Peru

Scientists surprised to find so many animals unknown to science in Alto Mayo, a well-populated regionResearchers in the Alto Mayo region of north-west Peru have discovered 27 species that are new to science, including a rare amphibious mouse, a tree-climbing salamander and an unusual “blob-headed fish”. The 38-day survey recorded more than 2,000 species […]

Prosecutors look into sex-for-votes scandal after killing of Congress lawyer leads to investigation of her former bossProsecutors in Peru are investigating a sex-for-votes scandal in the country’s Congress after uncovering an alleged prostitution ring inside the widely-loathed chamber.The investigation began after hired killers fired more than 40 rounds […]

The Australian Museum’s Machu Picchu exhibition brings ancient Andean societies to life – and features an extravagant collection of goldGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailThe Australian Museum’s record-breaking blockbuster Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs was always going to be a hard act to follow.The great Inca citadel, instantly […]

The two leaders also agreed humans, not artificial intelligence, should maintain control over nuclear weapons use in last meeting before Trump assumes US presidencyChinese leader Xi Jinping has said he is ready to work with the incoming US administration of Donald Trump as he met with outgoing president Joe Biden for what is expected to be the final […]

Anthony Albanese meets with leaders of Peru and Indonesia as middle nations seek to diversify trade away from the USThe prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has hailed “inclusive trade and investment” at a major Asia-Pacific economic forum in Peru where leaders are attempting to push against the protectionist policies favoured by US president-elect Donald […]

Deciphering an ancient number systemUPDATE: Read the solution hereIn the film Paddington in Peru, which opened this weekend, the plot revolves around a string bracelet that is said to contain mystical secrets.The bracelet is supposed to be a ‘khipu’, which was the Incan way of recording numbers. Knots were made on string, and these pieces of string were […]

Warming climate has caused rivers used for transport to dry up, leaving children with little food, water or school access, says UnicefTwo years of severe drought in the Amazon rainforest have left nearly half a million children facing shortages of water and food or limited access to school, according to a UN report.Scant rainfall and extreme heat driven by […]

34-year-old Hugo De La Cruz dies on way to hospitalOther players treated in hospital after incidentLightning has killed a 34-year-old player and injured five others during a football match in Peru.Sunday’s game between Juventud Bellavista and Familia Chocca in Huancayo province, about 70km south-east of Lima, was halted when lightning first struck, but a […]

The crime group has terrorised parts of Latin America, and the ex-president’s exaggerations may just empower it moreÁngela Villón Bustamante awoke to a WhatsApp notification on her phone. Still drowsy, she was horrified by what she saw: a graphic video showing the murder of a trans woman she knew named Rubí Ferrer.The killer shot Ferrer 31 times, […]

Country ordered to compensate victims of programme that affected more than 300,000 women in 1990sA UN committee has urged Peru to compensate women who were forcibly sterilised in the 1990s, ruling that the state policy could constitute a “crime against humanity”.Forced sterilisation was part of a programme implemented by Peru’s then president Alberto […]

Their fuel resources have long been plundered by others, while national grids have failed to connect them. Now, solar panels could give more than electricity to Indigenous peopleAt dusk, Piyulaga village starts to wake up. Families gather at the entrances of their huts, children play and cycle around, and Brazilian country music fills the air as lights […]

Peruvian priest regarded as ‘the father of liberation theology’In accounts of the recent history of the Catholic Church, it is often written that Pope Benedict XVI effectively killed off progressive Latin American liberation theology in the 1980s and 90s, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the chief Vatican watchdog on orthodoxy.He certainly […]

Dominican friar hailed as ‘prophet of the poor’ for belief that the church had political duty to end povertyGustavo Gutiérrez, the influential Peruvian priest known as “the father of liberation theology” and hailed as a “prophet of the poor”, has died in Lima at the age of 96.Gutiérrez, a theologian and Dominican friar, was a celebrated – […]

Former leader convicted of taking $35m in bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht Peruvian former President Alejandro Toledo has been convicted of taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht and was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison on Monday.The verdict marks Peru’s first high-profile conviction related to […]

Extortion rackets killed seven people in less than 12 hours in Lima recently, despite a two-month state of emergencyLate into the night, mothers chanted for justice outside their children’s school in Lima after a teacher was gunned down in front of his students in the latest and most shocking example of a surge in gang violence in Peru.CCTV footage of the […]