Former Colombia captain Freddy Rincón has died aged 55 after sustaining severe head injuries in a car crash.
Rincón was hurt after the vehicle he was driving collided with a bus on Monday in Cali, Colombia.
Continue reading...Army says it purchased three silicone implants, rather than the 60 reported by media, after revelations the military bought Viagra
Further questions have been raised about military spending on impotence treatments under Jair Bolsonaro after allegations Brazil’s defense ministry had approved the purchase of penile implants costing more than half a million pounds.
Those claims followed revelations on Monday that the armed forces had forked out for more than 35,000 Viagra pills in what one leading opposition politician called an erectile “outrage”.
Continue reading...Jamaican minister’s entry to race for secretary general called ‘monumental error’ by Antigua
Patricia Scotland’s hopes of being re-elected Commonwealth secretary general are under threat, after Jamaica’s foreign minister, Kamina Johnson-Smith, announced that she was challenging Scotland for the post.
The decision has sparked controversy in the Caribbean, which had previously met to back Scotland’s bid for a second term. The Antiguan prime minister, Gaston Browne, has described Jamaica’s decision to break ranks as a “monumental error”.
Continue reading...March raid in remote Putumayo village was intended to target former Farc dissidents now involved in cocaine trade
Colombian authorities are facing growing calls to investigate a botched army raid in which at least four civilians – including a 16-year old boy, a pregnant woman, and an Indigenous leader – were killed.
The raid took place early on 28 March in a remote village in the conflict-racked southern province of Putumayo. It was intended to target dissident guerrillas from the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) who are now involved in the cocaine trade.
Continue reading...Business groups warn of supply chain disruptions after Governor Greg Abbott orders checks for people and contraband smuggling
Mexican truck drivers have blockaded bridges at the border with the United States for a second day to protest against an order by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, to increase safety inspections that has snarled traffic at ports of entry and led business groups to warn of supply chain disruptions.
“Yesterday it took me 17 hours to cross into the United States and return,” said Raymundo Galicia, a Mexican driver participating in a protest at the Santa Teresa bridge connecting San Jerónimo, Chihuahua, to Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
Continue reading...Number of young people disappeared is increasing as total number of cases exceeds 95,000, very few of which are solved
Corrupt state officials and organized crime factions are to blame for Mexico’s soaring number of enforced disappearances, whose victims increasingly include children – some as young as 12, according to a new UN investigation.
Just over 95,000 people were registered as disappeared at the end of November 2021. Of those, 40,000 were added in the past five years, according to the new report by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
Continue reading...Chrystia Freeland, who also serves as the finance minister, says the issue is her top domestic concern amid affordability crisis
Canada’s finance minister has described the country’s out-of-control housing prices as an “intergenerational injustice”, as political leaders struggle to rein in a spiralling affordability crisis.
Chrystia Freeland, who also serves as Canada’s deputy prime minister, said the issue is her top domestic concern.
Continue reading...Navy and air force – which reportedly bought over 30,000 pills – claim drug is being used to treat pulmonary hypertension
Opponents of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, are demanding answers after the revelation that the country’s armed forces had splashed out on tens of thousands of impotence pills.
“We must understand why the Bolsonaro administration is spending public money on buying such large quantities of Viagra,” the lawmaker Elias Vaz declared after Brazilian media reported the seemingly unorthodox acquisitions on Monday.
Continue reading...Hazel McCallion retired as mayor of Mississauga after 36 years in 2014 but the ‘pragmatic populist’ has shown little sign of easing up
When Hazel McCallion retired in 2014 as the mayor of the Canadian city of Mississauga, she was 93.
But while most people her age typically retreat from the spotlight of public life, “Hurricane Hazel” has shown little interest in slowing down. At 101, she recently accepted an offer to extend her role as a director for the greater Toronto airport authority, a contract that will last three years.
Continue reading...Freddy Rincón, the former Colombia captain, is in a critical condition with severe head injuries after being involved in a car crash in the city of Cali.
Four other people who were in the vehicle that Rincon was driving were also injured following the collision with a bus at around 4.30am. The bus driver was also hurt, according to local authorities who are reviewing CCTV footage of the accident.
Continue reading...Rivers that supply Santiago with water are running low, forcing rotating cuts to different parts of the city
As a punishing, record-breaking drought enters its 13th year, Chile has announced an unprecedented plan to ration water for the capital of Santiago, a city of nearly 6 million.
“A city can’t live without water,” Claudio Orrego, the governor of the Santiago metropolitan region, said in a press conference. “And we’re in an unprecedented situation in Santiago’s 491-year history where we have to prepare for there to not be enough water for everyone who lives here.”
Continue reading...Nine in 10 voters back leader to stay in office in poll viewed as foregone conclusion by critics and supporters
Nine in 10 Mexicans voting in an unprecedented recall election engineered by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have backed him to stay in office, underlining his domination of a polarised political agenda.
Critics and supporters had viewed his victory as a foregone conclusion in a ballot that had fed speculation it could open the door to extending presidential term limits, now limited to a single six-year period.
Continue reading...Government under pressure after prices climbed by more than 20% last year, while rental rates have also been rising
Justin Trudeau’s government has announced it will ban foreign investors from buying homes in Canada for two years, in a bid to cool off a hot housing market.
The finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, took a number of measures to tamp down speculation and demand amid record home prices in announcing the federal budget for the year.
Continue reading...Despite Covid deaths and enduring drug violence, voters look poised to keep president in office in referendum he supports
Maria de Lourdes loves her leader and is desperate for him to stay.
“He’s the best president we’ve had in 70 years,” the retiree enthused this week as she prepared to bombard her phone contacts with calls urging them to back him on Sunday, when Mexico goes to the polls.
Continue reading...Mechanical failure prompted pilot to request emergency landing shortly after plane took off from Juan Santamaria airport
A Boeing 757-200 cargo aircraft operated by DHL has made a dramatic emergency landing at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaria international airport, skidded off the runway and broke in two, losing its tail.
DHL, part of Deutsche Post AG, said the crew was unharmed and that one member was undergoing a medical review as a precaution.
Continue reading...Aníbal Torres said his words were misunderstood but offered to apologize in person to Israeli ambassador Asaf Ichilevich
The Israeli embassy in Lima has led a wave of protest after Peru’s prime minister Aníbal Torres praised Adolf Hitler, on the grounds that the fascist dictator turned Germany into the “first economic power in the world”.
In a week in which the government of Pedro Castillo has been engulfed in a political crisis caused by rising fuel and fertiliser prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the president’s own blundering efforts to calm the unrest – Torres’ inopportune remark on Thursday drew opprobrium from all quarters.
Continue reading...Facebook owner Meta removes network from social media in move which could damage President Jair Bolsonaro
Facebook owner Meta Platforms has removed a network of social media accounts with ties to the Brazilian military that posed as fake non-profits to play down the dangers of deforestation.
The comments by Meta, published in a quarterly report, pose a reputational risk to Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. The far-right former army captain is a longtime sceptic of environmentalism.
Continue reading...Fire at a main power plant causes biggest blackout so far this year on island, forcing it to cancel classes and close government offices
More than 1 million customers in Puerto Rico remained without electricity on Thursday after a fire at a main power plant caused the biggest blackout so far this year across the US territory, forcing it to cancel classes and shutter government offices.
The blackout also left some 160,000 customers without water and snarled traffic across the island of 3.2 million people, where the roar of generators and smell of diesel filled the air.
Continue reading...Conservationists say the farms are a danger to sea lions and other marine mammals, who can become entangled in their nets
Dozens of thieving sea lions in western Canada have spent the last few weeks gorging on fish after brazenly slipping into an industrial salmon farm – and ignoring all attempts to make them move on.
Cermaq, the aquaculture giant with operations in Norway, Chile and Canada, says the wily predators were able to evade netting and electric fences in late March as part of a “breach event” at the Rant Point farm near Tofino in British Columbia.
Continue reading...El Salvador’s congress has authorised sentences of 10-15 years for media spreading gangs’ messages
El Salvador’s congress has authorised prison sentences of 10 to 15 years for news media that reproduce or disseminate messages from gangs, prompting accusations of censorship from press freedom groups.
The vote late on Tuesday was the latest in a flurry of legislative action against the gangs after 62 suspected gang killings on 26 March led President Nayib Bukele to seek and win a state of emergency. Harsh measures against imprisoned gang members and increased prison sentences followed, as well as the arrests of some 6,000 people accused of being gang members.
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