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

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.

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

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.

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Cocaine smuggling and production at record high since pandemic retreat

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).

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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Honduras to switch ties from Taiwan to China, says president

Xiomara Castro’s move would leave Taiwan with formal diplomatic relations with only 13 countries

The Honduras president, Xiomara Castro, has said she has instructed her foreign minister to establish official relations with China, a move that would end its ties with Taiwan and further isolate the island on the world stage.

The Central American country’s switch from Taipei to Beijing would leave Taiwan with formal diplomatic ties with only 13 countries.

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Two pedestrians dead and nine injured in Canada truck collision

Police investigating if incident was deliberate and say there is no further danger in the town of Amqui north of Quebec City

Two men have died and nine other pedestrians were injured in Canada, after they were hit by a truck on Monday, police said.

Quebec police spokesperson Helene St Pierre said a 38-year-old man had been arrested and investigators were looking into whether the incident in the town of Amqui, north of Quebec City, was deliberate.

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‘Mexico is safer than the US,’ Amlo says after attack on four Americans

Mexico’s president pushes back against US critics of his security record after kidnapping near the border that left two dead

Mexico’s president has asserted that his country is safer than the United States, pushing back against US critics of his security record following a deadly kidnapping near the border that claimed the lives of two Americans.

The 3 March attack on four Americans in the Mexican city of Matamoros and their subsequent abduction was covered closely by US media and sparked recriminations from politicians in the US, particularly Republicans.

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US border patrol closes bridge to Juárez after rumor causes migrant rush

Hundreds of migrants tried to race across the Paso del Norte bridge to El Paso after false internet post said the border was open

Hundreds of people near an El Paso, Texas, border crossing who tried to enter the US from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on Sunday were met with physical barricades erected by shield-wielding authorities, according to reports on what is the latest episode to pit US immigration officials against a group of migrants.

Many of the migrants, who were largely Venezuelan, had gone to the center of the Paso del Norte international bridge to determine whether a rumor that the border had been temporarily opened to them was true, the Texas Tribune reported. Many trying to flee lives in Mexico, where they cannot legally work and are often confronted by police, had hurried through toll booths on the Mexican side of the bridge and arrived at the center.

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The Cuban Collapse – a photo essay

Far from the romanticised notion of Old Havana, this project documents the city’s housing situation as a microcosm of the country’s collapse. Many buildings have collapsed or been declared uninhabitable, forcing people to live in shelters or squat in unsafe conditions while new hotels are built around them

Cubans face a precarious present and an uncertain future. While the government focuses on the recovery of the tourism sector, people’s living conditions are driving the largest migratory exodus in the country’s history.

Inflation, the economic blockade and mismanagement mean many are unable to meet their basic needs.

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Peru: Six dead as powerful cyclone causes major flooding

Government declares state of emergency after major damage and disruptions in northern regions

At least six people have died in Peru as a powerful cyclone unleashed torrential rains, battering hundreds of homes and causing major disruptions in northern areas.

The government has declared a state of emergency as it seeks to bring relief to regions including Lambayeque, Piura and Tumbes hit by the cyclone known as Yaku.

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Canada: inquiry into police unit accused of excessive force against green activists

Officers with C-IRG accused of ripping off protesters’ masks and pepper-spraying them during protest in British Columbia

Canada’s federal police force has opened an investigation into a controversial unit tasked with overseeing environmental protests, following hundreds of complaints that officers used excessive force, disregarded court orders and violated protesters’ rights.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, a watchdog arm of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said on Thursday it would examine the activities of the community-industry response group, or C-IRG, based in British Columbia.

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Record deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest shows challenge facing Lula

Satellites show record destruction for the month of February as new government tries to undo damage wreaked under Bolsonaro

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose in February to the highest level on record for the month, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing the administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as it tries to undo the environmental destruction wreaked under the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Government satellites show that a record 322 sq km of Amazon rainforest were destroyed in February, a 62% increase on last year and the highest number for the month since records began.

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Giving the middle finger is a ‘God-given right’, Canadian judge rules

Gesture may not be civil or polite but ‘it is not a crime’ and is protected under Canada’s constitution, judgment says

Giving your neighbour the middle finger may not be polite but is protected as part of a person’s right to freedom of expression under the Canadian constitution, a judge has ruled.

In a 26-page decision, Dennis Galiatsatos dismissed a case against a man accused of harassing his neighbour in a Montreal suburb.

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Alleged perpetrators of attack on four Americans dumped on Mexican street

Five men found bound with note apparently from drug cartel alluding to ‘mistakes caused by lack of discipline’

Five men who purportedly carried out the attack on four Americans last week have been found dumped on a street in the city of Matamoros, with an apology note claiming to be from the fearsome cartel that controls much of Tamaulipas state.

The five men were discovered with their hands tied, shirts pulled over their heads and bare chests to the pavement. Nearby, a note in black marker read: “We’ve decided to hand over those involved and directly responsible in the events who acted at all times under their own free will.”

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‘A win for Jamaica’: 15 people convicted in landmark gang-busting trial

Marathon trial, which lasted a year and a half, sees people convicted on charges ranging from gang membership to murder

Fifteen people have been convicted on charges ranging from gang membership and gun possession to murder, in a landmark gang-busting trial hailed by Jamaican authorities as a major blow to one of the island’s deadliest criminal organisations.

Twelve other defendants were acquitted and the cases against five others were not pursued, but police and prosecutors described the verdicts this week as historic. One defendant was murdered while on bail.

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Toronto dog owners bite back after city posts ‘no barking’ sign at pooch park

City called off its dogs and said it would review its sign approval process after canine owners called the prohibition ‘lunacy’

Officials in Canada’s most populous city have their tails between their legs after they were forced to call off an effort to stop dogs barking in local parks.

Inhabitants of Toronto are grudgingly accustomed to a daily soundtrack of city life: gridlocked traffic, rumbling trucks, heavy machinery and noisy neighbours.

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Trudeau faces fury of Canadian MPs over alleged Chinese election meddling

Prime minister faces accusations of not taking issue seriously amid reports of 11 candidates receiving Chinese money

• Canada roiled by leaked intelligence reports of Chinese election ‘meddling’

Justin Trudeau is under mounting pressure to explain how seriously his government has responded to the threat of Chinese interference in Canadian elections in the wake of damning intelligence leaks.

Allegations that the prime minister’s government has failed to act on meddling efforts featured prominently in a raucous session of parliament on Wednesday, as concern over Beijing’s efforts to undermine Canadian elections continues to dominate the country’s politics.

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Chile airport authorities foil $32.5m heist amid ‘intense exchange of gunfire’

A plane carrying money had arrived from Miami when 10 robbers entered the airport after tying a security guard

A foiled multimillion dollar heist at Chile’s largest airport has left two dead and highlighted concerns of rising crime in the Andean nation.

Footage widely shared on social media shows a shootout between robbers and officials from Chile’s DGAC aviation agency below a Latam Airlines plane at the Arturo Merino Benítez international airport in Santiago.

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