Category Archives: Americas

‘High degree of probability’ bodies found in northern Mexico are missing Perth brothers

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Siblings Callum and Jake Robinson and US citizen Jack Carter Rhoad were travelling on a surfing holiday when they were reported missing

Three people have been arrested on charges of kidnapping after three bodies were found in an area of northern Mexico where two Australian brothers and an American friend went missing.

Perth siblings Callum and Jake Robinson, both in their 30s, were travelling in the region on a surfing holiday, with their friend Jack Carter Rhoad, a US citizen. The trio was reported missing when they failed to check into pre-arranged accommodation near the city of Ensenada last weekend.

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Canadian police charge three over killing of Sikh activist

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Prime minister said there were ‘credible allegations’ that India was behind killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar

Canadian police have charged three members of an alleged hit team for their role in the assassination of the Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the first arrests in a high-profile killing which officials believe was masterminded by India.

The arrests comes nearly a year after the prominent activist was killed in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh gurdwara on the evening of 18 June in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. In what investigators previously described as a carefully orchestrated operation, two assailants fired about 50 bullets at Nijjar and escaped the area in a grey car.

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Brazil: 37 killed and dozens missing in worst floods in 80 years

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More than 23,000 people forced to leave homes after heavy rains in southern Rio Grande do Sul prompt record-breaking floods

Heavy rains in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 37 people, with another 74 still missing, as record-breaking floods devastated cities and forced thousands to leave their homes.

It was the fourth such environmental disaster in a year, following floods in July, September and November that killed 75 people in total.

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Quebec premier says police should dismantle pro-Palestinian student camp

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François Legault advocates removal of week-long demonstration at Montreal’s McGill University: ‘The encampment is illegal’

Quebec’s premier has said police should begin dismantling an “illegal” week-long pro-Palestinian encampment at Montreal’s McGill University, as students at Canada’s largest universities ramp up demands that the schools sever relationships with groups linked to Israel.

“The encampment is illegal,” François Legault told reporters. “The law must be respected, so I expect the police to dismantle these illegal campsites, which is what McGill has requested.”

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Panama to elect new president against backdrop of social unrest and drought

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Country to vote on Sunday after supreme court allows leading presidential contender to remain in the race

Panama’s supreme court has rejected a move to disqualify the candidacy of the leading presidential contender, José Raúl Mulino, two days before the country’s election on Sunday.

The ruling early on Friday removes an element of uncertainty from the vote, but the country remains racked by social discontent, against a backdrop of mass protests, economic slowdown, drought in the Panama Canal and the closure of one of the world’s largest copper mines.

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Residents flee as Haitian gangs launch new gun and arson attacks in capital

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Hundreds have fled their homes as violence once again gripped Port-au-Prince after new prime minister sworn in last week

Gunmen have launched a string of fresh attacks in Port-au-Prince, burning homes and exchanging gunfire with police for hours in one of the biggest outbreaks of violence since Haiti’s new prime minister was announced.

The attacks, which forced hundreds to flee their homes, began late on Wednesday in neighborhoods including Solino and Delmas 18, 20 and 24, south-west of the main international airport, which has remained closed for nearly two months.

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Colombian president says government will sever Israel ties over Gaza ‘genocide’

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Gustavo Petro tells May Day rally ‘if Palestine dies, humanity dies’, as Israeli foreign minister accuses president of antisemitism

Colombia’s president has announced that his government will sever diplomatic relations with Israel, in the latest escalation of a furious row between the countries over the war in Gaza.

Addressing a May Day rally in Bogotá on Wednesday, Gustavo Petro again described Israel’s siege of Gaza as “genocide”.

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Canada: bitter clash in parliament over Trudeau ‘wacko’ jibe

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Parliamentary questions dominated by partisan attacks a day after Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre ejected from chamber

Canada’s Liberal and Conservative parties have redoubled their parliamentary clash a day after the Tory leader was ejected from the House of Commons for calling Justin Trudeau a “wacko”.

Under the guise of a debate over British Columbia’s decision to decriminalize some hard drugs, the parliamentary question period on Wednesday was dominated by deeply partisan attacks.

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US asylum app strands migrants and aids organised crime, rights group says

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CBP One app offers far too few appointments, meaning asylum seekers must wait or pay human trafficking groups, report reveals

A US government smartphone app that tightly limits asylum appointments at the US-Mexico border is stranding vulnerable migrants in Mexico and enriching organised crime groups, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The report, which draws on interviews with more than 100 migrants, as well as officials and activists, documents how the CBP One app – which is all but mandatory for asylum seekers – offers 1,450 appointments a day, when arrivals at the border averaged 7,240 a day between May 2023 and January 2024.

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‘Wacko PM’: Canadian opposition leader ejected for Trudeau insult

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Conservative Pierre Poilievre refuses to withdraw ‘wacko’ remark, prompting censure from speaker and removal from Commons

The leader of Canada’s main opposition party was ejected from the House of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “a wacko”, in the latest clash between two men set to fight an election next year.

The incident started when Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservatives, criticised Trudeau for supporting moves in British Columbia to decriminalize some hard drugs in an attempt to reduce the number of overdose-related deaths.

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Ontario: grandparents and infant killed in wrong-way police pursuit crash

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Vehicle driving wrong way on highway was being pursued by police after alleged liquor store robbery, causing six-vehicle collision

Two grandparents and their infant grandchild have been killed on a highway east of Toronto after a van being chased by police crashed while going the wrong way, causing a six-vehicle collision.

The chase late on Monday was triggered by an alleged liquor store robbery, and the crash also left the suspect in the chased van dead, police in Canada said on Tuesday.

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New Haiti PM named but powerful gangs demand seat at the table

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Little-known former sports minister Fritz Bélizaire appointed as 90,000 flee capital in a month

Haiti’s newly installed transitional council has chosen a little-known former sports minister as the country’s prime minister, as it presses forward in its monumental task of trying to establish a stable new government amid raging violence.

Fritz Bélizaire replaces Michel Patrick Boisvert, the former minister of economy and finance who was the interim prime minister. His appointment appeared to come as a surprise to some members of the council, with some confessing that they did not know him.

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British Columbia abruptly drops drug decriminalization after backlash

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Premier asks government to reintroduce ban, ending Canada’s first large attempt to gauge effects of decriminalization

British Columbia has abruptly reversed course on its landmark experiment decriminalizing the possession of certain illicit drugs, citing mounting public frustration and “disorder” in the Canadian province.

Premier David Eby said on Friday that he had asked the federal government to reintroduce a ban on public drug use, formally ending the country’s first large attempt to gauge the effects of decriminalization.

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British tourist injured in shark attack is ‘aware and can communicate’

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Peter Smith is in intensive care after suffering damage to an arm, leg and hand and puncture wounds to abdomen

A British tourist who was seriously injured in a shark attack off a Caribbean island is “aware of what is happening and can communicate” in intensive care, his wife has said.

Peter Smith, 64, from Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, was savaged 10 metres (33ft) off the shore near the Starfish hotel in Courland Bay on the north coast of Tobago on Friday morning.

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Briton in critical care after ‘unusual’ shark attack on Tobago

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Man, 64, being treated for injuries to arm, leg and stomach after attack in shallow waters

A British man is in intensive care after an “unusual” shark attack on the Caribbean island of Tobago.

The 64-year-old man was receiving critical care after the bull shark attack left him with injuries to his left arm, left leg and stomach, Tobago’s Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation said.

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Orca calf successfully returned to open water after bold rescue in Canada

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Two-year-old calf one step closer to reuniting with family group after tragic accident that left her stranded in remote lagoon

An orca calf, trapped for weeks in a remote lagoon in western Canada, has freed herself and is travelling towards open waters, hailed as “incredible news” by a growing body of human supporters.

The move puts her one step closer to reuniting with her family one month after a tragic accident left her stranded.

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Air Canada apologizes after headdress of First Nations chief removed to hold

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Politicians decry ‘shameful’ incident on domestic flight in which Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak’s headdress was taken by airline staff

Canada’s largest airline has apologized to a prominent First Nations chief after her ceremonial headdress was removed from the plane’s cabin, wrapped in a plastic bag and moved to the baggage hold.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, national chief of the assembly of First Nations, was flying domestically on Wednesday when she said her headdress was taken by airline staff.

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New Haiti government sworn in during secret ceremony

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‘Transitional council’ takes oath of office after prime minister formally resigns as gang violence continues to rock capital

Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has formally resigned and a new provisional government has been sworn in during a secret ceremony at the presidential palace, nearly two months after a criminal insurrection plunged the capital into chaos.

The nine-person “transitional council” was officially established on Thursday during an event at the national palace in Port-au-Prince. As its members took their oaths, Henry, who is in the US having been locked out of Haiti by the gang uprising, announced in a letter that he was stepping down.

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Barbados leader halts £3m payout to UK MP for Drax Hall plantation

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Government U-turn as PM Mia Mottley acknowledges anger from reparations movement over plan to buy Barbados land from Dorset MP Richard Drax

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has halted plans for a multi-million-pound payout to the British Conservative MP Richard Drax for the purchase of 53 acres of the Drax Hall plantation, which he owns.

As revealed in the Observer last Sunday, the payout plan had angered those involved in the Caribbean reparations movement, who said Drax, the MP for South Dorset, should hand over all or part of the 617-acre plantation to the people of Barbados.

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Portugal needs to ‘pay the costs’ of slavery and colonialism, says president

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Critics of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa say behind remarks is lack of national recognition that slavery should be discussed in schools

Portugal needs to “pay the costs” of slavery and other colonial-era crimes, the country’s president has said, in a rare instance of a European leader seemingly backing the need for reparations.

Portugal has long grappled with calls by campaigners to address its legacy as the European country with the longest historical involvement in the slave trade. During the span of four centuries, nearly 6 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese vessels.

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