Embattled Peruvian president names 'reconciliation cabinet'

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has named a new "Cabinet of reconciliation" following his close brush with impeachment and controversial pardon of a former president convicted of human rights abuses.

In a ceremony on Tuesday, Kuczynski swore in new ministers for nearly half of his 19-member Cabinet.

The embattled president says that the new leaders represent the Andean nation's diversity and that Peruvians should put aside their differences to focus on problems like inequality and corruption.

Kuczynski narrowly survived an impeachment vote in December after opposition lawmakers revealed his private consulting business had received $782,000 in payments from the Brazilian construction company at the center of Latin America's largest corruption scandal while he was a government minister.

Days after the vote, Kuczynski pardoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori from his 25-year jail sentence.