Of 57 species sampled, 35 decreased in number by 50% over four decades, with climate crisis likely factor
Bird populations in a Central American tropical rainforest are suffering severe declines, with likely factors including climate breakdown and habitat loss.
Scientists from the University of Illinois tracked species of birds in a protected forest reserve in central Panama to determine if and how populations had changed from 1977 to 2020.
Continue reading...Former finance minister was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women while working at the World Bank
A former finance minister who surprised many by making it into Costa Rica’s presidential runoff has easily won the election and is to become the Central American country’s new leader next month while still fending off accusations of sexual harassment when he worked at the World Bank.
With nearly all polling stations reporting, the conservative economist Rodrigo Chaves had 53% of the vote, compared with 47% for former president José Figueres Ferrer, the supreme electoral tribunal said.
Continue reading...Argentine foreign minister calls for improvement in bilateral relations with Britain 40 years after conflict
British-Argentine relations will be stifled so long as the UK refuses to engage in discussions about the future sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, or if both sides continue to act as if the war happened only yesterday, the Argentine foreign minister has said.
Writing in the Guardian on the 40th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the islands in April 1982, Santiago Cafiero called for an improvement in bilateral relations.
Continue reading...Perpetrators siphoned syrup from barrels stored in Quebec’s strategic maple syrup reserves and replaced it with water
Richard Vallières’s plan to make millions of dollars was deceptively simple: secretly drain the province of Quebec’s strategic maple syrup reserve and then sell the illicit product.
But the Quebec man’s daring theft fell short after police were tipped off and he and his accomplices landed in jail.
Continue reading...Rainforests looked after by communities absorb twice as much carbon as other lands, analysis shows
Paris climate agreement goals will fail unless the rights of Indigenous people who protect rainforests are honoured, according to a new report.
Forest lands stewarded by Indigenous people and communities in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru sequester about twice as much carbon as other lands, according to the analysis.
Continue reading...Royal Canadian Mounted Police say an arrest warrant was issued last month for Johannes Rivoire, who currently lives in France
Police in Canada have laid a new charge against a “devil priest” hiding in France amid allegations he sexually abused multiple Inuit children.
The case against Johannes Rivoire, who victims say has evaded justice for decades, received renewed focus this week when Canada’s Inuit leader requested the pope personally intervene during a visit to the Vatican by a delegation of Indigenous groups.
Continue reading...Military hid evidence that student teachers who went missing in 2014 were kidnapped by criminals, independent report finds
Mexico’s armed forces knew that 43 student teachers who disappeared in 2014 were being kidnapped by criminals, then hid evidence that could have helped locate them, according to a report released on Monday by a special investigation.
A former Colombian prosecutor, Angela Buitrago, said the group of independent experts found evidence that authorities withheld or falsified evidence from the start of the search.
Continue reading...RCMP officers chased man whose brother had just been killed into woodland during shooter’s rampage at Portapique, Nova Scotia
Police responding to one of Canada’s worst mass shootings nearly shot the wrong man, officers have said during a public inquiry examining the attack and authorities’ chaotic response.
Testifying on Monday at a public inquiry into the 2020 attack in the town of Portapique, Nova Scotia, which left 22 dead, three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers said the scene resembled a “war zone” and that they were unprepared for the number of casualties.
Continue reading...Animated film, influenced heavily by magical realism, breaks frequent representation as country beset by drugs and violence
When Encanto was announced the winner of the Oscar for best animated film on Sunday night, Martín Anzellini – the Colombian architect who helped develop the film’s representation of his home country – had little idea. Instead, he was watching Encanto at home with his twin toddler daughters, who had yet to see it.
“Once we finished watching the film, I checked my phone and saw my WhatsApp was going wow!” Anzellini said. “It was so exciting, I almost cried. And I hugged my daughters, as my work on the film was for them.”
Continue reading...Government declares state of emergency after arresting more than 600 gang suspects and ordering food restrictions
The government of El Salvador said it had arrested more than 600 gang suspects and ordered reductions in food for prison inmates, after a wave of killings over the weekend.
The government declared a state of emergency and locked down prisons after 87 murders were committed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. By comparison, there were 79 homicides in the entire month of February.
Continue reading...Gunmen with assault rifles burst into event in western state of Michoacán long plagued by violence between drug cartels
Mexican authorities have confirmed that 20 people were killed when a group of gunmen stormed a cockfight, in a small town in the western state of Michoacán.
Officials and witnesses described a choreographed massacre in which assailants in military uniforms arrived just after 10.30pm on Sunday night and opened fire with assault rifles at the crowds of primarily middle-aged men.
Continue reading...Apology sought after over 1,300 unmarked graves discovered since last May at church-run schools attended by Indigenous children
Pope Francis has heard first-hand the horrors of abuse committed at church-run residential schools in Canada, as Indigenous delegations pressed him for an apology.
Indigenous survivors are visiting the Vatican this week for meetings with the pope about the scandal that has rocked the Catholic church.
Continue reading...Human Rights Watch says Venezuelan soldiers conducted joint operations with ELN in violence-plagued Apure state
Venezuelan soldiers conducted joint operations with Colombian rebels in the state of Apure earlier this year, as violence increased along a remote and often lawless stretch of the Colombia-Venezuela border, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.
The report published on Monday said that in January a truce ended between the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and another rebel organization known as the Joint Eastern Command, leading to clashes, abductions and murders of civilians that forced more than 3,300 people to flee their homes in the Venezuelan state of Apure. In the Colombian province of Arauca, more than 3,800 people were displaced.
Continue reading...Electoral judge outlaws leftist ‘propaganda’ at Lollapalooza, months before October election
Artists and celebrities in Brazil have voiced outrage after an electoral judge ordered one of the country’s biggest music festivals to outlaw “political demonstrations” by performers after a legal challenge from President Jair Bolsonaro’s political party.
Lawyers representing Bolsonaro’s Liberal party made their petition to the supreme electoral court on Saturday after Brazil’s far-right leader was pilloried at this weekend’s Lollapalooza event by pop stars and rappers, including the British singer Marina.
Continue reading...Royal couple say they are ‘committed to service’, which is not ‘telling people what to do’, at end of Caribbean tour
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have insisted they are interested only in a “better future” for the Commonwealth, not in who leads it, at the end of their tour of the Caribbean.
William said foreign tours were an “opportunity to reflect” and he and his wife were committed to “serving and supporting” the people of the Commonwealth, not “telling them what to do”, in a statement published on the couple’s Twitter account.
Continue reading...Toxicology test indicated presence of 10 substances including marijuana, antidepressants and opioids
The Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins had at least 10 substances in his body when he died suddenly in Bogotá, according to a preliminary toxicology test carried out by Colombian authorities.
The 50-year-old musician was found dead in his hotel room on Friday afternoon, hours before the band was due to perform at Colombia’s Estéreo Picnic festival as part of its South American tour. The Grammy award-winning group had then been due to headline one of Brazil’s biggest music festivals on Sunday night.
Continue reading...Unesco report finds that Covid school closures have made girls more vulnerable to gender-based violence
Student strikes have forced a string of school closures across Chile’s capital amid growing anger over sexist and violent behaviour only weeks after the country returned to in-person classes after two years of Covid-19 lockdowns.
“The demand is to stop the harassment,” said Javiera, 17, who was one of hundreds of girls to join protests outside the prestigious Santiago Lastarria school, after male students were found swapping intimate photos of their female classmates on Instagram. “We are demanding justice for victims, and for schools to stop protecting abusers.”
Continue reading...Jason Kenney warns a far-right element could seize control in the coming weeks as United Conservatives hold leadership review
Alberta’s premier has called fellow Conservatives “lunatics” who are “trying to take over the asylum” as a populist mutiny in his party foreshadows a bitter fight for the future of Canada’s Conservative movement.
In a leaked recording of a meeting with caucus staff on Tuesday, Premier Jason Kenney warned a far-right element – skeptical of coronavirus measures and wedded to conspiracy theories – could seize control of the party in the coming weeks as the United Conservatives hold a leadership review.
Continue reading...Calls for slavery reparations and Jamaica’s PM insisting country was ‘moving on’ signal sea change in relations with royals
It was supposed to be a visit to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee – a chance to present the modern face of the British monarchy to a region where republican sentiment is on the rise.
But it really didn’t turn out that way.
Continue reading...Biden administration will institute expedited processing – and sometimes removal – of asylum seekers to clear backlog
Waves of migration through Mexico and Central America, and people who go missing, will increase in 2022 due to high levels of violence in the region, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
“In many countries, violence is wreaking more and more havoc, and that’s why there are more and more migrants,” ICRC representative Jordi Raich told Reuters in an interview Wednesday. “And it’s not a situation that is going to improve or slow down, not even in the years to come.“
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