Por Jimena De La Quintana y Mauricio Torres, CNN en Español

Pedro Castillo, expresidente de Perú condenado a prisión por conspiración para la rebelión, pidió al nuevo mandatario interino del país sudaméricano, José María Balcázar, que le otorgue un indulto con el argumento de que en el proceso penal en su contra fue blanco de “una persecución política”.

En su solicitud enviada a Balcázar este jueves, Castillo rechaza nuevamente la condena de 11 años de cárcel dictada en su contra a finales del año pasado. Como lo hizo durante todo el juicio, insiste en que es inocente y que por esa razón debería estar en libertad.

“Soy víctima de un proceso judicial que, a mi criterio y al de vastos sectores de la población, constituye una persecución política bajo la apariencia de un juicio penal”, dice Castillo sobre la sentencia en su contra.

En diciembre de 2022, el entonces mandatario intentó disolver el Congreso, tras lo cual el propio Legislativo lo destituyó. Posteriormente, fue detenido y procesado.

“Fui sentenciado a once años de prisión por el delito de ‘conspiración para la rebelión’, una figura legal cuya aplicación en mi caso ha sido cuestionada por constitucionalistas, dado que no hubo violencia efectiva ni se materializó un golpe de estado exitoso. Mi intención nunca fue atentar contra el pueblo, sino, en un contexto de asfixia política, convocar a una reflexión nacional”, asegura Castillo.

Una fuente cercana al Ejecutivo dijo a CNN que la solicitud de Castillo ingresó este jueves al Palacio de Gobierno.

CNN contactó a la Presidencia de Perú y al abogado de Castillo, Walter Ayala, para pedir comentarios sobre el asunto. Hasta el momento, de ambos lados esperamos respuesta.

En su solicitud, Castillo también dice que, durante las negociaciones previas a que fuera elegido presidente interino, Balcázar se comprometió a atender la situación de las personas presas por motivos políticos, como asegura que es su caso.

“Su promesa de otorgarme el indulto no fue un secreto de estado; fue un ofrecimiento explícito que generó expectativas legítimas en los millones de peruanos que me otorgaron su voto en las urnas”, dice el exmandatario.

La petición de Castillo, quien está preso en el penal de Barbadillo, se produce un día después de que Balcázar fuera elegido por el Congreso de Perú como presidente interino del país luego de la destitución de José Jerí, quien a su vez ocupaba la presidencia de forma interina en relevo de Dina Boluarte, removida por el propio Legislativo en octubre del año pasado. Boluarte encabezó el gobierno desde diciembre de 2022, después de que Castillo fue destituido.

Balcázar es integrante de Perú Libre, el mismo partido político de izquierda que postuló a Castillo en las elecciones de 2021. Su llegada al Ejecutivo se suma a una década de inestabilidad política en Perú y ocurre a menos de dos meses de las elecciones del 12 de abril.

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VENTURA, Calif. (KEYT) – A joint rescue operation for a downed kite surfer is underway near the Ventura Pier Thursday.

According to the City of Ventura, firefighters with Ventura City Fire Department are on the scene and staging at Surfer's Point with air assets from Ventura County Fire Department assisting.

The status of the downed kite surfer is currently unknown added the City of Ventura.

This is an ongoing emergency response and more information will be added to this article when it is received.

The post Rescue operation underway for downed kite surfer near Ventura Pier Thursday appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN

London (CNN) — The statement from King Charles was swift, and stark. The authorities have “our full and wholehearted support and co-operation,” it read, and “the law must take its course.”

Hours earlier, his brother had been arrested at his home on a private estate the monarch owns – Sandringham, north of London. Even by the standards of a family not unused to controversy, it was a stunning development.

Brief at little more than 100 words, the King’s response – in his own name – could not have been clearer. “My family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all,” it concluded. Translation: I will put my duty to the country before any residual sympathy I may have with my younger brother.

It’s understood that Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales backed the statement – the most senior royals united in the strategy.

The King’s tactics in dealing with the unfolding allegations around Andrew have stood in contrast to that of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Andrew was, reportedly, her favorite son, and critics have previously said she did not act quickly enough to hold Mountbatten-Windsor to account for the repercussions of his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Many have questioned why she allowed him to use Buckingham Palace as the location of his disastrous 2019 BBC interview in which he tried to bat away allegations of wrongdoing.
Others have asked why the late Queen reportedly provided Andrew with millions to settle the civil sexual assault lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre in 2021.

Despite the payment, Andrew always denied all of Giuffre’s allegations and said that he did not recall ever meeting her, despite having taken a photograph with her.

In contrast, King Charles has been more decisive in dealing with his brother since coming to the throne in 2022. He had reportedly been exploring options to remove Andrew from his Windsor residence long before he stripped his brother of “prince” status and evicted him from the royal estate in October.

Notably, Charles did not explicitly describe Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as his brother in the statement released on Thursday.

Neither King Charles nor the palace were given advanced warning of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, a royal source told CNN. The arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office is of course no indication of guilt, but it marks yet another extraordinary moment in Andrew’s yearslong fall from grace.

Police say he has been released but remains under investigation. No charges have been filed.

The former prince has not publicly responded to the latest allegations to emerge after the US Department of Justice released millions of documents related to Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing and said he never witnessed or suspected any of the behavior that Epstein was accused of.

He has not commented on the recent allegations of misconduct in public office.

But the events of Thursday, which began with a convoy of unmarked police vehicles arriving early at Andrew’s temporary lodgings on the Sandringham Estate on his 66th birthday, have left the British royal family staring down one of its biggest crises in decades.

In some ways, the development was shocking but not entirely surprising, given the growing weight of the allegations against Andrew, which have cast a heavy shadow over the entire family for years.

The palace said plainly last week that Charles would support authorities in th

By Kevin Liptak, Kristen Holmes, Zachary Cohen, Natasha Bertrand, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump faces one of the weightiest decisions of his second term as he orders the largest military buildup in the Middle East in 22 years.

If he decides to go ahead with an attack on Iran, his options now range from more targeted strikes to sustained operations that could potentially last for weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Some include plans to take out Tehran’s leaders. Many would be on a much larger scale than the hourslong bombing run that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities last summer, according to people familiar with the plans.

People familiar with the plans said the US military could be ready as soon as this weekend to strike Iran, but US officials and regional diplomats with knowledge of the diplomatic talks with Tehran do not expect strikes to come that soon. Middle East envoy and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — who has helped lead the US negotiating team — is among a number of Trump advisers who are hopeful that they can reach a nuclear deal with Iran, according to a source familiar with his thinking,

US troops have not yet received a target list for potential strikes on Iran, a sign Trump has not yet “pulled the trigger” on ordering any specific military operation, according to a source familiar with the planning. White House officials say he continues to prefer a diplomatic solution.

However, many now say they see diminishing prospects of an agreement that satisfies all of the president’s demands.

Trump, so far, has not publicly laid out everything he is hoping to achieve by launching a new war. Nor has he made serious attempts to gain the buy-in either from the American public or members of Congress, who have been away from Washington this week as he mulls his options. And experts remain skeptical Iran would make the concessions that Trump has publicly demanded, like giving up uranium enrichment entirely.

Trump has offered vague warnings to the Islamic Republic to agree to a deal, the terms of which remain unclear. He said Thursday morning in Washington that he would know “over the next probably 10 days” whether an agreement was possible. Later, aboard Air Force One, he extended the timeline to 15 days.

“They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region and they must make a deal, or if that doesn’t happen — maybe you can understand if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen, but bad things will happen if it doesn’t,” Trump said at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday.

Pressed later what “bad things” could occur, Trump refused to elaborate.

“I’m not going to talk to you about that,” he said.

Trump, who promised as a candidate to avoid becoming embroiled in foreign wars, has been vocally wary of approving an operation that lacks a decisive outcome and could put Americans in harm’s way.

He has received numerous briefings on the potential options. They range in scale, from attacks on nuclear or missile sites all the way to attempts to take out government leaders and topple the regime. All the options would address, at least in part, the threat of Iran launching military strikes against Israel or American military bases in the region, as well as Iranian proxy groups potentially obtaining a nuclear or dirty bomb.

Trump has hinted at a desire for regime change in Iran, but there is little clarity inside the administration of what might happen if the leadership in Tehran falls. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during congressional testimony last month that no one really knows who might replace Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei if he was ousted.

Because Trump has not yet decided on a course of action, all the military assets needed to conduct a range of operations are in place, or will be in the coming days, sources have said. That inc

By Jennifer Hansler, Oren Liebermann, CNN

(CNN) — It had the hallmarks of a Trump political rally – Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” blaring over speakers and red “USA” hats handed out to participants.

But the event in Washington, DC, Thursday was meant to mark a major moment in global governance. It was the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, the organization chaired by US President Donald Trump that aims reconstruct and reshape Gaza after years of war. And it carried with it potentially far-reaching implications for how the White House handles international conflicts and who gets to call the shots.

In lengthy remarks, the US president announced that nine nations had pledged more than $7 billion to Gaza relief. A handful of countries would commit troops to be sent there as part of a stabilization force, he said. Trump also said the United States would contribute $10 billion to the Board of Peace, which he will indefinitely chair. A billionaire member of the board’s executive committee outlined the development potential of the enclave, even as the vast majority of Gaza lies in ruins after nearly two years of Israeli bombardment. Even so, FIFA, complete with a flashy and seemingly AI-generated video, previewed “a complete football ecosystem.”

Now, there are major questions of how these lofty ambitions will comport with the realities on the ground in Gaza. There have been repeated violations of Trump’s ceasefire, and the humanitarian situation there remains precarious. Moreover, the key issue of the demilitarization of Hamas has not yet been solved, raising questions of when and how reconstruction and deployment can actually take place.

In his remarks, Trump, who has sought to lean into the role of peacemaker, did little to assuage concerns about the board’s efforts to supersede the United Nations.

“The Board of Peace is going to almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly,” he said, adding that the UN has “tremendous potential.”

“We’re also going to maybe take it a step further, where we see hot spots around the world, we can probably do that very easily,” Trump said at the conclusion of the Board of Peace meeting, which comes as he considers military action against Iran. Though the UN Security Council resolution that empowered the Board of Peace dealt specifically with Gaza, the founding charter for the group claims its own authority to deal with any theoretical conflict.

Roughly four dozen countries had representatives at Thursday’s meeting, but only half of those are members of the board. The other half, including the majority of participants from Europe, were there as observers. A senior European Union diplomat told reporters in Brussels on Thursday, “It is clear there are issues with the Board of Peace.” But in the absence of another mechanism or international organization to shape the future of Gaza, there is no other choice.

Many of the US’ traditional allies have turned down membership on the board amid concerns about its broad mission. There are also concerns about some potential members. Trump added later on Thursday he would like to see Russia and China join the board.

Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for the US, told CNN that the meeting seemed detached from reality, noting that the demilitarization plan is not ready for “prime time.”

There is an understanding among US officials and regional allies that demilitarization will be a long-term process, sources have told CNN. One US official said the expectation is that the technocratic Palestinian government will facilitate conversations with Hamas on the matter, and although there are efforts ongoing, there is no timeline for it actually taking place. In a statement on Thursday evening, Hamas made no mention at all of disarma