Latest news with #Honduras
Fox News
17 hours ago
- General
- Fox News
Honduran national charged after entering Florida Navy base illegally following crash: DOJ
A Honduran national has been charged in federal court after he allegedly crashed a vehicle into a barricade outside the Pensacola, Florida, Navy base and entered the base illegally while running from law enforcement, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Orly Moises Garcia Hernandez, 34, has been charged with illegally entering a military, Naval or Coast Guard property, and resisting or impeding arrest by a federal officer, the DOJ said in a news release. On May 25, Garcia Hernandez allegedly crashed into a barricade outside a checkpoint at the Naval Air Station Pensacola gate, then ran from military forces onto the base to escape apprehension. Military police ultimately captured Garcia Hernandez at gunpoint after the foot pursuit. If he is convicted, Garcia Hernandez could face up to 18 months in prison and deportation. Santa Rosa County Jail records show Garcia Hernandez is being held without bond. The investigation into Garcia Hernandez's alleged actions is being handled by the U.S. Navy and Homeland Security Investigations. The DOJ said the case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that streamlines efforts and resources within the Department of Homeland Security to not just crack down on illegal immigration but also achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and protect our communities from the "perpetrators of violent crimes." The operation also streamlines efforts and resources from the DHS's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Turning used cooking oil into soap in a country where deep-fried foods rule
Few 27-year-olds look at used cooking oil and see a green business opportunity to produce soap or dog food. But that is what Hugo Daniel Chávez, a project manager for the NGO Sustenta Honduras, has done. "We have so many businesses and domestic practices that create waste, so we are trying to transform waste and give it a second life," he tells the BBC. Across Latin America, several million tonnes of cooking oil are consumed every year. It is often used to fry food, mostly chicken, plantain strips, chips and pork. But reusing and heating it too often - as is often the case in Honduras, where there is a huge black market for used cooking oil - can create compounds which are bad for consumers' health. Improperly discarded, it can also have a massive detrimental impact on the environment. If it is drained down the sink, it can damage pipes and contaminate groundwater, and when it is tossed by the side of the road, it can contaminate freshwater and crops many communities rely on. Faced with these health and environmental hazards, the young green entrepreneurs behind Sustenta tried to come up with a solution which would not only give businesses an incentive to dispose of their oil and grease properly, but also turn these waste products into something useful. The NGO's executive director, Ricardo Pineda, explains that their idea originated from earlier efforts by different companies and organisations to transform used cooking oil into biodiesel. "But in Honduras, we don't have a market for biodiesel," he says. "So we decided to produce products that can do well in our domestic markets [such as soap and dog food]." In order to make it more attractive to people to get rid of the oil legally rather than sell it to unscrupulous buyers, Sustenta offers to buy the used cooking oil and pick it up regularly from the shops that participate in their project. Their efforts have gained international recognition, most notably when they were awarded a $20,000-prize as one of the winners of the 2023 Youth4Climate Energy Challenge, a global initiative co-led by the Italian government and the United Nations Development Programme. Sustenta also receives funding from the embassy of the The Netherlands in the region, which told the BBC that it chose Sustenta because "their project offered an innovative and viable solution, using an enterprising approach which has a social impact". "It [their project] not only contributes to lessening the environmental impact through an emphasis on creating a circular economy, but also empowers young people and women - the groups most affected by climate change - and generates green jobs." Sustenta offers between 2.50 and 3.50 Lempiras (£0.08 and £0.11) per pound of used cooking oil. And it is not just small businesses it deals with. In May of 2024, the NGO signed a contract with the Mexican and Central American division of the retail giant Walmart. This contract guarantees a flow of used cooking oil and grease from all companies related to Walmart to Sustenta, which Mr Pineda says is critical to Sustenta's project. "We needed a reliable flow to scale up production. (...) Otherwise, we could quickly run out of used cooking oil, because of the black market that is competing with us," adds Mr Chávez. It then brings the cooking oil and grease to a plant in Comayagua, where they are purified and processed in a reaction known as saponification. This process combines fats or oils with an alkali to produce soap. Mr Pineda says that Sustenta is keen to develop "a circular ecological system in which we reuse everything". "Next to our plant that produces the soap and dog food, someone else has a water purification plant and we use the water that plant cannot purify, its waste so to say, for our water cooling system," he explains. The idea of teaming up with Walmart, Mr Pineda says, is "to sell the dog food and soap we have refined from their waste at Walmart". "They could profit from their own waste and also see the economic value behind circular economies, " he tells the BBC. At 15 lempiras (£0.45) per bar of soap, the project makes a monthly revenue of over 106,000 Lempiras (£3,194.70), which excludes fixed costs like salaries, commission and distribution. Mr Pineda emphasises that "the money doesn't stay with us". "We just help with the implementation of the project and as soon as it's up and running we seek new opportunities," he says. The recycling of cooking oil is just one several projects running simultaneously at Sustenta. The organisation is comprised of young people, all under 30 and averaging 23 years of age, and their youthful enthusiasm and impatience with established ways of doing things has been key to their approach. "We started as a young group that was sick of the regular ways large institutions handle issues with climate change and the environment," Mr Pineda says. "We want to create actual solutions and not sit around only talking about what could be done." Their strategy also differs from that of other young environmental organisations in the region, who often focus on a confrontational approach, trying to halt large mining or energy projects and holding politicians accountable for corruption. But Sustenta's project coordinator, Paola Acevedo, says the two approached are not at odds, but rather complement each other: "This type of [classical] environmentalism is very important and there is no doubt that we need it." "We try to focus on solutions, while the others fight on the front lines," she adds. Cooking oil recycling service gets fuel boost Cooking oil used in takeaways dumped in canal
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Honduras scheme turning cooking oil into soap and dog food
Few 27-year-olds look at used cooking oil and see a green business opportunity to produce soap or dog food. But that is what Hugo Daniel Chávez, a project manager for the NGO Sustenta Honduras, has done. "We have so many businesses and domestic practices that create waste, so we are trying to transform waste and give it a second life," he tells the Latin America, several million tonnes of cooking oil are consumed every year. It is often used to fry food, mostly chicken, plantain strips, chips and pork. But reusing and heating it too often - as is often the case in Honduras, where there is a huge black market for used cooking oil - can create compounds which are bad for consumers' health. Improperly discarded, it can also have a massive detrimental impact on the environment. If it is drained down the sink, it can damage pipes and contaminate groundwater, and when it is tossed by the side of the road, it can contaminate freshwater and crops many communities rely on. Faced with these health and environmental hazards, the young green entrepreneurs behind Sustenta tried to come up with a solution which would not only give businesses an incentive to dispose of their oil and grease properly, but also turn these waste products into something useful. The NGO's executive director, Ricardo Pineda, explains that their idea originated from earlier efforts by different companies and organisations to transform used cooking oil into biodiesel. "But in Honduras, we don't have a market for biodiesel," he says. "So we decided to produce products that can do well in our domestic markets [such as soap and dog food]." In order to make it more attractive to people to get rid of the oil legally rather than sell it to unscrupulous buyers, Sustenta offers to buy the used cooking oil and pick it up regularly from the shops that participate in their project. Their efforts have gained international recognition, most notably when they were awarded a $20,000-prize as one of the winners of the 2023 Youth4Climate Energy Challenge, a global initiative co-led by the Italian government and the United Nations Development also receives funding from the embassy of the The Netherlands in the region, which told the BBC that it chose Sustenta because "their project offered an innovative and viable solution, using an enterprising approach which has a social impact". "It [their project] not only contributes to lessening the environmental impact through an emphasis on creating a circular economy, but also empowers young people and women - the groups most affected by climate change - and generates green jobs." Sustenta offers between 2.50 and 3.50 Lempiras (£0.08 and £0.11) per pound of used cooking it is not just small businesses it deals with. In May of 2024, the NGO signed a contract with the Mexican and Central American division of the retail giant contract guarantees a flow of used cooking oil and grease from all companies related to Walmart to Sustenta, which Mr Pineda says is critical to Sustenta's project. "We needed a reliable flow to scale up production. (...) Otherwise, we could quickly run out of used cooking oil, because of the black market that is competing with us," adds Mr Chávez. It then brings the cooking oil and grease to a plant in Comayagua, where they are purified and processed in a reaction known as saponification. This process combines fats or oils with an alkali to produce soap. Mr Pineda says that Sustenta is keen to develop "a circular ecological system in which we reuse everything"."Next to our plant that produces the soap and dog food, someone else has a water purification plant and we use the water that plant cannot purify, its waste so to say, for our water cooling system," he explains. The idea of teaming up with Walmart, Mr Pineda says, is "to sell the dog food and soap we have refined from their waste at Walmart". "They could profit from their own waste and also see the economic value behind circular economies, " he tells the BBC. At 15 lempiras (£0.45) per bar of soap, the project makes a monthly revenue of over 106,000 Lempiras (£3,194.70), which excludes fixed costs like salaries, commission and distribution. Mr Pineda emphasises that "the money doesn't stay with us". "We just help with the implementation of the project and as soon as it's up and running we seek new opportunities," he recycling of cooking oil is just one several projects running simultaneously at Sustenta. The organisation is comprised of young people, all under 30 and averaging 23 years of age, and their youthful enthusiasm and impatience with established ways of doing things has been key to their approach. "We started as a young group that was sick of the regular ways large institutions handle issues with climate change and the environment," Mr Pineda says. "We want to create actual solutions and not sit around only talking about what could be done." Their strategy also differs from that of other young environmental organisations in the region, who often focus on a confrontational approach, trying to halt large mining or energy projects and holding politicians accountable for corruption. But Sustenta's project coordinator, Paola Acevedo, says the two approached are not at odds, but rather complement each other: "This type of [classical] environmentalism is very important and there is no doubt that we need it." "We try to focus on solutions, while the others fight on the front lines," she adds.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Science news this week: Strange signals from space and Earth's leaking gold
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. From the world's oldest known human fingerprint to genetic discoveries made using 2.2 million-year-old tooth enamel, this week's science news has taught us a lot about our ancient ancestors. But we've also learned a lot about our own species. While exploring what appeared to be "trash" in a cave in Mexico, two spelunkers came across dozens of artifacts that may have been used in fertility rituals by a little-known culture that inhabited the region 500 years ago. Looking even further back in history, scientists uncovered clues about the rise and fall of the Maya civilization in ancient DNA from people buried up to 1,600 years ago in Honduras. And let's not forget the newly discovered "ghost" lineage from ancient China, whose identity was deciphered from a 7,100-year-old skeleton in the southwestern Yunnan province. Looking beyond our own species, and our planet, researchers have been left stumped by some mysterious signals from outer space. Astronomers have identified a mysterious space object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, that spits out pulses of radio waves and X-rays in two-minute bursts at regular intervals. However, unlike traditional pulsars, which spit out radio signals every few seconds or milliseconds, the newfound object emits its pulses at intervals of 44 minutes — a period that was previously thought to be impossible. These signals have left scientists scratching their heads, and unraveling this cosmic mystery could reveal previously unknown physics. Discover more space news —'Previously unimaginable': James Webb telescope breaks its own record again, discovering farthest known galaxy in the universe —NASA plans to build a giant radio telescope on the 'dark side' of the moon. Here's why. —Not 'Little Red Dots' or roaring quasars: James Webb telescope uncovers new kind of 'hidden' black hole never seen before In the wild, parrots don't speak in human tongues; they communicate through a complex array of squeaks, squawks and whistles to find food and warn each other of potential dangers. Research has shown that these animals also use "signature contact calls" to refer to one another, similar to how we call each other by name. But in captivity, parrots don't have other flockmates to learn to speak "parrot" from. Instead, they use their highly specialized brains to pick up on human speech. But do they really understand what they are saying? Or are they merely masters of mimicry? At the center of our planet lies a vast reservoir of gold and precious metals, hidden beneath thousands of miles of rock. But new research suggests that, while it's unlikely we will ever be able to mine Earth's core, some of these metals might nonetheless make their way up to the surface. While studying volcanic rocks in Hawaii, scientists identified signs of a precious metal called ruthenium that they say could only have come from Earth's core-mantle boundary, located more than 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) below the planet's surface. The team believes that their findings indicate that gold and other precious metals may also be "leaking" from Earth's core into the mantle above. Discover more planet Earth news —There's a humongous boulder on a cliff in Tonga. Now we know how it got there. —Africa is being torn apart by a 'superplume' of hot rock from deep within Earth, study suggests —The land under South Africa is rising every year. We finally know why. —2 billion people could face chaotic and 'irreversible' shift in rainfall patterns if warming continues —Combo of cancer therapy drugs increases mice lifespan by 30% — but anti-aging benefits in humans remain unknown —Physicists capture 'second sound' for the first time — after nearly 100 years of searching —Giant 'senior citizen' sunspot on 3rd trip around the sun could break a century-old record "Megaconstellations" of private satellites are quickly becoming a reality, and that's a big problem for astronomers. Satellites release low levels of radiation in the form of radio waves. As the satellites crowd the outer reaches of our atmosphere, the invisible pollution they let off may disrupt signals from ground-based astronomy instruments, thus limiting our ability to read radio signals from the cosmos. "It would basically mean that no radio astronomy from the ground would be possible anymore," Benjamin Winkel, a radio astronomer at the Max Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy in Germany, told Live Science. "It will eventually reach a point where it is not worthwhile to operate a [radio] telescope anymore." At the rate that these megaconstellations are growing, this inflection point could be reached in the next 30 years. But what can be done to stop it? If you're looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best long reads, book excerpts and interviews published this week. —NASA plans to build a giant radio telescope on the 'dark side' of the moon. Here's why. (Explainer) —'The Martian' predicts human colonies on Mars by 2035. How close are we? (Opinion) —Sleep: Facts about how and why we sleep (Fact file) Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, one of the most active in the world, has been erupting since December 2024. However, this week it did something very unusual. On May 25, the volcano spewed several enormous lava fountains, some shooting more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) into the air. Such "episodic" fountaining has not been seen since the eruption of Pu'u'ō'ō in the 1980s, experts from the U.S. Geological Society (USGS) wrote. As it erupts, the volcano has also released thousands of tons of toxic sulfur dioxide and strands of windblown volcanic glass, posing a significant threat to human health. Want more science news? Follow our Live Science WhatsApp Channel for the latest discoveries as they happen. It's the best way to get our expert reporting on the go, but if you don't use WhatsApp, we're also on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Flipboard, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky and LinkedIn.
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Convicted Honduran national arrested by federal immigration agents in Maryland
A Honduran national who was convicted of a crime in Maryland was taken into custody by U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on May 22. Alex Yonatan Flores-Arce, 20, entered the U.S. illegally, according to ICE. U.S. Border Patrol encountered him near El Paso, Texas, in March 2019, where he was served with a notice to appear. Howard County fails to honor ICE detainer In announcing Flores-Arce's arrest, ICE also accused Howard County of ignoring a request to keep him detained. Immigration officials said Flores-Arce was released back into the community twice. Flores-Arce was arrested in October 2024 and charged with rape in Howard County. He was found guilty in April and sentenced to 15 years in prison and five years of probation. ICE said they submitted an immigration detainer for Flores-Arce on January 13 to the Howard County Department of Corrections. An immigration detainer is a request that ICE submits to state or local law enforcement, asking them to hold a person for up to 48 hours and send a notification before releasing a suspect. It allows federal immigration officials time to take a person into custody. According to ICE, the department did not honor the detainer and instead released Flores-Arce from custody on May 5. On May 8, Flores-Arce was arrested for violating his probation. He was arrested by ICE as he left the detention center, officials said. "The decision by Howard County Detention Center to ignore our immigration detainer and release a removable individual with an egregious criminal history undermines public safety and put Maryland communities at risk," ICE Baltimore acting Field Office Director Nikita Baker said. Flores-Arce has a final administrative removal order and remains in ICE's custody. Howard County designated as sanctuary jurisdiction Howard County was among eight Maryland counties that the Trump administration recently designated as sanctuary jurisdictions. The designation came after an executive order from the President on April 28 required the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to share a list of states, cities and counties that "obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws." According to the administration, sanctuary jurisdictions are locations that "deliberately and shamefully" ignore federal immigration laws. "Sanctuary cities protect dangerous criminal aliens from facing consequences and put law enforcement in peril," DHS said. According to ICE Baltimore officials, Flores-Arce's arrest was not the first time that Howard County failed to honor an immigration detainer. "This failure is not an isolated incident, but part of a concerning pattern we see all too often," Baker said in a statement. "...Working together with local jurisdictions is the only way to keep our neighborhoods safe and uphold the rule of law."
