Peru | featured news

A family vacation in Peru turned into a vicious nightmare for three Americans who say they were brutally attacked by residents of a countryside village. The Jackson, Wyo., residents were abducted while looking for a place to camp for the night. Eventually, they were freed after their captors forced them at gunpoint to sign a document blaming their injuries on a drunk-driving accident.

Environmental authorities are investigating the deaths of more than 800 dolphins that have washed up on the northern coast of Peru this year.

Peruvian judges on Friday sentenced Dutch national Joran van der Sloot to 28 years in prison and ordered him to pay thousands of dollars in reparations for the killing of a 21-year-old Peruvian woman in 2010... Investigators have said they believe van der Sloot killed Flores after she found something related to the Holloway case on his computer while visiting him in his hotel room.

Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway, pleaded guilty today to the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores in Peru. “Yes, I want to plead guilty. I wanted from the first moment to confess sincerely,” he said today in court, according to The Associated Press. “I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad.” Van der Sloot faced up to 30 years in jail if convicted at a trial. It’s not clear how much time he will get as a result of his confession.

Paroled American Lori Berenson, who stirred international controversy when she was convicted of aiding Peruvian guerrillas, arrived in the United States Tuesday morning for her first visit home since Peruvian authorities arrested her in 1995.

Former army commander Ollanta Humala claimed victory in Peru's presidential election on Sunday as investors worried that his left-wing policies could ruin a long economic boom.

The Peruvian is the author of more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including "Conversation in the Cathedral." Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Spanish-speaking world, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday.

The massive skull and jaw of a 13-million-year-old sperm whale has been discovered eroding from the windblown sands of a coastal desert of Peru.

The attorney for Peru murder suspect Joran van der Sloot said he's going to ask the judge in charge of the case to strike down his client's confession because he was not being properly represented at the time he was interrogated, lawyer Maximo Altez told CNN affiliate Panamericana TV in an interview that aired Thursday.

Diego Maradona, mad genius on the soccer field, madman off it, would seem to be an absurd choice to coach Argentina's team in the World Cup.<p/> Maradona, a former cocaine addict who weighed an obese 240 pounds before stomach-stapling surgery, often juggles the ball on the sideline during games. Or he's an emotional wreck, his face contorting operatically. After Argentina scored against Peru in a qualifying match, Maradona dove into a belly slide on the wet grass.