Colombia lost huge area to deforestation in 6 months, public watchdog report warns
The independent watchdog warned of accelerating environmental destruction in some of the country's most ecologically critical regions.
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New York Times
7 hours ago
- New York Times
Tara Moore, British tennis player given four-year doping ban, says system is ‘broken'
Tara Moore, the British tennis player given a four-year ban for a doping violation, says 'the anti-doping system is broken.' Moore's ban was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last Tuesday. After returning a positive test for the anabolic steroids boldenone and nandrolone following a tournament in April 2022, an independent panel ruled that Moore bore no fault or negligence in December 2023, only for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to appeal that decision to CAS. Advertisement CAS ruled in the ITIA's favor, at the same time dismissing a counter-appeal from Moore, who was previously Britain's No. 1-ranked doubles player. The 32-year-old's four-year ban is minus the time she served while provisionally suspended, which began following her adverse test result from the tournament in Colombia. She will be able to return to tennis at the start of the 2028 season. 'The last three-and-a-half years have broken me into so many pieces,' Moore said in a statement on social media Sunday. 'As my family and friends have scrambled to pick up the broken shards of me, they've glued me back together in the form of a different person. 'I don't need a panel to tell me I'm innocent. I know the integrity I bring and I know I am innocent. I believe everyone over the past couple of years can see how subjective this process is. 'I have been the underdog. I have had my life as I knew it ripped away from me because the organisations and people in power failed to do what was right. They may have taken my fight away on the court, yet my fight is not over, not for me or others like me. 'The anti-doping system is broken. I am proof of this. We need to fix it. Not for me as it's too late, but for future players who find themselves in this unfortunate situation. I have so much more to say when the time is right.' Moore had argued that the presence of boldenone and nandrolone in her sample had been caused by the consumption of beef and/or pork while in Colombia. 'After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the CAS Panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat,' the court said in Tuesday's media release. 'The Panel concluded that Ms. Moore failed to establish that the ADRV (anti-doping rule violation) was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld, and the decision rendered by the independent tribunal is set aside. The cross-appeal filed by Ms. Moore was declared inadmissible.' Advertisement Doping has been a highly contentious issue for the sport in recent months following the positive tests and subsequent bans served by men's world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and four-time French Open women's champion Iga Świątek. Both players went on to win their respective singles titles at Wimbledon last weekend.
New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
A Kite Surfer, Navy SEAL and Makeup Artist: Freed in a U.S.-Venezuela Swap
A kite surfer on a South American adventure. A Navy SEAL whose family said he had traveled south for romance. A gay makeup artist who fled north for a better life. A man who sold bicycle parts for meager wages in Venezuela, before leaving for the United States. All of these men were part of a large-scale prisoner swap conducted Friday between the United States and Venezuela's governments. The deal exchanged 10 Americans and U.S. permanent residents seized by the Venezuelan government for 252 Venezuelan immigrants the United States had deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. The men came from very different backgrounds. The American kite surfer, Lucas Hunter, 37, worked in finance in London and had gone on vacation in Colombia, where his family says he was nabbed by the Venezuelan authorities near the Colombia-Venezuela border. The Navy SEAL, Wilbert Castañeda, 37, spent his adult life in the U.S. military and had gone to Venezuela to see a romantic partner, according to his brother. The Venezuelans, according to many of their families, had traveled to the United States for far different reasons. Many had trekked from South America through a dangerous jungle called the Darién Gap, seeking to escape an economic crisis and a repressive government. The makeup artist, Andry Hernández Romero, fled persecution for his political opinions and sexual orientation, according to his lawyers. The seller of bicycle parts, Alirio Belloso, 30, left because he could not afford school supplies for his 8-year-old daughter or medicine for his diabetic mother, according to his wife. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Barrot hails release of Franco-American tourist in prisoner swap in Venezuela
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Saturday hailed his American counterparts for their role in securing the release of the Franco-American tourist Lucas Hunter who had been held in Venezuela since January. "I would like to praise the efforts of the US Department of State for helping to secure his freedom," said Barrot on social media. Hunter, 37, who works in finance in London, was taken into custody in January by Venezuelan security services while travelling along the border with Colombia. He was freed as part of a deal which brought the release of 10 jailed US citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the return of scores of migrants deported by the US to El Salvador under the American administration's immigration crackdown. During her campaign to secure her brother's release, Sophie Hunter told the French news agency AFP: "He hasn't done anything wrong. He's not a political activist and he has no military affiliations. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Three way deal The three-country arrangement represents a diplomatic achievement for the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and helps President Donald Trump in his goal of bringing home Americans jailed abroad and lands Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele a swap that he proposed in April. 'Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,' said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Bukele said El Salvador had handed over all the Venezuelan nationals in its custody. Venezuela has a history of detaining American citizens as apparent bargaining chips. Under the administration of Joe Biden, the US negotiated prisoner swaps to bring home a number of Americans who had been wrongfully held in Venezuela. US Special Envoy Ric Grenell travelled to Caracas in January to meet Maduro and secured the release of six Americans who were detained there.
