Authorities warn of landslides after conducting several thousand flood rescues in two days
At least 11 people were killed in Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul after an extra-tropical cyclone struck the region, according to the state’s authorities.
The storm on Friday caused torrential rains and helicopter searches were under way in flooded neighbourhoods to find 20 others who were missing, the government of Rio Grande do Sul said.
Continue reading...Bella Montoya, 76, who knocked on her coffin during her wake, has died seven days later from a stroke
A 76-year-old woman who had been declared dead and surprised her relatives by knocking on her coffin during her wake earlier this month has died after seven days in intensive care.
Ecuador’s health ministry confirmed in a statement that Bella Montoya died from an ischemic stroke after spending a week in intensive care. It added that Montoya had remained under “permanent surveillance” but didn’t provide further information on the medical investigation surrounding the case.
Continue reading...Wooden artefacts dating from 15th century and bought from indigenous people were treated with pesticides while in museum
Germany has returned two wooden masks of the indigenous Kogi community to Colombia but conceded that wearing the sacred artefacts in ceremonies may come with a health risk because they were treated with toxic pesticides during their time in German museums.
The masks, which date back to the mid-15th century and have been held in ethnological collections in Berlin for over a century, were handed over to Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, by his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in Berlin on Friday.
Continue reading...Safe Third Country Agreement does not infringe refugee claimants’ rights to liberty and security of the person, court rules
Canada’s top court has ruled that an agreement with the United States aiming to control the flow of refugees across the shared border is constitutional, ending a lengthy legal challenge by advocacy groups who argue the deal violates the rights of asylum seekers.
In a unanimous judgment released on Friday morning, the supreme court found the controversial Safe Third Country Agreement did not infringe refugee claimants’ rights to liberty and security of the person.
Continue reading...Crash involving a truck and a bus carrying mostly elderly people in Manitoba was one of the country’s worst in recent years
Police in the Canadian province of Manitoba are trying to identify the 15 people killed when a truck and a bus carrying mostly elderly people collided in one of the country’s worst recent road crashes.
Flags at the legislative building flew at half-mast to mark the victims of Thursday’s collision near the town of Carberry in south-western Manitoba, 170km (105 miles) west of Winnipeg.
Continue reading...Authorities denied pregnant Indigenous girl her legal right to an abortion and ‘re-victimised’ her, UN child rights committee says
Peru violated the rights of a 13-year-old girl who had been repeatedly raped by her father by denying her an abortion after she became pregnant, the UN has ruled.
The United Nations child rights committee found this week that the Peruvian authorities had violated the rights to health and life of the girl, known by the pseudonym Camila, by failing to provide her with information and access to legal and safe abortion.
Continue reading...Incident involving semi-trailer truck and vehicle used to transport elderly and disabled people sparks huge emergency response
At least 15 people are dead in Canada after a crash between a semi-trailer truck and a vehicle used to transport elderly and physically disabled people, according to multiple media reports, as crews mount one of the largest-ever emergency responses in the region.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in the province of Manitoba said as of Thursday evening, 15 people had been killed in the crash and 10 others taken to hospitals with injuries.
Continue reading...Air quality alerts issued in Minnesota and Wisconsin with winds expected to blow airborne pollution from Ontario blazes south
The smoke-filled skies seen across US cities last week are set to make another appearance, as Canadian wildfires rage on and winds are bringing the airborne pollution south and again triggered fears over risks to health.
Air quality alerts were issued on Wednesday for the entire state of Minnesota and large parts of Wisconsin. This time, the culprit is a series of wildfires from the Canadian province of Ontario.
Continue reading...Grey-faced officer pleaded his innocence after anti-corruption police allegedly caught him in the act of extorting businessman
A Colombian police officer has been admitted to hospital after swallowing a wad of banknotes he extorted from a businessman.
The officer had demanded payments in return for not arresting his victim on trumped-up charges – but did not know that the businessman had already reported the shakedown to Colombia’s anti-kidnapping and extortion unit.
Continue reading...José Rubén Zamora, 66, convicted and sentenced on money-laundering charges press freedom groups say were trumped up
A veteran journalist and founder of one of Guatemala’s oldest newspapers has been sentenced to six years in prison for money laundering, in a case widely condemned as politically motivated.
José Rubén Zamora, 66, was convicted on Wednesday by a three-judge panel in Guatemala City, who ruled that there was “no doubt” the outspoken critic of government corruption masterminded the laundering of almost $40,000 in 2022. The court absolved Zamora of blackmail and peddling influence charges.
Continue reading...Nine-year-old, who is not transgender, left in tears by incident at shot put final as anti-trans hate on the rise across the country
A Canadian man who allegedly shouted at a nine-year-old girl and questioned whether she was transgender has been banned from attending elementary school athletics competitions, after an incident that activists say reflects a broader rise in anti-trans hate across the country.
Kari Starr told the Guardian that her nine-year-old daughter was preparing for a shot put competition in the British Columbia city of Kelowna when a man attempted to halt the competition, alleging Starr’s daughter was either a boy or transgender.
Continue reading...Police find body of Brisbane woman Julia-Mary Lane, 25, who had been living in Alberta, near Bear Lake in British Columbia
An Australian hiker has been found dead in Canadian bear country after a Mounties search that deployed police dogs and a drone.
Twenty-five-year-old Julia-Mary Lane, from Brisbane, had been living in Canmore, Alberta since January.
Continue reading...Wilson the Belgian shepherd featured prominently in drawings by Indigenous children as they recover in Bogotá hospital
The four Indigenous children who survived a plane crash and 40 days alone in the Colombian Amazon are continuing their recovery in Bogotá’s military hospital, and the oldest two have been well enough to pick up crayons.
In their first pictures released by Colombia’s armed forces, a four-legged figure jumps from the page: Wilson, the Belgian shepherd dog who helped lead rescuers to their location – and who remains missing in the jungle.
Continue reading...Move follows reports of extortion by Mexican officials in Nuevo Laredo who threaten migrants with missing asylum appointments
The Biden administration has stopped taking mobile phone app appointments to admit asylum seekers at a Texas border crossing that connects to a notoriously dangerous Mexican city after advocates warned US authorities that migrants were being targeted there for extortion.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) gave no explanation for its decision to stop scheduling new appointments via the CBP One app for the crossing in Laredo, Texas.
Continue reading...Death toll mounts in northern Piura region after torrential rain and floods lead to worst ever epidemic
In a stream of white, mourners walked behind an ivory-coloured, shoulder-borne coffin as neighbours, heads bowed and hands clasped, peered out of doorways on the narrow street in Castilla, a middle-class suburb in Piura, northern Peru.
At the gates of the San José de Tarbes school, dozens of girls wearing grey skirts and white shirts with red ties awaited the cortege, holding white balloons and roses. It was a farewell for their schoolmate Priscila Quispe, seven, who died of dengue in the Santa Rosa public hospital last week.
Continue reading...Officials are interviewing family members of the children who survived 40 days alone in the rainforest to determine who should care for them
A custody battle has broken out among relatives of the four Indigenous Colombian children who survived a plane crash and 40 days alone in the Amazon rainforest, with the father of two of them facing accusations of domestic violence.
The siblings, ranging in age from one to 13, remained in hospital on Monday and were expected to stay there for several days, during which time Colombia’s child protection agency will interview family members to determine who should care for them after their mother died in the 1 May crash.
Continue reading...Supreme court justice Russell Brown says allegations of misconduct are false but investigation has placed strain on family
A Canadian supreme court judge under investigation for his alleged involvement in a drunken fight has resigned, marking the first time a member of the top court has resigned amid questions of misconduct.
Russell Brown, appointed to the nine-judge court in August 2015, had stepped aside in February after reports emerged of a confrontation with a US marine veteran in an Arizona resort in late January.
Continue reading...Claudia Sheinbaum will seek ruling party’s nomination to succeed Andrés Manuel López Obrador in election next year
Mexico City’s mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, has announced that she will step down this Friday to seek the ruling party’s presidential nomination, bidding to become the country’s first female leader in an election due to be held next year.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) said on Sunday it would on6 September announce the winning candidate from its internal selection process. Sheinbaum is one of the favorites.
Continue reading...Siblings, who spent more than 40 days in Amazon after plane crash in early May, told of mother’s death when search party arrived
The tragic first words four Colombian children spoke after surviving for 40 days in the Amazon jungle have been revealed by their rescuers, as the youngsters recover at a military hospital in Bogotá.
When a search party found the emaciated children on Friday, the first thing Tien Noriel Ranoque Mucutuy, four, said was: “My mother is dead.”
Continue reading...More than 14,000 remain under evacuation as nearly 450 fires burned across the country on Sunday, with 220 out of control
Overdue rains and cooler temperatures have given Quebec fire crews a chance to launch their assault on dozens of wildfires, but the reprieve for one part of Canada comes as fires in the west of the country have once again forced residents to flee their homes.
The country has been struggling with an “unprecedented” wildfire season, with nearly 450 forest fires across the country on Sunday, 220 of which were burning out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
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