Michoacán state suffers another temblor, felt as far away as Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero states
A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake has struck Mexico, causing at least two deaths, damaging buildings and setting off landslides.
The earthquake struck at 1.19am on Thursday near the epicenter of a magnitude 7.6 quake that hit three days earlier in the western state of Michoacán. It was also blamed for two deaths.
Continue reading...At least six municipalities across island have areas cut off by storm which struck as a category 1 hurricane and has since strengthened
Bermuda and the Atlantic provinces of Canada were preparing for a blast from Hurricane Fiona as authorities struggled on Thursday to open roads for people left stranded and without power by the storm in Puerto Rico.
The storm was expected to still be at category 4 force when it passes close to Bermuda overnight and still dangerously potent when it reaches Canada, probably late on Friday, as an extratropical cyclone.
Continue reading...Investigation reveals cattle raised on Mỹky territory ended up in global supply chain including food giant
On one side of the fence, in dense forest, the Mỹky people grow their crops: cassava, pequi and cabriteiro fruit. On the other side, ranchers raise cattle on devastated land. That land is the Mỹky’s, they say.
Xinuxi Mỹky, the village elder, says this region used to be a forest where different villages thrived. Only one now remains and the farms have cut into that land as well. “This pasture, where the whites live, was also our village, but now they are raising cattle. The land belonged to us: Indigenous peoples.”
Continue reading...Little-known militia groups have surfaced to declare their willingness to strike peace deals – and reap ceasefire rewards
The announcement came in a grainy video from the dense jungles of northern Colombia.
A dozen masked men with camouflage uniforms and automatic weapons stand in a cluster, a roaring stream washing over their black combat boots.
Continue reading...Black bears preparing to hibernate have been lured into Jasper townsite by residents’ non-native apple and cherry trees
The waning days of summer and a bounty of ripe fruit have pitted hungry black bears against park rangers in a fight over a Canadian mountain town’s fruit trees.
Residents living in the Jasper national park townsite have been warned that fruit trees on their properties are luring in black bears and need to be removed as soon as possible.
Continue reading...Amazon ecosystem is on verge of collapse, leaders tell brands such as Apple and Tesla as UN gathers in New York
Indigenous leaders from the Amazon have implored major western brands and banks to stop supporting the ongoing destruction of the vital rainforest through mining, oil drilling and logging, warning that the ecosystem is on the brink of a disastrous collapse.
Representatives of Indigenous peoples from across the Amazon region have descended upon New York this week to press governments and businesses, gathered in the city for climate and United Nations gatherings, to stem the flow of finance to activities that are polluting and deforesting large areas of the rainforest.
Continue reading...Brazil’s far-right president claims that leftwing rival Lula will repress clergy like Ortega but so far with little apparent success
More than 4,000km and an ideological abyss separate the capitals of Nicaragua and Brazil, where an acrimonious race for the presidency is under way.
But the Central American country has found itself at the centre of Brazil’s election debate as its far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro seeks to weaponise Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian crackdown on the Catholic church to attack his leftist challenger, the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Continue reading...Researchers think they may have solved enduring mystery of where Typhloesus wellsi sits on tree of life
The mystery of a bizarre creature dubbed the “alien goldfish”, which has baffled fossil experts for decades, may have been solved, according to scientists who say the animal appears to have been some sort of mollusc.
Typhloesus wellsi lived about 330m years ago and was discovered in the Bear Gulch Limestone fossil site in Montana in the late 1960s, with the remains of other species subsequently identified.
Continue reading...British island territory imposes curfew and urges people to flee flood-risk areas after Category 3 storm lashes Dominican Republic
Hurricane Fiona has blasted the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm after cutting a path of devastation through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico – where most people remained without electricity or running water.
The storm’s eye passed close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 30 miles (45km) from the center.
Continue reading...Clip of Canadian prime minister singing in London hotel two days before funeral has sparked criticism
A spokesperson for Justin Trudeau has defended the Canadian prime minister over a leaked video that showed him singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in a London hotel lobby two days before Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
The 14-second video clip, viewed more than 1.5m times, shows Trudeau in a T-shirt leaning against a piano at the Corinthia hotel and joining others in a rendition of one of the rock band Queen’s most famous songs.
Continue reading...United Nations mission says President Nicolás Maduro and others ordered ‘grave crimes’ including torture to stifle opposition
Venezuela’s intelligence agencies are committing crimes against humanity as part of a plan orchestrated at the highest level of government to repress dissent, UN experts have concluded.
A team tasked with investigating alleged violations in Venezuela said it had uncovered how members of intelligence services implemented orders by President Nicolás Maduro and others in a scheme to stifle opposition.
Continue reading...Police accused of unnecessary force as president’s son shares video of detention to show Britons ‘don’t like communists either’
The Metropolitan police have been accused of using unnecessary force and handing a propaganda coup to Brazil’s far right after a peaceful demonstrator was detained and handcuffed during a protest outside the Brazilian ambassador’s London residence.
Ali Rocha, a 50-year-old Brazilian and British citizen, and her flatmate were intercepted by officers on Sunday lunchtime as they joined a protest against Brazil’s radical rightwing president, Jair Bolsonaro, who was in the UK for the Queen’s funeral.
Continue reading...Quake registered at 7.5 magnitude and struck off the coast of La Placita de Morelos on the anniversary of two devastating tremors
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake has struck western Mexico on the anniversary of two earlier devastating tremors, killing at least one person and causing flooding on the Pacific coast.
The quake hit at 1.05pm local time, striking near the town of La Placita de Morelos in the state of Michoacán at a depth of 15km.
Continue reading...Floods and rain wreak havoc as critics say total blackout shows authorities have learnt nothing since 2017 hurricanes
Most of Puerto Rico was still without power or safe drinking water on Monday, with remnants of a category 1 hurricane that struck there a day earlier forecast to bring more heavy rain and life-threatening flooding.
Hundreds of people are trapped in emergency shelters across the Caribbean island, with major roads underwater and reports of numerous collapsed bridges. Crops have been washed away while flash floods, landslides and fallen trees have blocked roads, swept away vehicles and caused widespread damage to infrastructure.
Continue reading...Director’s most autobiographical film to date picks up audience prize generally seen as indicator of awards success to come
Steven Spielberg’s new film The Fabelmans has won the Toronto international film festival’s People’s Choice award, long regarded in the film industry as a key indicator of awards success over the next few months.
The Fabelmans, directed by Spielberg and co-written with Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner, has been hailed as Spielberg’s most autobiographical film and has won generally admiring reviews. The story of a teenage boy coping with his parents’ disintegrating marriage in the 60s midwest, the Guardian described it as a “rare insight into the world’s most famous director who has usually kept us at arm’s length”.
Continue reading...Poor nations exhort UN to consider ‘climate-related and justice-based’ tax on big fossil fuel users and air travel
The world’s most vulnerable countries are preparing to take on the richest economies with a demand for urgent finance – potentially including new taxes on fossil fuels or flying – for the irrecoverable losses they are suffering from the climate crisis, leaked documents show.
Extreme weather is already hitting many developing countries hard and forecast to wreak further catastrophe. Loss and damage – the issue of how to help poor nations suffering from the most extreme impacts of climate breakdown, which countries cannot be protected against – is one of the most contentious problems in climate negotiations.
Continue reading...Category 1 storm damage ‘catastrophic’, says governor, while it continues to strengthen and barrels toward Dominican Republic
Most of Puerto Rico is without power after a category 1 hurricane bringing heavy rains and dangerous winds made landfall on Sunday evening, causing severe flooding and landslides and damaging infrastructure.
Hurricane Fiona was causing “catastrophic flooding” in Puerto Rico early on Sunday evening, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Continue reading...Speaking from the balcony of his ambassador’s home, Brazilian president rounds on leftists, abortion and ‘gender ideology’
Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of using the Queen’s funeral as a political soapbox after he flew into London to deliver a speech to supporters about the dangers of leftists, abortion and “gender ideology”.
Speaking from the balcony of the Brazilian ambassador’s 19th-century Mayfair home on Sunday, the South American populist voiced “profound respect” for the royal family and UK citizens and claimed that honouring Queen Elizabeth II was the “main objective” of his visit to London.
Continue reading...Polls show former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is on course for a return to power
It was a scene that could have been plucked from Brazil’s history books: an enraptured crowd, a sea of flags and, on stage above them, a bearded leftist in a bright red shirt.
“The president of hope is here!” the master of ceremonies roared as the star of the show arrived in a police convoy to address the people whose country he is promising to save.
Continue reading...Residents warned of heavy rain, potential landslides, severe flooding and power outages
Tropical Storm Fiona was expected to become a hurricane as it neared Puerto Rico on Saturday, threatening to dump up to 20 inches (51cm) of rain as people braced for potential landslides, severe flooding and power outages.
The storm previously battered various eastern Caribbean islands, with one death reported in the French territory of Guadeloupe. Regional prefect Alexandre Rochatte told reporters on Saturday that the body was found on the side of a road after floods washed away a home in the capital of Basse-Terre.
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