Category Archives: Americas

Trump administration doubles reward for arrest of Venezuela’s president to $50m

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Nicolás Maduro was indicted in 2020 on federal charges of narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine

The Trump administration is doubling to $50m a reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narcotraffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said on Thursday in a video statement announcing the reward.

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New research reveals King George IV profited from slavery in Grenada

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Experts say finding heightens pressure on the monarchy to confront its historical links to slavery

Grenada has vowed to step up its pursuit of an apology and reparations from King Charles after new research revealed that George IV personally profited from slavery on the Caribbean island.

The research by independent scholar Desirée Baptiste shows that George IV, who ruled for a decade until 1830, received profits from enslaved labour on Grenadian plantations – a finding that experts say heightens pressure on the monarchy to confront its historical links to slavery.

This article was amended on 7 August 2025 to remove a description of George IV as an ancestor of King Charles. George IV was Charles’s 4th great-granduncle but not a direct ancestor.

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Brazil judge eases Jair Bolsonaro house arrest to allow family visits

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Ex-president can see children and grandchildren without prior court approval, but phone and video ban remains

A Brazilian supreme court judge has eased the terms of Jair Bolsonaro’s house arrest, allowing the far-right former president to receive visits from family members without prior judicial approval.

The former paratrooper turned populist has been under house arrest since Monday, when Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the measure on the grounds that Bolsonaro had allegedly violated court orders.

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Ireland calls on Haiti to secure release of group kidnapped from local orphanage

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An Irish missionary and three-year-old child are among eight people taken by gunmen who stormed the place

Ireland’s foreign ministry has called on Haitian authorities to ensure “everything is done” to secure the release of a group of people, including an Irish missionary and a three-year-old child, taken by gunmen who stormed a local orphanage.

Simon Harris, the Irish foreign minister, spoke with his Haitian counterpart overnight, the government said in a statement, during which they agreed to stay in touch on their work to ensure the group is released, including missionary Gena Heraty who oversees the orphanage.

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US Coast Guard releases report calling Titan disaster a ‘preventable tragedy’

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Poor safety practices, lack of oversight and toxic workplace blamed for implosion in which five people died

Inadequate safety practices, deliberate efforts to avoid oversight and a “toxic workplace culture” were among the factors that led to the 2023 implosion of the Titan submersible, the US Coast Guard has said in a damning report that described the disaster as a “preventable tragedy”.

The submersible was on a commercial voyage to explore the wreck of the Titanic when it disappeared in the Atlantic, leading to the deaths of all five people on board. The ensuing search captured headlines around the world for days as it evolved from a potential rescue mission to a recovery operation.

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Canada wildfires: 81 million Americans under air quality alerts as blazes rage

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Hundreds of fires across Canada and parts of the US prompt alerts in 14 states from Great Lakes region to the north-east

Hundreds of wildfires continued to burn across Canada and parts of the US on Tuesday sending smoke from the blazes across the region and reducing air quality in both countries.

US air quality tanked from the Great Lakes region to the north-east, making skies hazy from Minneapolis to New York City and even prompting a ground stop at Boston’s Logan international airport due to “low visibility” on Monday. Detroit, New York City and Chicago continued to record some of the worst air quality in the world on Tuesday, according to IQAir, ranking fourth, 10th and 11th respectively.

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US steps up efforts to help Bolsonaro avoid jail over alleged coup plot

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State department condemns judge’s decision to place former Brazil president under house arrest as trial proceeds

The US has intensified its campaign to help Jair Bolsonaro avoid punishment for allegedly masterminding a failed coup, with the state department denouncing the decision to place Brazil’s former president under house arrest.

“Let Bolsonaro speak!” the department’s bureau of western hemisphere affairs tweeted on Monday night after the far-right populist was confined to his mansion in the capital, Brasília, and police seized his mobile phone.

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Canada wildfires prompt severe air quality alerts across country and US

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More than 700 active wildfires burning across Canada and about two-thirds are currently out-of-control

Billowing smoke from hundreds of out-of-control wildfires – most of which are in the Canadian Prairies – have caused severe air quality alerts across Canada and the United States.

Detroit, Michigan, and the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto, recorded some of the worst air quality in the world on Monday, according to a ranking by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company.

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BP makes its biggest oil and gas discovery in 25 years off coast of Brazil

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Company to carry out more tests on its Santos basin find as it continues shift from renewables back to fossil fuels

BP has made its largest oil and gas discovery of the past 25 years off the coast of Brazil as it continues to shift its focus away from renewables and back to fossil fuels.

The Santos basin oil and gas discovery, which is located in deep waters, is the company’s 10th oil discovery of the year and could be its largest since its discovery at the Shah Deniz gasfield in Azerbaijan in 1999.

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Body found in collapsed Chile mine as search continues for trapped miners

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At least 100 people involved in rescue operation at El Teniente copper mine, which partially collapsed after ‘seismic event’

One of five miners trapped after a partial collapse at the world’s largest underground copper mine has been found dead, Chile’s state-owned Codelco group announced on Saturday, as rescuers continued their search for survivors.

The collapse took place on Thursday at the El Teniente mine in Rancagua, 100km south of Santiago, after a “seismic event.”

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Three Grenadian men sentenced to decades in prison for killing of US couple in Caribbean

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Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel were sailing their catamaran last year when they were attacked and killed

Three men from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada who were convicted of killing an elderly US couple last year after hijacking their catamaran have been sentenced to decades in prison. They had escaped after their arrests but were recaptured shortly thereafter.

Ron Mitchell, a sailor in his 30s who was accused of being the ringleader, received two life sentences late on Wednesday in the killings of Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71.

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Three Grenadian men sentenced to decades in prison for killing of US couple in Caribbean

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Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel were sailing their catamaran last year when they were attacked and killed

Three men from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada who were convicted of killing an elderly US couple last year after hijacking their catamaran have been sentenced to decades in prison. They had escaped after their arrests but were recaptured shortly thereafter.

Ron Mitchell, a sailor in his 30s who was accused of being the ringleader, received two life sentences late on Wednesday in the killings of Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71.

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Brazil judge hits back at ‘cowardly and treasonous’ plot behind US sanctions

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US put sanctions on Judge Alexandre de Moraes as an apparent move by Trump to help his ally Jair Bolsonaro

The supreme court judge presiding over the trial of Brazil’s ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said a “cowardly and treacherous” plot is afoot to pave the way for another attack on the South American country’s democracy.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes was put under sanctions by the US on Wednesday, as part of an apparent push by Donald Trump to help his ally Bolsonaro escape punishment for allegedly masterminding an attempted coup after losing the 2022 election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Trump also slapped a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports in response to what he called the “witch-hunt” against the far-right former president.

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Opposition leaders say ‘democracy in El Salvador has died’ after scrapping of presidential term limits

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Legislation allows rightwing president Nayib Bukele to seek unlimited terms, sparking fears of dictatorship

Activists and opposition leaders have that warned El Salvador is following Venezuela’s path towards dictatorship after the Central American country’s congress scrapped presidential term limits, paving the way for Nayib Bukele to seek indefinite re-election.

“Democracy in El Salvador has died,” opposition congresswoman Marcela Villatoro declared late on Thursday as the legislature – in which Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party controls 90% of seats – approved the highly controversial constitutional reform, by 57 votes to three.

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Family of Briton murdered in Jamaica seek answers over UK officials’ ‘indifference’

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Delroy Walker’s relatives say they were initially told ‘your brother’s not British, or not British enough’ to receive help

The family of a “generous and loving” British man who was murdered in Jamaica are demanding answers over the British government’s “indifferent” response after the tragedy.

Delroy Walker, from Birmingham, was stabbed to death weeks after retiring to the Caribbean island where he was building his dream home. The 63-year-old charity worker was murdered by a “jealous” tradesman he employed to help decorate the property in preparation for a family visit in summer 2018.

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Panama files lawsuits against owner of ports at centre of US-China struggle

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Comptroller general lodged two cases in country’s supreme court after failed attempt to sell to consortium

Panama’s comptroller general has lodged two cases with the country’s supreme court against the owners of two ports at the centre of a geopolitical struggle between the US and China, in a move likely to be seen as a victory for Donald Trump in his attempt to rid the Panama canal of Chinese influence.

The decision follows a failed attempt to sell the ports to a consortium headed by the US investment fund BlackRock and Swiss shipping firm MSC.

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‘Classic tinpot dictator’: Trump exports his assault on democracy to Brazil

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US president seems to be weaponizing tariffs to punish Brazil for its coup trial against his ally Bolsonaro

Over the past six months, Donald Trump has been accused of rapidly dragging the largest democracy in the Americas towards authoritarianism. Now, the US president seems bent on undermining the region’s second largest democracy too.

Since early July, Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on Brazil’s institutions, slapping 50% tariffs on imports from the South American country and sanctions on a supreme court judge – partly in retribution for what he called the political persecution of his ally, Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly masterminding a failed coup.

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Canada braces as tariff deadline looms and talks with US ‘chaos machine’ drag

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Ottawa is still trying to find a trade deal with Washington to avoid heavy tariffs as 1 August deadline approaches

After months of tariff threats from the US and escalating trade tensions that have sowed anger in Canada and fractured a once-close alliance, the country is now fast approaching a 1 August deadline to reach a deal with the Trump administration – which has shown no signs of backing down.

And observers are keeping a close eye on negotiations this week to determine whether too large a chasm has grown between the countries, resulting in what could be an explosive end to what was decades of free-flowing trade.

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Trump threatens Canada on trade deal after Carney moves to recognise Palestine

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Trump says recognising Palestine statehood ‘rewards Hamas’ and US deal with Canada would now be ‘very hard’

Donald Trump has threatened Canada after it moved to recognise a Palestinian state, reacting to Mark Carney’s announcement by saying that signing a US trade deal would now be “very hard”.

The Canadian prime minister said on Wednesday that if the Palestinian Authority promised to meet certain conditions, including demilitarising and holding elections without Hamas, Canada would join France, the UK and other allies in formally recognising a state of Palestine at the UN general assembly in New York in September.

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Sheinbaum demands return of Mexican citizens held at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

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Mexican president said citizens held at controversial Florida immigration jail ‘should be repatriated immediately’

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said that the country is demanding the repatriation of at least 30 of its citizens currently being held in the controversial Florida immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.

The Mexican leader said on Wednesday that a note had been sent to US authorities “demanding that any Mexicans who might enter this detention center should be repatriated immediately”.

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