Free Republic

The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, declared a state of emergency in the capital city, Lima, on March 18. The decree, which came amid a wave of violence, gives the police and military full control of the security situation there for a period of 30 days. Peru is no stranger to emergencies of this kind. Only last year, in September 2024, Boluarte’s government declared a 60-day state of emergency in 12 districts of the capital. The rationale for declaring the emergency now, as in the past, remains the same: to address the threat posed by criminal gangs. The latest emergency...

Prosecutors said Smart was killed during an attempted rape by then Cal Poly classmate Paul Flores. His father had been accused of helping dispose of the body, which was never found. A California man has been convicted of killing Kristin Smart, a college student who disappeared in 1996, and his father was found not guilty by a separate jury of disposing of her body. Paul Flores was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder and faces 25 years to life. His father, Ruben Flores, had been charged with accessory after the fact. He faced up to three years in prison. A...

Two men have been arrested in connection with the disappearance 25 years ago of the California college student Kristin Smart, the authorities said on Tuesday. Paul Flores, who was the last person to see Ms. Smart on the day she disappeared in May 1996 and whom the authorities had declared in recent months to be a “prime suspect” in the case, was taken into custody at his home in San Pedro, Calif., on Tuesday, Ian Parkinson, the San Luis Obispo County sheriff, said at a news conference.