Category Archives: Americas

Canada officials misled Huawei executive, lawyers argue

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  • Meng Wanzhou ‘led to believe case was immigration-related’
  • Company CFO was in fact held on US arrest warrant

Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou – the Huawei executive at the centre of an extradition battle that has poisoned relations between Canada and China – have argued that officials misled her when she was detained at Vancouver airport.

Before Meng was formally arrested on 1 December, she was questioned for nearly three hours by Canadian border agents. She was also asked to surrender her electronic devices, which border agents searched.

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Trudeau’s blackface photos are awful – but then so are many of his policies | Arwa Mahdawi

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The Canadian prime minister is no monster, but he has spent years basking in a progressive image he doesn’t deserve

Justin Trudeau has had a colourful few days, hasn’t he? First there was a picture of him in brownface. Then there was a picture of him in blackface, which was swiftly followed by another picture of him in blackface. Then, as everyone was wondering how many more pictures of Trudeau in racist makeup there could possibly be, he admitted he wasn’t sure himself. He is just really fond of dressing up, you know? An overenthusiastic sort of guy. He is super-apologetic about the whole thing, but can’t everyone just lighten up?

Anyway, you know what this sorry saga is (apart from a huge blow to Trudeau’s #wokeboy brand)? It is what mummy bloggers like to call a “teachable moment”. And it shouldn’t teach Trudeau only how incredibly unacceptable and upsetting blackface is.

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Haiti: photojournalist shot in face as senator opens fire outside parliament

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  • Jean Marie Ralph Féthière draws handgun amid chaotic scenes
  • Chery Dieu-Nalio avoids serious injury; another man wounded

Two men including a photojournalist have been shot and injured by a Haitian senator who opened fire outside the country’s parliament, amid chaotic scenes as the government attempted to confirm the appointment of a new prime minister.

Chery Dieu-Nalio, an Associated Press photographer, was wounded in the face and a second man, Leon Leblanc, a security guard and driver, was also injured in the incident in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on Monday.

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David Lammy blames Trudeau’s blackface outfit on ‘racist tropes’

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Labour MP says Canadian PM’s scandal reveals ‘even liberal leaders’ succumb to racism

The Labour MP David Lammy has blamed the decision by Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to blacken his face at a party on pervasive racist tropes that even “liberal leaders” succumb to, as he made calls to tackle white supremacy and privilege.

Speaking at a fringe event at the party’s conference in Brighton, the anti-racism campaigner spoke out about old pictures that have emerged of Trudeau in blackface, including one of him dressed up for an Arabian Nights themed gala while still a teacher in 2001.

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Brazilians blame Rio governor’s shoot-to-kill policy for death of girl

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Hundreds protest over favela killing of Ágatha Félix, eight, allegedly shot in back by police

The photograph shows a smiling eight-year-old girl dressed as Wonder Woman, beaming through gap teeth and crossing her small clenched fists into an X. Shocked Brazilians shared the image of Ágatha Félix online after she was shot in the back in a Rio de Janeiro favela on Friday night by what residents said was a bullet from a police officer’s rifle. She later died in hospital.

She was the fifth young child to be killed in Rio favelas this year. Favela activists, politicians, the public defenders’ office and the president of Rio’s bar association blamed the shoot-to-kill policy of the Rio governor, Wilson Witzel. “He is responsible for the murder,” tweeted Guilherme Boulos, a leftist politician.

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Ghosts of tyrants past stalk proud Haiti as it slides towards the brink

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A nation that suffered under the Duvalier dictators is collapsing as corruption and a failing economy take their toll

Last Sunday, Rony Marceline was riding his motorbike out of Ouanaminthe, a muggy, colourful town on Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic, on a mission that within a few days has become commonplace: transporting yellow plastic containers of petrol. He hit a lorry and the canister split, enveloping him and his passenger, an as yet unnamed woman, in flames.

Until that moment, the newly necessary practice of carrying cans of fuel had been the subject of meme humour in this country where the petrol is running out and the usually intense traffic is stuttering to a halt. In one, an elegant woman carries a can under the caption: “the new accessory”. But now there is no joking: now the whole country is ready to explode.

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US to sign agreement to send asylum seekers to El Salvador

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Deal could lead to migrants obtaining refuge in El Salvador, one of Central America’s most violent countries

The United States planned to sign an agreement on Friday to help make one of Central America’s most violent countries, El Salvador, a haven for migrants seeking asylum, according to a senior Trump administration official.

The official said the acting homeland security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, would sign a “cooperative asylum agreement”.

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Kaillie Humphries stood up to her sport’s abusive culture. It ended how you’d expect

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The double Olympic champion was denied her bid to escape a coach she says abused and harassed her, exposing a numbingly familiar truth: the system is not set up to support survivors

Kaillie Humphries brought glory to Canada time and again on the world stage, winning a gold medal in the two-woman bobsleigh at the Vancouver Olympics and becoming the first woman ever to successfully defend her title in Sochi four years later. She has challenged gender norms in sport by being one of the first few women to compete in mixed gender racing, then in 2016 drove an all-woman team against men in international competition.

Technically speaking, Humphries is badass, and Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton has adored her. The true north has only started to utter it’s polite disdain since last week when Humphries announced that she wanted to leave the national federation because she had endured verbal and mental abuse from head coach Todd Hays. Humphries declared her intention to switch federations and compete under the American flag moving forward. “I need to be the best athlete I can be and go where it’s safe and where I have an opportunity to continue my career” she said in an interview with CBC Sports. “And unfortunately, that is not with Bobsleigh Canada anymore.”

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Argentina police arrest gang accused of smuggling cocaine in plastic penises

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Police say they seized the cocaine-loaded penises at the home of a couple who managed a Peruvian restaurant

Police in Argentina have arrested members of a gang of drug dealers accused of smuggling cocaine hidden inside plastic penises.

The cocaine-loaded members, of the kind found as costume adornments at party shops, were sold by dealers operating in the red light district of the city of La Plata, about 36 miles south of Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires.

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US and Canada have lost three billion birds since 1970

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More than one in four birds have been lost across diverse groups and habitats, in what researchers describe as a ‘wake-up call’

The US and Canada have lost more than one in four birds – a total of three billion – since 1970, culminating in what scientists who published a new study are calling a “widespread ecological crisis”.

Researchers observed a 29% decline in bird populations across diverse groups and habitats – from songbirds such as meadowlarks to long-distance migratory birds such as swallows and backyard birds like sparrows.

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How will Justin Trudeau’s blackface photos affect Canada’s election?

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Incident has landed the prime minister in hot water as his Liberal party fights to secure another term in a tightly contested election

Canadians have long been aware that Justin Trudeau likes to dress up.

His tendency to appropriate dress and customs from other cultures has prompted gentle mockery from rival politicians and the media: on a trip to India last year, he was photographed in a kurta on numerous occasions. He has Indigenous art tattooed his shoulder. He wears Ramadan socks and dances to bhangra music.

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Trudeau says he can’t recall how many times he wore blackface makeup

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Footage emerges of third instance of Canadian prime minister in blackface, with one month to go before election

• How will Justin Trudeau’s blackface photos affect Canada’s election?

Justin Trudeau is scrambling to halt further damage to his re-election campaign after a string of racist images from his past put Canada’s image-conscious prime minister at the centre of yet another scandal.

Less than five weeks before the federal election on 21 October, the Liberal leader’s campaign was rocked when images emerged of Trudeau wearing blackface makeup.

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Justin Trudeau brownface: Canada PM apologises after image emerges

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Canadian prime minister says he deeply regrets image from 2001 party, which emerges weeks out from election

Justin Trudeau has apologised for wearing brownface makeup to a party when he was a teacher in 2001, saying “it was a racist thing to do”.

A photograph of Trudeau dressed in a turban and robes with brown makeup on his face, neck and hands, was published by Time magazine on Wednesday. It was taken when he was 29, while working as a teacher at West Point Grey Academy.

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Clashes erupt after Ecuador fails to decriminalize abortion for rape victims

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Pro-choice activists say decision is a death sentence, after illegal abortions resulted in 15.6% of maternal deaths in 2014

Clashes have erupted between pro-choice demonstrators and police outside Ecuador’s national assembly after lawmakers rejected a bill which would decriminalize abortion in cases of rape.

Abortion is illegal in Ecuador except in cases where the life of the mother is in danger, or if the pregnancy is the result of the rape of a woman with mental disabilities.

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Spy scandal: Canada reassures allies over leak that may be linked to Australian drug syndicate

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Intelligence officer Cameron Ortis had access to classified information from Five Eyes allies, including Australia

Canada is seeking to reassure its Five Eyes intelligence allies in the wake of a massive alleged spying leak that may be linked to an Australian drug-smuggling criminal syndicate.

Cameron Ortis, the director general of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s intelligence unit, has been charged over allegations he was trying to sell secrets to a foreign agent or terrorist group. He had access to classified information from Canada’s Five Eyes global allies, including Australia.

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Mexico experts say body parts dumped in well come from 41 individuals

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  • Tests continue on contents of 119 plastic bags found in Jalisco
  • Clandestine burial sites have become common during drug war

Forensic examiners in western Mexico have pieced together 41 bodies from bags full of body parts found in a well earlier this month.

The examiners in the western state of Jalisco said tests were continuing on the grisly contents of 119 plastic bags dumped in a well near the city of Guadalajara. Authorities had to call in backhoes to fully excavate the pit.

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Canada’s intelligence service: theft of information is ‘potentially devastating’

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Theft of classified information by a senior intelligence officer could ‘cause grave injury to Canada’s national interests’

The theft of classified information by a senior intelligence officer could be “devastating” to Canada’s national security, the country’s spy service has warned, as concern over the security breach continues to grow.

In a series of internal documents obtained by the CBC, Canada’s intelligence service outlined fears that details of the country’s spycraft could have been comprised after the theft of sensitive information by Cameron Ortis, 47, a director general with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s intelligence unit.

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Canada: arrest of ex-head of intelligence shocks experts and alarms allies

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Police say charges of stealing covert information against Cameron Ortis pose ‘potential risk’ for US, UK, New Zealand and Australia

Canada and its allies are scrambling to assess the damage inflicted by what experts believe could be the largest security breach in the country’s history after a senior federal intelligence official was arrested on charges of stealing covert information.

Following a lengthy investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted police, Cameron Ortis – the leader of the police force’s own intelligence unit – was charged on Friday with leaking or offering to share covert information.

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‘Caught defenseless in the crossfire’: Rio families cope with deaths by police violence

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Rio de Janeiro police have killed a record number of people in the name of Wilson Witzel’s war on drugs, and many say it’s civilian lives being lost

Night has fallen on Rio de Janeiro’s Albert Schweitzer hospital, and in its 11th-floor intensive care unit Enzo Coutinho dozes in his aunt’s lap.

“Sometimes it takes a mountain to trust and believe in you,” Merielle Ventura, a 24-year-old nursery teacher, sings gently into her nephew’s ear.

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Reporting on Hurricane Dorian: ‘It was a scene of complete devastation’

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New York reporter recalls challenges of covering a disaster as huge as the category 5 storm that ripped through the Bahamas

How do you start an interview with someone who has just lost everything?

With the floodwaters just receded, the stench of mould beginning to creep into the hollowed-out buildings that survived two days of pummelling winds, and bloated corpses still being recovered, that was a question I was forced to grapple with last week in the Bahamas.

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