One man was killed and two others wounded after army patrol opened fire on family driving to a baby shower
Ten Brazilian soldiers have been arrested after firing more than 80 bullets into a car carrying a family, killing one man and wounding two other people.
Evaldo dos Santos Rosa, 51, a musician and security guard, was driving the family to a baby shower on Sunday afternoon, when an army patrol opened fire on them in the low-income neighbourhood of Guadalupe.
Continue reading...Firms are not doing enough to combat potential interference, minister said after report found foreign meddling is ‘very likely’
The world’s major social media companies are not doing enough to help Canada combat potential foreign meddling in this October’s elections and the government might have to regulate them, the cabinet minister in charge of ensuring a fair vote has said.
The democratic institutions minister, Karina Gould, spoke shortly after Canada’s electronic signals spy agency said it was very likely that foreign actors will try to meddle in the election.
Continue reading...As part of our Shades of Black series, we invited eight women to talk about their experience of colorism in their relationships, careers and everyday life
Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary who has been the public face of some of the Trump administration’s most contentious policies, has resigned.
Related: Identifying separated migrant families may take two years, US government says
Continue reading...Donald Trump has once again claimed there was a state of emergency while on a visit to the US-Mexico border in California, saying the US immigration system is 'full' and 'when it's full, there's nothing you can do about it'. The US president travelled to Calexico on Friday to view a section of the border barrier, which he described as new, even though it was a long-planned replacement for an older barrier
Continue reading...Seven jailed for role in attempt to smuggle 680kg of drug from Dominican Republic
A French court has sentenced seven people implicated in a drug-smuggling operation to up to 18 years in prison each, with two former air force pilots getting six-year terms.
Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos had fled the Dominican Republic after a raid on the private jet they were to fly to Saint-Tropez, southern France, but were re-arrested in France in November 2015.
Continue reading...Thirty-person expedition, including Funai officials and a doctor, contacted and vaccinated 34 people from the Korubo tribe
Brazil’s biggest and most ambitious expedition in decades to contact a voluntarily isolated indigenous tribe has been declared a success after venturing deep into remote and inaccessible Amazon jungle.
The rare, high-risk expedition aimed to prevent potential conflict between tribal groups in a vast and remote reserve near Brazil’s Peruvian border.
Continue reading...Researchers warn of rise in infectious diseases amid spike in levels of malnutrition and infant and maternal mortality
The UN must officially declare a full-scale humanitarian emergency in Venezuela after the “utter collapse” of the health system, experts have said.
Warning of the return of infectious diseases and rising levels of malnutrition and infant and maternal death, a report published this week by Human Rights Watch and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health calls on the UN secretary general, António Guterres, to declare a “complex humanitarian emergency”.
Continue reading...Students found the body of Paul McAuley Tuesday in a hostel he set up for indigenous schoolchildren in Iquitos
A forensic expert in Peru has confirmed that the British Catholic missionary and activist Paul McAuley was dead before his body was burned at a hostel he founded in the jungle city of Iquitos.
The head forensic doctor in Peru’s Loreto region, Francisco Moreno, told the Guardian that no traces of carbon dioxide were found in McAuley’s blood indicating he had not inhaled smoke, thus ruling out burning as a possible cause of death.
Continue reading...Police in São Paulo state have shot and killed 11 assailants who were preparing to simultaneously blow up ATMs at two branches early on Thursday, authorities said.
São Paulo state’s public security secretariat said in a statement that about 25 suspects were involved in the attempts to blow up the machines to get at the cash inside, a common type of crime in Brazil. Along with the 11 killed, another two men were arrested. No money was stolen.
Continue reading...Ricardo Vélez accused of ‘historical revisionism’ after saying school history books will be rewritten to give ‘a fuller version’
Brazil’s education minister has been accused of “historical revisionism” after saying school history books will be rewritten to give a positive spin to the country’s 1964 coup and 21-year military dictatorship.
Related: Brazil: tortured dissidents appalled by Bolsonaro's praise for dictatorship
Continue reading...Julian Borger is right to draw attention to growing anxiety in Latin America as the Trump administration ramps up its rhetoric towards Venezuela, and to acknowledge the problematic trajectory of US-led armed intervention since Bush’s war on terror (Mexico raises concerns over US legal justifications for war, 3 April). Greater transparency in the formal legal justifications for military intervention is not just needed at the UN but here in the UK (which is why the public administration and constitutional affairs committee has rightly opened an inquiry into authorising the use of military force).
But with respect to Venezuela, what should be at the forefront of our minds is the human rights catastrophe facing Venezuelans. Their government has engaged in the systematic use of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence since February 2014, to the extent that they are likely to constitute crimes against humanity.
Continue reading...Twins will each pay 30% of Brazil’s monthly minimum salary after DNA test failed to identify which man was her father
A Brazilian judge has ruled that two identical twins must both pay maintenance for a nine-year-old girl after a DNA test failed to identify which was her father.
Each man will have to pay 30% of Brazil’s monthly minimum salary – around £59 – and share the mother’s medical, dental, clothing and school costs.
Continue reading...Artist Jake Berman plots old public transport systems in period style. From LA to Toronto, San Francisco to Buffalo, he has created maps of cities’ modern transit too, so you can click and compare
Continue reading...The support of barrios like Petare may be key to overcoming Maduro. But not all residents are sold on his challenger
Nicolás Maduro’s special forces set up camp on Petare’s doorstep just days after efforts to depose him began, daubing the pitch black exterior of their base with their commander-in-chief’s call to arms: “Always loyal, never traitors.”
Alongside, troops painted two white skulls and a second chilling mantra: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
Continue reading...Nicolás Maduro’s constituent assembly removes protection, opening the door for arrest of man backed by dozens of countries as interim leader
Venezuela’s opposition figurehead, Juan Guaidó, has vowed to continue fighting Nicolás Maduro’s “cowardly, miserable and murderous” regime after he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity – a move that potentially opens the door to Guaidó’s arrest.
More than 50 countries have recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader since he launched his campaign to force Maduro from office in late January, including the United States, Britain and most Latin American governments.
Continue reading...Paul McAuley, 71, had helped Amazon tribes fight against the onslaught of oil and gas companies
Authorities in Peru have launched an investigation after the body of a British environmental activist and Catholic missionary was found in the Amazon city of Iquitos.
Students found the body of Paul McAuley, 71, on Tuesday in a hostel he founded for indigenous students in the Amazon city. Local media reported that his body had been burned.
Continue reading...Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott ousted after bribery controversy, as Trudeau says ‘trust has been broken’
Two former Canadian cabinet ministers have been expelled from their party after Justin Trudeau said they could no longer be trusted, as a bitter political scandal continues to inflict political damage on the ruling Liberal party.
Jody Wilson-Raybould, the country’s former justice minister and attorney general, and Jane Philpott, the former president of the treasury board, were expelled on Tuesday, following a vote by members.
Continue reading...Lenín Moreno said ‘photos of my bedroom’ and his family were circulated online but did not directly accuse WikiLeaks founder
Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, has said the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had “repeatedly violated” the conditions of his asylum in the country’s London embassy, where he has lived for close to seven years.
Speaking to the Ecuadorean radio broadcasters association on Tuesday, Moreno said under the terms of his asylum “Assange cannot lie or, much less, hack into private accounts or private phones” and he could not “intervene in the politics of countries, or worse friendly countries”.
Continue reading...Countries fear that legal standard of states being ‘unwilling or unable’ to deal with terrorism could be used in Latin America
Latin American states are mounting a challenge to the acceptance of a legal standard promoted by the US, UK and their allies to justify military operations in the Middle East, fearing the same standard could eventually be used to justify intervention in their own hemisphere.
The Mexican government is spearheading an effort at the UN to bring greater transparency to the formal legal justifications presented by western powers for military operations in Syria and elsewhere.
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