Category Archives: Americas

Pentagon’s largest warship enters Latin American waters as US tensions with Venezuela rise

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USS Gerald R Ford’s arrival marks the largest US military presence in the region since the invasion of Panama in 1989

The US navy has announced that the USS Gerald R Ford, regarded as the world’s newest and largest aircraft carrier, has entered the area of responsibility of the US Southern Command, which covers Latin America and the Caribbean.

The deployment of the ship and the strike group it leads – which includes dozens of aircraft and destroyer ships – had been announced nearly three weeks ago, and its arrival marks an escalation in the military buildup between the US and Venezuela.

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Two dead after small plane on hurricane relief trip to Jamaica crashes in Florida

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Aircraft headed to island on Hurricane Melissa aid mission crashed into a pond in a neighborhood in Coral Springs

A small turboprop plane on a hurricane relief mission to Jamaica crashed into a pond in a gated residential neighborhood of the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs, killing two people shortly after takeoff and narrowly missing homes, authorities and a local resident said.

The Coral Springs police department confirmed the deaths in a statement Monday afternoon. But police did not provide further details about the occupants of the plane and did not immediately return messages seeking more details.

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Agenda for Cop30 agreed as crucial climate talks begin – as it happened

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Ministers and high-ranking officials from nearly 200 countries have gathered in the Amazonian city of Belem, with Brazil insisting this will be ‘the Cop of implementation’

Hundreds lined up for Cop30 on opening morning, with some in Indigenous headdresses and others in trouser suits, writes Dharna Noor, fossil fuels and climate reporter for the Guardian US.

The conference is being held in a massive temporary building in Belem’s Parque da Cidade area. It was still under construction just days ago, but now seems to be ready to use.

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Guyana in turmoil after opposition leader arrested and faces US extradition

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Azruddin Mohamed had emerged as a surprise contender in the presidential election and claims political persecution

Guyana has been thrown into political turmoil following the arrest and possible extradition to the United States of the country’s main opposition leader just two months after he emerged as the surprise contender in the presidential election that kept incumbent Irfaan Ali in power.

Azruddin Mohamed, 38, and his father, Nazar Mohamed, 73, two of Guyana’s wealthiest figures thanks to their gold mining empire, were arrested on 31 October in the capital, Georgetown, in response to a formal extradition request from the US government.

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Carney survives two confidence votes on budget, quashing fears of winter election

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Minority government benefitted from opposition members voting across the aisle, paving way for billions in spending

Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney’s minority government has survived two confidence votes on its budget, quashing fears – for now – of a winter federal election.

The Liberals managed to pass the second of three votes on the plan on Friday, paving the way for tens of billions in new spending.

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Over 100 US leaders to attend Cop30 climate summit as Trump stays away

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Dozens of US state and local leaders will be at talks in Brazil with president’s team expected to send no representatives

The Trump administration appears to be sitting out this month’s United Nations climate talks known as Cop30, telling the Guardian it will not deploy any high-level representatives to the negotiations.

But dozens of US subnational leaders attend to promote their climate efforts.

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US strikes another alleged drug boat bringing death toll from campaign in Latin America to 70

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US strikes have destroyed at least 18 vessels, but Washington has yet to make public any concrete evidence that its targets posed a threat to America

US forces struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, defense secretary Pete Hegseth has said, bringing the death toll from the Trump administration’s controversial campaign to at least 70.

The US began carrying out such strikes – which some experts say amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers – in early September, taking aim at vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

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Senate blocks Democrats’ bid to check Trump power over Venezuela strikes

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Resolution fails 49-51 with only two Republican senators voting in favor as president increases military buildup

The US Senate on Thursday blocked a Democratic war powers resolution that would have forced Donald Trump to seek congressional approval to launch strikes in Venezuela, allowing the president to remain unchecked in his ability to expand his military campaign against the country.

The 49-51 vote against passing the resolution, mostly along party lines, came a month after a previous effort to stop strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in international waters similarly failed, 48-51.

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Canada pushes on with ‘complete depopulation’ plan to cull 400 ostriches

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Country’s top court declines to block controversial cull of hundreds of birds amid fears of an avian flu outbreak

Canada’s food inspection agency says it plans to begin a “complete depopulation” of hundreds of ostriches at a farm after the country’s top court declined to block the controversial cull.

On Thursday, the supreme court said it would not take up a case that has catalyzed a fierce protest by the farm owners and protesters – as well as senior figures in the Trump administration, who have decried the public health effort as government overreach.

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Famed Florentine diamond surfaces in Canada after century-long disappearance

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Empress Zita brought stone to Canada as Nazis took over Europe in 1940s and it remained in bank vault ever since

At the height of the Battle of Britain, when the UK government needed a secret location to store 186,332 gold bars, it turned to Canada.

Shipped across the Atlantic and stored beneath a hastily constructed vault in Montreal, Operation Fish became known both for the vast amounts of gold involved – and the immense secrecy that followed.

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Bolivia’s ex-president who oversaw bloody crackdown on protesters freed from prison

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Release follows supreme court ruling that overturned Jeanine Áñez’s conviction for allegedly staging coup to seize power

The former interim president who oversaw a bloody crackdown on protesters in Bolivia has been freed from prison after almost five years, following a supreme court ruling that overturned her conviction for allegedly staging a coup to seize power.

Jeanine Áñez, 58, left the Miraflores women’s orientation centre in La Paz on Thursday, saying that “the monster had to go” for her to walk free – a reference to the end of nearly two decades of rule by the leftwing Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) party.

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Climate crisis means super-strength Hurricane Melissa is ‘dangerous new reality’

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Winds of Melissa’s strength are now five times more frequent due to the climate crisis, research says

Every aspect of Hurricane Melissa, the most powerful storm ever to hit Jamaica, was worsened by the climate crisis, a team of scientists has found.

Melissa caused widespread devastation when it crunched into Jamaica as a category 5 hurricane on October 28, with winds up up to 185mph (298km/h).

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Man gropes Mexican president as she speaks to citizens on the streets

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Man tries to kiss and embrace Claudia Sheinbaum, highlighting security risk and harassment women face in Mexico

The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has been groped by a man as she mingled with citizens on the streets of Mexico City, raising questions about the lack of presidential security and the level of sexual harassment the country’s women face.

A video of the incident on Tuesday shows a visibly drunk man trying to kiss the president on the neck and embrace her from behind, as she removes his hands and turns to face him, before a government official steps in and places himself between them.

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Canada budget adds tens of billions to deficit as Carney spends to dampen Trump tariffs effect

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Entitled ‘Canada Strong’ the 2025 budget envisions significant new defence spending, a reduction of the civil service and ‘generational investments’

A protracted trade war with the United States and a weakening domestic economy has forced Mark Carney to run a deficit tens of billions larger than initially forecast in his first-ever federal budget.

The spending plan, titled “Canada Strong” envisions significant new defence spending, a reduction of the country’s civil service and “generational investments” that would reshape the nature of the country’s economy.

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Jamaica PM says hurricane Melissa caused damage equivalent to nearly one-third of GDP

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At least 75 people were confirmed dead across the Caribbean, including 43 in Haiti and 32 in Jamaica

Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness has said last week’s Hurricane Melissa, the strongest-ever storm to hit the country’s shores, caused damage to homes and key infrastructure equivalent to roughly 28% to 32% of last year’s gross domestic product.

Holness told the Caribbean nation’s lower house the $6bn to $7bn estimate was conservative, based on damages assessed so far, and short-term economic output could decline by 8% to 13%.

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Hegseth announces another deadly US strike on alleged drug boat

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Pentagon secretary says two people killed in attack on boat in eastern Pacific, bringing total killed to 66 in 16 strikes

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth announced yet another deadly strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, coming the same day an aircraft carrier began heading to the region in a new expansion of military firepower.

The attack Tuesday killed two people aboard the vessel, Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from the Trump administration’s campaign in South American waters up to at least 66 people in at least 16 strikes.

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Brazil to seek independent inquiry into deadly police raid that killed 121 people

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Brazilian president Lula called police assault on two of Rio’s largest clusters of favelas ‘disastrous’ and a ‘massacre’

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has said his government will seek an independent investigation into what he called a “disastrous” police “massacre” that left at least 121 people dead.

Four officers and at least 117 others were killed when police launched a major assault on two of Rio’s largest clusters of favelas, the Complexo do Alemão and the Complexo da Penha, early last Tuesday to execute 100 arrest warrants.

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Sheinbaum denies reports US will send troops to Mexico: ‘It’s not going to happen’

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President says she’s repeatedly rejected such offers from Trump for US to confront Mexico’s powerful drug cartels

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has flatly denied reports that the United States is planning to send troops into Mexico to confront the country’s powerful cartels, noting that she had repeatedly rejected such offers from Donald Trump.

“It’s not going to happen,” Sheinbaum said during her daily morning news conference on Tuesday. “We do not agree with any process of interference or interventionism.”

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Peru severs diplomatic relations with Mexico after former prime minister claims asylum

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Peru's government has severed diplomatic relations with Mexico over the asylum claim of former Peruvian prime minister Betssy Chávez

Peru’s government has announced the country is severing diplomatic relations with Mexico over the asylum claim of the former Peruvian prime minister Betssy Chávez, who is under investigation for rebellion.

The Peruvian foreign minister, Hugo de Zela, told reporters Mexico’s decision to grant Chávez asylum at its embassy in Peru’s capital, Lima, constituted an “unfriendly act” that added to the existing tensions between the two countries. The office of Peru’s president, José Jerí, issued a statement accusing Mexico’s government of repeated interference in his country’s internal affairs.

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Chile to end Pinochet henchmen’s pampered prison life of tennis and barbecues

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Punta Peuco – where military human rights offenders enjoy privileged conditions – set to join public prison network

Inmates at an infamous high-security military prison in Chile, which houses the perpetrators of dictatorship-era human rights crimes, are set to lose their privileged conditions under plans to incorporate the prison into the public prison network.

President Gabriel Boric announced on Monday that Punta Peuco is being transformed into a regular prison to help deal with overcrowding in the penitentiary system.

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