Peru Drugs: British Women Formally Charged

Why Peru Became The Cocaine Hotspot

Updated: 10:35pm UK, Wednesday 14 August 2013

By Pete Norman, Sky News Online

Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's leading cocaine producer, according to experts.

Home to the ancient Inca civilisation, Peru is rugged, remote and the ultimate source of the mighty Amazon river.

It is also home to a long-running guerrilla campaign by the leftist Shining Path group.

While urban and coastal inhabitants have benefited greatly from market-focused economic development since the early 1980s, when military rule ended, the rural poor have gained little.

Its hilly, isolated and fertile regions are home to the guerrillas, who rely on cocaine production, hostage-taking and corruption for funds.

According to the CIA, Peru was the world's largest coca leaf producer until 1996, when neighbouring Colombia took the lead.

It says that in 2009 Peru had 100,000 acres under coca leaf production compared to Colombia's 286,000 acres - with the potential to produce 225 metric tons of pure cocaine.

US-supported efforts to reduce or eradicate coca leaf in Colombia have now tipped the scales of production towards Peru.

Aerial spraying of herbicide in Colombia has affected coca crops covering 250,000 acres while manual eradication has been done on another 150,000 acres.

Last week the UN said Colombia reduced its area under coca cultivation by 25% in 2012 - the biggest annual reduction since the international body began monitoring it in 2001.

Around 30 Britons are now in Peruvian prisons on drug-related convictions, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime is expected to release its official 2012 Peru coca crop estimate in September.

Its World Drug Report 2011 said that although the area under coca leaf production was around 75% of the 1990 area, the current yield might be up to a third greater.

While Colombia still supplies virtually all of North America's cocaine, the CIA said much of the drug exported from Peru through land, air and sea routes is destined for Europe and other markets.

North America and Europe cocaine consumption has stabilised in recent years while growth has increased in Oceania and Asia Pacific regions.

It said: "Finished cocaine is shipped out from Pacific ports to the international drug market, (while) increasing amounts of base and finished cocaine, however, are being moved to Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia for … trans-shipment to Europe and Africa."

Smaller quantities are carried through air routes by so-called drug mules, while larger loads travel by sea to west Africa prior to distribution throughout Europe.

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Queen's Swan Found Cooked Near Windsor Castle

A swan owned by the Queen has been found barbecued on the banks of the Thames in the shadow of Windsor Castle.

The Royal bird was found on Baths Island, in the middle of a picnic area popular with children and tourists.

It had been cooked with its feathers still attached, and meat had been stripped from its carcass.

Park wardens made the gruesome discovery in Windsor, Berkshire, at 3pm on Sunday, and called Swan Lifeline, which cares for sick or injured birds along the Thames.

Wendy Hermon, treatment centre co-ordinator for Swan Lifeline, told Sky News Online: "They were in the middle of their walkabout when they phoned us to say we've found what looks like the remains of a cooked swan.

"It's absolutely disgusting doing something like that. We've heard for years that sort of thing goes on; we've never actually seen it.

The Queen has the right to own any swan in the UK she chooses

"But to barbecue a swan and leave its body in the centre of Windsor with all the tourists and children about is absolutely disgraceful."

She added: "We have shot swans from time to time, and swans attacked by dogs and foxes, but that's nature and we accept it.

"But when it's something like this it's disgusting. It was so so selfish and wrong just to leave it there in the middle of the grass.

"They'd stripped the meat off it, they'd carved the breasts off the bones. There were no remains of a fire, but they're always having barbecues up there even though they're not allowed.

"And I think that's why the park wardens had gone up there, to tell people not to barbecue."

She said the carcass was taken back to the Swan Lifeline centre to be cremated.

The first record of the swan as a Royal bird dates back to the 12th century

David Barber, The Queen's Swan Marker, said he was appalled by the incident.

"It's an absolutely shocking situation and as far as I'm concerned the police are investigating this," he told Sky News.

"All swans are considered by people to be Royal birds and it's quite a shock to people to see this in a middle of a picnic lawn in a public area."

He said all swans on the Thames belong to the Queen, apart from those owned by the Vintners and Dyers livery companies.

The suspects face a maximum six months jail sentence and £5,000 fine because wild swans are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

But Mr Barber said if the dead swan is claimed by the Crown, the suspects could also be prosecuted for damaging Crown property.

The first written record of the swan as a Royal bird dates back to the 12th century.

Cygnets were highly prized for their gourmet qualities and were often served at banquets. Anyone caught stealing the birds was severely punished.

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Lifeguards Rescue Children At Treyarnon Beach

A group of nine people, including six children, who were trapped on a beach in Cornwall have been saved by lifeguards.

The group, who were stranded on Treyarnon beach by the incoming tide, huddled together on a small platform above a gully as water began to rush in.

A RNLI spokesman said it was "too dangerous" for crews to reach them by lifeboat as 5ft (1.5-metre) waves lashed the rocky coastline, forcing two lifeguards to abandon their inflatable and swim towards the gully.

One of the lifeguards involved in the rescue spots the stranded group

Zahli Lowe and Dan Lee, who are based at nearby Constantine, swam the youngsters, aged between seven and 12, to a safe part of the bay, where they were picked up by an inshore rescue boat.

They also helped a weaker adult swimmer to safety, while two adults made their own escape from the gully.

"It was a very difficult and long process, made even worse by the time pressures of the incoming tide and a building swell," Mr Lee said.

Two of the youngsters are taken to shore in an RNLI inshore rescue boat

"Thankfully we all know this beach and stretch of coastline very well and were able to read the waves and get them all out safely."

Treyarnon, near Padstow, is popular with families during the summer, when up to 200 swimmers and surfers can be in the water at any time.

A large cave at the end of the gully in which the group was trapped can be explored at low tide.

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Taxi Crash: 'Devastated' Father Flies To US

The father of a British woman who had part of her leg severed by a New York taxi says the family is "devastated" by what happened.

Sian Green, 23, suffered the leg injury when a yellow taxi mounted the pavement in the centre of New York and struck her.

Sian Green was with a friend when she was hit. Pic: Instagram

"We are a really close family we are all devastated by what has happened," her father Jason told the Leicester Mercury.

"We don't know what to say.

"We just want to be at our daughter's side right now," he said, adding that he is flying to New York to keep a bedside vigil.

He added: "She is in recovery now, and they have had to amputate what's left of her foot."

A street vendor helps by packing the severed foot with ice. Pic: NBC

The cab hit a cyclist and then ploughed into Ms Green in front of a fountain outside the Rockefeller Center at 49th Street, news reports say.

Ms Green was walking down the road with her friend, eating a hot dog she had just bought nearby, when she was hit, according to the New York Post, which cited witnesses.

Among those who helped the victim was also celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, who records his talk show in a nearby studio.

Dr Mehmet OZ and plumber David Justino. Pic. Facebook

Dr Oz said emergency medical crews were already treating the injured woman.

A plumber who was working in the area, David Justino, used his belt to make a life-saving tourniquet for Ms Green's leg.

Mr Justino said: "I just grabbed my belt, went over, lifted her up, put it on and held it.

"From the shin down, (her leg) was gone."

He added: "I just worried about the blood, there was too much blood."

A friend witnesses the accident. Pic: NBC

Mr Justino told the New York Daily News that she "was conscious the whole time, the poor thing. I wished she would have passed out".

A street vendor reportedly raced to put her severed foot on ice. She was then transport to the hospital.

Sergeant John Buthorn of the New York Police Department said: "The circumstances are still under investigation, whether it was some sort of rage or an accident.

Ms Green is taken to hospital on a stretcher. Pic: NBC

"It looks like her leg or part of it was severed during the accident."

Reports said Ms Green is being treated at Bellevue Hospital, where she underwent surgery to reattach her leg.

According to the New York Daily News, the cab driver was issued a summons for being an unauthorised driver, but was then set free.

Ms Green, 23, had reportedly just started her holiday. Pic: Instagram

Both the driver and the cyclist were treated for injuries, police said.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are aware of a traffic incident involving a British national in New York City.

"Staff at the British Consulate General in New York are providing consular assistance at this difficult time."

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One Direction's Zayn Engaged To Perrie Edwards

Perrie Edwards is to marry One Direction heart-throb Zayn Malik, her mum has confirmed.

The singer, 20, was spotted wearing a ring on her engagement finger at the world premiere of the band's This Is Us movie in central London, sparking speculation the couple were to wed.

Her mum Debbie Dufty was the first to confirm the news, telling the Dorset Echo: "It's official. I'm over the moon. They are really in love."

A spokesman later added: "Zayn and Perrie are engaged but any further detail regarding their relationship is private."

Edwards showed off the ring on the red carpet

Malik was greeted by thousands of screaming girls as he arrived on the red carpet for the Leicester Square screening, many of whom waved banners asking him to marry them.

But the 20-year-old star had already popped the question himself, proposing to his Little Mix girlfriend last weekend.

Edwards and Malik have been dating for around two years since they met during the eighth series of The X Factor.

It is not know where the proposal took place, although a source told the Daily Mirror it was "romantic" and "perfect".

Malik recently described his relationship with Edwards as "stronger than ever", after he had a cartoon picture of her tattooed on his arm.

He has spent several months on tour around the world and reportedly took four flights in 48 hours to see her.

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Syrian Rebels: '1,300 Killed In Gas Attack'

More than 1,300 people have been killed in a chemical weapons attack near Damascus, according to Syria's main opposition group.

The National Coalition claims toxic gas was used by President Bashar al Assad's forces during a bombardment of rebel-held areas outside the Syrian capital.

It described the attack as a "coup de grace that kills all hopes for a political solution in Syria".

The government said the claims were "totally false" and the international news organisations reporting them were "implicated in the shedding of Syrian blood and support terrorism".

Attacks are alleged to have occured in the towns of Zamalka aand Ein Tarma

The European Union has demanded an independent investigation, and Russia a "fair and professional" probe into the alleged poison attack - which if confirmed would be the worst attack of its kind since Saddam Hussein killed an estimated 5,000 people in the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988.

Earlier, Sky sources said at least 200 people were killed in the shelling in Zamalka and Ein Tarma, but could not verify whether chemical weapons were used.

It comes three days after a 20-strong team of UN weapons inspectors arrived in Damascus to investigate whether chemical weapons have been used in the conflict.

Mohammed Saeed, an activist in the area, said hundreds of dead and injured have been taken to six make-shift hospitals in the eastern suburbs of Damascus.

"This is a massacre by chemical weapons," he said via Skype. "The visit by the UN team is a joke ... Bashar is using the weapons and telling the world that he does not care."

Activists posted videos showing children apparently hurt in the attack

Opposition groups said government forces had fired "rockets with poisonous gas heads" in the attack.

Videos posted on YouTube by activists show children being treated in make-shift hospitals. Some are having convulsions and difficulty breathing. Others are not moving.

Sky News cannot authenticate the footage.

"Regime forces after midnight stepped up military operations in the East Ghouta and West Ghouta zones of the Damascus region with aircraft and rocket launchers, causing several dozen dead and wounded," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The YouTube images cannot be authenticated by Sky News

The Local Co-ordination Committees, another Syrian pro-opposition group, said hundreds of people were killed or injured in the "brutal use of toxic gas by the criminal regime in parts of Western Ghouta".

Videos claiming to show the shelling were posted on YouTube by the Syrian Revolution General Commission, another activist group.

They showed what it called "a terrible massacre committed by regime forces with toxic gas, leaving dozens of martyrs and wounded".

Professor Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics, examined the motive behind a chemical weapons attack.

Casualties are much higher than in previous allegations of chemical attacks

He told Sky News: "Why would the Assad government use poison while you have a very strong UN team in Damascus?... and his army has the upper hand in the Ghouta area? He has done everything in his power to prevent western intervention."

Prof Gerges said the pressure would be "overwhelming", not just on the US but on Britain and France too, "to retaliate militarily" if a UN probe found evidence of a chemical weapons attack in the region east of the Syrian capital.

"So it in this particular sense, it is very strange, it doesn't make sense, it's illogical, though we have learned in the last two-and-a- half years that irrationality is as important as rationality when it comes to the Assad regime," he added.

Both the rebels and government forces have accused each other of using chemical weapons in the conflict, which began in March 2011 and has killed more than 100,000 people.

The UN team is investigating three sites where chemical weapons have allegedly been used: the village of Khan al Assal, just west of the northern city of Aleppo, and two other locations, which are being kept secret for security reasons.

If confirmed, this alleged chemical attack would be the most serious in the conflict since the incident in Khan al Assal on March 19, when at least 30 people were killed.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK would be raising the incident at the UN Security Council.

"I am deeply concerned by reports that hundreds of people, including children, have been killed in airstrikes and a chemical weapons attack on rebel-held areas near Damascus," he said.

"These reports are uncorroborated and we are urgently seeking more information. But it is clear that if they are verified, it would mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

"Those who order the use of chemical weapons, and those who use them, should be in no doubt that we will work in every way we can to hold them to account.

"I call on the Syrian Government to allow immediate access to the area for the UN team currently investigating previous allegations of chemical weapons use."

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Dolphin Leaps Out Of River In Rare Sighting

A dolphin has been photographed leaping out of the water 20 miles from the sea in the River Dee in North Wales.

The stunning picture was taken by a member of the Environment Agency's flood defence maintenance team and the mammal is now being monitored by the charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the coastguard.

The dolphin, nicknamed Dave, was originally spotted by members of the public at Connah's Quay docks but then swam up river to Saltney, near Chester.

The dolphin is said to be swimming happily. Pic: @RussellMBaker

The coastguard said the dolphin was happily swimming up and down and doesn't seem to be in a rush to go back out to sea.

But they have said they are worried about the size of crowds gathering on the banks of the river and are warning people that harassing a dolphin is a criminal offence.

They said they are aware of reports of someone trying to go into the water earlier to swim with the dolphin.

An Environment Agency spokesman told Sky News the sighting was extremely rare but that it was a good sign of the water quality in the area.

He said the mammal probably started swimming up the river at high tide to chase and feed on fish.

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Arthur Hutchinson Appeals Whole-Life Term

A triple murderer has become the first Briton to challenge his whole-life tariff following a European court ruling that it breaches human rights.

Arthur Hutchinson, who murdered the parents and brother of a bride hours after her 1984 wedding, has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The 73-year-old was jailed for stabbing to death Basil and Avril Laitner and their son Richard at their home in Dore, Sheffield, before repeatedly raping another wedding guest.

The ECHR in Strasbourg ruled last month that it was "inhuman and degrading" for prisoners to face death in jail.

The initial case was brought following an appeal by three killers including Jeremy Bamber, who shot dead five members of his family in 1985.

Some 49 prisoners are currently in British jails serving whole life tariffs.

The family of Hutchinson's victims said the judges due to rule on the case should "be thrust into our position" before making a decision.

A spokesperson for the Laitner family told ITV News: "Whenever even the name Arthur Hutchinson rears its ugly head, it does nothing but create fear and distress to the victims of this heinous crime.

"Let the Human Rights judiciary members be thrust into our position for just a day and maybe they would understand this.

Jeremy Bamber, Peter Moore and Douglas Vinter brought a case to the ECHR

"We are confident that justice will be done and more importantly, be seen to be done, so that this matter can finally be put to rest."

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: "I have repeatedly made clear how profoundly I disagree with the recent ruling by the European Court.

"Our judges should be able to tell those who commit the most heinous crimes imaginable that they may never be released.

"To be told this breaches human rights is absurd - and an insult to those who wrote the original Human Rights Convention. What about the rights of the victims and their families?

"I continue to strongly believe that whole life tariffs are appropriate for the worst murder cases. This is why I want wholesale reforms to our human rights laws."

The Daily Telegraph reported the Government has been asked to provide a full response to Hutchinson's claim and could face a full hearing next year.

The newspaper said if the claim was backed, 73-year-old Hutchinson could be released from prison.

Five years ago, Hutchinson had a domestic appeal against whole-life tariffs kicked out by the Court of Appeal.

The judge at Hutchinson's original 1984 trial at Sheffield Crown Court ruled that he should serve 18 years but then home secretary Leon Brittan later ruled he should face the whole-life tariff.

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Manning Jailed For 35 Years In WikiLeaks Case

Bradley Manning has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for giving classified documents to whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

The former US Army intelligence analyst - convicted on 20 counts, including six violations of the Espionage Act - had faced up to 90 years behind bars.

WikiLeaks described the sentence as a "strategic victory" as Manning will be eligible for parole within nine years.

Manning, 25, was not convicted of the more serious crime of aiding the enemy, which could have carried a life sentence without parole.

Manning supporters outside the court

Manning will get credit for the more than three years he has been held, but he will have to serve at least one-third of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. 

Colonel Morris David, a military lawyer who was third chief prosecutor in the Guantanamo military commissions, said the sentence meant Manning would probably be released in between eight and nine years.

His rank was reduced, he was dishonourably discharged and he forfeited his pay.

Guards hurried Manning out of the courtroom after sentencing as about a half-dozen supporters shouted from the back: "We'll keep fighting for you, Bradley!" and "You're our hero!"

The American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and other activists decried the punishment.

Among the evidence was a photo of Manning in a blond wig and lipstick

"When a soldier who shared information with the press and public is punished far more harshly than others who tortured prisoners and killed civilians, something is seriously wrong with our justice system," said Ben Wizner, head of the ACLU's speech and technology project.

But Gabriel Schoenfeld, a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute think tank and author of the book Necessary Secrets, welcomed Manning's punishment.

"The sentence is a tragedy for Bradley Manning, but it is one he brought upon himself," he said. "It will certainly serve to bolster deterrence against other potential leakers."

The sentencing in a military courtroom at Fort Meade, near Baltimore, capped a 12-week trial and a much longer legal battle over Manning's intentions when he reached out to WikiLeaks.

Manning and his defence team maintained he was an idealistic soldier

Prosecutors, who had asked for at least a 60-year sentence, portrayed Manning as "the determined insider", an anarchist hacker and traitor.

They said Manning started working within weeks of his 2009 deployment to Iraq to provide WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange with exactly what they wanted.

Manning and his defence team maintained he was an idealistic soldier who wanted to expose brutal truths about America's military and diplomatic corps.

Manning, from Oklahoma, digitally copied and released more than 700,000 documents, including Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department cables.

He also leaked video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that mistakenly killed at least nine people, including a Reuters photographer.

At his trial, Manning said he gave the material to the secrets-spilling website to expose the US military's "bloodlust" and generate debate over the wars and US policy.

During the sentencing phase, he apologised for the damage he caused, saying: "When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people."

His lawyers also argued that Manning suffered extreme inner turmoil over his gender identity - his feeling that he was a woman trapped in a man's body - while serving in the macho military, which at the time barred gays from serving openly.

Among the evidence was a photo of him in a blond wig and lipstick.

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Russian Navy Hovercraft Lands On Busy Beach

A huge military hovercraft has made an unexpected landing on a packed beach in Russia.

Hundreds of people were sunbathing on the beach when the vessel powered towards them.

No one was injured, although witnesses said beachgoers were surrounded by paratroopers and asked to move on.

A spokesman for the Russian defence ministry told local newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that the hovercraft was on a tactical mission in an area owned by the military.

"Docking at the beach ... is a normal event," a spokesman was quoted as saying. "What people were doing at the beach on the territory of a military (base) is unclear."

However, the newspaper said the base the ministry was referring to was in Khmelevka, several kilometres away.

The hovercraft is believed to have been one of the Russian Navy's Zubr-type crafts, which are built in St Petersburg and can travel at speeds of up to 60 knots (110kmh, 68mph).

They weigh around 550 tonnes and measure nearly 60 metres in length.

The vessels carry up to 500 troops and can be fitted with missile launchers, automatic gun mounts and equipment to lay mines.

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