A video aired on Brazilian media shows the exact moment a dam burst in Brazil on 25 January. The dam break at an iron ore mining complex operated by the minerals firm Vale killed at least 65 people. A further 279 are missing. Cars can be seen driving around desperately trying to escape as a dramatic gush of mud approaches. The surge buried buildings adjoining the dam and several parts of the nearby city of Brumadinho.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Americas
Why is Venezuela in crisis? – video explainer
Venezuelans have been in a state of uncertainty since Juan Guaidó, the leader of the democratically elected national assembly, declared himself the interim president in a move against the current leader, Nicolás Maduro. How did this once prosperous country descend into chaos?
Continue reading...Mass protests to sweep across Venezuela as Maduro clings on
Street demonstrations designed to drive Maduro out of office will be held on Saturday as he insists ‘we are indestructible’
Mass street protests designed to drive Nicolás Maduro out of office and into exile will sweep cities across Venezuela again on Saturday as Hugo Chávez’s successor fights for his political life and the future of their leftist Bolivarian revolution.
Maduro, who was first elected after Chávez’s death in 2013 and returned to office last year in a vote widely regarded as manipulated, has overseen a ruinous slide in the South American country’s fortunes.
Continue reading...Anti-graft candidate poised to win El Salvador presidency
Nayib Bukele favoured to win Sunday’s vote, after running on a platform targeting corruption
“Corruption is the plague that infests our country,” said Omar Garcia, a 37-year-old janitor from El Salvador’s capital San Salvador, reflecting the primary concern of much of the electorate ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.
A series of corruption scandals have left Salvadorans fed up with leaders who have pillaged government coffers for their own benefit while the country struggles to address the widespread inequality, unemployment, and insecurity that has led to mass emigration.
Continue reading...Grieving Humboldt Broncos families face wait for sentencing
Driver of semi-trailer truck that struck coach of young hockey players will be sentenced at the end of March
The victims and grieving relatives of a Canadian truck crash, in which 16 people died, will have to wait until March to learn the driver’s sentence.
Following an emotionally charged week of victim impact statements, the judge overseeing the case has asked for nearly two months to consider how to sentence the driver, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu. On 6 April last year, his semi-trailer truck collided with the bus of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team after he failed to stop at an intersection in central Saskatchewan.
Continue reading...‘¡Sí se puede!’ shouts rapturous crowd at Juan Guaidó rally
‘Yes we can!’ echo supporters of self-declared incumbent leader who calls for Saturday protests
The politician spearheading efforts to force Nicolás Maduro from power has vowed to step up his “fight for freedom” amid reports Venezuelan special forces had visited his home in the capital Caracas.
Addressing a packed theatre at the city’s Central University of Venezuela on Thursday lunchtime, Juan Guaidó said the opposition was determined to end Venezuela’s “tragedy” and lead the country into a new era of stability and prosperity.
Continue reading...Huge cocaine shipment swapped with salt to catch traffickers
Largest drugs haul in Italy in 25 years comes after sting operation involving Colombia and Spain
Italian police have taken possession of more than two tonnes of cocaine in the largest drugs seizure in the country in 25 years, after a sting operation involving three other nations across two continents.
The drugs, discovered in 60 bags in a cargo container at the Port of Genoa, have a total value of €500m (£436m) and were found with the help of the British, Colombian and Spanish police.
Continue reading...Canada cuts staff in Cuba embassy after mystery illness strikes again
Latest case comes after dozens of American embassy workers in Havana were affected, some suffering mild brain injury
Canada has announced it is removing up to half of the Canadians at its embassy in Cuba after another diplomat was found to have fallen mysteriously ill.
Canada has confirmed 14 cases of mysterious health problems since early 2017. Twenty-six American embassy workers in Cuba have also been affected, suffering a range of symptoms and diagnoses including mild traumatic brain injury, also known as concussion.
Continue reading...Monarch butterfly population wintering in Mexico increases 144%
Monarch production will not be replicated next year, experts warn, as above average temperatures will cause problems
The population of monarch butterflies wintering in central Mexico is up 144% over last year, according to new research.
Related: 'It's a sad reality': a troubling trend sees a 97% decline in monarch butterflies
Continue reading...Venezuela: Maduro accuses US of trying to ‘get hands on our oil’
Embattled president warns Donald Trump he risks turning country into new Vietnam
Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has accused Donald Trump and a “group of extremists around him” of plotting to topple him in order to seize Venezuela’s oil, and warned he risked transforming the South American country into a new Vietnam.
In a four-minute Facebook video – published as Venezuela prepared on Wednesday for a day of fresh pro-opposition protests – Maduro said the leaders of the US “empire” were conspiring “to get their hands on our oil – just like they did in Iraq and in Libya”.
Continue reading...Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou appears in court on eve of US China trade talks
Extradition case in Canada drags on as Donald Trump prepares to meet Beijing’s top trade envoy in Washington
The chief financial officer of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, has made her first appearance in a Canadian court in more than a month, part of a high-stakes dispute that threatens to cast a pall over this week’s US-China trade talks.
Meng, the daughter of the Chinese telecoms company’s founder, attended the hearing in British Columbia supreme court on Tuesday, just two days before Donald Trump and Chinese vice premier Liu He are scheduled to meet in Washington.
Continue reading...Huawei indictments: sanctions busting, industrial espionage and a stolen robot
Indictments packed with emails and transactions allegedly showing how technology giant carried out criminal conspiracies
The twin criminal indictments against Huawei unveiled by US authorities on Monday are packed with emails and financial transactions allegedly showing how the Chinese technology giant carried out criminal conspiracies.
But the finer points of the 23 charges are less important than the overall shot they deliver across China’s bows. The US considers Huawei to be an arm of the Chinese state – and their devices to be potential spying equipment for Beijing.
Continue reading...‘El Chapo’ defense lasts 30 minutes and calls just one witness
Prosecution case against accused Mexican drug lord had lasted 11 weeks
After a prosecution that spanned 11 weeks and had its share of bombshells, the defense case at the US trial of the alleged Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán clocked in on Tuesday at a mere 30 minutes.
Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman called one witness and entered one document into evidence before resting the defense’s case. The jury was sent home for the day with closing arguments set to begin on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Toronto serial killer pleads guilty to eight counts of murder
Bruce McArthur was charged with killing eight men, after police found remains in large planters at a property where he worked
A former landscaper accused of sexually assaulting, killing and dismembering men he met in Toronto’s Gay Village district over seven years has pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.
Bruce McArthur, wearing a black sweater, stood up and said “guilty” eight times as the charges were read on Tuesday. Sentencing will start on 4 February.
Continue reading...‘The river is dying’: the vast ecological cost of Brazil’s mining disasters
Water resources are tapped with often reckless abandon and poor regulation. And it looks set to go on under new president
The Brazilian government has been urged to step up punishments for environmental crimes after the deadliest mining disaster in decades.
The torrent of mud and iron ore tailings that engulfed the community of Brumadinho on Friday continues to inflict a toll on residents, river systems and freshwater species.
Continue reading...Venezuelan attorney general orders Guaidó investigation as crisis deepens
Tarek Saab said opposition leader would be investigated over his supposed role in ‘crimes that threaten the constitutional order’
Venezuela’s political crisis deepened on Tuesday as the country’s attorney general ordered an investigation into the opposition leader, who last week declared himself interim president in a rare challenge to the incumbent, Nicolás Maduro.
Tarek Saab, a Maduro loyalist, announced that Juan Guaidó – who has received the backing of the US and other regional powers including Brazil and Colombia – would be investigated over his supposed role in “serious crimes that threaten the constitutional order”.
Continue reading...Brazil dam collapse: five arrested including three mining firm staff
Three employees of Vale and two subcontracted engineers held over Brumadinho disaster
Brazilian police have arrested five people in an investigation into the causes of the Brumadinho dam disaster.
The dam break on Friday at an iron ore mining complex operated by the minerals firm Vale killed at least 65 people, and a further 279 are missing.
Continue reading...Rescuers sift through toxic mud in search of Brazil dam victims – video report
Rescue workers in Brazil waded through treacherous mud looking for bodies as pressure mounted on the mining company responsible for a dam that burst and spilled a flood of iron-ore waste
Continue reading...Quebec mosque attack: two years on, will security trump openness?
The planned transformation of Quebec’s Grand Mosque is haunted by the deadly attack on the Islamic centre in 2017
Until 29 January 2017, random motorists on the busy Chemin Sainte-Foy would sometimes pull over to the Quebec City Grand Mosque to withdraw some money.
Converted from a Desjardins Bank, it still looks like one, with its rows of rectangular glass panes and a barricaded drive-through. Its only crescent and minaret are in graphic form on a small plastic sign, blocked from the road by trees.
Continue reading...Venezuela crisis: New Zealand refuses to back Guaidó as interim president
Foreign minister Winston Peters says country needs to ‘decide its future through free and fair elections’
In a stark departure from its allies, the New Zealand government is refusing to take sides in the escalating Venezuelan leadership crisis, declining to give official recognition to either leader.
Last week opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself Venezuela’s interim president, and quickly won the support of the US, the UK, Canada and some Latin American countries, who issued strong public statements recognising his authority. On Monday New Zealand’s closest neighbour, Australia, recognised Guaidó as Venezuela’s president. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has also urged countries to “pick a side” in the crisis.
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