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Pérou: saisie de plus de six tonnes d’ailerons de requins destinés à l’Asie

La police péruvienne a annoncé lundi la saisie de plus de six tonnes d’ailerons de requin qui devaient être exportés illégalement vers l’Asie.”Nous sommes en train de saisir plus de six tonnes d’ailerons de requin provenant de diverses espèces qu’il est strictement interdit de pêcher”, a indiqué à l’AFP le général Manuel Lozada, chef de la brigade criminelle.Cette cargaison, valorisée à huit millions de dollars sur le marché asiatique, est l’une des plus importantes jamais découvertes, d’après les autorités.Les ailerons étaient cachés dans un entrepôt clandestin d’une habitation de Callao, port voisin de la capitale Lima.Ce produit est un ingrédient populaire pour la préparation de soupes et de concoctions auxquelles les croyances populaires attribuent des vertus aphrodisiaques ou contre le vieillissement.Les pêcheurs “ont un impact terrible sur l’écosystème marin de la région, où ils pêchent ces requins qui sont menacés d’extinction”, a dénoncé M. Lozada, précisant que les prises étaient relâchées en mer une fois leurs ailerons tranchés.Trois Péruviens ont été arrêtés lors de cette opération. Ils sont soupçonnés par les autorités d’appartenir à une organisation criminelle de trafic de ce produit.Les requins requiem (Carcharhinidae) et marteau (Sphyrnidae) sont les espèces les plus touchées.Selon l’organisation internationale de protection de l’environnement marin Oceana, on trouve dans les eaux du Pérou 66 des quelque 400 espèces de requins du monde.La conférence sur le commerce international des espèces menacées, réunie à Panama en 2022, avait pris la décision d’étendre sa protection à une cinquantaine d’espèces de requins menacées par le trafic de leurs ailerons.

Ligue des champions féminine: le redoutable Wolfsburg pour l’OL, déplacements relevés pour le PSG et le PFC

Auteur d’un très bon départ, l’OL Lyonnes dispute mardi l’affiche de la 3e journée de Ligue des champions féminine contre Wolfsburg mais le défi est également relevé pour le Paris FC sur la pelouse du Real Madrid et pour le PSG contre Manchester United mercredi.Menu corsé pour les clubs français. Après avoir idéalement lancé sa campagne européenne, l’OL Lyonnes (4e) reçoit mardi Wolfsburg (3e), quart de finaliste de la dernière édition. Un duel aux accents de finale à l’approche de la mi-parcours de la phase de ligue entre deux clubs habitués à briller en Europe.C’est bien simple: quatre des dix dernières rencontres entre les deux formations sont des finales, dont trois ayant tourné à l’avantage du club rhodanien – le plus titré de l’histoire de la Ligue des champions féminine avec huit sacres.L’issue de la journée devrait donc dessiner une première hiérarchie entre les cinq clubs qui se présentent avec 6 points, le maximum possible après deux journées.Visant le sans-faute, le Real Madrid (2e) et Manchester United (5e) reçoivent respectivement le Paris FC mardi au stade Alfredo-di-Stefano et le Paris SG mercredi, à Old Trafford.Le Real Madrid, dauphin du FC Barcelone en Ligue des champions (1er à la différence de but) et en Liga, a fait forte impression en Europe, étrillant notamment la Roma (6-2). Les coéquipières de Sandie Toletti restent sur une impressionnante série d’invincibilité de 12 matches, toutes compétitions confondues.United, qui n’a pas concédé le moindre but en Ligue des champions, n’est pas en reste avec deux victoires en autant de journées, mais a subi samedi sa première défaite de la saison en championnat contre Aston Villa (1-0).- Les Parisiennes en difficulté -Les deux clubs de la capitale ne peuvent pas prétendre surfer sur la même dynamique. Les joueuses du PSG (16e) peinent à pallier les départs de Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Grace Geyoro et Korbin Albert et n’ont pas encore pris le moindre point en Europe. Surtout, leur lourde défaite face à Wolfsburg (4-0), début octobre, a exposé leurs faiblesses défensives.Le Paris FC, qui ne compte qu’un point (13e), doit également rebondir après sa déroute sur la pelouse de Chelsea (4-0) et sa courte victoire contre Lens, lanterne rouge du championnat (2-1). Les Franciliennes restent toutefois sur deux succès face au Real Madrid, à domicile et à l’extérieur, lors de la saison 2022-23, leurs seules victoires lors de la première phase de la Ligue des champions à ce jour. “C’est un réel plaisir de retourner là-bas même si on sait que c’était il y a deux ans et que ce ne sera pas la même équipe du Real ni la même équipe du PFC”, expose la défenseuse Théa Greboval.La troisième journée pourrait déjà s’avérer cruciale dans un nouveau format où il faut se hisser parmi les quatre premières de la phase de ligue (sur 18) pour se qualifier directement en quart de finale. Les équipes placées entre les 5e et 12e places devront passer par les barrages en février, les six dernières seront éliminées.

India probes deadly Delhi blast, vows those responsible will face justice

India’s defence minister vowed on Tuesday that those responsible for a deadly car explosion in the heart of the capital that killed at least eight people will face justice.Monday’s blast, if confirmed as an attack, would be the first significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan.”The country’s leading investigative agencies are conducting a swift and thorough inquiry into the incident — findings of the investigation will soon be made public,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told a conference in New Delhi.”I want to firmly assure the nation that those responsible for this tragedy will be brought to justice, and will not be spared under any circumstances.”Crime scene investigators scoured through the wreckage of a car early on Tuesday, hours after the intense explosion.Senior Delhi police officer Raja Banthia said they were investigating the blast, near the landmark Red Fort in the crowded Old Delhi quarter of the city, under anti-terrorism laws.However, they have not given details on the cause of the explosion, which also wounded at least 19 people when intense flames ripped through other vehicles near the 17th century structure.New Delhi’s deputy chief fire officer AK Malik told AFP shortly after the explosion that eight people had been killed. The Press Trust of India news agency reported on Tuesday that the death toll had risen to 12, although that figure has not been confirmed.Home Minister Amit Shah told reporters late on Monday that security forces were “keeping all angles open”, adding that it was “very difficult to say what caused the incident” until forensic samples had been analysed.At dawn on Tuesday, AFP reporters at the site said police had erected white sheets around the charred remains of vehicles overnight.Security was increased across New Delhi as both forensic and anti-terrorism agencies searched for evidence.Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his “condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in the blast in Delhi” before leaving for a state visit to neighbouring Bhutan.”I understand the pain of the families. The whole nation stands with them,” he said.The Red Fort is one of India’s most well-known landmarks. Prime ministers address the nation from its ramparts on Independence Day, and its striking features appear on India’s largest banknote.- ‘People were burning’ -Eyewitnesses described to AFP how the car exploded in traffic and how people caught up in the surge of flames were set on fire.”I saw the car explode while it was moving,” said Dharmindra Dhaga, 27.”People were on fire and we tried to save them… Cars and people were burning — people inside the cars were burning,” he said. “I was telling the public to save them, rescue them, and get them out. The public was busy making videos and taking photos.”The emergency ward at Delhi’s LNJP hospital was chaotic after the explosion as wounded people streamed in and doctors rushed to treat them.A woman broke down outside the ward where her husband was being treated. “I can’t bear to see him like that,” she said as her brother tried to console her.New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing the gunmen after the April attack in Pahalgam, a claim denied by Islamabad.That attack sparked deadly clashes between the nuclear-armed arch rivals in May, when more than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery exchanges before a ceasefire was struck.The last significant attack in the Indian capital was in September 2011, when a bomb hidden in a briefcase ripped through a crowd outside New Delhi’s High Court, killing at least 14 people.

US state leaders take stage at UN climate summit — without Trump

The Americans are coming.President Donald Trump’s administration may have steered clear of this year’s UN climate summit in the Brazilian Amazon, but the conference’s second day on Tuesday is nonetheless set to be dominated by the governors of California and New Mexico.Anticipation is building particularly around California’s telegenic leader Gavin Newsom, who governs the world’s fourth-largest economy and has sought to cast himself as the Anti-Trump — with murmurs of a 2028 presidential run in the air.”We are doubling down on stupid in the United States of America,” the Democrat told an audience at a Milken Institute event in Sao Paulo on Monday, giving a taste of the sharp anti-Republican rhetoric for which he has become known. “Not in my state of California.”Newsom’s agenda in Brazil includes a meeting with Helder Barbalho, governor of Para state, of which the COP30 host city Belem is the capital, and another with New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham.Trump, who has made an aggressive fossil fuel expansion central to his second term, withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord upon returning to office in January.But according to Champa Patel, executive director for governments and policy at Climate Group, which runs the Under2 Coalition of global states and regions, US states can still pursue the climate blueprints left by former president Joe Biden’s administration.”The states have that roadmap, they can still follow it and keep to the spirit of Paris,” Patel told AFP. “Ultimately, it’s state-level actors that are going to implement, and the real economy is shifting,” Patel said, pointing to wind and solar growth even in Republican-led states driven by market forces.Newsom is expected to tout California’s green credentials, including a $4.1 trillion economy that is now two-thirds powered by clean energy, and the state’s successful Cap-and-Invest program, a carbon market recently extended by law until 2045.New Mexico’s Lujan Grisham governs a major fossil fuel-producing state but has pushed to expand renewables and curb methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.Still, questions linger over the limits of state-level action. Trump’s Republicans recently passed a law bringing an early end to clean energy tax credits enacted under Biden that is seen as a potentially crippling blow to the renewable sector.And while state and regional coalitions can exert political pressure at climate summits they remain, for now, outside the official text-drafting process.

Burger King to enter China joint venture, plans to double stores

US fast-food chain Burger King will rapidly expand its China operations in coming years, its parent company said, selling its controlling stake to form a new joint venture powered by hundreds of millions of dollars in local investment.International brands have in recent years sought to pivot their strategies in the world’s number two economy, where a persistent spending slump and increasingly digitalised services shape new consumption habits.The Florida-based hamburger giant — owned by Canadian multinational Restaurant Brands International (RBI) since 2014 — entered the Chinese market in 2005.Two decades later, Burger King still trails global rivals McDonald’s and KFC in the vast consumer market.The new joint venture, Burger King China, will receive $350 million in investment from Beijing-based private equity firm CPE, according to a statement by RBI on Monday.The funds will be used to “support restaurant expansion, marketing, menu innovation, and operations”, the statement said.Under the new blueprint, Burger King China will seek to double the chain’s number of restaurants in the country “within five years” and reach more than 4,000 locations by 2035, it added.By contrast, key competitor McDonald’s had more than 6,800 stores in mainland China last year, according to data released by the company.Fried chicken chain KFC had over 12,600 stores in China as of the end of September this year, according to the website of Yum China, its local operator.Once the transaction is complete, CPE will hold around 83 percent of Burger King China, while RBI will hold the remainder, the statement said.”China remains one of the most exciting long-term opportunities for Burger King globally,” said Joshua Kobza, CEO of RBI, according to the statement.”Our recent investments and this joint venture underscore our confidence in the Chinese market,” he added.The latest shake-up follows an announcement last week by Starbucks that it will sell a controlling stake in its China retail operations.The partnership marks a strategic shift for the US coffee chain after more than 26 years in China, where it has ceded market share more recently to a new generation of local competitors.