Category Archives: Americas

Colombian mayor who called Hitler ‘great German thinker’ could be country’s next president

Posted on by

TikTok using, elite-bashing, Hitler-praising candidate revels in his unruly behavior yet is now tied with his leftist opponent

When John Claro, an opposition councillor in the Colombian city of Bucaramanga, had a disagreement with the local mayor over a colleague’s misconduct, he was left with a red face and a ringing in his ear.

In a video of the incident, the mayor can be seen quickly losing his temper, rising to his feet and unleashing a stream of profanities. Then, he steps forward, and slaps Claro hard in the face.

Continue reading...

Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira: Brazil police find two bodies in search for missing men

Posted on by

Police chief says one of the men arrested in connection with the pair’s disappearance had confessed to killing them

Police in the Brazilian Amazon have found the bodies of two men in the area close to where British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira went missing 10 days ago.

At a press briefing late on Wednesday, regional police chief Eduardo Fontes said one of the two men arrested in connection with the pair’s disappearance had confessed to killing them.

Continue reading...

Canada charges ex-general fighting in Ukraine with sexual assault

Posted on by

Retired Lt Col Trevor Cadieu preparing to return home to face two charges relating to alleged incidents in 1994 when he was a cadet

A former Canadian general who reportedly went to Ukraine to fight Russian invaders has been charged back home in Canada with sexual assault, after a months-long investigation.

Retired Lt Gen Trevor Cadieu faces two counts of sexual assault that relate to alleged incidents at Canada’s Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario in 1994 when he was a cadet, the office of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Toronto police chief apologizes to people of color over disproportionate use of force

Posted on by

Black people are 2.2 times more likely to have a police interaction and 1.6 times more likely to have force used on them, police statistics show

Black, indigenous and other racialized communities have faced disproportionate use-of-force and strip searches by Toronto police, chief James Ramer said on Wednesday, as he apologized and promised to address systemic racism in the department.

“As an organization we have not done enough to ensure that every person in our city receives fair and unbiased policing and for this, as chief of police and on behalf of the service, I am sorry and I apologize unreservedly,” Ramer said.

Continue reading...

‘Deep concern’ over fate of Dom Phillips in Brazil, says Boris Johnson

Posted on by

Prime minister says UK government will provide any support needed after journalist’s disappearance in Amazon

Boris Johnson has said the UK government is “deeply concerned” about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the British journalist Dom Phillips, after Theresa May called on the prime minister to make the case “a diplomatic priority”.

May raised Phillips’s case during prime minister’s questions, citing correspondence with Phillips’ niece Dominique Davis, one of her constituents. Johnson said the UK had offered to provide support to Brazilian search teams looking for Phillips and his travelling partner, Bruno Pereira, an Indigenous expert.

Continue reading...

Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira: police in Brazil arrest second man for ‘alleged murder’

Posted on by

Suspect is brother of first person held by police over disappearance of the British journalist and indigenous activist

Police in Brazil say they have arrested a second man in connection with “the alleged murder” of the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous defender Bruno Pereira.

Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, 41, was arrested on Tuesday and is being held in Atalaia do Norte, the isolated river town Phillips and Pereira were trying to reach when they vanished on Sunday 5 June.

Continue reading...

Brazil Indigenous agency staff strike over Bruno Pereira disappearance

Posted on by

Employees walk off the job amid anger over statements criticising the former Funai employee who went missing with Dom Phillips

Employees with Brazil’s national Indigenous foundation (Funai) have launched a one-day strike, amid anger over what they say is the dismantling of a key government agency and official statements criticising Bruno Pereira, the former Funai employee who went missing along with the British journalist Dom Phillips last week.

Funai staff and related civil service employees walked off the job at 9am on Tuesday in Brasília, Florianópolis and Dourados, and others are voting on whether to launch a wider strike next week, officials with the unions said.

Continue reading...

Brazil envoy apologises to Dom Phillips’ family for saying bodies had been found

Posted on by

Ambassador ‘deeply sorry’ for ‘information that did not prove correct’ as search continues for missing journalist and colleague

The Brazilian ambassador to the UK has apologised to the family of Dom Phillips for incorrectly telling them his body had been found in the Amazon along with that of his missing travelling partner Bruno Pereira.

On Monday morning an embassy official called Phillips’s brother-in-law and sister to inform them that the bodies of the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expert had been found tied to a tree, one week after the pair vanished on the River Itaquaí.

Continue reading...

Canada and Denmark end decades-long dispute over barren rock in Arctic

Posted on by

Hans Island ‘whisky war’ – described by some as a ‘pseudo-confrontation’ – ends after formal division agreed

It has been described by some as a “pseudo-confrontation”, and by others as a diplomatic afterthought. Now, however, the so-called “whisky war”, which was never really a conflict at all, has finally been resolved with the formal division of a tiny barren Arctic island between Canada and Denmark.

Sitting in the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait between the north-western coast of the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland and Canada’s Ellesmere Island, the uninhabited half-mile-square Hans Island has no mineral resources nor much else of interest unless you are a visiting seabird.

Continue reading...

Canada air crew caught up in ‘hellish’ Dominican Republic drugs bust begs for repatriation

Posted on by

Five-member crew was detained after they found a bag of cocaine on 5 April and spent nine days in jail in a ‘hellish situation’

A five-person Canadian airline crew caught up in a drug-trafficking investigation is begging their government to repatriate them after two months trapped in the Dominican Republic.

“It’s absolutely horrendous – terrible, terrible stuff we’re going through,” said captain Robert Di Venanzo, who said he and his crew could be held for up to a year while an investigation proceeds.

Continue reading...

‘Incel’ who killed 11 in Toronto van murders sentenced to life in prison

Posted on by

Witnesses at Monday hearing describe devastation from 2018 attack in which Alek Minassian ploughed rented van into sidewalk

A self-described “incel” who killed 11 people when he plowed a rented van into a busy Toronto sidewalk in 2018 has been sentenced to life in prison.

Alek Minassian – who was motivated by a hatred of women – was convicted in March of 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder, after a judge found that he drove a white rental van on to the sidewalk with the intent to kill.

Continue reading...

Bolsonaro says ‘something wicked’ done to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Posted on by

Brazil president comments on journalist and Indigenous expert’s fate amid unconfirmed claims bodies have been found in Amazon

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said he believes “something wicked” was done to the missing British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, amid unconfirmed claims their bodies had been found in the Amazon.

British relatives of Phillips said they had been contacted by the Brazilian embassy in London on Monday morning and informed that two unidentified bodies had been found during the search operation.

Continue reading...

Allergies in overdrive as extreme weather drives higher pollen count

Posted on by

Trees and grass are emitting more pollen than usual, scientists say – and it’s likely to stay that way in the coming years

First, he had the symptoms. Then he saw the yellow fog. A thin layer of gold-coloured dust coated the patio furniture, the patio, his children’s swing set – everything in the garden of Ubaka Ogbogu’s home in the Canadian city of Edmonton.

“The mist was everywhere. Even my kids – who are not typically observant about these things – remarked about this yellow everywhere,” he said.

Continue reading...

Items belonging to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira found in Amazon

Posted on by

Clothing and backpack belonging to the missing British journalist and Indigenous expert found by small but determined search team

Personal items belonging to the British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira have been found in an area of flooded forest near the Amazonian river on which they were last seen.

The objects were discovered on Saturday thanks to a small but determined Indigenous search team that has spent the past seven days on the frontline of the hunt for the two missing men who had both, in different ways, championed the Indigenous cause.

Continue reading...

Hope of finding Dom Phillips alive has gone, say mother-in-law and wife

Posted on by

The British journalist was travelling in the Amazon with Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira when they went missing

The wife and mother-in-law of missing British journalist Dom Phillips have said their hopes of finding him alive had gone, in a heartfelt and heart-breaking message that paid tribute to him and his travelling companion Bruno Pereira.

Phillips, a longtime contributor to the Guardian, and Pereira, an experienced Indigenous advocate, went missing on 5 June in a remote part of the western Amazon.

Continue reading...

Stars align for Cuban migrants as record numbers seek better life in US

Posted on by

The journey to America, often via Nicaragua, has become more viable – and many are taking their chances at the border

One morning last spring, 22-year-old Ernesto Hernández set out from the outskirts of Havana on a rickety boat hoping to cross the Florida Straits. The plan was to leave behind a dilapidating communist-ruled island in which he saw no future, and sail into an American dream.

Nobody has heard from him, or the other six people onboard, since.

Continue reading...

Indigenous leaders express frustration at military in search for two men in Brazil

Posted on by

Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips went missing in the western Amazon, but the search has been called inefficient

Indigenous leaders in the area where a British journalist and Brazilian explorer went missing last Sunday have expressed increasing frustration at the lack of coordination in the search for the two men.

Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, a longtime contributor to the Guardian, were last seen on Sunday morning while traveling by boat on the Itaquaí River in the western Amazon.

Continue reading...

Written warning on every cigarette in Canadian world-first

Posted on by

‘Poison in every puff’ message proposed amid government concern photo warnings on tobacco packages have lost impact

Canada is poised to become the first country in the world to require that a warning be printed on every cigarette.

The move builds on Canada’s mandate to include graphic photo warnings on tobacco products’ packaging, a policy that started an international trend when it was introduced two decades ago.

Continue reading...

Hopes fade of finding missing men as Brazilian police report finding ‘apparently human’ material

Posted on by

Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, missing for more than five days, had failed to show up in Atalaia do Norte at the end of a reporting trip

Hopes of finding a British journalist and a Brazilian guide faded on Friday as police announced an unsettling development in the search for the two men last seen five days ago on a remote river in Amazonia.

“Search teams found on the river, near to Atalaia do Norte, apparently human organic material,” Brazil’s federal police said in a statement.

Continue reading...