|
BBC News with Fiona MacDonald.
The president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, is being held under house arrest after he was impeached by lawmakers. The Senate voted to remove Mr. Peña over his handling of the collapse of a digital bank of whom he was a shareholder. On Thursday, he attempted to resign as president. The collapse of the bank has left nearly half of Paraguay's population without access to their savings. Will Grant sent this report. Mr. Peña was charged by Congress with misconduct over the collapse of the ueno digital bank. The institution has now been taken over by the Central Bank of Paraguay. The move to impeach him rather than accept his resignation means he's been stripped of his lifetime Senate seat and, crucially, of the immunity granted to ex-presidents in Paraguay. Street demonstrations have been met with force by the police, who have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds. A replacement for Mr. Peña, Pedro Alliana, has already been sworn in. He promised not to abandon the millions of people who deposited money in the bank. President Trump has named Stephen Miller, the architect of his administration's hardline immigration policy, as his new chief of staff. Mr. Miller replaces Susie Wiles, who reportedly submitted her resignation after the Republican party's historic losses in Tuesday's midterm elections. From Washington, here's Gary O'Donoghue. That is a very significant signal to the country, to the rest of the world, that the president is not planning on changing course in any big way, because Stephen Miller has been with the president since the very beginning of the project ten years ago. He's very much a hardliner on things like immigration, and of course, immigration is one of the things which was rejected outright, particularly by Hispanic voters and others, during these midterm elections. Some Democrats have already reacted to this news. One senior Democrat said that Stephen Miller had blood on his hands because of the immigration policy. Another one said he was the Darth Vader of the country. Thomas Markle, the estranged father of Prince Harry's wife, Meghan, has appeared in court in the U.S. state of Florida after being charged with possessing child sexual abuse material. The 82-year-old has previously denied allegations of wrongdoing. Militants linked to the Islamic State have attacked several villages in North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 33 people and forcing patients at a hospital treating Ebola cases to flee. Andrew Ochieng reports. Officials said the attackers descended on Beni and Lubero territories in North Kivu province on Thursday night with guns and machetes. One chief said 17 children were among those who had been killed. Houses, shops and at least two health centers were also burnt down. Congolese officials said following their attacks, patients, including one who had tested positive for Ebola, had fled one health center fearing for their safety. They fear the attack will lead to an explosion of cases in the province. World news from the BBC. Faculty members at the prestigious American university Cornell have passed a vote of no-confidence in its leaders over how they handled an alleged gang rape that caused widespread outrage in the U.S. The non-binding result marks a strong symbolic gesture of discontent to administrators at the elite college. A former student made the allegation in September that she was plied with drink and drugs and raped by several men at a fraternity house. Her lawyer says she has suffered harassment and threats since then. A four-story building has collapsed in the central part of the Brazilian city of São Paulo. Firefighters are trying to access at least four people trapped in the rubble. Local media report that 17 people have been rescued and are receiving treatment for minor injuries at the scene. A court in northeastern India has ordered the release of an environmental activist who has been jailed since July for protesting against a new luxury hotel near the Kaziranga National Park. The reserve in Assam state is home to both one-horned rhinos and tigers. Pranab Doley was held under the stringent National Security Act, which allows detention without a formal charge or trial. Anbarasan Ethirajan has more details. Doley argues that the proposed hotel project will displace indigenous communities and have a negative impact on the park. When Mr. Doley was put in jail, the state government alleged that his activities were detrimental to public order as well as security of the state. The prolonged detention of Doley sparked anger with critics accusing the government of using a draconian law to curb dissent against the hotel project. People in New Zealand are voting in parliamentary elections, with the rising cost of living, unemployment and health care among the key issues. There's no clear front-runner with the current center-right Prime Minister Christopher Luxon seeking re-election. BBC News. |