International
The Government of Peru proposes to qualify extortion, kidnapping and hitman as terrorism
The Government of Peru presented this Thursday a bill that qualifies as “urban terrorism” the crimes of extortion, kidnapping and hitman, in response to the wale of crime denounced by carriers and business unions.
The bill includes modifying several articles of the Criminal Code “in order to strengthen actions to combat citizen insecurity,” for which it proposes a tougher sentence, which includes life imprisonment if whoever commits this type of crime belongs to the Armed Forces or the National Police.
The Peruvian Executive announced that it was going to send this project to the Legislature a week ago, when the transport union made a strike in Lima to protest against the wave of extortion.
For its part, the business union affirmed that organized crime has formed a “parallel government” that is “winning the battle” against the State and destroying the country.
The legislative document, signed by President Dina Boluarte, will have to be debated and voted on in Parliament.
‘Urban terrorism’
He defines urban terrorism as the conduct consisting of “acts that generate terror or anxiety in the population or in a sector of it” through the crimes of hitman, conspiracy, offering for hitman and extortion.
For this, article 315-C is incorporated into the Criminal Code, proposing that the penalty of imprisonment applied to said offense should not be less than 30 years.
It will be life imprisonment, when those who commit it belong to the Armed Forces or Police, “weapons, war material or explosives are used, this type of weapon owned by the Armed Forces or the Police is used and those who use minors or unimputable people to commit the crimes.”
It proposes to modify article 200 of the Criminal Code so that anyone who commits extortion receives a prison sentence of between 15 and 20 years.
“Anyone who, through violence or threat, forces a person or a public or private institution to grant the agent or a third party, an undue economic advantage or other advantage of any other nature, will be punished with a prison sentence of not less than fifteen years or more than twenty years,” the document specifies.
Members of the Armed Forces and the Police
As for the hitman, it establishes that “the one who kills another by order, commission, or agreement with the purpose of obtaining for himself or for another economic benefit or of any other nature will be repressed with a penalty of imprisonment of not less than 30 years and disqualification.”
In the same way, it will be life imprisonment if “a minor or another unimpeachable person is used,” he orders a criminal organization, weapons of war are used, when the victims are two or more people or two or more people intervene in the execution.
Finally, the legislative initiative includes a final complementary provision, which establishes that members of the Armed Forces and the Police who are denounced during states of emergency for acts carried out in fulfillment of their functions “will be investigated and, if applicable, prosecuted as provided for in article 173 of the Constitution.”
This implies that they will submit to the jurisprudential jurisdictions corresponding to the Police and the Military Justice.
International
Trump Orders Construction of New ‘Golden Fleet’ to Revitalize U.S. Naval Superiority
President Donald Trump issued an executive order this Monday for the immediate construction of two new warships that will bear his name. These vessels will be the pioneers of what he described as the “Golden Fleet,” a future generation of “Trump-class” battleships that he claimed would be “100 times more powerful” than those currently in service.
The announcement took place at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. The President indicated that following the initial two ships, the administration aims to commission up to 25 additional vessels. He is scheduled to meet with Florida-based contractors next week to expedite production, criticizing existing defense firms for failing to deliver results efficiently.
This naval expansion is a cornerstone of Trump’s goal to revitalized the American shipbuilding industry and address the strategic gap between the U.S. and competitors like China.
The move comes amid heightened geopolitical tension. Just last week, Trump ordered the seizure of all sanctioned tankers involved with Venezuela’s “ghost fleet” to cripple the country’s crude oil industry. Since December 10, the U.S. military—deployed in the Caribbean under the guise of counter-narcotics operations—has already detained two tankers linked to Venezuelan oil transport.
International
U.S. Judge Blocks ICE from Re-detaining Salvadoran Erroneously Deported Under Trump Administration
A U.S. federal judge ruled this Monday, December 22, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is prohibited from re-detaining Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García, who was erroneously deported to El Salvador earlier this year during the administration of President Donald Trump.
During a hearing in Maryland, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled that Ábrego García must remain free on bail through the Christmas holidays, concluding that his initial detention lacked a legal basis. The ruling follows a request from his legal team for a temporary restraining order to prevent ICE from carrying out a new arrest.
Earlier this month, on December 11, Judge Xinis ordered his release from a Pennsylvania migrant detention center after determining that the government had detained him without a formal deportation order. In 2019, an immigration judge had already ruled that Ábrego could not be returned to El Salvador because his life was in danger.
Despite that protection, Ábrego García was deported in March 2025 following a raid by the Trump administration. Officials argued at the time that he was a gang member, and he was sent directly to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in El Salvador. In June, he was returned to the United States to face a new trial for alleged human smuggling—a charge he denies.
On Monday, Judge Xinis also temporarily invalidated a new deportation order issued by an immigration judge following Ábrego’s recent release, granting him legal protection through the coming weeks. His trial is scheduled to begin in Tennessee in January 2026.
International
Fire at substation triggers major blackout in San Francisco
The U.S. city of San Francisco was plunged into darkness Saturday night after a power outage left about 130,000 customers without electricity, although the utility company said service was restored to most users within hours.
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) said in a statement posted on X that nearly 90,000 homes had their power restored by 9:00 p.m. local time (05:00 GMT on Sunday), while the remaining 40,000 customers were expected to have service restored overnight.
Large areas of the city, a major technology hub with a population of around 800,000, were affected by the blackout, which disrupted public transportation and left traffic lights out of service during the busy weekend before Christmas, a crucial period for retail businesses.
“I know it’s been a difficult day,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a video posted on social media from the city’s emergency operations center. “There has been progress, but for those still without power, we want to make sure they are safe and checking in on their neighbors,” he added.
Lurie said police officers and firefighters advised residents to stay home as much as possible. He also noted that officers and traffic inspectors were deployed to manage intersections where traffic lights were not functioning.
The mayor confirmed that the outage was caused by a fire at an electrical substation. Parts of the city were also covered in fog, further complicating conditions during the incident.
As a result of the blackout, many businesses were forced to close despite it being the weekend before Christmas. The sudden drop in shopper traffic ahead of the holiday is “devastating” for retailers, the manager of home goods store Black & Gold told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Trump Orders Construction of New ‘Golden Fleet’ to Revitalize U.S. Naval Superiority
U.S. Judge Blocks ICE from Re-detaining Salvadoran Erroneously Deported Under Trump Administration
Fire at substation triggers major blackout in San Francisco
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