Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

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Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

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According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

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Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP

China’s overseas trade grew at a faster pace than expected last month, official data showed Monday, amid fresh fears of a major escalation in the tariff war between Beijing and Washington.

Exports jumped 8.3 per cent year on year in September, the General Administration of Customs said, beating a Bloomberg forecast of 6.6 per cent.

Imports rose 7.4 per cent, the data showed, significantly outpacing a Bloomberg forecast of 1.9 per cent.

READ ALSO:US, China Agree To Slash Tariffs In Trade War De-escalation

The figures are a promising sign for the Chinese economy, which has in recent years been mired in a persistent spending slump just as pressure on its export-reliant manufacturing sector intensifies.

Shipments to the United States — the world’s largest consumer market — picked up last month to reach $34.3 billion, the data showed.

The figure marked an 8.6 per cent rise from the $31.6 billion recorded in August.

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Concerns spiked over the weekend that this year’s trade war between the world’s top two economies will worsen further following US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose additional 100 per cent tariffs on all Chinese goods.

Beijing, in turn, accused Washington of acting unfairly, with its Ministry of Commerce on Sunday calling the threat a “typical example of ‘double standards’”.

Trump struck a more conciliatory tone on Sunday, writing in a social media post that the United States “wants to help China, not hurt it”.

AFP