Colombia

Infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar may be long gone, however he’s still wreaking havoc on his native Colombia thanks to his thriving hippos.Back in 1981, Escobar illegally imported one male and three female hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius) from a zoo in the US, and moved them onto his private ranch at Hacienda Nápoles. After his death in 1993, the African animals were left largely to their own devices, breeding and dispersing into the surrounding areas, establishing a healthy population along the Magdalena River.Now,…

Hello, it’s Friday, April 28, and here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:TOP STORIES U.S. to set up migrant centers ahead of Title 42 changeThe United States will establish regional processing centers for migrants in Colombia and Guatemala in an effort to reduce arrivals at the southern border after a pandemic-era policy ends next month, Biden administration officials announced Thursday.The administration is also in talks with additional Latin American countries about the possibility of establishing more…

Last Updated: March 01, 2023, 18:41 ISTImage used for Representation. (Photo: Reuters)Viva said it has given the Colombian government plenty of evidence of its situation and that it can continue only if it merges with the larger airlineStruggling low-cost airline Viva Air has suspended its operations in Colombia and Peru, leaving thousands of passengers stranded Tuesday in airports with little support.The airline, owned by the same group that owns Ryanair, said in a statement late Monday that it grounded its flights after…

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. Magistrate Maria Quinones Triana's avatar dressed in black legal robes.The country is among the earliest worldwide to test real legal hearings in the metaverse, immersive virtual reality to make digital spaces feel…

Image: Juicy FOTO (Shutterstock)A judge in Colombia used the artificial intelligence software, ChatGPT, in a medical rights case for a child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Judge Juan Manuel Padilla oversaw the case in Cartagena and used the OpenAI tool to determine if the boy was exempt from medical costs, including transportation, the Colombian radio station Blu Radio reported. Padilla asked the ChatGPT tool a series of questions to verify information in the case, saying that according to Colombian law…

Credit: Weiwei Chen One of the feats that earned Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig the 2022 Nobel Prize in Economics (joint with Ben Bernanke) is a model of bank runs and related financial crises. In an article published in 1983, they noted that, in 1930s America, people would cash in their savings as soon as rumors about a bank's financial health started to spread, lest the bank go bust and they lose their money. Such bank…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Top-down approaches to tackling substance abuse in drug-ravaged parts of Colombia, Afghanistan and Myanmar are harming livelihoods, health and ecology, a new study warns. Cocaine, opiates and meth are widespread among the poor and young in some communities because of the role drugs play in their…

From catching Covid-19 to getting caught in a blizzard, traveling can be risky business these days.But just how risky often depends on the destination — and how you define the risks.Safest cities: people's perceptionsA report published by the U.K.-based insurance company William Russell ranked the "safest cities in the world," according to people's perceptions.On this list, which relied on perceived crime rates on the crowdsourced global database Numbeo, Asia and Europe dominated the rankings of "safest" cities.Taiwan's…

Image Source : PIXABAY WhatsApp WhatsApp, a Meta-owned messaging platform has reportedly started working on 21 new emojis for the future update of the application. The instant messaging platform has also redesigned eight emojis which are already visible to the users who are using the beta version, as per the WABetaInfo reports. In the latest beta build, which is …

Image Source : PIXABAY WhatsApp WhatsApp, a Meta-owned messaging platform has started to roll out a new disappearing messages shortcut on Android beta. After downloading the latest WhatsApp beta for the Android 2.22.25.11 update, some users were able to access the new feature, reports WABetaInfo. The new shortcut is placed within the 'Manage Storage' section and is…