Category Archives: Americas

‘Heartbreaking’: eight bodies recovered from waters at US-Canada border

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Two more people found on Friday as authorities says dozens of Indian and Romanian migrants have been crossing through Mohawk territory

The bodies of eight people believed to have died trying to cross from Canada into the United States have been found in the past two days, authorities said on Friday, including two children.

Six people, described as members of two families of Romanian and Indian descent, were found on Thursday in a marshy area of the St Lawrence River, which forms part of the Canada-US border. And on Friday, the bodies of two more migrants were found, bringing the death toll to eight, according to police in the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne.

Associated Press contributed to this report

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Canada police arrest ‘pedophile hunting’ group over child abuse images

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Quebec authorities announced six people were in custody for criminal harassment, intimidation and forcible confinement

Police in Canada have arrested members of a vigilante “pedophile-hunting” group, charging them with distribution of child abuse images, amid frustration over the group’s controversial tactics.

Quebec police announced on Thursday that six people had been arrested as part of an investigation into a group that had drawn complaints from the public.

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Canada’s approval of major telecoms takeover condemned as ‘dark day’

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Anti-monopoly consumer groups slam multibillion-takeover of Shaw by Rogers that will create a media and sports behemoth

Canada has approved a major telecoms takeover that would create a media and sports behemoth in an already concentrated media landscape, in a landmark deal that anti-monopoly consumer groups slammed as “a dark day” for competition in Canada.

On Friday the industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said he had approved a multibillion-dollar takeover of Shaw by Rogers.

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Brazilian meat firm’s A- sustainability rating has campaigners up in arms

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Environmentalists question high grade given to JBS and accuse it of deforestation in the Amazon and under-reporting emissions

The award of an A-minus sustainability grade to the world’s biggest meat company has raised eyebrows and kicked off a debate about the rating system for environmental and social governance.

Brazilian meat company JBS has previously been linked to deforestation in the Amazon, where its slaughterhouses process beef from ranches carved out of the Amazon, Cerrado and other biomes. But in the latest Climate Change Report by the influential rating organisation CDP, the multinational got a grade of A- for its efforts to tackle climate change – up from B in the previous assessment – and was given a “leadership” status award.

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Diehard Bolsonaro fans greet far-right ex-president on return to Brazil

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Son says Jair Bolsonaro will lead opposition after return from self-imposed exile in US

Three months after he left Brazil to avoid passing the presidential sash to his leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president Jair Bolsonaro has flown back to the South American country hoping to prove his political career is far from over.

The far-right radical flew to the US on the eve of Lula’s 1 January inauguration and watched the historic transition of power from a rented villa near Disney World in Florida. It was from Florida, too, that Bolsonaro watched the 8 January assault on Brazil’s democratic institutions perpetrated by hardcore supporters seemingly bent on overthrowing Lula’s new government.

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Brazil may sue VW amid claims firm used ‘slave labour’ under military rule

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Prosecutors seek compensation for workers kept on cattle ranch owned by German carmaker during dictatorship from 1973 to 1987

Brazil is threatening to take the German carmaker Volkswagen to court over allegations that it used slave labour on a vast ranch in the Amazon, after talks on compensating workers ended without agreement.

Public prosecutors in Brazil are seeking compensation for men who they say were forced to work in “humiliating and degrading” conditions, with no clean water or sanitation, on the Fazenda Vale do Rio Cristalino cattle ranch, which was owned by the company in the northern Pará state, between 1973 and 1987.

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Nova Scotia attacks: police heavily criticised for failures in Canada’s deadliest mass shooting

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RCMP response condemned after gunman drove a fake police car around for more than 13 hours, evading capture and killing 22 people

A cascade of failures within Canada’s federal police worsened the country’s deadliest mass shooting, a public inquiry has concluded, in a damning indictment that found the force has shown little interest in reforming in the years since.

The Mass Casualty Commission, a joint provincial and federal inquiry, was investigating the 2020 shootings in Portapique Nova Scotia, in which a gunman driving a fake police car spent more than 13 hours evading capture and killing 22 people.

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Migrant deaths at Mexican detention centre investigated as suspected homicide

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Several arrest warrants requested after video emerges which appears to show guards leaving as fire engulfs a cell with migrants locked inside

The deaths of at least 39 migrants in a fire at a Mexican detention centre are being investigated as suspected homicides, a prosecutor has said, accusing those in charge of doing nothing to evacuate the victims.

Authorities faced mounting scrutiny of their handling of the disaster after video surveillance footage appeared to show guards leaving as flames engulfed a cell with migrants locked inside.

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‘They’re killing us’: anger grows after deadly fire at Mexican migrant center

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Protesters call for justice as blaze at detention facility in Ciudad Juárez highlights tough US immigration policies

A loud voice cut through the thick quiet of the night: “¡Justicia! ¡Justicia! ¡Justicia!” Frark Martín Pérez Pérez, 32, chanted angrily, and hundreds followed.

Justice is what the crowd of about 400 migrants from Latin America gathered to protest about on Tuesday outside the migrant processing centre in Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the US border, where at least 40 were killed in a fire on Monday night.

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‘This is very bad for them’: months of leaks rattle Canada’s low-profile spy agency

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Allegations of attempted meddling by China put uncomfortable spotlight on publicity-shy CSIS

Most Canadians have no idea where the country’s spy agency is located, nor do they know much about its daily operations. This is not because the Canadian Security Intelligence Service operates in a particularly clandestine fashion, it’s because most Canadians don’t care.

The CSIS, a civilian-run organisation based in a triangular structure of concrete and glass on the outskirts of Ottawa, lacks the intrigue of Britain’s MI5 and the notoriety of America’s Central Intelligence Agency.

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At least 40 dead in Mexico migrant centre fire as rights groups blame overcrowding

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Mexico’s president says fire was caused by migrants lighting mattresses in protest at planned deportations

Rights groups have blamed poor conditions and overcrowding for a fire that killed at least 40 migrants from Central and South America at a migrant detention centre in Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the US border.

The fire, which broke out late on Monday, was caused by migrants setting fire to mattresses in protest after discovering they would be deported, Mexico’s president said. “They didn’t think that would cause this terrible tragedy,” Andrés Manuel López Obrador told a news conference. He did not provide more details about how so many died.

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Ecuador landslide: search for survivors after dozens of homes buried

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President Guillermo Lasso confirms seven people have died, with 62 still missing after disaster on Sunday night

A huge landslide that swept over an Andean community in central Ecuador, burying dozens of homes, has killed at least seven people, authorities said as rescuers continued a frantic search for survivors.

Earlier on Monday, officials had reported 16 deaths, but President Guillermo Lasso put the confirmed toll at seven as he arrived on Monday night at the scene of the disaster in Alausí, about 137 miles south of the capital, Quito. Officials also raised the number of people reported missing to 62.

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At least 39 dead after fire at Mexican migrant facility on US border

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Mexican president says protests to blame for fire in Ciudad Juárez, the latest example of dangers facing those taking route to US

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has blamed protesting migrants for causing a fire at an immigration detention centre that has killed at least 39 people in Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the US border.

Images of the aftermath showed dozens of lifeless bodies on the ground, some covered by silver thermal blankets. Television footage showed emergency workers attending to stunned survivors, who sat on white sheets gasping for breath.

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New allegations and a resignation strain already fraught China-Canada relations

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Han Dong’s departure escalates row over allegations that Beijing meddled in Canada’s elections as friction between countries grows

The abrupt resignation of a Canadian lawmaker over allegations he secretly met with a Chinese diplomat has escalated a row over allegations that Beijing meddled in Canadian elections – and highlighted the complex and often fraught relationship between the two countries.

Han Dong, a member of the governing Liberal party, was reported to have met with Han Tao, China’s consul general in February 2021, to suggest that Chinese authorities delay freeing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians who were detained in China at the time.

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Mexican children’s entertainer Chabelo dies aged 88

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Comic, real name Xavier López, fronted children’s TV show that ran from 1967 to 2015

The Mexican children’s entertainer Xavier López, better known by his stage name Chabelo, has died at 88, Mexico’s president has said.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador tweeted that his eldest son “woke up early to see him [on television] more than 40 years ago”.

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Trudeau to announce US-Canada asylum deal after Biden talks

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Move following meetings in Ottawa with the US president will in effect close a controversial border crossing

Justin Trudeau’s government has announced a major shift in how Canada and the US handle asylum claims, a move that effectively closes a controversial border crossing, after meetings in Ottawa on Friday with Joe Biden.

Under the deal, which Canadian officials hope will temper the increase in irregular border crossings in recent months, Canada will bring in 15,000 more South and Central American migrants to Canada. The prime minister’s office said in a statement the agreement would ensure more “fairness” in migration between the two countries.

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Haiti faces ‘hunger emergency’ amid escalating gang violence and surging inflation

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Acute hunger is affecting 4.9 million Haitians, according to a UN report, which outlines the increased need for humanitarian aid

Haitians are increasingly desperate for humanitarian aid as gang violence engulfing the country has left nearly half the population regularly going hungry, a World Food Programme (WFP) report has found.

“These are the worst conditions on record,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP’s Haiti director. “Food insecurity in Haiti has been going downhill and Haiti is sliding into a hunger emergency.”

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‘Historic moment’ as El Salvador abortion case fuels hopes for expanded access across Latin America

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Human rights court hears seriously ill woman denied procedure as advocates call for change in region with world’s most restrictive abortion laws

Human rights activists in Latin America hope that a historic court hearing over the case of a Salvadoran woman who was denied an abortion despite her high-risk pregnancy could open the way for El Salvador to decriminalize abortions – and set an important precedent across the region.

The inter-American court of human rights (IACHR) this week considered the historic case of the woman, known as Beatriz, who was prohibited from having an abortion in 2013, even though she was seriously ill and the foetus she was carrying would not have survived outside the uterus.

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Families of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira decry ‘shameful’ trial delays

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Poor internet and logistical problems frustrate hearing into killing of British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert

Activists and lawyers representing the families of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira have voiced frustration and anger after the preliminary court hearings of three of their alleged murderers had to be suspended because of poor internet and logistical problems at the high-security prisons where the defendants are being held.

Three of the suspected killers of the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous specialist were scheduled to give evidence from behind bars this week during partly online hearings that are expected to pave the way for a jury trial, possibly in the second half of this year.

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Canadian lawmaker resigns following claims he secretly advised Chinese diplomat

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Han Dong reportedly met with Chinese diplomat and suggested officials delay freeing two Canadians held by China

A Canadian lawmaker has resigned from the governing Liberal party following allegations that he secretly met with a Chinese diplomat and advised Beijing not to release two Canadian captives.

Han Dong announced in the House of Commons late on Wednesday that he would sit as an independent. Global News reported that he met with Han Tao, China’s consul-general in Toronto in February 2021 and suggested officials in Beijing delay freeing Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians being held by China at the time. He is also alleged to have suggested releasing the two men would benefit the rival Conservative party.

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