Panama’s Darién Gap sees increase in migrant crossings, data shows
CNN
Panamanian figures show at least 174,513 migrants crossed the treacherous Darién Gap, a mountainous rainforest region connecting South and Central America, from January to June 6 of this year.
Panamanian figures show at least 174,513 migrants crossed the treacherous Darién Gap, a mountainous rainforest region connecting South and Central America, from January to June 6 of this year. The latest figures are higher than around the same period in 2023, when more than 166,000 crossings were reported, according to Panama’s National Migration Service. The Darién Gap, which a decade ago was seen as an almost impassable barrier, has continued to see an increase in the number of migrants willing to risk their lives and safety to cross it. According to migration service figures, a record 520,000 people crossed the jungle last year. Experts say many continue to journey towards the United States in search of better opportunities. The National Migration Service of Panama said Thursday that in the first six days of June 2024, at least 4,499 people – 3,598 adults and 901 minors – arrived in the country. This comes as the number of children crossing the Darién Gap has increased by 40% this year, putting the route on track to see record levels of child migration for the fifth consecutive year, according to a report by the United Nations’ children’s agency.
A California woman told police that Trump Cabinet pick Pete Hegseth physically blocked her from leaving a hotel room, took her phone, and then sexually assaulted her even though she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot,” a police report obtained by CNN shows.
For more than a decade, Chinese students have flocked to the United States, drawn by the prestige of an overseas education and the glamor of the American Dream. But that’s changing now – and recent statistics suggest the allure may be wearing off.
After rarely being seen in public in the two weeks since he delivered a brief, 46-second victory speech on election night, JD Vance reemerged this week to play one of the most important roles he will be expected to fill as Donald Trump’s No. 2: His point person on Capitol Hill.
A Florida man was arrested Wednesday and charged in a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange this week, according to the FBI.
The Senate on Wednesday voted down an effort led by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders to block a series of planned US weapons sales to Israel.
Republicans on the House Ethics Committee fell in line behind GOP leaders and voted not to release the results of their investigation into Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, Matt Gaetz, despite growing calls from the Senate GOP to make the findings public ahead of his confirmation hearing.
Senate Democrats have confirmed some of President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench this week in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a total GOP blockade of judicial nominations – in part because several Republicans involved with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.
A former University of Virginia student pleaded guilty Wednesday to fatally shooting three football players and wounding two other students on the Charlottesville campus in 2022.
Donald Trump is considering a right-wing media personality and people who have served on his US Secret Service detail to run the agency that has been plagued by its failure to preempt two alleged assassination attempts on Trump this summer, sources familiar with the president-elect’s thinking tell CNN.
The United States has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, on the grounds it would not have secured the release of hostages.
A Democratic election official in Pennsylvania offered an impassioned apology Wednesday for claiming “precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country” to justify counting about 600 faulty ballots in defiance of state Supreme Court rulings.