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Police officers stand guard at the Constitucion square, ahead of Sunday's presidential election, in Guatemala City, Guatemala August 19, 2023. Guatemalans now represent the largest number of Central Americans seeking to enter the United States. "I hope that everything is calm, that democracy wins, that there is no fraud or political issues ... and that our country gets ahead more than anything," said Ardem Villagran, 58, a merchant in Guatemala City. Outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei has vowed to ensure an orderly vote and transition of power. Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Guatemala City, additional reporting by Herbert Villarraga; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Pilar Olivares, Bernardo Arevalo, Sandra Torres, Arevalo, Ardem Villagran, Alejandro Giammattei, Engel, Eladio Loizaga, Eric Olson, Olson, Cassandra Garrison, Herbert Villarraga, Drazen Jorgic, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: REUTERS, GUATEMALA CITY, Central, U.S . State Department, of American States, OAS, Seattle International Foundation, Thomson Locations: Guatemala City, Guatemala, GUATEMALA, United States, June's, Central America, U.S

"We have waited for this moment for many years," said Carlos de Leon Samayoa, 27, as he celebrated on the streets of Guatemala City. Arevalo unexpectedly emerged out of political obscurity to build a large anti-graft movement with his Semilla party, after many other opposition candidates were barred from running. [1/9]Guatemalan anti-graft presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo, of the Semilla political party, poses for a photo during the presidential run-off election, in Guatemala City, Guatemala August 20, 2023. "The ruling pact will likely continue to target electoral officials and Arevalo’s Semilla party with investigations ahead of January’s change in government," she said. POLITICAL TENSIONSBeyond his anti-graft policies, Arevalo said he wants to expand relations with China alongside Guatemala's longstanding allegiance with Taiwan.

Persons: Bernardo Arevalo, Arevalo, Sandra Torres, Alejandro Giammattei, revel, Guatemalans, Arevalo's, Carlos de Leon Samayoa, Torres, Guatemala's, Pilar Olivares, Risa Grais, Arevalo’s, Eladio Loizaga, Giammattei, Ana María Méndez, Cassandra Garrison, Sofia Menchu, Herbert Villarraga, Diego, Drazen Jorgic, Stephen Eisenhammer, Miral Fahmy, Stephen Coates, Gerry Doyle Organizations: GUATEMALA CITY, Central, Twitter, REUTERS, Eurasia Group, Organization of American States, Central America, Diego Ore, Thomson Locations: GUATEMALA, Guatemalan, United States, Guatemala, Americas, Guatemala City, June's, China, Taiwan, Taipei, Honduras, America

☆ Children who survived five weeks in Colombia jungle will tell own story, father says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Presidency/Handout via REUTERSBOGOTA, June 11 (Reuters) - Four Indigenous children who were missing for more than five weeks in Colombia's southern jungle will tell their own story about the ordeal, the father of the two youngest siblings said on Sunday. "They will tell their stories and you will hear them," said Manuel Ranoque, the father of the 1-year-old and 5-year-old siblings, after visiting them at Bogota's military hospital. "It's not easy to ask them because the children went 40 days without eating well, so I have not been able to get information from the oldest child," Ranoque told reporters. Ranoque also told reporters the children's mother had survived for four days after the crash, an account disputed by another family member who also spoke to journalists. Reporting by Herbert Villarraga and Liamar Ramos; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: San Jose del Guaviare, Manuel Ranoque, Ranoque, Herbert Villarraga, Liamar Ramos, Carolina Pulice, Diane Craft Organizations: Colombian, Cessna, REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Caqueta, REUTERS BOGOTA, Caqueta province, Araracuara, San Jose, Guaviare

☆ Colombia court moves to metaverse to host hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Isabel Woodford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] A magistrate speaks during a Colombian court hearing held in the Metaverse, February 15, 2023, in this still image taken from a social media video. Bogota?s Municipal Criminal Court 69/via REUTERSFeb 24 (Reuters) - A Colombian court this month hosted its first legal trial in the metaverse, and now hopes to experiment again with virtual reality, authorities told Reuters. At the two-hour hearing held by Colombia's Magdalena Administrative court, participants in a traffic dispute appeared as avatars in a virtual courtroom. "It felt more real than a video call," Quiones told Reuters on Friday, describing the metaverse experience as "amazing." Nonetheless, Colombia's court proceedings on Feb 15 - streamed to Youtube - went off without too much of a glitch, bar some dizzying camera movement and some distorted movements.

Together with Moscow, Minsk has also been bolstering the drills with weaponry and military equipment. The Belarusian defence ministry said only that "units" of Russia's air forces have been arriving in Belarus. Ukraine's Air Force said the apartment block was struck by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which is known to be inaccurate and that Ukraine lacks the air defences to shoot down. SOLEDARIn Ukraine's eastern Donbas region - the focal point of Russia's drive to capture more territory - Ukraine's forces were battling around the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Russian forces claimed to have taken control of the town, but Ukraine insisted on Sunday that its forces were battling to hold the town, with street fighting raging and Russian forces advancing from various directions.

☆ Dnipro mayor says chances are minimal of finding survivors in wrecked apartment building
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Herbert Villarraga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DNIPRO, Ukraine, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The chances are "minimal" of pulling more survivors from the wreckage of an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro that was hit by a Russian missile strike on Saturday, the city's mayor told Reuters in an interview on Sunday. "I think the chances of saving people now are minimal. The Dnipro City Council reported after Filatov made his comments that the death toll had risen to 23, while 43 people had been reported missing. As Filatov spoke, rescue workers were digging through smashed concrete and twisted metal from a portion of the building. "But the missile flew by and hit a residential building," he said.

[1/16] Emergency personnel work at the site where an apartment block was heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine January 15, 2023. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and Kyiv's other allies condemned Saturday's Russian attacks. "More security assistance is coming to help Ukraine defend itself," Brink said on Twitter, calling the strike on Dnipro "horrifying." In Soledar, where Russian forces have refocused attacks after failing to take the larger nearby centre of Bakhmut, Ukraine insisted that its forces were battling to hold the town. But officials acknowledged the situation was difficult, that street fighting was raging and Russian forces were advancing from various directions.

"Right now the war in Ukraine is at a critical point," U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters. Germany would provide Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles, according to a joint statement on Thursday from Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz. TRUCE PROPOSALUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected out of hand a Russian order for a truce over Orthodox Christmas starting at noon on Friday and ending at midnight on Saturday. The heaviest fighting of the war continues in eastern Ukraine, with the worst of it near the eastern city of Bakhmut. Ukraine says Russia has lost thousands of troops despite seizing scant ground in months of futile waves of assaults on Bakhmut.

☆ Ukrainian volunteers deliver bodies, and closure, to troops' families
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Herbert Villarraga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Oleksii Lukov 37 examines a fallen Ukrainian soldier’s helmet as his team searches, exhumes and retrieves bodies of soldiers, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Yampil, Ukraine, January 2, 2023. "Black Tulip" exhumes bodies of both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers on the battlefield and trades the bodies of deceased Russian soldiers they find for the bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers to return to their families. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneYAMPIL, Ukraine, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Combing the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, a group of volunteers have made it their mission to search for the bodies of fallen soldiers and return them to their families. Made up of around 100 volunteers, the group undertakes the at times dangerous task of locating and exhuming bodies of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers close to the front line. Bodies are often found with the remains of explosive weapons, and some are booby-trapped, the group said.

That was on top of 31 missile attacks and 12 air strikes across the country in the past 24 hours. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on Twitter: "Russia coldly and cowardly attacked Ukraine in the early hours of the new year. But Putin still does not seem to understand that Ukrainians are made of iron." Russian media also reported multiple Ukrainian attacks on the Moscow-controlled parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with local officials saying at least nine people were wounded. There was no immediate response from Kyiv, which rarely comments on attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territories in Ukraine.

Cars burn on a street after a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack of Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine December 24, 2022. On Wednesday, the shelling hit the maternity wing of a hospital, though no-one was hurt, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's deputy chief of staff. Zelenskiy is vigorously pushing a 10-point peace plan that envisages Russia respecting Ukraine's territorial integrity and pulling out all its troops. TASS cited Lavrov as saying that Russia would continue to build up its fighting strength and technological capabilities in Ukraine. KHERSON ATTACKSOn the battlefront, Russia shelled more than 25 settlements around Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Wednesday.

[1/3] Ukrainian territorial defence member Leonid Onyshchenko, 63-year-old, speaks to his family during a festive Christmas dinner, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, December 24, 2022. Holding her three-month-old son Yaroslav with one hand, Maryna took a Christmas cake out of oven with the other. Vitalii helped two other sons, Petro and Tais, get dressed before the festive Christmas dinner. In the past, Ukrainian Christians mostly celebrated Christmas in early January. As the family gathers around the table, Maryna calls her father to wish him merry Christmas.

☆ Thousands march against Colombian President Petro's tax reform
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Demonstrators protest against the government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his tax reform proposal in Bogota, Colombia September 26, 2022. Petro, 62, has promised to seek "total peace" through deals with rebel groups and crime gangs and asked lawmakers to approve a tax reform which would raise an initial $5.6 billion for social programs next year. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterPetro has constructed a majority in congress through alliances with a range of parties. Some 5,000 people, many waving signs with slogans like "no to the tax reform", marched in Bogota, according to the mayor's office. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Herbert Villarraga; Writing by Luis Jaime Acosta and Julia Symmes Cobb Editing by Marguerita ChoyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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