Category Archives: Americas

Covid: Bolsonaro tells Brazilians to stop ‘whining’ as deaths top 260,000

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  • Far-right president: ‘How long are you going to keep on crying?’
  • Critics condemn Bolsonaro as ‘incurable sociopath’

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has triggered a wave of revulsion by telling citizens to stop “whining” about a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 260,000 people.

The far-right populist made the inflammatory declaration on Thursday, as Brazil’s already dire Covid situation deteriorated and its average daily death toll rose above that of the United States.

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Rio mayor imposes Covid curfew to avert repeat of last year’s ‘genocide’

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  • Scientists call for immediate 14-day lockdown
  • Brazil suffers record 1,840 daily fatalities

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has ordered a coronavirus “curfew” in the hope of sparing the seaside city a repeat of last year’s Covid-19 “genocide” when it was pummeled by the disease.

The nighttime prohibition, which Mayor Eduardo Paes said would last from 11pm to 5am, was announced as hospitals across Brazil buckled under the strain of a crippling upsurge in infections and the South American country suffered its worst day of losses since the pandemic began.

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The misogynist incel movement is spreading. Should it be classified as a terror threat?

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Violence linked to the ideology has killed as many as 50 people in the US and Canada and sparked debate among counterterrorism experts and police

As attacks linked to the misogynist “incel” movement mounted in recent years, authorities around the world have begun to treat the ideology as a more serious terrorism threat.

Since 2014, men who call themselves “involuntary celibates” and blame women for their own lack of sexual and social status have carried out mass killings in California, Florida, and Toronto.

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Brazil’s Covid outbreak is global threat that opens door to lethal variants – scientist

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Duke University neuroscientist urges international community to challenge Brazilian government over its failure to contain

Brazil’s rampant coronavirus outbreak has become a global threat that risks spawning new and even more lethal variants, one of the South American country’s top scientists has warned as it suffered its deadliest day of the pandemic.

Speaking to the Guardian, Miguel Nicolelis, a Duke University neuroscientist who is tracking the crisis, urged the international community to challenge the Brazilian government over its failure to contain an epidemic that has killed more than a quarter of a million Brazilians – about 10% of the global total.

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Bunny Wailer, last surviving founder member of the Wailers, dies aged 73

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Reggae artist and three-time Grammy winner found worldwide fame alongside Bob Marley in the early 1970s

Bunny Wailer, the co-founder and last living member of Jamaican reggae group the Wailers, who took Bob Marley to global stardom, has died aged 73.

His manager Maxine Stowe confirmed his death to the Jamaica Observer. Wailer had been frequently hospitalised since suffering a stroke in July 2020.

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Brazil variant evaded up to 61% of immunity in previous Covid cases

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Scientists call for more genetic sequencing of emerging variants like P1 to bring pandemic under control

The coronavirus variant originally found in Manaus in Brazil and detected in six cases in the UK was able to infect 25% to 61% of the people in the Amazonian city who might have expected to be immune after a first bout of Covid, researchers say.

The extent to which P1 can evade the immune system, and potentially vaccines, emerged as the UK health secretary said the hunt for one person who tested positive for P1 – but did not leave contact details – had narrowed to 379 households in the south-east of England.

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Australian senator calls to recognise China’s treatment of Uighurs as genocide

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Independent Rex Patrick moves after similar parliamentary motions passed in Canada and the Netherlands

An Australian senator will seek support from fellow upper house members to recognise China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority as genocide, after similar parliamentary motions passed in Canada and the Netherlands.

The proposed motion – placed on the Senate’s notice paper for 15 March – looms as a test for the major parties at a time when Australia should join the international community in taking a stand, according to the South Australian independent senator Rex Patrick.

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Canada’s top newspaper group gambles on casino app to help fund journalism

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Torstar, which owns more than 70 papers, to launch gaming app to ‘support the growth and expansion of quality journalism’

As advertising revenues dry up and the outlook for print newspapers looks increasingly bleak, publishers around the world are constantly hunting for new and innovative ways to fund costly journalism.

Related: Why Toronto is taking action against a carpenter amid its homelessness crisis

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Experts warn Brazil facing darkest days of Covid crisis as deaths hit highest level

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Intensive care units in 17 of the country’s 26 states were near capacity, while six states and the capital had run out of ICU beds

Health experts and lawmakers have warned Brazil is steaming into the darkest days of its coronavirus catastrophe, as fatalities soared to new heights and one prominent politician compared the crisis to an atomic bomb.

Politicians from across the spectrum voiced anger and exasperation at the deteriorating situation on Monday, after Brazil’s weekly average of Covid deaths hit its highest level since the epidemic began last February and hospitals around the country reported being swamped.

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Why Toronto is taking action against a carpenter amid its homelessness crisis

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After a tragedy where a man was killed by a fire in a tiny home, the city has blamed the man who built the structures

For the thousands of homeless people who live in Toronto, winter represents the most challenging and dangerous season. Heavy snowfall crushes tents and cold rains leak through them, damaging belongings and soaking sleeping pads.

When Khaleel Seivwright surveyed the city’s housing crisis last autumn, he hoped that his background in carpentry could be of some help. Within weeks, his tiny wooden houses began appearing in city parks.

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Chile emerges as global leader in Covid inoculations with ‘pragmatic strategy’

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After initially enduring criticism over its handling of restrictions, Chile moved to secure vaccines from a range of suppliers

Chile has administered more than 3.1m vaccine doses in just three weeks to emerge as a global leader in Covid-19 inoculations, trailing only the US, UK, UAE and Israel in vaccination doses per 100 people.

Having initially endured heavy criticism over its handling of pandemic restrictions, Chile has moved quickly to secure vaccines from a range of suppliers and aims to have 80% of its population immunised against the virus by June. It has already vaccinated 16% of its 19 million citizens at hospitals, schools, stadia and municipal buildings throughout the country.

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Golden Trump statue turning heads at CPAC was made in … Mexico

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Artist Tommy Zegan reveals figure was constructed in country the former president has assailed and demonized

A golden statue of Donald Trump that has caused a stir at the annual US gathering of conservatives was made in Mexico – a country the former president frequently demonized.

Related: Mitch McConnell says he'd 'absolutely' support Trump as 2024 nominee

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Prison director and gang leader among 25 killed in Haitian jailbreak

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Notorious gangster Arnel Joseph shot dead at police checkpoint after more than 400 inmates escape in country’s biggest breakout for 10 years

More than 400 inmates have escaped and 25 people have died in a prison breakout in Haiti, authorities say, making it the country’s largest and deadliest one in a decade. A prison director and a powerful gang leader were among those killed.

The breakout at Croix-des-Bouquets prison on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince on Thursday was believed to be an attempt to free gang leader Arnel Joseph, who had been Haiti’s most wanted fugitive until his 2019 arrest on charges including rape, kidnapping and murder.

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Brazil tops 251,000 Covid deaths as daily fatalities also set record

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  • 1,582 Brazilians die in a day amid slow vaccine rollout
  • President Jair Bolsonaro again discourages mask use

Brazil has passed two grim landmarks, as deaths from Covid-19 passed 251,000 and the country saw its highest daily toll since the coronavirus was first detected there one year ago.

A total of 1,582 Brazilians died from Covid-19 on Thursday as the country struggles with a slow vaccination rollout, new variants of the disease and an uncoordinated government response.

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Happy ‘farmily’: portraits of people and their animals – in pictures

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Photographer Tasha Hall creates what she calls ‘farmily’ portraits – featuring families and their animals. Hall, from British Columbia in Canada, says she got the idea after wanting to include all her furry friends in a family portrait. She now travels the world capturing other families with their livestock and pets

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Canada pension fund CEO resigns after flying to Dubai for Covid vaccine

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Mark Machin steps down from position after traveling for first dose of vaccine while most Canadians wait to receive their first jab

The head of Canada’s largest pension fund has resigned after disregarding public health advice and travelling to Dubai for a dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announced on Friday that its CEO, Mark Machin, had stepped down from his position, after the Wall Street Journal first reported Machin’s trip late on Thursday.

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Pro-choice protests in Warsaw and Myanmar coup: 20 photos on human rights this week

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A roundup of the best photography on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Algeria to Uganda

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‘A cause for worry’: Mexico’s monarch butterflies drop by 26% in year

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Butterflies had bad year after four times as many trees were lost to illegal logging and extreme climate conditions

The number of monarch butterflies that reached their winter resting grounds in central Mexico decreased by about 26% this year, and four times as many trees were lost to illegal logging, drought and other causes, making 2020 a bad year for the butterflies.

The butterflies’ population covered only 2.1 hectares (5.2 acres) in 2020, compared to 2.8 hectares (6.9 acres) the previous year and about one-third of the 6.05 hectares (14.95 acres) detected in 2018, according to government figures.

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Canada spy agency unwittingly seeks double agent in Le Carré ad gaffe

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CSIS included quote from A Perfect Spy in tweet about job postings, bewildering Twitter users

For an intelligence agency seeking new recruits, the promises of adventure and intrigue found within the pages of famous spy novels might seem like a useful recruiting tool.

But promoting a double agent who lies to his family, betrays his country and ultimately takes his own life, is possibly not a strategy that will produce the best candidates.

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Canada’s Covid plan under fire as air passengers evade hotel quarantine

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Some arriving passengers are dodging mandatory three-night hotel stay while claims of sexual assault tarnish health plan

Less than a week after the introduction of new rules obliging international air travellers to quarantine at a hotel on arrival in Canada, the plan is facing criticism after allegations of sexual assault and reports that some passengers are ignoring the rules.

Amid growing concern that international travellers could pose a risk of spreading variants of the coronavirus, Canada began requiring anyone arriving from abroad to isolate at a hotel for up to three nights, beginning Monday.

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