‘We’re double-dipping’: Trudeau pressured to speed vaccine distribution amid Covax backlash

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Admin

Government faces accusations it is taking Covid-fighting supplies intended for developing countries

Justin Trudeau is facing growing pressure to speed up Canada’s sluggish distribution of the coronavirus vaccine, as the country fends off accusations that it is taking supplies of the drug meant for developing countries.

The federal government drew sharp criticism last week when it announced that it would draw on Covax, a mechanism created to fairly distribute Covid-19 around the world, for its supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Outcry as more than 20 babies and children deported by US to Haiti

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Admin

Ice accused of sending ‘defenseless babies into the burning house’ as deportations of 72 carried out in apparent breach of Biden order

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) deported at least 72 people to Haiti on Monday, including a two-month-old baby and 21 other children, in an apparent flagrant breach of the Biden administration’s orders only to remove suspected terrorists and potentially dangerous convicted felons.

The children were deported to Haiti on Monday on two flights chartered by Ice from Laredo, Texas to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. The removals sent vulnerable infants back to Haiti as it is being roiled by major political unrest.

Covid deaths of Yanomami children fuel fears for Brazil’s indigenous groups

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Admin

Health ministry sends team to investigate ‘concerning’ virus cases in Yanomami territory near Venezuelan border

Ten Yanomami children died from Covid-19 in January, fueling fears over the disproportionate impact the coronavirus is having on vulnerable indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon.

“It is very concerning that so many kids died in less than one month,” said Júnior Hekurari Yanomami, the head of Condisi-YY, an indigenous health council.

‘It feels like a placebo’: Mexico’s vaccine program sees disastrous launch

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Admin

Pace for vaccinations has slowed as government website to register crashes repeatedly and Covid death toll is third highest

Rodolfo spent hour after aggravating hour trying to register his elderly mother for a Covid-19 vaccination through a Mexican government website, only for the system to crash repeatedly.

“I spent three days fighting with the website,” he said. “My mom would have been unable to do it without me.”

Argentina: human rights outrage at province’s ‘abusive’ quarantine

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Admin

Formosa has the country’s lowest Covid death rate – but critics say that has been achieved by ‘flagrant, grave’ rights violations

The Argentinian province with the lowest Covid death rate in the country has been accused by human rights groups of forcibly quarantining thousands of people under inhuman conditions to achieve that result.

Canadian museum’s ancient carving is one I made earlier, says local artist

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Admin

A stone figure found on a beach was probably by a Lekwungen people artefact, the Royal British Columbia Museum said, but Ray Boudreau begged to differ

Early one morning last summer, walkers on a beach in western Canada spotted an oblong stone figure resting on the sand.

Weighing nearly 100kg, it bore a face with exaggerated features – a bulging eye, contorted nose and lips – and was covered in a thin layer of seaweed and algae.

Coronavirus live news: variant first found in UK now accounts for 6% of German cases; Israel to ease lockdown

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Admin

Germany warns new variants are set to spread; Israel to keep borders closed despite easing lockdown

8.01pm GMT

Slovak regional authorities have quarantined a Roma settlement after a quarter of its residents tested positive for the coronavirus.

The settlement of Sacurov near Vranov nad Toplou in the east of the country, made up of two three-storey apartment blocks and around 70 shacks, is to be closed off for 10 days.

“In a week-and-a-half it grew [from five] to the unreal number of 113, due to a failure to maintain quarantine and isolation,” he said.

7.42pm GMT

More than 80% of people in some developing countries have seen their incomes fall due to the coronavirus pandemic, economists have found, warning that rising poverty could mean poorer countries struggle to curb infections – especially with mass vaccination potentially years away.

“Economic help is part and parcel of fighting the virus,” co-author of the study Shana Warren told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“If you want people to stay home to stop the virus spreading while they wait for vaccines you need to provide them with the economic support to do so.”

Guyana calls off plan for Taiwan ties after Beijing criticizes ‘mistake’

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Admin

Foreign ministry said it terminated agreement with Taiwan to open office after Beijing urged country to ‘correct their mistake’

Guyana has abruptly terminated an agreement with Taiwan to open an office in the South American country, hours after China urged Georgetown to “correct their mistake”.

Earlier on Thursday, Taiwan’s foreign ministry announced it had signed an agreement with Guyana to open a Taiwan office – effectively a de facto embassy for the island that China claims as its sovereign territory with no right to diplomatic ties.

Class cancelled: how Covid school closures blocked routes out of poverty

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Admin

Oxford University project reveals devastating impact on prospects for world’s poorest students, especially girls

In the coffee-farming communities of the Peruvian Amazon, the classroom is a route out of poverty. Gabriela was studying civil engineering in a city an hour and a half from home when the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

The 18-year-old, who is one of thousands of young people tracked since 2002 as part of the Young Lives project led by the University of Oxford, has been forced to postpone her education, in a country where 16% of 19-year-olds have dropped out of education because of the crisis.

Canada designates Proud Boys as terrorist organization beside Isis and al-Qaida

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Admin

Move follows allegations that the rightwing group played a role in the mob attack on the US Capitol in January

Canada has described the far-right Proud Boys group as a “serious and growing threat” and branded it a terrorist organization alongside Isis and al-Qaida, amid growing concerns over the spread of white supremacist groups in the country.

On Wednesday Bill Blair, public safety minister, also announced the federal government would designate the white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups the Atomwaffen Division, the Base and the Russian Imperial Movement as terrorist entities. The federal government also added offshoots of al-Qaida, Isis and Hizbul Mujahedin to its list.

Colombia’s ex-guerrillas: isolated, abandoned and living in fear

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Admin

A tumbledown camp is home to many former Farc rebels four years after peace accords while hundreds more have been killed

Daniela Márquez, 30, bears the scars of Colombia’s long civil war on her body. Until three years ago, she was a medic with what was then South America’s most powerful guerrilla army: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

Five years ago, while her commanders were suing for peace, an airstrike killed seven of her comrades and hurled pieces of shrapnel into her arms, legs and back.

‘A moral and national shame’: Biden to launch taskforce to reunite families separated at border

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Admin

President decries Trump administration that ‘literally ripped children from the arms of their families’ as he signs executive orders

Joe Biden plans to create a taskforce to reunify families separated at the US-Mexico border by the Trump administration, as part of a new series of immigration executive actions signed at an Oval Office ceremony on Tuesday.

Biden condemned Donald Trump’s immigration policies as a “stain on the reputation” of the US.

‘It disgusts me’: how a wealthy couple lied to get a vaccine meant for Indigenous people

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Admin

Canadian casino executive and his wife sneaked into remote town to get injections meant for older population

On a chilly morning in late January, three planes landed on the lone airstrip of a remote community in northern Canada.

Blue whales threatened by ship collisions in busy Patagonia waters

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Admin

Endangered giants face potentially fatal encounters with the 1,000 daily fishing vessels moving through main feeding area off Chile, scientists warn

The largest mammal ever to live on the Earth, the blue whale, is under threat from boat collisions as one of its main feeding grounds in Chilean Patagonia is overrun with vessels, a new study has revealed.

The endangered whales must contend with up to 1,000 boats moving daily through an important feeding area in the eastern South Pacific, according to research published in the scientific journal Nature.

Crushing costs of Covid care leave grieving Mexican families facing ruin

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Admin

As the death toll mounts, even for those with health insurance medical bills can run into tens of thousands of dollars

For more than 50 years, Pedro Martínez would drive his truck through the mountains of Jalisco state, carrying stock for clothing business in the week, and taking his family on excursions at the weekend.

Martínez, 90, was long retired when he was admitted to hospital in early October with coronavirus-linked complications. His family prayed he would soon recover and return home, but 33 days later he died, leaving them emotionally and financially ruined.

Missing Guatemalan woman’s family urges Mexico to solve killings of 19 suspected migrants

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Admin

The family is providing DNA samples to Mexican authorities to help investigators identify the remains found in Tamaulipas

The family of a young Guatemalan woman believed to be among 19 victims of a massacre in northern Mexico is urging the Mexican government to bring those responsible to justice.

State prosecutors in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state said there were at least two Guatemalans among the bodies found. The attorney general’s office said in a statement that investigators had so far genetically identified four of the dead with the aid of their families.

From lockdowns to pool parties: how Covid rules vary around the world

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Admin

Countries have adopted different rules on business activity, education, socialising and travel

Curfews and lockdowns Restrictions have largely been relaxed in most of Brazil’s 26 states, although several continue to limit opening hours for bars, restaurants and shops. A round-the-clock curfew was imposed this week in Brazil’s biggest state, Amazonas, after hospitals were overwhelmed.

Saudi state companies sue ex-spy chief in Canada over alleged $3bn fraud

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Admin

Saad Aljabri, once a top aide to the former heir to the throne, has said he will fight the ‘recycled corruption allegations’

Saudi state-owned companies have sued the country’s former intelligence chief in a Canadian court, alleging he stole billions of dollars, according to documents obtained by the news agency Agence France-Presse.

The 10 subsidiaries of Tahakom Investment Co – which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund – said in the civil suit filed in Ontario superior court that Saad Aljabri committed a “massive fraud” totalling at least US$3.47bn.

Brazil: viral rapper becomes unexpected champion of Covid vaccine drive

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Admin

MC Fioti’s ‘vaccine anthem’ remix celebrates coronavirus inoculation with music video shot at biomedical research centre

Leandro Aparecido Ferreira laid bricks and flipped burgers for a living until becoming one of Brazil’s most famous funk musicians.

This year, the 26-year-old – whose stage name is MC Fioti – has added a new and unexpected string to his bow: as an unlikely champion of science and vaccinology in a country being pounded by coronavirus.

Chile police officer sentenced for killing of Mapuche farmer on ‘historic day’

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Admin

Camilo Catrillanca, 24, was shot during a vehicle chase
Case highlights treatment of largest indigenous group

A Chilean police officer has been jailed for killing a Mapuche farmer during a vehicle chase in a case that cast a harsh spotlight on the country’s treatment of its largest indigenous group.

Roundup Newswires

Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network

Category Archives: Americas

‘We’re double-dipping’: Trudeau pressured to speed vaccine distribution amid Covax backlash

Outcry as more than 20 babies and children deported by US to Haiti

Covid deaths of Yanomami children fuel fears for Brazil’s indigenous groups

‘It feels like a placebo’: Mexico’s vaccine program sees disastrous launch

Argentina: human rights outrage at province’s ‘abusive’ quarantine

Canadian museum’s ancient carving is one I made earlier, says local artist

Coronavirus live news: variant first found in UK now accounts for 6% of German cases; Israel to ease lockdown

Guyana calls off plan for Taiwan ties after Beijing criticizes ‘mistake’

Canada designates Proud Boys as terrorist organization beside Isis and al-Qaida

Colombia’s ex-guerrillas: isolated, abandoned and living in fear

‘A moral and national shame’: Biden to launch taskforce to reunite families separated at border

‘It disgusts me’: how a wealthy couple lied to get a vaccine meant for Indigenous people

Blue whales threatened by ship collisions in busy Patagonia waters

Crushing costs of Covid care leave grieving Mexican families facing ruin

Missing Guatemalan woman’s family urges Mexico to solve killings of 19 suspected migrants

From lockdowns to pool parties: how Covid rules vary around the world

Saudi state companies sue ex-spy chief in Canada over alleged $3bn fraud

Brazil: viral rapper becomes unexpected champion of Covid vaccine drive

Chile police officer sentenced for killing of Mapuche farmer on ‘historic day’