Category Archives: Americas

Canada expels Chinese diplomat for alleged intimidation of lawmaker

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Zhao Wei is accused of gathering information on Conservative MP Michael Chong in retaliation for criticism of China’s Uyghur policy

Canada has expelled a Chinese diplomat after an intelligence report accused him of trying to intimidate a Canadian lawmaker critical of China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.

“Canada has decided to declare persona non grata Mr Zhao Wei,” the Canadian foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said in a statement on Monday. “The decision has been taken after careful consideration of all factors at play.”

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Frogs in Puerto Rico croak at a higher pitch due to global heating

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Call of the coquí frog is affected by rising temperatures, scientists find

Frogs in Puerto Rico are croaking at a higher pitch due to global heating, scientists have found.

The frogs appear to be decreasing in size at warmer temperatures, which causes their croaks to become high pitched. If the trends continue, the heat could become too much for the sensitive amphibians to survive successfully, researchers have said.

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Canada hopes to join Aukus defence pact, says report

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Ottawa ‘highly interested’ in joining group amid fears country could be shut out of intelligence and tech sharing

Canada’s defence minister has said the country is “highly interested” working closer on defence technology with Australia, Britain and the US, after reports that the country wants to join the Aukus defence pact.

The Globe and Mail reported on Monday that Canada was making efforts to join the group, amid fears that the country could be excluded from valuable intelligence and technology sharing between a smaller circle of nations. Both the foreign affairs ministry and Privy Council are working to have Canada included, the Globe reported.

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Chile: major blow to president as far right triumphs in key constitution vote

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‘Earthquake in Chilean politics’ as ultra-conservative Republican party wins 22 of 50 seats on body to rewrite Pinochet-era document

Chile’s far right has won an emphatic victory in a vote to select the committee that will rewrite its dictatorship-era constitution, after José Antonio Kast’s Republican party secured 22 of its 50 seats in a major blow to the progressive president Gabriel Boric.

Boric beat Kast, an ultra-conservative lawyer often compared to Brazil’s former leader Jair Bolsonaro, in the 2021 presidential election.

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Businessman who alleges Indian kidnap plot wins Antiguan court ruling

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Fugitive Mehul Choksi claims UK-based group was part of alleged conspiracy to abduct him in 2021

A fugitive Indian-born businessman has won the first round of a court battle to prove that a UK-based group including a younger woman was part of an Indian intelligence service plot to lure him to a Caribbean villa to be kidnapped and extradited to his home country.

The high court of Antigua and Barbuda has found that Mehul Choksi has an “arguable” case in relation to his civil claim against the country’s attorney general and chief of police over the response to his alleged abduction and illegal rendition to Dominica in May 2021.

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Thousands forced to evacuate as wildfires ravage western Canada

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More than 13,000 people were ordered to leave Alberta as 78 fires burned, and officials say the blazes are expected to intensify

A week of record hot weather in western Canada has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes, as wildfires raged in parts of Alberta and rapid snow melt triggered flooding across interior British Columbia.

By Friday, more than 13,000 people were under evacuation orders in Alberta, as 78 fires burned. Among the worst-hit areas was the Little Red River Cree Nation in the north of the province, where the 1,458-hectare Fox Lake fire consumed 20 homes and the police station.

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Colombia cancels US deportation flights, blasting ‘cruel’ mistreatment of migrants

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Head of Colombia’s migration agency cites degrading treatment by US officials as flights returning citizens suspended

Colombia has suspended US deportation flights returning citizens detained at the Mexico border, because of cruel and degrading treatment by US migration officials and last-minute flight cancellations.

Fernando García, head of Colombia’s migration agency, blasted cruel and degrading treatment that some migrants were subjected to before boarding and during the flights, including use of cuffs for hands and feet.

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US-Mexico migration deal raises fears for struggling border cities

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Agreement designed to curb increase of people arriving into US marks dramatic precedent for two countries, experts say

An agreement between the United States and Mexico designed to curb the surge of migrants arriving at the US doorstep marks a dramatic new precedent in relations between the two countries, analysts said, warning that the deal could further overwhelm border cities already struggling to cope.

Under the agreement announced in a joint statement on Tuesday, Mexico will continue accepting migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua who are turned away from the US.

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UK ministers urged to unseal files on Falklands attack that killed 56

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Calls follow release of account by captain who said he strongly warned against ‘folly’ of attempted landing in June 1982

The release of a witness account detailing the “folly” of an operation in which 56 service personnel died on ships off the Falkland islands – the deadliest day for the British military since 1945 – has prompted fresh calls for the government to unseal all files relating to the tragedy.

Attacks by Argentinian Skyhawk planes against the landing ships Sir Tristram and Sir Galahad killed dozens of service personnel on 8 June 1982 and left more than 150 injured, including Simon Weston, the Welsh guard whose disfigured face became a defining image of the conflict.

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Canada summons Chinese ambassador after MP and his family harassed

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Foreign affairs minister says Cong Peiwu was summoned to express frustration over attempts to meddle in Canadian politics

Canada has summoned China’s ambassador as Justin Trudeau’s government considers expelling a Chinese diplomat accused of involvement in a harassment campaign against a MP lawmaker and his family in retaliation for the lawmaker’s criticisms of Beijing.

The foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, told a parliamentary committee on Thursday that her office had summoned Chinese ambassador Cong Peiwu to express frustration over attempts to meddle in Canada’s domestic politics.

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Belize likely to become republic, says PM, as he criticises Rishi Sunak

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Exclusive: Johnny Briceño attacks his UK counterpart’s refusal to apologise for atrocities of slavery

The prime minister of Belize, Johnny Briceño, has sharply criticised Rishi Sunak’s refusal to apologise for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, and said it was “quite likely” Belize would be the next member of the Commonwealth realm to become a republic.

Speaking to the Guardian in the country’s capital, Belmopan, Briceño argued the British government had a moral responsibility to apologise for the atrocities of slavery and added to the calls throughout the English-speaking Caribbean for financial reparations from the UK.

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Grain trader Cargill faces legal challenge in US over Brazilian soya supply chain

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World’s biggest grain trader accused of ‘shoddy due diligence’ on deforestation and alleged rights violations

The world’s largest grain trader, Cargill, is facing a first-ever legal challenge in the United States over its failure to remove deforestation and human rights abuses from its soya supply chain in Brazil.

ClientEarth, an environmental law organisation, filed the formal complaint on Thursday, accusing Cargill of inadequate monitoring and a laggard response to the decline of the Amazon rainforest and other globally important biomes, such as the Cerrado savannah and the Atlantic Forest.

Soya beans bought from third-party traders, which make up 42% of all Brazilian soya Cargill purchases.

Soya beans owned by other companies that passes through Cargill ports.

Indirect land use change.

Soya sourced from the Cerrado savannah.

Soya sourced from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

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Canadian lawmaker says China targeted his family for harassment

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Michael Chong accused Trudeau’s government of turning blind eye while Chinese diplomat gathered information in Canada

A Canadian lawmaker has accused government officials of turning a blind eye to Chinese harassment of his family as pressure mounts on Justin Trudeau to launch a public inquiry into Beijing’s attempts to meddle in the country’s domestic politics.

The Globe and Mail reported that China’s intelligence agency had sought information about Michael Chong’s family in Hong Kong “for further potential sanctions” over the Conservative MP’s criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses. The paper also reported that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, was part of the harassment campaign.

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Canada man charged with supplying substance linked to UK and US suicides

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Kenneth Law, 57, arrested in Ontario following allegations he sold lethal substance to people in dozens of countries

Police in Canada have laid charges against an Ontario man following allegations he sold a lethal substance to people in dozens of countries, including four people who killed themselves in Britain and one in the United States.

Kenneth Law, 57, is due to appear in court on Wednesday after Peel regional police charged him with two counts of counselling or aiding suicide on Tuesday in relation to Canadian adults.

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. A list of prevention resources can be found here.

The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help, or by texting START to 678678

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

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Brazilian police search Jair Bolsonaro mansion and arrest aide

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Police investigate suspected efforts to fake Covid-19 vaccination records in order to travel to US

Federal police have searched the mansion of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro and arrested one of his closest aides as part of an investigation into suspected criminal efforts to fake Covid-19 vaccination records in order to travel to the US.

Lt Col Mauro Cid Barbosa, described by the Brazilian press as Bolsonaro’s “right-hand man”, was one of six people arrested on Wednesday morning as police raided multiple addresses in the capital, Brasília, and Rio de Janeiro.

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US man, 79, beaten to death in Mexico while delivering donations to the poor

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Rudy Lazo, who immigrated to the US from El Salvador in the 1980s, would regularly deliver clothes, food and toys to Tijuana

A 79-year-old American man who transported clothes, food and toys into Mexico to donate to the poor was beaten to death during a delivery trip in Tijuana, family members and authorities said.

Rudy Lazo’s killing during an apparent robbery in mid-April happened a couple of months after the US state department warned Americans to avoid Mexico, citing elevated kidnapping and homicide risks in areas including Baja California, the state Tijuana is in.

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Dominican investigative journalist targeted with NSO spyware, report says

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Nuria Piera, known for her investigations into corruption, was targeted three times, Amnesty International says

One of the Dominican Republic’s most prominent investigative journalists was targeted using spyware made by NSO Group, according to a new report released by Amnesty International.

Nuria Piera, who is well known for her investigations into corruption, was hacked three times between 2020 and 2021, according to Amnesty’s forensic analysis of her mobile phone. The revelation marks the first confirmation that NSO’s military-grade spyware, Pegasus, has been used to target journalists in the Dominican Republic, making it the third Latin American country – after Mexico and El Salvador – where such abuse has been discovered.

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Amnesty International criticised for using AI-generated images

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Group has removed AI images used to promote their reports on social media, including fake photos of Colombia’s 2021 protests

While the systemic brutality used by Colombian police to quell national protests in 2021 was real and is well documented, photos recently used by Amnesty International to highlight the issue were not.

The international human rights advocacy group has come under fire for posting images generated by artificial intelligence in order to promote their reports on social media – and has since removed them.

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Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer-songwriter, dies aged 84

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Musician best known for folk-pop hits such as If You Could Read My Mind and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald continued to tour in his later years

The Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, best known for folk-pop hits such as If You Could Read My Mind and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, has died at the age of 84, his family has announced.

His longtime publicist Victoria Lord said Lightfoot died at a Toronto hospital on Monday evening.

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Brazil’s battle to reclaim Yanomami lands from illegal miners turns deadly

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Fatalities underline dangers in government efforts to evict thousands of miners who have devastated Indigenous territory

Brazil’s battle to reclaim its largest Indigenous territory from tens of thousands of illegal miners has taken a deadly turn after at least five people were reportedly killed during 36 hours of violence in the Amazon’s sprawling Yanomami territory.

The bloodshed began on Saturday afternoon when masked illegal miners allegedly launched an attack on a Yanomami village called Uxiu.

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