Colombia's ELN rebels to release two Dutch journalists

Yahoo – AFP,  June 22, 2017

Colombian rebels formed the National Liberation Army (ELN) in 1964

Colombia's National Liberation Army admitted Thursday that it has detained two Dutch journalists and announced plans to free them, in the midst of talks for the country's last guerrillas to end more than five decades of fighting.

Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and his cameraman Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender, 58, who were kidnapped Monday, "are in good health and will be released," the ELN rebels announced on one of their social media accounts.

The two men were stopped in El Tarra, a region in the Norte de Santander district near the Venezuela border.

In May 2016, ELN rebels kidnapped in the same region a Colombian-Spanish journalist and two Colombian TV reporters. The reporters were handed over to intermediaries a few days later.

Norte de Santander Governor William Villamizar said a humanitarian commission was mediation the journalists' release, which could happen as early as Thursday.

"We are indeed launching a humanitarian operation to allow the Dutch journalists to be delivered by the ELN in Catatumbo department," he told Blu Radio.

"The release does not affect the dialogue being carried out with the ELN."

On Tuesday, the government's chief negotiator with the guerrillas, Juan Camilo Restrepo, had warned that the latest kidnapping complicated negotiations with the ELN that began in February.

Villamizar said the military and the ELN had been asked to reduced their operations in the area "so as not to endanger the lives of the Dutch journalists" and in order for them to be moved and released in safe conditions.

The Dutch journalists work for Spoorloos, a program on Kro-Ncrv TV regularly presented by Bolt that helps Dutch people trace their biological relatives around the world.

Since launching in 1990, the program says it has received more than 1,000 requests every year for help.

The country's biggest rebel group, the FARC, is scheduled to complete its disarmament by June 27.

#UPDATE Colombia's ELN rebels to release two Dutch journalists it captured near the Venezuela border on Monday 🇨🇴 https://t.co/ia94bLzImN pic.twitter.com/p5ouQS21Da

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 22, 2017

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Hawaiian canoe comes home after epic round-the-world odyssey

Yahoo – AFP, 18 June 2017

Hawaiian canoe comes home after epic round-the-world odyssey

Los Angeles (AFP) - A traditional double-hulled canoe has returned to Hawaii after concluding a three-year epic journey around the globe, the first trip of its kind by such a boat.

The Hokule'a vessel and its crew entered the marina at Honolulu's Magic Island peninsula on Saturday after sailing more than 40,000 nautical miles (74,000 kilometres) since its departure from the island of Oahu in 2014.

Large crowds gathered for the homecoming celebration to commemorate the end of the odyssey, which intended to "weave a lei of hope around the world through sharing indigenous wisdom, groundbreaking conservation and preservation initiatives," according to voyage organisers.

The goal was to use only ancient methods of wayfinding -- reading the stars, winds and waves -- to guide the journey, just as the first Polynesian settlers who reached the archipelago did hundreds of years ago.

The Hokule'a -- the Hawaiian name for "star of gladness" -- was the first traditional double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe built in 600 years, according to the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

The canoe's maiden voyage in 1976 was to Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Crews of some dozen people rotated at major ports of call throughout the round-the-world journey after undergoing training.

The homecoming celebration kicked off a three-day summit to celebrate the journey and discuss future sailing plans.

"Through her voyages, Hokule'a has sparked a reawakening of Hawaiian culture, language, identity and revitalised voyaging and navigation traditions throughout the Pacific Ocean," voyage organisers said.

Adviser to Brazil president arrested in corruption probe

Yahoo – AFP, June 3, 2017

Brazilian President Michel Temer is fighting calls for his impeachment as
prosecutors build a corruption and obstruction of justice case against
him (AFP Photo/Nelson Almeida)

Brasília (AFP) - A close adviser to Brazil's President Michel Temer was arrested in Brasilia on Saturday, police said, in the latest move in a corruption case that threatens to bring down his government.

Police filmed the aide, Rodrigo Rocha Loures, in March running from a Sao Paulo pizza restaurant parking lot to a taxi with a black suitcase containing 500,000 reais, about $152,500.

The judge who ordered Loures' incarceration is leading the Supreme Court's investigation into a sprawling pay-for-play corruption case at state oil giant Petrobras that already has swept up many in Brazil's political and business elite.

It now threatens to bring down Temer, who is fighting calls for his impeachment as prosecutors build a corruption and obstruction of justice case against him.

The president was drawn into the scandal last month with the release of an audio recording secretly made by an owner of the world's largest meatpacking company, Joesley Batista, at a late night March 7 meeting with Temer at his residence.

In the recording, which Temer says has been tampered with, the president allegedly gives the OK for payments to buy the silence of a politician imprisoned in the Petrobras scandal, Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of the lower house.

Batista turned over the audio recording to prosecutors, and said Temer had designated Loures to receive bribes in return for favors to the company.

Shortly after the Temer-Batista meeting, police filmed Loures with the bag full of money, which allegedly came from a contact at Batista's JBS meatpacking company.

The scene has been played repeatedly on Brazilian television.

Temer has staunchly defended Loures and did so again in an interview published Saturday in the Veja news magazine.

Loures may have been "the victim of a trap," Temer said, describing the former congressman as "a very intelligent person, very capable, of a very prestigious family ... who doesn't need money. He truly was a trusted adviser."

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Brazilian president accused of obstruction of justice