International

Two replicas of 4.0 and 4.2 shake southern Peru, after a magnitude 7 earthquake

Two earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 and 4.2 shook southern Peru in the early hours of this Friday, less than an hour after another 7.0 earthquake shook the department of Arequipa and the neighboring regions.

The Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP) detailed on social network X that the two earrtakes occurred in the coastal district of Yauca and its neighbor Lomas.

The first tremor, of magnitude 7.0, occurred at 0:36 (5:36 GMT) with an epicenter 54 kilometers southwest of the coastal district of Yauca, where last Saturday there were two earthquakes of magnitude 5.7 and 5.

Shortly after, the Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation of the Peruvian Navy issued a tsunami alert for the area.

However, shortly after he detailed that “the arrival of the first wave is recorded at 12:51 a.m. from a height of the order of 15 centimeters.”

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The Prime Minister, Gustavo Adrianzén, told the RPP station that the tsunami alert has already been lifted.

Peru is located in a region known as the Pacific Firebelt, where more than 80% of the world’s seismic activity is produced.

The last devastating earthquake in the country occurred in front of the coastal city of Pisco in August 2007, when a movement of magnitude 7.9 hit that town and the entire southern region of Ica, with a balance of more than 500 deaths, as well as millionaire losses in infrastructure and housing.

The Prime Minister of Peru, Gustavo Adrianzén, reported that the earthquake has caused material damage but, so far, no fatalities have been reported.

“Thank God, until this time we have no fatalities registered,” Adrianzén told the RPP station before adding that the tsunami alert that was launched after the strong telluric movement, which had its epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, has also been ruled out.

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Adrianzén expressed his solidarity with the populations affected by the earthquake and asked them for “tranquility”, because the authorities are already doing the evaluations to address any emergency.

“Yes, there has been an affectation in some properties,” he confirmed before ratifying that all the information that is available is still preliminary.

The prime minister reiterated his call for “calm and tranquility,” but always asked to maintain security measures since, despite a tsunami having been ruled out, it is possible that an abnormal swell will appear on the coast.

International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

International

Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.

The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.

While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.

Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.

Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.