Men in wet clothes claiming to be Camino pilgrims arrested over alleged ‘narco-sub’ plot

Three men had fled in taxi after allegedly piloting vessel carrying 3.65 tonnes of cocaine to Galicia, Spanish police say

Police in Spain have arrested three men thought to have piloted a “narco-submarine” carrying more than 3.6 tonnes of cocaine from South America to the north-western region of Galicia, after the trio’s wet clothes and claims to be pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago raised suspicions.

The investigation, which has led to a total of 14 arrests, began in August after Policía Nacional officers, working with the US Drug Enforcement Agency, detected an alleged drug-smuggling gang based in the Galician town of Outes that was said to be concealing its activities by posing as a company selling and repairing nautical equipment.

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Canada designates Indian gang linked to high-profile killings as terrorist entity

Canadian government accuses the Lawrence Bishnoi gang of being involved in murder of prominent Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver

Canada’s federal government has announced that a powerful and ruthless Indian gang which uses “murder, shootings and arson” to extort and intimidate diaspora communities – and has alleged links to India’s ruling government – has been designated as a terrorist entity.

Canada has accused the Lawrence Bishnoi gang of possible involvement in the murder of prominent Sikh activist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver.

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Stephen Miller takes leading role in strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats

Exclusive: Miller’s homeland security council has played a key part in coordinating operations, sources say

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, has played a leading role in directing US strikes against suspected Venezuelan drug boats, according to three people familiar with the situation. At times, his role has superseded that of Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser.

The strikes on the Venezuelan boats allegedly carrying narcotics, which the administration has claimed were necessary because interdiction did not work, have been orchestrated through the homeland security council (HSC), which Miller leads as the homeland security adviser.

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Tropical Storm Imelda forming and expected to become hurricane

Forecast track could take storm, which caused disruption in Bahamas and Cuba, away from US east coast

Tropical Storm Imelda formed on Sunday and was expected to become a hurricane on a forecast track that could take it away from the US east coast in the coming days. The storm was causing disruption in the Bahamas and Cuba on Sunday, and a tropical storm watch was posted in parts of Florida.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto weakened very slightly but remained a strong category 4 storm in the Atlantic, threatening Bermuda.

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Tropical Storm Imelda forming and expected to become hurricane

Forecast track could take storm, which caused disruption in Bahamas and Cuba, away from US east coast

Tropical Storm Imelda formed on Sunday and was expected to become a hurricane on a forecast track that could take it away from the US east coast in the coming days. The storm was causing disruption in the Bahamas and Cuba on Sunday, and a tropical storm watch was posted in parts of Florida.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto weakened very slightly but remained a strong category 4 storm in the Atlantic, threatening Bermuda.

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Leaders of Mexican megachurch led a sprawling sex-trafficking enterprise, US prosecutors allege

The family behind La Luz del Mundo Church allegedly facilitated sexual abuse of children and women for decades

Since its inception nearly 100 years ago, La Luz del Mundo Church has been a family affair even as it spread from Mexico to the US and around the world.

Eusebio “Aaron” Joaquín Gonzalez, who founded the Guadalajara-based Christian church, was succeeded by his son, Samuel Joaquín Flores, upon his death in 1964.

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US revokes visa for Colombian president Gustavo Petro after ‘reckless’ actions in New York

At a pro-Palestine protest, Petro urged US soldiers to ‘disobey Trump’s order’ and ‘not point their rifles at humanity’

The US state department said on Friday it would revoke the visa of Colombian leftist president Gustavo Petro for his “incendiary actions” during a pro-Palestinian street protest in New York.

“Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the state department said on X.

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Assata Shakur, an icon of Black liberation who was exiled to Cuba, dies aged 78

Shakur spent decades exiled after she was convicted of killing a state trooper in 1977 and escaped from prison

On 25 September, Assata Shakur, a former member of the Black Liberation Army, died aged 78 in Havana, Cuba, according to Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Cuban officials cited the reason for her death as old age and health conditions. Shakur, a longstanding symbol of resistance and Black liberation, spent several decades exiled in Cuba after she was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1977 and escaped from prison.

“At approximately 1:15pm on September 25th, my mother, Assata Shakur, took her last earthly breath,” her daughter Kakuya Shakur wrote on Facebook. “Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I’m feeling at this time.”

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World must deny Israel ‘tools of genocide’, says growing alliance of activist states

New York meeting of Hague Group warns of shared responsibility to prevent genocide and proposes steps to isolate Israel

The international community has a legal and moral duty to deny Israel “the tools of genocide”, the Malaysian foreign minister, Mohamad Hasan, said at a meeting in New York of the Hague Group, the growing alliance of countries dedicated to coordinating practical economic and legal steps to isolate Israel over the war in Gaza.

The group, co-chaired by South Africa and Columbia, has become a central exchange for practical steps to try to pressure Israel, including stepping up collective action at ports and airports to prevent the transfer of weapons and goods to Israel, including dual-use heavy machinery.

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Canada postal workers strike after government orders end to door-to-door delivery

Union says it’s ‘outraged and appalled’ by government’s order of sweeping changes to the national service

Postal workers in Canada have gone on strike after the government warned of an “existential crisis” and ordered sweeping changes to the national service – including an end to door-to-door delivery within the decade.

The union representing Canada Post employees described the proposed changes as “an attack” on its workers who have struggled to compete with a surge in private courier services.

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Drug traffickers livestream torture and killing of young Argentinian women and girl

Brenda del Castillo, Morena Verdi and Lara Gutiérrez were lured with a promise of a $300 payment for a ‘sex party’

The murder of two young Argentinian women and a girl whose torture by suspected drug traffickers was livestreamed on a private Instagram group has sent shock waves through a country unused to such extreme levels of narco violence.

Brenda del Castillo, 20, Morena Verdi, 20, and Lara Gutiérrez, 15, went missing on Friday, after they were lured to a house in the outskirts of Buenos Aires by a promise that they would be paid US $300 for taking part in a “sex party”.

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‘History will remember who showed up’: Keir Starmer faces call to attend Cop30 summit

Response from leaders and key climate figures comes after PM’s aides advised non-attendance over concerns Reform may attack him

Leading climate figures and Labour MPs have urged Keir Starmer to attend the crucial Cop30 climate summit this November, after aides advised him not to attend for fear of attracting the ire of the Reform party.

Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate chief, said: “Cop30 is where leaders are expected to come and roll up their sleeves, make deals to help their nation’s economy transition faster, creating more jobs, and guide the world on what next steps we take together.”

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Big trees in Amazon more climate-resistant than previously believed

Forest is ‘remarkably resilient to climate change’, but remains under threat from fires and deforestation

The biggest trees in the Amazon are growing larger and more numerous, according to a new study that shows how an intact rainforest can help draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester it in bark, trunk, branch and root.

Scientists said the paper, published in Nature Plants on Thursday, was welcome confirmation that big trees are proving more climate resilient than previously believed, and undisturbed tropical vegetation continues to act as an effective carbon sink despite rising temperatures and strong droughts.

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Doug Ford to ban speed cameras in Ontario in populist appeal to suburban voters

Canada premier’s move prompts criticism from road safety activists and is likely to cue new showdown with Toronto

Doug Ford has announced plans to ban speed cameras in Ontario, describing the devices as an out-of-control “tax grab” in his latest populist appeal to suburban voters.

The move prompted criticism from road safety activists and is likely to cue another showdown with Toronto, after the mayor of Canada’s largest city urged councillors to keep the cameras in place, warning that “speed kills”.

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Activists outraged after Rio lawmakers approve ‘wild west bonus’ for police who kill ‘criminals’

Similar legislation introduced in Rio in mid-1990s caused an explosion of extrajudicial killings in the city’s favelas

Human rights activists have voiced outrage after Rio de Janeiro’s parliament approved plans to pay police officers a “wild west bonus” for “neutralizing criminals” during operations.

The move is a throwback to the mid-1990s when Rio’s then governor, Marcello Alencar, introduced similar legislation that caused an explosion of extrajudicial killings in the city’s favelas.

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Colombia’s Petro urges ‘criminal process’ against Trump for Venezuelan strikes

At UN, Gustavo Petro says ‘poor young people’ died in US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats off Caribbean coast

Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro addressed the UN general assembly Tuesday to call for a “criminal process” to be opened against counterpart Donald Trump for US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean.

Petro said unarmed “poor young people” died in the strikes that Washington said were part of a US anti-drug operation off the coast of Venezuela, whose president Washington accuses of running a cartel.

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Brazil’s president says in UN speech that democracy can prevail over ‘would-be autocrats’

South American leftist Lula takes indirect swipes at Trump in speech and warns that global threat of ‘anti-democratic forces’ persists

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, has launched an impassioned defence of his country’s democracy, claiming the recent conviction of his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, had shown the world how “would-be autocrats” could be brought to heel.

Speaking at the opening of the United Nations general assembly in New York, Lula hailed Brazil’s successful effort to repel “an unprecedented attack” from Bolsonaro’s extreme right movement. On 11 September, the former paratrooper was sentenced to 27 years in jail for trying to stage a military coup after he lost the 2022 election to Lula.

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Quebec’s police watchdog to investigate killing of 15-year-old boy by officers

Police opened fire within seconds after responding to a report of masked teens, according to a resident

The head of Quebec’s police watchdog said it will investigate the death of a 15-year-old boy who was shot dead by officers, revealing that the only weapon recovered from the scene of the fatal shooting belonged to the police.

At a rare news conference on Tuesday, Brigitte Bishop, director of the province’s office of independent investigations, said her unit would conduct an “impartial” investigation into the death of Nooran Rezayi.

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Ice targeted me for organizing, says farm worker who left US for Mexico

Alfredo Juarez Zeferino spent a harrowing few months in Ice jail – and, under threat of deportation, chose to leave

Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino spends much of his days outdoors, harvesting bananas and hiking vast, bramble-laden trails. But for more than a quarter of 2025, he barely saw the sun. After being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in March, the farm-worker activist was placed in a detention center in Washington state, where he remained until he agreed to voluntarily leave the US.

“I probably would say five times, in the three months and a half I was in there, they offered me to go outside,” he explained on a Zoom call from his family farm in Guerrero, Mexico, where he has been for over a month.

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Weather tracker: Flash floods and landslides wreak havoc in California

Two-year-old boy dies and homes buried as remnants of Tropical Storm Mario bring downpours and thunder

Flash flooding and landslides led to the death of a two-year-old boy in California in the US last week, after heavy rainfall followed on the heels of Tropical Storm Mario further south. The storm skirted the Pacific coast of Mexico with minimal disruption, eventually dissipating to the west of Baja California on Tuesday, but the remnants went on to cause havoc on Thursday. Residual moist air from the tropical storm was drawn north-east towards California, bringing heavy downpours and thunder to central and southern counties.

The heaviest rainfall was in the mountains of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where up to 68mm (2.67in) fell in a few hours. Further north, Death Valley – famously one of the driest places on Earth – received 15mm of rain, triple the average rainfall for September and a full quarter of the yearly average.

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