Category Archives: Americas

Canada scientists create new method to break down toxic ‘forever chemicals’

Posted on by

University of British Columbia researchers develop silica-based material with ability to absorb wider range of harmful chemicals

Researchers at a Canadian university have made a breakthrough they hope will dramatically shorten the lifespan of the thousands of toxic “forever chemicals” that persist in clothing, household items and the environment.

Scientists at the University of British Columbia announced on Wednesday that they had developed a new silica-based material with ability to absorb a wider range of the harmful chemicals, and new tools to break them apart them.

Continue reading...

Can you copyright a rhythm? Inside the reggaeton lawsuit that could shake the pop world

Posted on by

Two dembow progenitors are suing superstars including Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee – in a case that also names Justin Bieber – claiming that they deserve credit for birthing the genre

With the release of their song Fish Market in 1989, the Jamaican duo Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson inadvertently changed the course of pop music. The track featured the first known example of what would come to be known as a “dembow” rhythm – the percussive, slightly syncopated four-to-the-floor beat that travelled from reggae to become the signature beat of reggaeton, today the world-conquering sound of Latin American pop.

Now, more than 30 years after Fish Market was released, Steely & Clevie Productions is suing three of reggaeton’s most celebrated hitmakers – El Chombo, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee – for what they characterise as unlawful interpolation of Fish Market’s rhythm (or “riddim”), and are seeking the credit – and royalties – they say they deserved from the start.

Continue reading...

Taiwan prepared ‘for all moves’ by China while President Tsai is abroad

Posted on by

Tsai Ing-wen will visit allies Guatemala and Belize next week, and stopover in the US, after Honduras said it would establish ‘official relations’ with China

Taiwan’s defence ministry has contingency plans for any moves by China during Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the US and Central America, deputy defence minister Po Horng-huei has said ahead of Tsai’s departure next week.

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, carried out large-scale, live-fire war games around the island last August after a visit to Taipei by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Continue reading...

UN calls for foreign intervention in Haiti as violence surges

Posted on by

‘Specialized support force’ urged for Caribbean state where 530 have been killed in gang-led violence so far this year

The United Nations has called for the deployment of an international “specialized support force” to impede Haiti’s accelerating tumble into extreme violence after more than 530 people were killed in the opening weeks of this year.

“Clashes between gangs are becoming more violent and more frequent,” the spokesperson for the UN human rights office, Marta Hurtado, warned on Tuesday, voicing “grave concern” that the security situation was spiraling out of control.

Continue reading...

Ecuadorian TV presenter wounded by bomb disguised as USB stick

Posted on by

Lenin Artieda was one of several journalists targeted by explosive devices mailed out across the country

An Ecuadorian television presenter was wounded after a bomb disguised as a USB stick exploded when he inserted it in his computer, after explosive devices were sent to journalists across the country.

Lenin Artieda suffered minor injuries in the blast, which happened in the newsroom of Ecuavisa TV in Guayaquil.

Continue reading...

Student arrested after two staff members stabbed at Canada high school

Posted on by

Two victims and the student taken to hospital for treatment after incident in Halifax

Police officers have arrested a student on suspicion of stabbing two staff members at a high school in Canada’s Atlantic coast city of Halifax, police said.

The two victims and the student were taken to hospital for treatment after the attack on Monday, and the extent of their injuries remains unclear. Halifax regional police confirmed that the suspect is a student at the school.

Continue reading...

Canada woman sues Tim Hortons after ‘superheated’ tea caused ‘horrific’ burns

Posted on by

Jackie Lansing sues coffee chain for C$500,000 after cup of tea that ‘collapsed’ and spilled on her stomach and legs left her ‘disfigured’

An Ontario woman and her family are suing Canada’s best-known coffee chain for C$500,000 ($366,000), alleging Tim Hortons served her “superheated” tea in a defective cup that left her with “horrific” burns on her body.

Jackie Lansing, 73, ordered a black tea while at a drive-through in southern Ontario last year.

Continue reading...

At least 15 dead after strong earthquake hits Ecuador and northern Peru

Posted on by

Magnitude 6.8 quake shakes area 50 miles south of Ecuador’s second city, Guayaquil, with one death reported so far in Peru

A strong earthquake shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday, killing at least 15 people, trapping others under rubble, and sending rescue teams out into streets littered with debris and fallen power lines.

The US Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of about 6.8 in the country’s coastal Guayas region. Its centre was about 50 miles (80km) south of Guayaquil, which has a metropolitan area of more than 3 million people.

Continue reading...

Two new species of yeast named after Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips

Posted on by

Discoveries that could help diabetics titled in honour of activist and journalist murdered in Amazon

Scientists in Brazil have found two new species of fermenting yeasts and named them after journalist Dom Phillips and activist Bruno Pereira, the two men murdered last year in the Amazon rainforest.

The discovery came from four isolates of the Spathaspora species, according to a paper published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

Continue reading...

Puerto Rico 4-5 Mexico: World Baseball Classic quarter-finals – as it happened

Posted on by
  • Mexico defeat Puerto Rico to reach WBC semi-finals

Puerto Rico 0-0 Mexico, top 1st inning

Lindor is in the box against Urías and takes ball one to start the game. Urías gets ahead of Lindor 1-2, Lindor fouls off a pitch and then strikes out. Urías begins his outing with a k.

Continue reading...

Mexican president blames US fentanyl crisis on ‘lack of hugs’ among families

Posted on by

Andrés Manuel López Obrador cites a lack ‘of hugs and embraces’ for 70,000 annual overdose deaths attributed to synthetic opioid

Mexico’s president has said that US families were to blame for the fentanyl overdose crisis because they don’t hug their kids enough.

The comment by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador caps a week of provocative statements from him about the crisis caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels that has been blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths per year in the United States.

Continue reading...

‘I came here to escape’: Toronto tackles caste-based discrimination in schools

Posted on by

Activists hopeful as Canada’s largest school district takes first step towards banning caste discrimination

When Vijay Puli arrived in Toronto with his wife and baby daughter, he thought they had finally left behind the discrimination, violence and social rejection they had faced in India.

Puli identifies as a Dalit, a member of a group who in India are considered to be at the very bottom rung, often deemed “untouchable”.

Continue reading...

Indigenous children suffer most from illegal miners’ Amazon invasion

Posted on by

The influx of heavily armed gangs, now being tackled by President Lula, has had a catastrophic effect on infant health

The severely malnourished Yanomami baby girl is about eight months old but weighs just 2.75kg (6lbs) – less than half the average for her age. A catheter runs into her tiny right foot, delivering a blood transfusion doctors hope will save her life.

“This is a really difficult moment for us,” says Francinete Rodrigues, the director of the Santo Antônio children’s hospital in Boa Vista, an institution on the frontline of an Indigenous health catastrophe Brazil’s president calls an attempted genocide.

Continue reading...

Parasitic fungus that infects and kills spiders discovered in Brazil

Posted on by

Exclusive: rare purple organism preys on trapdoor spider in behaviour reminiscent of its ‘zombie’ relatives that feature in apocalyptic TV show The Last of Us

Scientists believe they have discovered a new parasitic fungus which preys on trapdoor spiders in Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest.

The rare organism, which is purple, belongs to a group of fungi that infect invertebrates and take over the host. A closeup image shows the fungus wrapped around the body of a trapdoor spider, poking out of the burrow from which the arachnid grabs insects.

Continue reading...

Edmonton police shootings: teenager kills two officers after shooting own mother

Posted on by

Constables aged 30 and 35 were gunned down by 16-year-old male who then shot and killed himself in Canada’s Alberta province, say authorities

A 16-year-old has shot his mother and killed two police officers before taking his own life in Edmonton, Canada.

A police official and a senior government official said the male shot and wounded his mother early on Thursday at an apartment in the city in Alberta province. Two patrol officers were shot and killed upon arriving at the scene about 12.47am. There was no indication the officers were able to fire shots.

Continue reading...

Chile’s government pledged to put feminism into practice – has it delivered?

Posted on by

President Gabriel Boric promised a feminist movement but conservative values remain strong in the country

One tumultuous year has now passed since Latin America’s first self-declared feminist government installed itself in La Moneda, Chile’s presidential palace, vowing to bring progressive, gender-equal politics to a quiet corner of South America.

Standing beside the country’s youngest ever president Gabriel Boric at his inauguration was Izkia Siches, the first woman to be named Chile’s interior minister and one of 14 women in Boric’s 24-person cabinet – the highest proportion of female ministers in Latin America and one of the highest anywhere in the world.

Continue reading...

Cocaine smuggling and production at record high since pandemic retreat

Posted on by

New UN report says there has been a 35% spike in 2020-21 in the production of coca, the drug’s base ingredient

South American drug cartels have capitalised on the retreat of the Covid-19 pandemic to produce and smuggle record amounts of cocaine around the world.

Production of coca, the drug’s base ingredient, spiked 35% in 2020-21, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Continue reading...

Argentina’s inflation rate soars past 100%, its worst in over 30 years

Posted on by

Annual rate of 102.5% is denting purchasing power, savings, economic growth and government’s chances in elections next year

Argentina’s annual inflation rate tore past 100% in February, the country’s statistics agency announced, the first time it has hit triple figures since a period of hyperinflation in 1991, over three decades ago.

Inflation over 12 months clocked in at 102.5% in the second month of the year, according to government data released on Tuesday, with a higher-than-expected 6.6% monthly rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and a 13.1% year-to-date increase.

Continue reading...

Mexico to investigate alleged human rights abuses by military after spying claims

Posted on by

Move follows reports alleging that the army used Pegasus spyware software to hack the phone of a prominent rights activist

Lawmakers in Mexico this week will launch a federal commission to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by the country’s military, including the use of powerful spyware technology, the head of the governing Morena party in the senate has said.

The commission, made up of lawmakers from both Mexico’s upper and lower houses of congress, will request a report from the army in the wake of recent media reports alleging that it used Israeli software known as Pegasus to hack the phone of a prominent human rights activist.

Continue reading...

Canada: university president to take leave amid controversy over Indigenous ancestry claim

Posted on by

Incident involving Vianne Timmons is latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud

The president of a Canadian university has apologized and is taking a leave of absence after allegations that she falsely claimed to be Indigenous, in the latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud.

Vianne Timmons, who is president of Memorial University of Newfoundland, said that she would be taking a six-week leave after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) published a report last week questioning her claims that her father’s great-great-grandmother was Mi’kmaq.

Continue reading...