A massive fireball that engulfed people scooping up fuel that was spilling from a pipeline ruptured by thieves in central Mexico has killed at least 66 people and injured 76
Continue reading...Category Archives: Americas
Mexico explosion: at least 20 killed after burst pipeline ignites
Television footage showed the pipeline gushing fuel earlier in the day and people queuing with containers
At least 20 people have been killed and 71 injured in central Mexico when a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel thieves exploded as people were trying to fill up containers, the government of Hidalgo state said.
Mexican television footage showed flames leaping into the night sky on Friday in the municipality of Tlahuelilpan to the north of Mexico City as people shouted and cried for help.
Continue reading...‘An egregious offence’: Canada battles Norway for tallest moose statue
After Norway’s Storelgen stole Mac the Moose’s place as world’s tallest, a Canadian city hopes to ‘stick it to Oslo’ by increasing their statue’s size
For three decades, the Canadian city of Moose Jaw took pride in its status as the home of the world’s largest moose statue.
Standing at a majestic 10 meters tall, Mac the Moose has weathered brutal winters, graffiti and even the inglorious loss of his jaw. His recognition was so great that in 2013, he was named the city’s most popular celebrity.
Continue reading...Car bomb kills at least 20 at police academy in Bogotá
Blast also injured more than 50 people, but authorities have yet to suggest who was behind the attack
Twenty-one people have been killed and dozens more injured in a car bombing at a Colombian police academy in Bogotá, recalling the high-profile attacks associated with the bloodiest chapters of the country’s guerrilla and drug conflicts.
The scene outside the General Santander police academy was chaotic after the mid-morning explosion on Thursday, with ambulances and helicopters rushing to the normally tightly controlled facility.
Continue reading...Bogotá car bomb kills at least nine people – video
A car bomb has been detonated at a police academy in Bogotá, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 20, according to the country’s defence ministry.
The scene outside the General Santander police academy was chaotic, with ambulances and helicopters rushing to the normally tightly controlled facility
Continue reading...Brazil environment chief accused of ‘war on NGOs’ as partnerships paused
Civil society groups condemn move by minister, appointed by far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, as illegal attack on environment
Brazil’s new environment minister, Ricardo Salles, has suspended all partnerships and agreements with non-governmental organizations for 90 days, in a move that was described as “a war against NGOs”.
Announcing the move, Salles said the three-month suspension was to allow a re-evaluation of such partnerships, but civil society organizations described the move as a blatant and illegal attack on the environment and those working to protect it.
Continue reading...Latest migrant caravan marches on as Trump again demands border wall
The latest group set off from the notoriously violent Honduran city of San Pedro Sula at the start of this week
Hundreds of Central American migrants have continued their march towards the United States, crossing from Honduras into Guatemala, as Donald Trump again demanded the construction of a border wall he claims would keep such groups out.
Related: ‘No way to live here’: new Honduran caravan sets off north as Trump blasts warnings
Continue reading...Haiti’s isolated and forgotten village – in pictures
Near the bottom of the island of Hispaniola in south-east Haiti is a forgotten village, cut off from its own country, and slowly emptying as its residents leave. As well as health services or electricity, Boucan Ferdinand also lost its only road to the nearest town, Bois Negresse, in devastating floods in 2004. Some of its residents have left for the capital, Port-au-Prince, while others cling onto a precarious life. Many have crossed illegally into the more prosperous neighbouring Dominican Republic
Continue reading...China expresses ‘strong dissatisfaction’ with Trudeau as countries spar
Prime minister should ‘respect the rule of law’, a spokeswoman said after Trudeau criticised a Canadian man’s death sentence
China has expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with Justin Trudeau after he criticised the death sentence passed on a Canadian man convicted of drug trafficking, as the two countries continued to spar over detained citizens.
The Canadian prime minister should “respect the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty, correct mistakes and stop making irresponsible remarks”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...El Chapo paid $100m bribe to former Mexican president Peña Nieto, witness says
Alex Cifuentes, a close associate of the cartel chief, testified that he told US authorities about the alleged bribe in 2016
A witness at the US trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has testified that he told US authorities the accused Mexican drug lord once paid a $100m bribe to former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto.
Alex Cifuentes, who has said he was a close associate of the Sinaloa cartel chief for years, discussed the alleged bribe under cross-examination by one of Guzman’s lawyers in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday. Asked if he told authorities in 2016 that Guzman arranged the bribe, he answered: “That’s right.”
Continue reading...Saudi woman who fled family pledges to fight for women escaping persecution
Rahaf Mohammed said she will work in support of ‘the same freedom’ she experienced after arriving in Canada
Rahaf Mohammed, the Saudi teen who shot into the headlines after barricading herself into a Thai hotel room, has pledged to fight for women fleeing persecution after she successfully escaped abuse and the fear of death in her home country.
“Today and for years to come, I will work in support of freedom for women around the world – the same freedom I experienced on the first day I arrived in Canada,” she told reporters at a press conference in Toronto.
Continue reading...‘No way to live here’: new Honduran caravan sets off north as Trump blasts warnings
As hundreds of migrants embark on a march towards ‘El Norte’, Trump launched a Twitter war against the caravan
Rosa López was six months pregnant with her seventh child when the killers came for her husband – unnamed assassins acting on orders she cannot, or dares not explain.
Ten months later the 30-year-old Honduran sits on a muddy embankment outside the San Pedro Sula bus station with her eldest son, Sergio, 12, getting ready to flee their homeland on the latest migrant caravan north.
Continue reading...Saudi teen granted asylum in Canada hopes to ‘encourage other women to be brave’ – video
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, the young woman who hit global headlines after barricading herself in a Thai hotel room to flee abuse, has said she hopes to be an 'agent for change' in Saudi Arabia, a country where women are denied basic freedoms and are not allowed to work, marry and travel without the permission of a male guardian
Continue reading...‘Climate of panic’: bombings in Brazil reveal growing power of gangs | Jo Griffin
Wave of attacks in Ceará state exposes how poverty, lack of policies for young people and creaking prison system add up to perfect storm
Antonio Carlos da Silva was returning home to the Lagoa Redonda district of Fortaleza when two armed men drove past in a black car, ordering businesses to shut and residents to go inside and turn off the lights. Da Silva spent the next day indoors with no drinking water as a wave of unrest engulfed the north-eastern Brazilian city.
“There’s a climate of panic and people are terrified to go out. It’s like you’re a prisoner in your home and even then not safe,” says Da Silva. “These attacks are worse than in the past; they’re attacking shopping centres, bridges. No one knows how it will end.”
Continue reading...What is life really like in border country, where Trump wants his wall?
The Guardian travelled to five border locations to discover how Trump’s rhetoric jars with the reality on the ground
Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” has become the trademark of his presidency. It is the promise that more than any other has energized his base, and riled his opponents, and his dogged attachment to it has now brought a large part of the US government to a historic 25 days of partial shutdown.
Continue reading...Rahaf al-Qunun: ‘I hope my story encourages other women to be brave and free’
Saudi woman begins new life in Canada after her family disowns her
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, the Saudi woman who captured the world’s attention by barricading herself in a Thai hotel room after fleeing abuse in her own country, has said she hopes to inspire other Saudi women to be “brave and free”.
Speaking in her first interview after being given asylum in Canada, and landing in Toronto on Saturday, Qunun, told the ABC Australia her case might be the “agent for change” in Saudi Arabia, a country where women are denied basic freedoms and are not allowed to work, marry and travel without the permission of a male guardian.
Continue reading...Justin Trudeau lookalike found in Afghan talent show
Wedding singer Abdul Salam Maftoon was called the Canadian prime minister’s ‘lost twin’ after appearing on Afghan Star
An Afghan talent show contestant’s striking resemblance to Justin Trudeau has turned him into an unlikely celebrity in the war-torn country.
Abdul Salam Maftoon, a wedding singer from a village in the remote and impoverished northeastern province of Badakhshan, had never even heard of his more famous doppelganger until a judge on the popular television music contest Afghan Star pointed out the uncanny likeness.
Continue reading...Canada revises travel advice for China in wake of citizen’s death sentence
‘High degree of caution’ recommended after Canadian’s 15-year jail sentence raised to execution, in deepening diplomatic rift
Canada has issued a travel warning to its citizens going to China, in the wake of a Canadian man being sentenced to death over drugs charges.
On Monday a Chinese court upped Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s sentence from 15 years in prison to execution after he appealed against the court’s December verdict.
Continue reading...Out of dough? Canada air traffic controllers buy pizzas for unpaid US colleagues
Ten thousand US staff have not received paychecks since late December because of government shutdown
Canadian air traffic controllers have bought hundreds of pizzas for their American counterparts over the past few days in what has become an industry-wide show of support during the US government’s partial shutdown.
Peter Duffey, the head of the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association, said the initiative began on Thursday when employees at Edmonton’s control centre took up a collection to buy pies for controllers in Anchorage, Alaska.
Continue reading...Cesare Battisti arrest highlights rightwing alliance of Italy and Brazil
Matteo Salvini celebrates likely extradition of leftwing militant by Jair Bolsonaro
Cesare Battisti, a former leftwing guerrilla fighter wanted by the Italian authorities over four murders in the late 1970s, has been arrested in Bolivia and has been extradited to Italy.
The prime minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, said a government aircraft was on its way to bring Battisti, 63, back to Rome and Brazilian officials later confirmed his extradition. Conte praised the Bolivian and Brazilian authorities for the overnight capture of Battisti, who has been on the run for almost four decades, in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and said he would begin his life sentences as soon as he lands on Italian soil.
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