SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgarian customs officials confiscated about 170 kilograms (370 pounds) of cocaine from a ship transporting bananas from Ecuador, prosecutors said Tuesday. District prosecutor Georgi Chinev said the drugs were hidden in a fruit container on the cargo ship Madison 2, which also made a stopover in Malta. He valued the cocaine at … Read more
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A diplomatic rift between Ecuador and Russia appeared to intensify over the weekend after the European nation decided to ban some imports of bananas from Ecuador. The two countries have been at loggerheads recently after Ecuador decided to transfer some of its old Russian military equipment to the United States, in … Read more
MBARARA, Uganda (AP) — At least once a week, Girino Ndyanabo’s family converges around a pit in which bananas have been left to ripen. The bananas are peeled and thrown into a wooden vat carved like a boat, and the patriarch steps in with bare feet. The sweet juice he presses out is filtered and … Read more
Lizzo’s tour staffers have her back in the sexual harassment lawsuit leveled against the singer by some former dancers … saying Lizzo promoted a positive environment and never forced anyone to go to sex shows they didn’t want to attend. According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, 18 independent members of Lizzo’s touring company … Read more
QUITO, Ecuador — Daniel Noboa, an inexperienced politician and an heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, won Ecuador’s presidential runoff election Sunday held amid unprecedented violence that even claimed the life of a candidate. With about 96% of the votes counted, electoral officials said Noboa had 52.2% of the votes, compared to … Read more
CARACAS, Venezuela — Frightened by unprecedented violence on the streets and within prisons, Ecuadorians have a universal demand for the president they will choose Sunday — safety. The runoff election in the South American country pits an heir to a banana empire, Daniel Noboa, and an attorney, Luisa González. Both have limited governing experience and … Read more
MUKONO, Uganda — A decapitated banana plant is almost useless, an inconvenience to the farmer who must then uproot it and lay its dismembered parts as mulch. But can such stems somehow be returned to life? Yes, according to a Ugandan company that’s buying banana stems in a business that turns fiber into attractive handicrafts. … Read more
ROME — With the assistance of a high-leaping canine with a advantageous nostril for cocaine, Italian police seized greater than 2,700 kilos (about 3 tons) of the drug hidden in 70 tons of boxed bananas shipped from Ecuador, authorities mentioned Tuesday. Police estimated that the cocaine, which they described as of the best high quality, … Read more