Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has called for general elections to be held on April 12, 2026, saying she hopes the call can “put an end to a period of instability” that the country has experienced in recent years.

“We hope for the good of Peru that the 2026 elections will not only allow our citizens to exercise their right to vote but also put an end to the period of instability that has led Peru to have six presidents in recent years,” she said.

Boluarte had until next month to call the elections, according to a proposed schedule by the National Elections Board, which also stipulated that the vote be held on April 12, 2026.

The announcement comes amid a security crisis in Peru that has resulted in the declaration of a state of emergency in the Peruvian capital and the province of Callao. The declaration followed the killing of a well-known cumbia musician on March 16, which sparked protests and led the Peruvian Congress to censure Interior Minister Juan José Santivañez over his handling of the wave of insecurity.

The country has also experienced recent political crises that resulted in Peru having six presidents in the last seven years.

In 2022, Dina Boluarte became Peru’s first female president after her predecessor Pedro Castillo was arrested and impeached by lawmakers for attempting to dissolve the legislative body and install an emergency government.

Boluarte, who is widely criticized in Peru, said Tuesday she hopes the elections next year “will open a scenario of détente” for the country.

“The government I lead is committed to maintaining absolute neutrality and impartiality so that the results of this electoral process are unquestionable and fully reflect the popular will expressed at the polls,” said the president, who also assured that the electoral bodies will have the necessary resources to fulfill their functions.

Boluarte delivered the message at the Government Palace along with the heads of the country’s electoral institutions.

Last year, prosecutors opened an investigation into Boluarte over alleged illicit enrichment and failure to declare assets after local media outlet La Encerrona determined that she owned at least 14 luxury watches. Boluarte denied any wrongdoing, saying anything she owned was a result of her hard work.

In June, two human rights groups filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing Boluarte and members of her government of crimes against humanity in connection with the deaths of 49 people during Peru’s weeks-long protest movement in 2022 and 2023.

Boluarte has denied any personal responsibility in the matter, while former Prime Minister Alberto Otarola said the government’s response to the protests defended Peruvians’ “right to peace and calm.”

It’s not the full 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine that US President Donald Trump demanded – far from it. But it is a deal with both Russia and Ukraine and, therefore, a rare sign of progress.

The White House announced Tuesday that both Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a limited deal restricting military action in the Black Sea – albeit with several conditions.

The key part of the agreement seeks to ensure safe passage for commercial shipping and to stop military strikes in the Black Sea. Russia and Ukraine would essentially get back unfettered access to ports crucial for their exports of grain and other agricultural produce.

Ukraine, which has waged a devastatingly successful drone campaign against the Russian Black Sea Fleet, has made clear that any return movement of Russian naval vessels would be seen by them as a violation.

A second part of the agreement includes the US and Russia developing measures to halt strikes on Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities for a period of 30 days – yet more progress, albeit partial.

But with the Kremlin there is always a rub.

After the agreement was announced, the Kremlin revealed it would only implement it after a series of sanctions had been lifted on its financial institutions involved in agricultural trade.

This would be sanctions relief via the back door.

Among other things, this is likely to include a restoration of Russia’s access, at least in part, to the US-controlled SWIFT international payments system, from which Russia has been excluded since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Trump administration has already made breathtaking concessions to the Kremlin, taking Ukrainian NATO membership off the table and forcing Kyiv to accept territorial losses, in what remains a yet unsuccessful bid to forge peace in Ukraine.

Lifting sanctions designed to punish Moscow – which are currently causing real economic pain there – without even a short-term ceasefire commitment from the Kremlin in return, risks looking like yet another capitulation to Putin. It’s certainly one of the main things Putin wants.

Trump, who insists he remains determined to end the bloodshed in Ukraine, has found himself confronted with the complex reality of even pausing this brutal war, exploited by Putin’s tough and seasoned negotiators.

It’s worth remembering how Trump repeatedly boasted he could end the conflict in just 24 hours, later revising that to a more realistic, but still wildly ambitious, timeframe.

Now, the bar for success seems to be a short pause in the killing and, as the latest agreement has starkly underlined, even that remains elusive.

The crucial question, though, is whether this creeping ceasefire is the start of a real peace process that may develop into an actual cessation of hostilities and even a lasting peace in Ukraine.

Or will it turn out to be yet another false dawn, an agreement that leads nowhere or even, as many Ukrainians fear, toward a gradual surrender to Moscow.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada must “look out for (itself)” as the fallout over top US officials sharing military operation details inside a popular messaging app reverberates among key intelligence allies and partners.

“It’s a serious, serious issue and all lessons must be taken from any of those, including in this circumstance,” Carney told reporters on a campaign trail stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia Tuesday ahead of the country’s April 28 election.

Canada has long been one of the US’s closest allies, though the relationship has deteriorated in recent months since President Donald Trump threatened to enact sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods and annex the country as the “51st state.”

“We have a very strong intelligence partnership with the Americans through Five Eyes,” Carney said, referring to the intelligence-sharing alliance between Canada, the US, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

“Mistakes do happen, but what’s important is how people react to those mistakes and how they tighten them up,” Carney said.

Carney said the likely leak of sensitive military plans by senior US officials means Canadians must “look out for ourselves.”

“My responsibility is to plan for the worst, is to think about the most difficult evolution of the new threat environment, what it means for Canada and how do we best protect Canada,” Carney said. “Part of that response is to be more and more Canadian in our defense capabilities, more and more Canadian in our decisions, to take greater ownership.”

Other Five Eyes allies have been tighter lipped about the apparent intelligence leak.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted nothing was awry in the UK-US relationship.

“We have a very close relationship with the US on matters of security, defense and intelligence,” spokesman Dave Pares told the Associated Press. “They are our closest ally when it comes to these matters, have been for many years and will be for many years to come.”

France’s foreign ministry said “the United States is our ally, and France intends to continue its cooperation with Washington, as well as with all its allies and European partners, in order to address current challenges — particularly in the area of European security,” according to the AP.

“Australia and the United States engage regularly on implementation of mutually recognised standards for the protection of classified material,” they said in a statement.

A spokesperson for New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon declined to comment.

South Korea grounded firefighting helicopters following a fatal crash on Wednesday as authorities struggle to contain “unprecedented” wildfires that have ravaged the country’s southeast, killing at least 19 people and destroying a centuries-old Buddhist temple.

The helicopter crashed while working to contain a fast-spreading fire in Uiseong County, located more than 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of the capital Seoul, according to local fire officials. The pilot, the only person onboard, was confirmed dead.

At least 19 people have been killed and 19 others injured as wildfires fueled by dry air and strong winds rage in the country’s southern regions, threatening several historic sites, according to a situation report released by the Interior Safety Ministry.

Among those killed were four civil servants dispatched to fight the wildfire, authorities said.

The 1,300-year-old Gounsa temple in Uiseong County, a major Buddhist landmark, was burned to the ground with its ceremonial bell the only piece appearing somewhat intact, according to photos from the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.

Some of the artifacts that were in the historic site, including the seated stone Buddha designated a treasure by the state, were spared from the fire as they were relocated to other temples ahead of the approaching blazes, it added.

More than 10,000 firefighters, police and civil servants have been deployed to multiple areas in the south since dozens of blazes broke out over the weekend, authorities said.

As of Wednesday, the fires had burned more than 17,398 hectares (nearly 43,000 acres) of land, officials said.

Han Duck-soo, South Korea’s prime minister and acting president, said the fires were the worst the country has seen in recent years and had caused “unprecedented damage.”

“We need to focus all our capabilities on extinguishing wildfires for the rest of this week as we’re concerned about unprecedented wildfire damages,” Han told reporters.

Officials in Andong and other southeastern areas ordered residents to evacuate on Tuesday as strong and dry winds hampered efforts to contain the blazes. As of Wednesday, 68% of the fire in Uiseong and Andong had been contained, according to authorities.

In recent days, the wildfires have spread across the Uiseong area and reached dangerously close to the historic Hahoe Folk Village in Andong, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Residents of the village have been asked to evacuate and firefighters have sought to protect the traditional homes, known as “hanoks,” by deploying water around the site’s perimeter.

The wildfires broke out Friday after a spark from a lawn mower ignited in Sancheong, South Gyeongsang province, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of Seoul.

The government declared a state of emergency for Ulsan city, South and North Gyeongsang provinces on Saturday. The Korea Forest Service raised its wildfire warning to the highest “serious” level nationwide Tuesday, urging local governments to assign more resources to emergency response and tighten entry restrictions for forests and parks.

As of Wednesday, wildfires were still active in several areas of North and South Gyeongsang and Ulsan city.

Authorities have issued a dry weather alert for the affected areas and wider southeastern regions, however officials hope rain forecasted for Thursday will assist firefighters in their efforts to put out the blazes.

Wildfires are not unusual in South Korea, particularly in February, March and April when conditions are driest.

However, Han said this year has been particularly bad – with 244 wildfires reported, 2.4 times higher than the same period last year.

“We sincerely ask the people to pay special attention and cooperate to prevent wildfires so that our neighbors do not have to suffer the same pain due to large-scale wildfires that repeat every year,” Han said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The two most important things in Jerce Reyes’s life, according to those who know him best, are family and soccer.

The former professional soccer player’s tattoos are a testament to those passions: of a soccer ball and other symbols on his left arm, as well as the names of his two daughters, which were all inked by his friend Victor Mengual.

Little did this Venezuelan player know that some of those drawings would, years later, lead to him being placed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in the United States in September.

This month, the 35-year-old was among the hundreds of Venezuelan deportees transferred to El Salvador’s most notorious prison after US President Donald Trump invoked an 18th century law to deport hundreds of undocumented migrants to the Central American country.

Part of the reasoning for Reyes’s deportation, US authorities argue, lies on his arms, which they say is evidence of his membership to an infamous Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.

But Mengual, who works as a tattoo artist in Venezuela and tattooed Reyes twice in 2018 and 2023, says this is all a misunderstanding.

Below the crown, Mengual had tattooed the word “Dios,” which means God in Spanish and is also the nickname of the late Argentinian soccer star Diego Armando Maradona.

Other tattoos Mengual drew on Reyes are the names of his daughters, Isabela and Carla Antonella, a map of Venezuela, a star, and a goalkeeper, his position on the pitch, he said.

US authorities have linked certain tattoos to the criminal group. Guidance on Tren de Aragua from the Texas Department of Public Safety states that tattoos of crowns, roses or stars are all widely used by the gang members, while two of its mottos include the words Real and Dios.

“It’s so unjust!” Mengual despaired. “I’ve read in the news that Tren de Aragua uses crowns or roses, but, so what? I don’t understand why an innocent man has to pay for it?”

‘This is not true’

In southern Mexico, Reyes’s partner denies the accusations against him.

The deportee’s lawyer Tobin said Reyes left the Venezuelan city of Machiques last March following political unrest. He arrived in Mexico and registered on the CBP One app, a Biden-era mechanism for migrants to legally enter the US.

Records show Reyes entered the US on September 1 for an appointment with migration authorities but was immediately detained, accused of being a gangster, and placed in ICE custody.

She also showed reels of Reyes’s performances as a soccer player in Venezuela’s First and Second Divisions.

In December, Reyes and Tobin applied for asylum and withholding of removal and he was granted a hearing to present his case based on the political situation in Venezuela. A few months later, Trump was inaugurated and quickly launched an immigration crackdown.

According to his lawyer, Reyes is still due to appear in front of an immigration judge in San Diego on April 17.

On March 16, Araujo started scrolling through videos shared on social media by the Salvadorean presidency showing the deportees’ arrivals at the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum-security prison designed to hold El Salvador’s gangsters.

Amid clips showing deportees frog-marched in white uniforms towards their cell, Araujo was able to spot someone resembling her partner.

The following day Tobin got confirmation that Reyes had indeed been deported. His name later appeared in a list of deportees first published by CBS News, as claims of innocence from the families of the deportees began to sprout across the media.

“He’s innocent, and it’s not only the family who says it, everyone who knows Jerce knows this is not true,” Araujo claims.

A community calls for his release

In Reyes’ hometown Machiques, a small, rural city close to the border with Colombia, his old club Perijaneros FC is starting a campaign to demanding his release.

In footage shared on Instagram and TikTok, children from the soccer school recite a prayer for their former coach, who left town like so many others looking for a better future abroad.

In the last decade, more than eight million Venezuelans have fled economic crisis and political repression under President Nicolas Maduro, who criticized the US and El Salvador for “kidnapping” his fellow citizens last week.

When the news broke that he had been deported to El Salvador, the community was shocked, he said.

“I don’t understand, how can you take a person and put it in a cell without a thorough investigation? How could they not look into this before condemning a person?”