International

Colombian court thwarts plans to spray drug crops

AFP

A Colombian court has ruled that the government cannot conduct anti-drug fumigation without the consent of rural communities, in a blow to plans to resume an aerial assault on coca cultivation.

The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of rural, black and indigenous communities who sought judicial relief against government plans to renew spraying with the controversial glyphosate herbicide.

They claim the chemical causes disease, destroys traditional crops and pollutes the water.

The court, in an order obtained Wednesday, ordered authorities to consult residents of areas to be sprayed and find agreement before doing so.

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It set a deadline of one year for agreement to be reached, effectively stopping the practice from resuming on the watch of President Ivan Duque, who completes a four-year term in August with no option of re-election.

Colombia, the world’s largest producer of coca, the raw material used to make cocaine, stopped its anti-drug spraying in 2015 after the World Health Organization classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen.

A court then made the program’s resumption conditional on minimizing the impact of the herbicide, but even that has now been stalled.

Duque’s government links drug trafficking with a resurgence of violence following a 2016 peace accord with leftist rebels that officially ended decades of conflict. So it has been keen to resume spraying.

In 2020, Colombia had 143,000 hectares of coca, according to a UN report.

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Human Rights Watch welcomed the judges’ decision.

“Spraying coca with glyphosate is an inefficient policy and a threat to basic human rights. It should never be carried out, much less without proper consultation with the affected communities,” HRW spokesman Juan Pappier said on Twitter.

International

Hiroshima survivor who embraced Obama dies at 88

The emotional embrace between Barack Obama and Hiroshima survivor Mori—who was eight years old when the United States dropped the atomic bomb in 1945—resonated around the world.

According to Asahi Shimbun and other local media, Mori died on Saturday at a hospital in Hiroshima.

Mori, known for his research on the fate of American prisoners of war in Hiroshima, was thrown into a river by the force of the explosion on August 6, 1945, during the atomic bombing of the city.

In a past interview with AFP, ahead of his meeting with Obama at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 2016, Mori recalled the chaos and desperation that followed the blast.

He described how, after emerging from the water, he encountered injured civilians seeking help amid the devastation, an experience that stayed with him throughout his life.

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In 2016, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he paid tribute to the victims of the first atomic bomb used in warfare. During the visit, Mori was visibly moved as he met the president, sharing a brief but powerful moment that symbolized remembrance and reconciliation.

The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in the deaths of approximately 140,000 people, including those who succumbed to radiation exposure in the aftermath.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people and contributing to the end of World War II.

International

Colombia seeks ‘total suffocation’ of armed groups with regional support

Colombia is advancing a strategy aimed at the “total suffocation” of illegal armed groups, seeking to corner them in border regions with the support of Ecuador and Venezuela, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said in an interview with AFP.

According to the minister, coordinated pressure from neighboring countries—backed by United States—aims to dismantle criminal networks that use cross-border routes to traffic Colombian cocaine toward North America and Europe.

For decades, armed groups involved in Colombia’s internal conflict have relied on border territories as strategic rear bases to evade military operations and maintain logistical support.

However, Sánchez said that dynamic is beginning to change.

“We expect a total suffocation between both nations so they have no spaces where they can live or feel safe […] to close off any room they might have,” he stated during the interview in Bogotá, less than five months before the end of President Gustavo Petro’s term.

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Regional developments have reinforced this strategy. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation, Washington has increased its influence in Caracas, where interim leader Delcy Rodríguez has implemented a renewed anti-narcotics policy.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa—a key U.S. ally in the region—has launched a two-week security plan under strict curfews to combat criminal gangs, with U.S. support.

Sánchez argued that these combined efforts leave illegal organizations with fewer escape routes and operational spaces, effectively placing them in a “dead end.”

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.