Shipments of aid from many countries have been arriving in the south-western Tiburon peninsula of Haiti, which was struck by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on 14 August
Continue reading...Category Archives: Americas
Supreme court orders Biden to revive Trump’s ‘remain in Mexico’ policy
- Justices deny president’s effort to rescind Trump program
- Blow to Biden as trio of liberal justices dissent in 6-3 ruling
The US supreme court on Tuesday denied Joe Biden’s bid to rescind an immigration policy implemented by his predecessor, Donald Trump, that forced thousands of asylum seekers to stay in Mexico awaiting US hearings.
Related: Breathing wildfire smoke during pregnancy raises risk of premature birth, study finds
Continue reading...Mystery over surge in coyote attacks in Vancouver park
There have been 40 attacks in Stanley Park in the last nine months, four times the total over past 30 years
Coyotes are stalking and biting visitors in a popular Vancouver park in record numbers, in a mysterious surge of attacks that is baffling experts and dividing the city.
In the roughly nine months since December 2020, 40 coyote attacks in Stanley Park have been reported, including one last week where a 69-year-old man was bitten on the leg while walking on a trail. None have so far been fatal.
Continue reading...Haiti needs help, but ‘not from aid workers who never leave their SUVs’
Beset by earthquakes, poverty and gang violence, the country is desperate for aid. However it must be the right kind, say locals
The death toll is still rising 10 days after a catastrophic earthquake struck southern Haiti on the morning of 14 August, levelling much of Les Cayes and the surrounding region.
More than 2,200 deaths have been recorded so far, while at least 30,000 families have had to abandon their homes. Many were sleeping on the streets when Tropical Storm Grace struck two days later, bringing high winds and pelting rain.
Continue reading...Cuba’s health system buckles under strain of overwhelming Covid surge
A lack of medical supplies is crippling the Covid response, amid an economic crisis sparked by the pandemic and US sanctions
Julia, a community doctor in Havana, was drafted to the intensive care unit soon after Covid-19 first reached Cuba.
Last week, her cousin died from the virus. This week, she also tested positive amid a surge in cases which has pushed the island’s vaunted health service to its limits and prompted rare public criticism from Cuban doctors.
Continue reading...World weatherwatch: Peru’s saint of storms brings salvation to cities and ski slopes
Seasonal storms that blow up on the Peruvian coast at this time of year are named after St Rosa
In August 1615, a Dutch pirate fleet under Joris Van Spilbergen threatened the city of Lima. According to legend, a nun called Sister Rosa, whose original name was Isabel Flores de Oliva, prayed for deliverance. A tremendous storm blew up just as the pirates were sailing in to sack the city and scattered their fleet.
The storm was hailed as a miracle, and Sister Rosa became the first person born in the Americas to be canonised. She is patron saint of embroidery, gardening, the Americas, and the city of Lima. The seasonal storms that blow up on the Peruvian coast at this time of year are known as the Tormentas de Santa Rosa or Saint Rosa’s storms. These traditionally occur 15 days either side of the saint’s day on 30 August.
Continue reading...Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon hits highest annual level in a decade
Rainforest lost 10,476 sq km between August 2020 and July 2021, report says, despite increasing global concern
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade, a new report has shown, despite increasing global concern over the accelerating devastation since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.
Between August 2020 and July 2021, the rainforest lost 10.476 square kilometers – an area nearly seven times bigger than greater London and 13 times the size of New York City, according to data released by Imazon, a Brazilian research institute that has been tracking the Amazon deforestation since 2008. The figure is 57% higher than in the previous year and is the worst since 2012.
Continue reading...Meng Wanzhou: ‘princess of Huawei’ who became the face of a high-stakes dispute
The executive’s case has sent China’s relations with the US and Canada plummeting with accusations of political arrests and ‘hostage diplomacy’
Until she was detained at Vancouver airport in December 2018, Meng Wanzhou was not a household name. But the 49-year-old Huawei executive has now become the face of a high-stakes trilateral dispute between China, Canada and the US.
Related: Meng Wanzhou extradition case wraps up but verdict will take months
Continue reading...‘No one comes here any more’: the human cost as Covid wipes out tourism
From Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca to wildlife tourism in Nepal, we find out how the crisis has affected people in four travel hotspots – and whether or not they want the tourists to return
In March last year, it was predicted that the global travel shutdown would cause international arrivals to plummet by 20 to 30% by the end of 2020.
Six weeks later, the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) revised their warning: international arrivals could fall by up to 80% – equating to a billion fewer tourists and the worst crisis in the history of the industry.
Continue reading...Brazil’s first transgender pastor: ‘All humans have flaws, being trans isn’t one of them’
In a country with shocking brutality against LGBTQ+ people, Alexya Salvador is using her faith to help others like her
Desperate calls from LGBTQ+ youths contemplating suicide or from their parents after they have made an attempt on their lives often punctuate Alexya Salvador’s day. When they do, she drops everything to talk.
As a transgender woman, she recognises the anguish in their voices. “I feel their pain in my body because I went through this,” she says. “My family went through this.”
Continue reading...Canadian soldier guilty of drugging comrades with cannabis cupcakes
Sandra Cogswell convicted on eight counts of administering noxious substance and one of behaving in a disgraceful manner
A Canadian soldier accused of drugging comrades with cannabis-laced cupcakes during a live-fire training exercise has been found guilty by a military judge.
Sandra Cogswell was convicted on eight counts of administering a noxious substance and one count of behaving in a disgraceful manner. Her case marks the first time in Canada that a soldier has been found guilty of administering cannabis to colleagues without their consent.
Continue reading...Tropical Storm Grace’s heavy rains pour misery on Haiti earthquake survivors
- Flash flood and landslides complicate relief efforts
- Power remains out with 50mm of rain an hour falling
Tropical Storm Grace has lashed southern Haiti with drenching rains, piling on misery for survivors of a powerful earthquake as flash floods and landslides further complicate relief efforts.
Related: Naomi Osaka to donate prize earnings to Haiti earthquake relief efforts
Continue reading...‘We have no place to go’: Haiti earthquake shelters exposed to tropical storm – video report
People already displaced by Saturday's earthquake in Haiti evacuated temporary shelters on Monday night due to a tropical storm.
Tropical Storm Grace was projected to hit some of the areas worst affected by the earthquake with up to 38cm (15in) of rain, bringing the risk of flash floods and landslides.
Continue reading...Underground review – mine explosion disaster film digs deeper than most
French-Canadian director Sophie Dupuis puts human drama ahead of the action in this naturalistic, character-driven film
Here is an arthouse disaster movie from Quebec: a naturalistic, character-driven drama about what it might truly look like if a mineral mine exploded, trapping five workers underground. It’s the second feature from French-Canadian director Sophie Dupuis, who herself grew up in a mining family.
She opens her film in the heat of the rescue: red lights flashing, a response team descending into darkness. One of the rescuers, Max (Joakim Robillard), would be the hero of the Hollywood version, running around hot-headedly, disobeying orders: “Fuck you! I’m going to get the others!” Actually, much of the film is about how damaging it is for Max living with this tough-guy masculinity.
Continue reading...Exxon’s oil drilling gamble off Guyana coast ‘poses major environmental risk’
Experts warn of potential for disaster as Exxon pursues 9bn barrels in sensitive marine ecosystem
ExxonMobil’s huge new Guyana project faces charges of a disregard for safety from experts who claim the company has failed to adequately prepare for possible disaster, the Guardian and Floodlight have found.
Exxon has been extracting oil from Liza 1, an ultra-deepwater drilling operation, since 2019 – part of an expansive project spanning more than 6m acres off the coast of Guyana that includes 17 additional prospects in the exploration and preparatory phases.
Continue reading...Haiti hit by storm as officials fear quake death toll could rise
Tropical depression makes landfall over areas already hit by Saturday’s quake that killed at least 1,419
Medical teams and aid workers were racing to save lives and provide food and shelter on Monday amid fears that the official death toll from Saturday’s earthquake could rise further and a tropical depression bore down on the crisis-stricken Caribbean country.
The official death toll rose on Monday to 1,419, and at least 6,000 were injured by the 7.2-magnitude quake – a tremor even more powerful than the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 200,000 Haitians in 2010 and levelled much of Port-au-Prince.
Continue reading...‘Hidden pandemic’: Peruvian children in crisis as carers die
With 93,000 children in Peru losing a parent to Covid, many face depression, anxiety and poverty
When Covid-19 began shutting down Nilda López’s vital organs, doctors decided that the best chance of saving her and her unborn baby was to put her into a coma.
Six months pregnant, López feared she would not wake up, or that if she did, her baby would not be there.
Continue reading...Haitians heartbroken as deadly quake heaps misery on crisis-hit nation
Aftershocks sow fear, hospitals swamped and aid workers race to provide food as tropical storm looms
Winnie Hugot Gabriel was presenting her Saturday morning radio show when a 7.2-magnitude earthquake ripped through southern Haiti, sending terrified listeners racing into the streets.
“Even here in Port-au-Prince you could feel it. It was strong,” said the 32-year-old journalist from the Magik 9 station, who abandoned her microphone and sprinted outside after the tremor.
Continue reading...Florida issues tropical storm warning for Panhandle region as Fred approaches
- Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Grace to hit parts of the Caribbean
- Fred’s maximum sustained winds at 40mph Sunday morning
Florida’s governor declared a state of emergency for the state’s Panhandle region as Tropical Storm Fred moved through the Gulf of Mexico early on Sunday and parts of the Caribbean were preparing for the impact from Tropical Storm Grace.
Fred was forecast to move across the Gulf before reaching the coast Monday night or Tuesday morning, forecasters said. They said people from Alabama to the central Florida Panhandle should monitor the system’s progress.
Continue reading...Haiti: drone footage shows devastation after deadly earthquake
Aerial footage shows the extent of destruction in Haiti following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. The quake struck the south-western part of the country on Saturday, almost razing some towns and triggering landslides that hampered rescue efforts in two of the hardest-hit communities. The death toll has climbed sharply, with at least 724 dead and 2,800 injured, according to the latest figures from Haiti’s office of civil protection. People in the Caribbean nation rushed into the streets to seek safety and to help rescue those trapped in the rubble of collapsed homes, hotels and other buildings
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