Category Archives: Americas

Canadian man arrested for 1983 killings of two women after DNA breakthrough

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Police announce arrest of suspect in pair of 40-year-old sexual assaults and slayings in Toronto

A 61-year-old Canadian man has been charged in the cold case killings of two women who were found dead in their Toronto homes within months of each other almost four decades ago.

The Toronto police chief, James Ramer, said Joseph George Sutherland, of Moosonee, Ontario, was arrested on Thursday and charged with first-degree murder in the killings of Erin Gilmour and Susan Tice in 1983.

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Mexico requests extradition of American charged in tourist death

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Shanquella Robinson reportedly died while on holiday after viral video shows her being beaten, apparently by an American woman

The US is weighing an extradition request from Mexico after authorities in the country charged an American woman with murdering another US woman shown being beaten while they vacationed in a viral video.

Prosecutors in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur have not named the suspect in the death of North Carolina’s Shanquella Robinson, who reportedly died of a severe spinal cord or neck injury while on holiday in Mexico on 29 October.

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Tories will not reach ‘embarrassingly poor’ nature targets by 2030, Labour says

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Opposition to unveil plan to reverse biodiversity loss rather than simply halting it, which is government’s current target

The government will not be able to achieve its nature targets by 2030, even though they are “embarrassingly poor”, the shadow environment minister and leading wildlife groups have said.

Next week at the Cop15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, Alex Sobel will be discussing Labour’s “science-led, joined-up plan to tackle the climate and ecological emergency”. The plan will aim to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, rather than simply halting it, which is the government’s current target.

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Barbados plans to make Tory MP pay reparations for family’s slave past

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Richard Drax reported to have visited Caribbean island for meeting on next steps, including plans for former sugar plantation

The government of Barbados is considering plans to make a wealthy Conservative MP the first individual to pay reparations for his ancestor’s pivotal role in slavery.

The Observer understands that Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, recently travelled to the Caribbean island for a private meeting with the country’s prime minister, Mia Mottley. A report is now before Mottley’s cabinet laying out the next steps, which include legal action in the event that no agreement is reached with Drax.

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‘The sheer scale is extraordinary’: meet the titanosaur that dwarfs Dippy the diplodocus

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One of the largest creatures to have walked the Earth is to become the Natural History Museum’s new star attraction

It will be one of the largest exhibits to grace a British museum. In spring, the Natural History Museum in London will display the skeleton of a titanosaur, a creature so vast it will have to be shoehorned into the 9-metre-high Waterhouse gallery.

One of the most massive creatures ever to have walked on Earth, Patagotitan mayorum was a 57-tonne behemoth that would have shaken the ground as it stomped over homelands which now form modern Patagonia. Its skeleton is 37 metres long, and 5 metres in height – significantly larger than the museum’s most famous dinosaur, Dippy the diplodocus, which used to loom over its main gallery.

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Canadian pop star Kris Wu sentenced to 13 years in jail for rape in China

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Beijing court finds Chinese-born singer raped three women in November and December 2020

A Beijing court has sentenced the Chinese-born Canadian pop star Kris Wu to 13 years in jail after finding him guilty of crimes including rape, just over a year after his arrest in China, where he was born and built a lucrative career.

The court in Chaoyang district said investigations showed that from November to December 2020, Wu, also known as Wu Yifan, raped three women.

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Long-lost ancient mural rediscovered in northern Peru after more than a century

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Student archaeologists unearth Huaca Pintada, described as ‘the most exciting and important find of recent years’

A team of student archaeologists has rediscovered a 1,000-year-old multicoloured mural depicting a deity surrounded by warriors which was last seen a century ago in northern Peru.

Known as the Huaca Pintada, the 30-metre-long wall painted with fantastical images depicting mythical scenes was first found in 1916 by a band of treasure-hunting tomb raiders in Illimo near the city of Chiclayo.

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Brazil judge fines Bolsonaro allies millions after ‘bad faith’ election challenge

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Head of Brazil's electoral court rejects claim from outgoing president’s coalition that said voting machines malfunctioned

The head of Brazil’s electoral court has rejected an attempt by outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro’s party to overturn the results of October’s run-off election, which he lost.

Alexandre de Moraes, a supreme court justice, also fined the parties in Bolsonaro’s coalition 22.9m reais ($4.3m) for what the court described as bad faith litigation.

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Canadian paramedic who tried to save crash victim learns it was her daughter

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Jayme Erickson could not recognise girl at scene and only found out her identity at end of her shift

A Canadian paramedic who responded to a road crash last week and worked to help a teenage casualty was unknowingly treating her own daughter.

When Jayme Erickson arrived at the scene of the crash on an icy stretch of Alberta highway on 15 November, she found a teenage girl with severe injuries that Erickson knew were probably fatal. Owing to the severity of the girl’s injuries, Erickson could not recognise her.

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Bolsonaro derided for ‘senseless’ challenge to Brazil election he lost last month

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Court has ratified results of run-off against Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva but incumbent claims audit found signs of ‘malfunction’ in some voting machines

Jair Bolsonaro has challenged the Brazilian presidential election he lost last month to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, arguing votes from some machines should be “invalidated”.

Bolsonaro’s claim seems unlikely to get far, as Lula’s victory has been ratified by the superior electoral court and acknowledged by Brazil’s leading politicians and international allies. It could however fuel a small but committed protest movement that has so far refused to accept the result.

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US warns its ‘darker-skinned’ citizens of Dominican Republic’s migrant crackdown

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Haitian migrants are being deported from Caribbean country and authorities seem to be targeting people based on their appearance

US officials in the Dominican Republic are warning “darker-skinned” Americans they are at risk of being swept up in the country’s crackdown on Haitian migrants.

The advice from the US embassy in Santo Domingo suggests that authorities there are using a person’s appearance as a criteria for detention of those suspected of being in the country illegally.

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Saudi Arabia declares public holiday to mark World Cup win over Argentina

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Region rejoices as Saudi team ‘writes history’ against South American powerhouse in group stage

Saudi Arabia has said Wednesday will be a national holiday as, on the Jeddah Corniche by the Red Sea, in the heart of the capital Riyadh and in towns and villages across the country, its seismic 2-1 World Cup win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina was celebrated as a coming of age.

The national football side’s remarkable victory was being seen as both a triumph on the pitch and a huge moment on the global sports stage, where the regional power has long sought a place in the spotlight.

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Pablo Milanés, legendary Cuban singer-songwriter, dies aged 79

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Internationally famous musician known for hits such as Yolanda, was a supporter of Cuban revolution

The Grammy-winning Cuban singer-songwriter and guitarist Pablo Milanés, known for pioneering the Nueva Trova movement and for hits such as Yolanda and Amo Esta Isla, has died of cancer in Madrid. He was 79.

One of the most internationally famous Cuban musicians, Milanés recorded dozens of albums and toured the world during a career that lasted more than five decades.

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Colombian government and leftist ELN guerrillas begin new peace talks

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Negotiations in Caracas are part of President Gustavo Petro’s promise to bring ‘total peace’ and end nearly 60 years of civil war

Negotiators from the Colombian government and the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group have begun fresh peace talks, the first major step in President Gustavo Petro’s efforts to end nearly 60 years of war.

Petro, a former member of the M-19 insurgency who took office in August, has promised to bring “total peace” to Colombia by negotiating with rebels and crime factions involved in drug trafficking and illegal mining.

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‘A little bit of deja vu’: Canada’s Greens turn to ex-leader in bid to revive fortunes

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Elizabeth May, who led party between 2006 and 2019, to replace Annamie Paul, who quit following 2021 electoral rout

When Canada’s Green party wanted fresh leadership, it turned to a Princeton educated lawyer and adviser at the international criminal court who became the first Black and Jewish woman to ever lead a federal party in Canada.

But after less than a year of legal feuds, infighting and an electoral rout Annamie Paul stepped down, calling her time as leader “the worst period of my life”.

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Head of rights group during Argentina’s military dictatorship dies at 93

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Hebe de Bonafini co-founded Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in 1977 after her two sons were arrested and then disappeared

Hebe de Bonafini, who became a human rights campaigner when her two sons were arrested and then disappeared under Argentina’s military dictatorship has died, her family and authorities have reported. She was 93.

The death on Sunday was confirmed by her only surviving child, Alejandra, who expressed thanks for expressions of support her mother had received while hospitalised in the city of La Plata. Local officials said she had suffered from unspecified chronic illnesses.

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Angela Álvarez crowned best new artist at Latin Grammys – aged 95

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Cuban American, who started recording career at 90 after decades of performing for family and friends, says ‘it’s never too late’

Don’t ever tell Angela Álvarez it’s too late for dreams to come true – the 95-year-old just brought home a Latin Grammy for best new artist, becoming the award show’s eldest winner ever.

The Cuban American musician’s crowning moment came after decades of writing songs but performing them only for friends and family – until, at the age of 90, she went to the Avalon, the historic Hollywood nightclub, and gave her first concert.

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Why new construction projects are making Puerto Rico’s climate disasters worse

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Experts say the approval of new infrastructure in geologically vulnerable areas is endangering the lives of residents

Jomary Ortega lives in Ciales, a town located in Puerto Rico’s central mountain range. To get to work and take her daughter to school, she takes PR-146, a highway built on land susceptible to landslides, resulting in a treacherous commute for locals.

But after Hurricane Fiona made landfall on the island in September, Ortega says that much of the highway slid away, or was subsumed by tumbling rocks and mud. “I feared that the road would slide more and I would be a victim – and who would take care of my children?” Ortega said.

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Pro-Bolsonaro truck drivers threaten new road blockades in Brazil

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Six federal highways blocked on Friday as far-right president has still not conceded defeat in last month’s runoff election

Protesters in Brazil have blocked roads again and lorry drivers threatened to strike in what could be a new wave of support for the outgoing president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Six federal highways were blocked on Friday morning although two were cleared by early afternoon, the federal highway police said in its first bulletin on road closures since 9 November when the first wave of post-election protests dissipated.

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Two Canadian men charged with shooting animals at safari park

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Mathieu Godard and Jeremiah Mathias-Polson accused of breaking into Parc Omega in Quebec and killing three wild boar and an elk

Two Canadian men have been charged with entering a safari park in Quebec and shooting three wild boar and an elk, brazen killings that have left staff at the family-themed park in shock.

Police say Mathieu Godard and Jeremiah Mathias-Polson broke through a barrier at Parc Omega on the evening of 10 November.

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