Objection to virtual meetings threatens next year’s conference in China, say environmental campaigners
Brazil has been accused of obstructing global efforts to protect nature following a row over the use of virtual meeting technology to overcome Covid-19 restrictions.
The dispute threatens a key United Nations conference in Kunming, China, next year, which aims to set new targets to protect the Earth’s natural life support systems.
Continue reading...With potential injectable vaccines estimated to be out of reach for two-thirds of world’s population, scientists hope to find less-heat-sensitive formulations
News that one of the potential coronavirus vaccines had at least a 90% efficacy rate was a “victory for science”, said K Srinath Reddy, a cardiologist and president of the Public Health Foundation of India. But it meant little to his country’s 1.3 billion citizens.
“For us, the Pfizer vaccine is more of a scientific curiosity than a practical possibility,” Reddy said.
Continue reading...Second devastating hurricane in two weeks lashes fragile nation and leaves villages submerged
Nery Benitez was working shifts as a baggage handler at San Pedro Sula’s airport when it got flooded by Hurricane Eta. This week it was inundated again as Hurricane Iota struck.
“I had gone seven months without work and three days after I got called back this flooding happened,” the 50-year-old said. “We have family and children. How are we going to feed them?”
Continue reading...When the Colombian army defeated the Farc guerrillas, ending decades of conflict, General Mario Montoya was hailed a national hero. But then it was revealed that thousands of ‘insurgents’ executed by the army were in fact innocent men
On a chilly October afternoon in 2008, Jacqueline Castillo found herself staring down into a mass grave in Colombia’s northern region of Santander. Five bodies, naked and dirty, were squeezed together like sacks of potatoes. Forensic doctors, wearing white suits, masks and rubber gloves, were pulling them out, one by one. They placed them beside her, and asked her to examine their faces.
Castillo was looking for her brother, Jaime, who had disappeared a few months earlier in Bogotá, more than 600km away. His was the last body they pulled out. When he was placed on the ground next to her, Castillo fell to her knees, screaming. The doctors told her he was a criminal, a member of one of the many guerrilla armies that had been fighting the Colombian state since the mid-1960s, and that he had been killed in combat. But Castillo knew that was impossible. Her brother had been a homeless beggar, not a guerrilla insurgent.
Continue reading...Decision seen as reward from Trump to Mexican counterpart for election support
A shock US decision to drop charges against a former Mexican defence minister accused of drug trafficking and money laundering has sparked celebration, consternation and bewilderment.
Gen Salvador Cienfuegos was arrested at Los Angeles airport last month and accused of being at the heart of a multimillion dollar conspiracy to smuggle huge shipments of drugs into the US.
Continue reading...The storm caused swollen rivers to burst their banks, flipped roofs on to streets, and killed at least nine people across the region
Continue reading...Four months after seven men entered a container in Serbia, their remains were discovered in Paraguay, underscoring the risks taken by migrants trying to reach the EU
When seven North African men climbed into a shipping container in a railway yard in the Serbian town of Šid this July, they hoped that they would emerge a few days later in Milan.
Related: Paraguay authorities find at least seven bodies in fertilizer shipment
Continue reading...Hurricane Iota has made landfall on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, threatening catastrophic damage. Huge waves crashed into the Colombian island of San Andrés as the storm churned through the region, lashing Nicaragua with winds of up to 155mph (250kmh).
The latest storm hit just two weeks after Hurricane Eta, which caused havoc across the same parts of Central America. The presidents of Honduras and Guatemala have called on wealthier countries to help deal with the cost of the climate crisis
• This video was amended on 17 November 2020 to remove unrelated footage that had been mistakenly included in a report by the Associated Press
Peru’s capital is reeling from an intense week of pro-democracy protests marked by accusations of police brutality. The impeachment of former president Martín Vizcarra unleashed nationwide demonstrations and what analysts have called Peru’s worst political crisis in more than a decade
Continue reading...Removing far-right president is top priority for many Brazilian leftists – but can they build the united front needed to defeat him?
When glad tidings of Donald Trump’s undoing reached Flávio Dino’s 18th-century palace in north-eastern Brazil, he felt delight.
“Trump was such a toxic figure,” said the Communist party governor of Maranhão state, a leading light of the Brazilian left. “Trump’s defeat is a victory for humanity.”
Continue reading...Appointment expected to ease tensions on the streets after protests over ousting of Martín Vizcarra
Peru’s congress has elected a new interim president after nearly 24 hours without a head of state as the country reels from an intense week of pro-democracy protests marked by accusations of police brutality.
Francisco Sagasti, an industrial engineer and member of the only political party that voted against the ousting of popular former president Martín Vizcarra a week ago, will be Peru’s caretaker president presiding over elections in April 2021.
Continue reading...Chapare virus, which causes haemorrhagic fevers, was transmitted to health workers in La Paz and resulted in three deaths
Researchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered human-to-human transmission of a rare virus in Bolivia belonging to a family of viruses that can cause haemorrhagic fevers, such as Ebola.
The news is a reminder that scientists are working to identify new viral threats to humankind, even as countries around the world battle a new wave of Covid-19 outbreaks.
Continue reading...Territory had its first documented case in early November and on Monday officials announced 26 confirmed Covid-19 cases
The Canadian territory of Nunavut will enter lockdown as a surge in coronavirus cases threatens vulnerable communities in the Arctic.
The territory, which had its first documented case in early November, has since experienced a spike in Covid-19 infections. Officials on Monday announced 26 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the territory, an increase over the three announced last Friday.
Continue reading...President’s candidates suffer heavy defeats amid resurgence of mainstream parties
Jair Bolsonaro – already smarting from Donald Trump’s defeat – has suffered a further setback after candidates he had championed performed dismally in municipal elections.
Sunday’s vote provided the first electoral opportunity to gauge the health of the Brazilian president’s anti-establishment movement since the populist’s shock election victory in 2018.
Continue reading...Alfredo Bosco came to Guerrero on assignment to document southern Mexican villages emptied out by conflict. Over repeated visits he documents the region’s story
Life in Guerrero seems to hover at the edge of violence. The threat is pervasive: in the armed men at roadblocks, the empty nighttime streets, the kindling of street protests. Then it erupts, in a brief convulsion. What endures is the wreckage left behind.
Continue reading...Manuel Merino’s exit follows nationwide fury sparked by shootings at pro-democracy rally
The interim president of Peru, Manuel Merino, has stepped down amid nationwide fury over the killing of two protesters in a brutally heavy-handed police clampdown on massive pro-democracy demonstrations on Saturday.
In a televised address to the nation, Merino announced his resignation and insisted he acted within the law when he was sworn into office as chief of state on Tuesday, following congress’s removal of the elected president in an impeachment vote.
Continue reading...At least 30 protesters were detained during big pro-democracy demonstrations in Peru, with multiple reports of heavy-handed treatment of largely peaceful attendees.
The health ministry reported two protesters were killed and more than 30 people were being treated for injuries on Saturday after nearly a week of unrest over the controversial removal of Martín Vizcarra as president.
Vizcarra's replacement by a de facto government is seen by many Peruvians as a coup and people have demanded the resignation of Manuel Merino, the former speaker of congress who was sworn in as president on Tuesday
Doctors say pair died of gunshot wounds as Peruvians protest against removal of Martín Vizcarra as president
Two protesters have been killed in massive pro-democracy demonstrations in Peru, the first deaths in nearly a week of unrest over the controversial removal of Martín Vizcarra as president and his replacement by a de facto government, seen by many Peruvians as a coup.
Protests have mounted demanding the resignation of Manuel Merino, the former speaker of congress who was sworn in as president on Tuesday, with tens of thousands of people filling the streets of Lima and dozens of towns and cities.
Continue reading...Storm may bring dangerous winds, storm surge and as much as 30in of rain to Nicaragua and Honduras
Tropical Storm Iota was brewing in the Caribbean early on Saturday, threatening a second tropical strike for Nicaragua and Honduras, countries recently ransacked by Eta, a category 4 hurricane.
Related: Devastating 2020 Atlantic hurricane season breaks all records
Continue reading...A major police operation was under way in Montreal on Friday afternoon at offices of French video game company Ubisoft that media reported was a possible hostage-taking, but police later said no threat had yet been found, and CBC News reported that the incident had been caused by a hoax 911 call.
Police confirmed the large deployment on Twitter had started at about 1.30pm, but offered no details while urging people to “avoid the area” near St-Laurent Boulevard and St-Viateur Street in Montreal’s Mile-End neighbourhood, close to downtown. Police later updated in a statement that “no threat has been detected so far. No injuries were reported.”
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