Second spy balloon spotted over Latin America, says Pentagon, as Blinken postpones China trip

Secretary of state calls the incident in US airspace a ‘clear violation of US sovereignty and international law’

A second Chinese spy balloon was reportedly flying over Latin America, according to the Pentagon, in comments that came as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, postponed a visit to China after the intrusion of a separate high-altitude Chinese balloon into US airspace.

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,” Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said, a day after the first craft was spotted over US skies. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.”

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Chile widens state of emergency as raging wildfires leave at least 13 dead

President Gabriel Boric cuts short vacation as heatwave fuels nearly 40 blazes across southern and central regions

Chile’s government has declared a widened state of emergency amid wildfires that have killed at least 13 people and consumed about 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres), as the South American country endures a summer heatwave across southern and central swaths of the country.

The interior minister, Carolina Toha, said on Friday morning the government had declared a catastrophe in the region of Biobío, joining its neighbouring region Ñuble, which President Gabriel Boric announced on Thursday evening, allowing the deployment of soldiers and additional resources.

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Ontario says ‘colonization’ costs mean it does not owe First Nations billions

Canadian province argues in court it is not responsible for compensating Indigenous people over broken treaty obligations

Ontario has claimed that it does not need to pay billions of dollars owed to First Nations over broken treaty obligations, arguing that it has already spent the sum on the historical costs of resource extraction and the infrastructure of “colonization”.

Canada’s federal government and the province have spent the last week in a Sudbury court arguing neither is responsible for compensating Indigenous nations for more than 150 years of lost revenues.

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Best restaurant in Montreal according to Tripadvisor does not exist

Le Nouveau Duluth enjoyed an incredible reputation on Tripadvisor – raising questions over online reviews

It’s notoriously difficult to secure a table at the world’s greatest restaurant, but diners hoping to sample the cuisine at Le Nouveau Duluth in Montreal will have an especially hard time.

That’s not only because, until recently, it had the highest Tripadvisor rating of the city’s 3,678 listed eateries – although reviews on the website suggest its menu is beyond belief.

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Canadian groundhog Fred la Marmotte found dead before planned prediction

Status of spring undetermined in northern Quebec after rodent prognosticator discovered dead in burrow during festivities

A Canadian woodchuck has cast a different type of shadow over Groundhog Day: just hours before he was due to predict spring’s arrival, Fred la Marmotte was found dead.

The groundhog showed “no vital signs” when the organizer of the annual 2 February tradition in Val-d’Espoir, Quebec, tried to wake him from hibernation, local media reported.

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Bolsonaro attended meeting about plot to keep him in power, senator says

Senator says he was asked to get justice to make compromising comments on tape as Bolsonaro ‘sat in silence’

A close ally of Jair Bolsonaro has turned against Brazil’s former president, claiming that an aide to the far-right leader tried to “coerce” him into joining a conspiracy to annul the October elections and keep Bolsonaro in power.

Senator Marcos do Val claimed at a news conference on Thursday that he was invited to a meeting on 9 December with the then president by a fellow member of congress, Daniel Silveira, to discuss a plan to “save Brazil” .

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Canada: five RCMP officers charged over Indigenous man’s 2017 death in custody

Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers accused of Dale Culver’s manslaughter and three others face obstruction charges

Five officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have been charged over the death of an Indigenous man, nearly six years after he died while in police custody.

Dale Culver, 35, was arrested by police in the British Columbia city of Prince George in 2017 following reports that a man had been seen “casing” vehicles on a downtown street. Police say there was a struggle between the officers and Culver, a member of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan First Nations, who attempted to flee on a bicycle.

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Haitian cops are poorly paid and outgunned – and part of the problem

The country’s police force is in revolt after the government failed to protect them from criminal gangs that have overrun the country

Masked men raced around Port-au-Prince on motorbikes, firing their guns into the air, blocking major roads with burning tyres and bringing the Haitian capital to a standstill.

At one stage, the rioters flooded into the airport, trapping the prime minister, Ariel Henry, inside, and also attempted to break into Henry’s residence.

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Mexico zoo chief accused of ordering pygmy goats to be killed and cooked for party

Authorities claim animals in the zoo in city of Chilpancingo were sold, traded or eaten under orders of former director

The former director of a zoo in southern Mexico killed four of the zoo’s pygmy goats and served them up at a Christmas-season party, authorities have alleged.

“These four animals [were] slaughtered and cooked on the zoo’s premises, and were served as food at the year-end party,” said Fernando Ruiz Gutierrez, the state environment department’s director of wildlife, blaming the zoo’s director at the time, José Rubén Nava. “This put the health of the people who ate them at risk, because these animals were not fit for human consumption.”

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Costa Rican farmer handed 22 years for murder of Indigenous land defender

Brörán leader Yehry Rivera, 45, was shot and killed by Juan Varela during conflict in Terraba community in February 2020

A Costa Rican court has sentenced a man to 22 years behind bars for the murder of an Indigenous land rights defender in 2020, in a case which stoked decades-old tensions between native communities and farmers over disputed territory.

Yehry Rivera, a leader of the Brörán people, was shot from behind and killed by farmer Juan Varela during a land conflict in the Terraba community, 80 miles (130 km) south-east of the capital San Jose in Puntarenas province.

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Colombia to pay reparations for role in extermination of leftwing party

Inter-American Court of Human Rights concludes state allowed eradication of 6,000 Patriotic Union party members in 1980s

Colombia has pledged to pay reparations to victims after the inter-American court of human rights (IACHR) concluded the state allowed the systematic extermination of the leftwing Patriotic Union (UP) party in the 1980s and 90s.

The UP was a political party created out of a peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces (Farc) guerrillas in 1985 but 6,000 of its members were wiped out by rightwing paramilitaries, narcos and the Colombian military.

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Key suspects in killing of Haiti president Jovenel Moïse ‘sent to US for trial’

Investigations in Haiti have reached a virtual standstill after threats and intimidation against judges

Four key suspects in the killing of the Haitian president Jovenel Moïse were transferred to the US for prosecution, according to officials, as the case stagnates in Haiti amid death threats against local judges.

The suspects in custody include James Solages, 37, and Joseph Vincent, 57, two Haitian-Americans who were among the first arrested after Moïse was shot 12 times at his private home near the capital of Port-au-Prince on 7 July 2021.

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Canada: PM’s residence is falling to bits – but who’s willing to pay for repairs?

The once grand 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, with leaky roof and mould after decades of negligence, is in dire need of an upgrade

Once home to Canada’s powerful lumber barons, 24 Sussex Drive, tucked away in a forested enclave of the capital, is one of the country’s most symbolically important homes.

But decades of negligence have left the official residence of the prime minister plagued with mould, cracked windows, failing plumbing and an electric system widely seen as a fire hazard.

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Jair Bolsonaro applies for six-month tourist visa to stay in US

Ex-Brazil president who has been in Florida since 30 December is being investigated for attempt to topple country’s government

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing investigation as part of an inquiry into an alleged attempt to topple the country’s government, has filed a request for a six-month visitor visa to stay in the US.

The former leader is understood to have entered the US on an A-1 visa reserved for sitting heads of state, which would expire on Tuesday, 30 days from the end of his presidential term.

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Venezuela: fears new bill will put stranglehold on civil society

Legislation would force organisations to provide financial records to government with threat of bans for political or security reasons

New legislation proposed by the Venezuelan government to regulate civil society groups would kill the last functioning remnant of the country’s democracy and take it a step closer to a police state, leading NGOs have warned.

The bill passed its first reading in the country’s legislature on Tuesday and, if approved in a second reading, will obligate NGOs to provide the government with all their financial records so that their political agendas and funding can be scrutinised.

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Peru’s president renews call for elections this year to bring end to protests

Dina Boluarte threatens constitutional reform if lawmakers fail to bring forward national vote

Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, has made a renewed appeal for congress to hold early elections as a way to end weeks of deadly protests, warning that otherwise she would seek constitutional reform to make a vote happen.

The South American country has been embroiled in a political crisis with near-daily protests since 7 December, when then-president Pedro Castillo was arrested after attempting to dissolve congress and rule by decree.

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Peru’s beleaguered president urges congress to bring 2024 elections forward

Dina Boluarte calls for vote to be held in December after weeks of anti-government protests since overthrow of former president

Peru’s beleaguered president, Dina Boluarte, has urged Congress to bring forward elections scheduled for April 2024 to the end of this year as anti-government protests and blockades intensify across the country.

Boluarte, who has refused to step down despite furious nationwide protests calling for her to resign, said on Friday that elections should be brought forward to December in an attempt to ease the seven weeks of unrest that has claimed 57 lives – mostly civilians killed in clashes with the security forces.

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Brazil: dozens of Indigenous children hospitalised amid health crisis

Health secretary of Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state, says 59 children in hospital, 45 of them from the Yanomami people

Dozens of Indigenous children suffering from malnutrition and acute diseases have been hospitalised in northern Brazil, with relatives in hammocks holding their emaciated frames in scenes that underscore the gravity of a public health crisis.

The health secretary of Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state, said on Friday that 59 Indigenous children were currently at the only pediatric hospital in the state, 45 of them from the Yanomami people. Eight were under intensive care.

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Gunfire reported near Haiti PM’s home after rebel police rampage through capital

Police protesting the killings of fellow officers by gangs stormed the airport and surrounded the prime minister

Disgruntled police officers have rampaged through the streets of Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, blocking roads and forcing their way into the country’s main airport where they briefly prevented prime minister Ariel Henry from leaving. Later there were reports of heavy gunfire near his official residence.

Police are protesting the killings of officers by Haitian gangs. At least 10 officers have been murdered in the past week; another is missing and one more has severe bullet wounds, according to the Haitian national police.

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Toronto public transport to get more police as random attacks hit ‘crisis level’

Police chief says 80 officers will be immediately dispatched to subways and stations as attacks bring city to ‘crisis point’

Toronto police has announced plans to deploy more officers on the city’s public transport system as a transit workers’ union warned that a string of random attacks on passengers had brought Canada’s largest city to “crisis point”.

The city’s police chief, Myron Demkiw, said on Thursday that 80 officers would be immediately dispatched to subways and stations “to enhance the safety and security” of transit users. Earlier in the day, police arrested one person following reports of teens shooting at a passenger with a BB gun.

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