told host network CNN as the curtain came down on the match-up.
David Axelrod, a senior advisor in Barack Obama’s administration, said Biden’s performance had “confirmed people’s fears” about an 81-year-old being too old for the Oval Office.
The president, who had spent days in mock debates at his Camp David retreat, was scheduled to begin the clean-up Friday with his largest event of the campaign, in the battleground state of North Carolina.
Facing tough questions over his performance and immediate future, he told reporters he had done “well” as he stopped off at an Atlanta Waffle House with First Lady Jill Biden after coming off stage.
He added that he was croaking because of a “sore throat” and that, in any case, it is “hard to debate a liar.”
Although Biden managed to pin down Trump on abortion rights and his role in the violence that marred the 2021 handover, he waited bafflingly long — almost 45 minutes — to bring up Trump’s felony convictions and other legal woes in any detail.
He spoke under his breath and appeared at times to lose focus, pausing for several seconds after stumbling in the opening stages.
Trump’s performance was far from accomplished — his verbal fusillades were littered with falsehoods and he dodged several times when asked what he would do about the opioid crisis ravaging middle-class families.
He also refused to clearly commit to accepting the results of November’s election, playing into the narrative that he has little respect for democracy or the rule of law.
CNN reported that while Biden made nine false or misleading statements, Trump made a staggering 30, including “egregious” falsehoods on abortion, the US Capitol insurrection, health care and NATO.
But the Republican — who is countering Biden’s rally with an appearance of his own in Virginia on Friday — largely avoided the rhetorical landmines that exploded under Biden.
At one point, the president bizarrely declared that “we finally beat Medicare,” as the discussion turned to funding the health insurance program for seniors.
As the disappointment of Biden’s showing registered with Democrats, there was even talk of finding a new candidate before the Democratic convention in August.
“There’s been a lot of chatter in our circles about Newsom,” one party strategist told political outlet The Hill — although California governor Gavin Newsom quickly shut down suggestions that he could take Biden’s place.
In the Trump corner, pundits reveled at how the night turned out.
Keith Nahigian, a Republican veteran of six campaigns who helped prepare multiple election candidates including John McCain for debates, told AFP that Biden’s performance was “the worst I’ve ever seen.”
“Biden called for this debate a few months ago. He pushed for this debate. I think he just sunk his presidency,” he added.
Ralph Reed, chairman of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition, compared the debate to a prize fight “that should have been stopped in the early rounds.”
Tehran (AFP) – Polls in Iran opened on Friday for a presidential election following the death of ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.
Ultimate political power in Iran is held by Khamenei, the supreme leader.
Khamenei insisted this week that “the most qualified candidate” must be “the one who truly believes in the principles of the Islamic Revolution” of 1979 that overthrew the US-backed monarchy.
The next president, he said, must allow Iran “to move forward without being dependent on foreign countries”.
However, Khamenei also said that Iran should not “cut its relations with the world”.
During campaign debates, Jalili criticised the moderates for having signed the 2015 nuclear accord which promised Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on the programme.
Jalili said the deal, which the United States withdrew from in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump, “did not benefit Iran at all”.
Pezeshkian has urged efforts to salvage the agreement and lift crippling sanctions on the Iranian economy.
“Are we supposed to be eternally hostile to America, or do we aspire to resolve our problems with this country?” he asked.
The contentious issue of the compulsory head covering for women also emerged during the campaign, almost two years since a vast protest movement swept the country after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22.
An Iranian Kurd, Amini had been arrested for an alleged violation of the country’s strict dress code for women.
In the televised debates, all candidates distanced themselves from the sometimes heavy-handed police arrests of women refusing to wear the hijab head covering in public.
Pourmohammadi, the only clerical candidate, said that “under no circumstances should we treat Iranian women with such cruelty.”
The Los Angeles home where Marilyn Monroe died was declared a historic landmark on Wednesday, thwarting plans by its current owners to demolish the property.
The house was home to the “Some Like It Hot” screen siren for the final six months of her life up to her death from a drug overdose in 1962.
More than half a century on, Monroe remains one of the most beloved figures in US pop culture, and fans as well as conservationists have closely followed a row over the future of the home.
Property heiress Brinah Milstein and her reality TV producer husband Roy Bank bought the Spanish Colonial-style home in the swanky Brentwood neighbourhood last summer for $8.35 million.
The couple owned the house next door and intended to combine the two properties. That construction would have involved razing the Monroe home.
But when a demolition permit was issued last September, a furore quickly followed, and local politicians moved quickly to designate the building protected status.
Last month, the owners sued the city of Los Angeles for “illegal and unconstitutional conduct.”
Their petition noted Monroe had “occasionally” lived in the home for “a mere six months”, and the couple claim that more than a dozen previous owners since 1962 have already changed the building beyond recognition.
Those objections were overruled Wednesday, as city councillors approved the designation of the house as a historic cultural monument.
Monroe bought the 3,000-square-foot single-story hacienda in 1962 just after her divorce from playwright Arthur Miller.
“There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her Brentwood home,” said councillor Traci Park, whose district includes the house in question.
“Some of the most world-famous images ever taken of her were in that home, on those grounds and near her pool.
“There is likely no woman in history or culture who captures the imagination of the public the way Marilyn Monroe did. Even all these years later, her story still resonates and inspires many of us today.”
Monroe’s smouldering looks and breathy delivery made her one of the most bankable movie stars of her era.
The “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” star was linked during her lifetime with some of the most eligible men of her era, including president John F. Kennedy, famously singing “Happy Birthday, Mr President” at Madison Square Garden.
Bolivia’s army chief was arrested on Wednesday after sending soldiers and tanks to take up position in front of government buildings in what President Luis Arce called an attempted coup.
The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the presidency and Congress are situated, in the afternoon, prompting global condemnation of an attack on democracy.
One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.
Surrounded by soldiers and eight tanks, the now-dismissed army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga said the “armed forces intend to restructure democracy, to make it a true democracy and not one run by the same few people for 30, 40 years”.
AFP reporters soon saw soldiers and tanks pulling back from the square. The uprising lasted about five hours.
Later Wednesday, Zuniga was captured and forced into a police car as he addressed reporters outside a military barracks, footage on state television showed.
“General, you are under arrest,” Deputy Interior Minister Jhonny Aguilera told Zuniga.
“No one can take away the democracy we have won,” Arce said from a balcony of the government palace in front of hundreds of supporters.
Military troops are deployed at the Plaza de Armas in La Paz on June 26, 2024. — AFP
Earlier he had urged “the Bolivian people to organise and mobilise against the coup d’etat in favour of democracy”, in a televised message to the country alongside his ministers inside the presidential palace.
He also swore in new military leaders, firing Zuniga.
Right before he was arrested, Zuniga told reporters that the president had told him to stage an uprising, thus triggering a crackdown that would make him look strong and boost his sagging approval rating.
At a meeting Sunday, the general said, Zuniga asked Arce “So we bring out armored vehicles?” He said the president answered, “Bring them out.”
Arce’s instructions were to “stage something to raise his popularity”, the general said.
Former president Evo Morales wrote on X that “a coup d’etat is brewing” and also urged a “national mobilisation to defend democracy”.
Zuniga’s anti-democratic remarks
Bolivia is deeply polarised after years of political instability and the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) is riven by internal conflict between supporters of Arce and his former mentor Morales.
A supporter of Bolivian President Luis Arce fires a bengal outside Quemado Palace at Plaza Murillo in La Paz on June 26. — AFP
Morales, who was Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, was extremely popular until he tried to bypass the constitution and seek a fourth term in office in 2019.
The leftist and former coca union leader won that vote but was forced to resign amid deadly protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the country. He returned after Arce won the presidency in October 2020.
Since then a power struggle has grown between the two men, and Morales has increasingly criticised the government and accused it of corruption, tolerating drug trafficking, and sidelining him politically.
Six months ago, the Constitutional Court disqualified Morales from the 2025 elections, however, he is still seeking nomination as the MAS candidate. Arce has not said whether he will seek re-election.
Zuniga appeared on television on Monday and said he would arrest Morales if he insisted on running for office again in 2025. “Legally he is disqualified, that man cannot be president of this country again,” he said.
Since that interview, rumours have swirled that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed.
Calls for calm
In this handout picture released by Bolivian Presidency, Bolivian President Luis Arce (2nd R) attends a military event next to Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga (R) in La Paz on April 18, 2024. — AFP
The US administration of Joe Biden said it was keeping a close eye on events in Bolivia and “calls for calm”, according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council.
Condemnations of the troop movements also poured in from across Latin America, with leaders of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela calling for democracy to be respected.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X: “I am a lover of democracy and I want it to prevail throughout Latin America. We condemn any form of coup d’etat in Bolivia.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called for “respect for democracy and the rule of law,” in a message on X.
The Organisation of American States (OAS) said the international community would “not tolerate any form of breach of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia”.
Once dismissed as an “empty suit”, perennial Indian premier-in-waiting Rahul Gandhi emerged from his third consecutive election defeat with his reputation enhanced and his party back from the political wilderness.
But analysts are divided on whether the 54-year-old — a scion of a dynasty that has already given India three prime ministers — is ready for the next battle he faces.
Already the leader of the opposition to Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi in all but name, Gandhi now takes on the formal position in India’s parliament.
Congress party general secretary K. C. Venugopal said Gandhi would be “a bold voice for the common people” and ensure the government “is held firmly accountable at all times”, he told reporters in a statement late Tuesday.
Gandhi’s ascension is significant because, for the previous decade, his once-mighty Congress party did not have enough seats in the legislature to qualify him for the post.
“It’s a huge thing what he has achieved in this election — he’s been able to get the masses to take him seriously,” Sugata Srinivasaraju, an author of a book on Gandhi, told AFP.
“But is that sufficient to be a good leader of the opposition inside the parliament? That is a big question.”
Coalition politics
Modi’s first two terms in office saw landslide wins for his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), allowing his government to steamroll laws through parliament with only cursory debate.
Dozens of bills were pushed through the legislature hours after they were introduced, including a contentious and far-reaching overhaul of India’s criminal justice code last year.
Unable to stymie the government’s legislative programme, Gandhi and Congress were reduced to staging regular symbolic walkouts of the chamber and demonstrations outside parliament.
With the BJP now reliant on coalition allies to govern, and Congress nearly doubling its seats in parliament, the dynamics of Gandhi’s role will necessarily change.
His new post entitles him to take a role in the composition of parliamentary committees and sit on selection panels for appointing some of India’s most powerful civil servants.
But Srinivasraju said it remained to be seen if Gandhi could evolve from Modi’s chief gadfly outside parliament to an effective opponent within its walls.
“He has not been a great speaker inside parliament. He has not been able to sway the crowds,” he said.
“From that perspective, we don’t know if Rahul is really ready.”
‘Missed several opportunities’
Gandhi is the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.
For that reason, he was seen as India’s leader-in-waiting when he first entered parliamentary politics in 2004, but he struggled for years to shed his image as an insubstantial and entitled princeling.
Leaked US embassy cables disparagingly referred to him as an “empty suit”, and Modi dismissed him as a dynast more interested in luxury and self-indulgence than fighting to helm the world’s biggest democracy.
For much of the past decade, many voters agreed with that sentiment.
His stewardship of Congress — once India’s dominant party with a proud role in ending British colonial rule — looked hapless against Modi’s seemingly unassailable rule.
“Gandhi missed several opportunities to shape up as an effective parliamentarian and politician,” political commentator Rasheed Kidwai told AFP.
‘Judging him with interest’
The seeds of his turnaround were sown in 2022 when he embarked on a cross-country walking tour inspired by his unrelated namesake, independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, to hear the concerns of ordinary people.
His journey gave him a gravitas that had previously eluded him, and his colleagues credited it with helping reinvigorate the party, delivering an election result that defied exit poll forecasts of another landslide BJP win.
Gandhi also stayed unruffled through the several ongoing criminal cases arrayed against him, which he and supporters accuse the government of orchestrating to eliminate him as a rival to Modi.
Last year, he was briefly disqualified from parliament after a conviction for criminal libel in a case brought by a BJP member, and weeks before this year’s election, Congress had its bank accounts frozen as part of a running income tax probe.
Having pierced Modi’s aura of invulnerability and shrugged off adversity, Kidwai said Gandhi’s new post would give him the opportunity to capitalise on his newfound public esteem and establish himself as an alternative prime minister.
“Taking up this position is going to do a lot of good for him,” he said.
“People who didn’t take him seriously will now start judging him with interest.”
The world is unprepared for the increasing ferocity of wildfires turbocharged by climate change, scientists say, as blazes from North America to Europe greet the northern hemisphere summer in the hottest year on record.
Wildfires have already burned swathes through Turkey, Canada, Greece and the United States early this season as extreme heatwaves push temperatures to scorching highs.
While extra resources have been poured into improving firefighting in recent years, experts said the same was not true for planning and preparing for such disasters.
“We are still actually catching up with the situation,” said Stefan Doerr, director of the Centre for Wildfire Research at the UK’s Swansea University.
Predicting how bad any one blaze will be — or where and when it will strike — can be challenging, with many factors including local weather conditions playing into calculations.
But overall, wildfires are getting larger and burning more severely, said Doerr, who co-authored a recent paper examining the frequency and intensity of such extreme events.
A separate study published in June found the frequency and magnitude of extreme wildfires appeared to have doubled over the past 20 years.
By the end of the century, the number of extreme wildfires around the globe is tipped to rise 50 percent, according to a 2022 report by the UN Environment Programme.
Doerr said humanity had not yet faced up to this reality.
“We’re clearly not well enough prepared for the situation that we’re facing now,” he said.
Climate change is a major driver, though other factors such as land use and the location of housing developments play a big part.
Fires do not respect borders so responses have evolved between governments to jointly confront these disasters, said Jesus San-Miguel, an expert for the European Commission Joint Research Centre.
The EU has a strong model of resource sharing, and even countries outside the bloc along the Mediterranean have benefited from firefighting equipment or financial help in times of need, San-Miguel said.
But as wildfires become increasingly extreme, firefighting simply won’t be a fix.
“We get feedback from our colleagues in civil protection who say, ‘We cannot fight the fires. The water evaporates before it reaches the ground,’” San-Miguel said.
Wildfires have already burned swathes through Turkey as extreme heatwaves push temperatures to scorching highsMahmut BOZARSLAN
“Prevention is something we need to work on more,” he added.
Controlled burns, grazing livestock, or mechanised vegetation removal are all effective ways to limit the amount of burnable fuel covering the forest floor, said Rory Hadden from the University of Edinburgh.
Campfire bans and establishing roads as firebreaks can all be effective in reducing starts and minimising spread, said Hadden, an expert on fire safety and engineering.
But such efforts require funding and planning from governments that may have other priorities and cash-strapped budgets, and the return is not always immediately evident.
“Whatever method or technique you’re using to manage a landscape… the result of that investment is nothing happens, so it’s a very weird psychological thing. The success is: well, nothing happened,” said Hadden.
Local organisations and residents often take the lead in removing vegetation in the area immediately around their homes and communities.
But not everyone is prepared to accept their neighbourhood might be at risk.
‘People don’t think that it will happen to them, but it eventually will,’ fire expert Jesus San-Miguel saidETIENNE TORBEY
“People don’t think that it will happen to them, but it eventually will,” San-Miguel said, pointing to historically cold or wet climates like the US Pacific Northwest that have witnessed major fires in recent years.
Canada has adapted to a new normal of high latitude wildfires, while some countries in Scandinavia are preparing for ever-greater fire risk.
But how best to address the threat remains an open question, said Guillermo Rein from Imperial College London, even in places where fire has long been part of the landscape.
Even in locations freshly scarred by fire, the clearest lessons are sometimes not carried forward.
“People have very short memories for wildfires,” said Rein, a fire science expert.
In July 2022, London witnessed its worst single day of wildfires since the bombings of World War II, yet by year’s end only academics were still talking about how to best prepare for the future.
“While the wildfires are happening, everybody’s asking questions… When they disappear, within a year, people forget about it,” he said.
When three Indonesian teen girls formed a metal band 10 years ago to sing about gender equality and peace over bone-crunching guitars and drums, they could scarcely have dreamed of one day playing at Glastonbury.
Yet, a decade later, Voice of Baceprot’s three Muslim women will become the first band from Indonesia to perform at the world-famous festival in Britain this week, where the headliners include Coldplay and Dua Lipa.
Their set will mark the latest highlight in a wild career that has seen Firda Kurnia (guitar and vocals), Widi Rahmawati (bass) and Euis Siti Aisah (drums) amass a huge fanbase while challenging gender stereotypes in male-dominated Indonesian society.
“Honestly, Glastonbury is not on our wishlist because we feel like it is too high a dream,” Euis, 24, told AFP.
“(I am) half in disbelief. That is why we keep checking whether it is the official Glastonbury or if someone pranked us.”
Voice of Baceprot rose from humble beginnings in a village near the West Javan city of Garut.
They won fans with their raucous Rage Against the Machine covers — the word “baceprot” means noisy in Sundanese, an Indonesian traditional language — and also won fans with their original material.
Then came wider international attention, including plaudits from some superstars. Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist Flea once tweeted that he was “so down with Voice of Baceprot”.
And while the group has previously played in the United States and Europe — including at the famous Wacken metal festival in Germany — there are nerves ahead of Glastonbury.
“Hopefully my nervousness is a reminder for me to be more prepared,” said Euis.
– Indonesia tour dream –
Muslim conservatives in Indonesia have criticised the band over the fact that they are women, and also claimed their clothes are inappropriate.
But Voice of Baceprot have stuck to their beliefs and shot back through their music.
Their biggest hit — “God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music” — has racked up millions of plays on YouTube and Spotify, and takes aim at the conservative detractors who say women should not play such music.
The band has also written songs about climate change and women’s rights.
“We create songs based on what we see, hear, read, and experience ourselves,” said Firda.
The group’s rise has come with a hazard they had not anticipated: “obsessed” fans curious about every aspect of their lives.
Some have even showed up at their homes to try and meet them.
“We’re like: ‘OK, maybe this is one of the job’s risks.’ Our families sometimes get confused,” said Firda, 24.
After forming in 2014, Voice of Baceprot played at small festivals around West Java, one of Indonesia’s most conservative provinces.
They later moved to the capital Jakarta and also played online concerts during the Covid pandemic.
They have since returned to their hometown, where they are building their own studio.
Widi said the band has received “a lot” of offers to play abroad.
But as they prepare to play the biggest show of their lives at the famous Worthy Farm in southwest England, Voice of Baceprot say one of their dreams is rooted at home.
“We actually really want to tour Indonesia,” said Widi. “But we haven’t had the opportunity yet.”
Julian Assange’s wife Stella on Tuesday thanked campaigners for their support as the WikiLeaks founder was released after five years in British custody.
“Julian is free!!!!” she wrote on the social media platform X following confirmation that he had left Belmarsh high-security prison in southeast London.
“Words cannot express our immense gratitude” to everyone who had backed the global push for his release, she added.
Stella Assange met the Australian publisher while he was holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges that were later dropped.
Assange, accused of divulging US military secrets related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, had been due back in court in London next month after winning an appeal against extradition.
But WikiLeaks said in a statement: “Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of June 24, after having spent 1,901 days there.
“He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.”
The media freedom group said sustained campaigning, from grassroots supporters to political leaders and the United Nations, “created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice”, leading to a deal.
The organisation said the deal “has not yet been formally finalised”.
Assange was initially detained for skipping bail in relation to the Swedish case and held in custody while the US extradition request wound its way through court.
He will now be reunited with his wife, whom he married at a ceremony in the prison, and their two young children, it added.
“WikiLeaks published ground-breaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions,” the statement read.
“As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles, and for the people’s right to know.
“As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom. Julian’s freedom is our freedom.”
