Photographer captures 20-minute clash between birds emblematic of Canada and US amid high trade tensions
For the second time in weeks, a Canadian icon has emerged as the unlikely victor in an existential battle on the ice.
Mervyn Sequeira, an Ontario photographer, was out with his family on a recent morning when they spotted a bald eagle descending towards a frozen lake.
Continue reading...Virginia Laparra spent two years in prison after reporting her suspicion that a judge leaked sealed details of a case
A Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor forced into exile after being pursued by the country’s conservative elite has said that leaving the country was the only way to save her life but was only “a little bit less than death”.
Virginia Laparra, 45, spent two years in prison for allegedly abusing her position after she reported her suspicion that a judge had leaked sensitive details from a sealed corruption case to a colleague in 2017.
Continue reading...Deal with US finance giant BlackRock, valued at almost $23bn, comes amid push to curb perceived China influence
CK Hutchison Holdings, the Hong Kong-based logistics giant, announced plans to sell a majority stake in a business that controls ports in Panama to investors including the US financial giant BlackRock in a deal worth almost $23bn.
The sale of a 90% interest in Panama Ports Company, which holds the contract to run the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal until 2047, is part of a wider deal for Hutchinson Port’s global business. The deal comes at a time Donald Trump has piled on pressure to end what he sees as China’s influence and control over the Panama canal.
Continue reading...Canada’s prime minister says the US president wants to usher in the ‘complete collapse’ of the Canadian economy
Justin Trudeau has claimed the aim of a “dumb” trade war launched by Donald Trump is to usher in the “complete collapse” of the Canadian economy and make it easier for the United States to annex Canada.
Speaking hours after the US slapped 25% taxes on Canadian and Mexican goods – and a 10% levy on Canadian energy exports – the prime minister announced retaliatory tariffs on US exports and said his country would remain defiant against the aggression.
Continue reading...Astronomers deeply concerned that darkest, clearest skies in world will be compromised by proposed facility nearby
In the Atacama desert, the driest non-polar region on Earth, the sky shines when the sun sets.
Up in the arid hills 130km south of the Chilean city of Antofagasta, comets burn brightly and flawless trails of stars and nebulae streak the night sky.
Continue reading...Monarch keen to put his soft power to use amid Trump’s incendiary rhetoric on Canada and tension over Ukraine
King Charles is “very conscious” of his global responsibility and unique diplomatic role, and is determined to put that to use, a royal source said, after his meeting with the Canadian prime minister on Monday.
Charles met Justin Trudeau at his Sandringham estate in Norfolk, a day after he received the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Continue reading...Announcement leads to sharp sell-off on Wall Street as Trump also vows tariffs on farm products starting in April
The US will press ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Tuesday, Donald Trump has said, setting the stage for a trade war with his country’s two largest economic partners.
Hours before his administration was due to hit America’s closest neighbors with sweeping import duties, the US president claimed there was “no room left” for a deal to avoid their imposition. The announcement led to a sharp sell-off on Wall Street.
Continue reading...Walter Salles’s dictatorship-era movie turns focus on dark time in country’s history and more recent coup attempt
Ahead of the Oscars ceremony, Brazil’s Fernanda Torres – star of Walter Salles’s dictatorship-era movie I’m Still Here – had warned her compatriots not to get into a “World Cup fever” over the Academy Awards.
Her plea went in vain on Sunday night, however, as crowds across the country – already gathered to celebrate carnival – erupted in joy over Brazil’s first-ever Oscar win, for best international feature.
Continue reading...UN-commissioned study in UK, US, Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand finds satisfaction rises with age
For more than half a century, the midlife crisis has been a feature of western society. Fast cars, impulsive decisions, and peak misery between the age of 40 and 50. But all that is changing, according to experts.
In a new paper commissioned by the UN, the leading academics Jean Twenge and David Blanchflower warn that a burgeoning youth mental health crisis in six English-speaking countries worldwide is upending the traditional pattern of happiness across our lifetimes.
Continue reading...Brazil’s official entry beats beleaguered French favourite Emilia Pérez to the podium
I’m Still Here has won the Oscar for best international film at the Academy Awards, which are currently taking place in Los Angeles. It is the first Brazilian film to win the award – and was also the first to be nominated.
Directed by Walter Salles and starring Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here is a political drama based on the true story of Eunice Paiva, whose husband Rubens was “disappeared” and murdered in 1970s Brazil. The film had to overcome a lineup including Danish true-crime story The Girl With the Needle, Iran-set legal drama The Seed of the Sacred Fig and trans gangster musical Emilia Pérez, which had been the hot favourite for the award.
Anora takes home best picture Oscar
Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison win best acting prizes
Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña win supporting awards
Anora’s Sean Baker wins for directing, editing and screenplay
Continue reading...‘That is a fluid situation,’ Howard Lutnick says in first indication that administration may not impose full tariffs
Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said on Sunday that US tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect on Tuesday, but the president would determine whether to stick with the planned 25% level.
“That is a fluid situation,” Lutnick told the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures.
Continue reading...President bullying countries’ leaders into collaborating with his deportation agenda that critics say violates rights
Central America has long been a source of immigrants, and in recent years, it’s also become a major transit route for those from around the world heading to the United States.
That shift led to record numbers of immigrants arriving at the US border, and contributed to the supposed crisis that helped Donald Trump win the election this past November.
Continue reading...Latest federal lawsuit so far applies only to 10 men detained in the US and facing transfer to the naval base in Cuba
Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration Saturday to prevent it from transferring 10 undocumented immigrants detained in the US to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, their second legal challenge in less than a month over plans to hold up to 30,000 people there for deportation.
The latest federal lawsuit so far applies only to 10 men facing transfer to the naval base in Cuba, and their attorneys said the administration will not notify them of who would be transferred or when. As with a lawsuit the same attorneys filed earlier this month for access to people already detained there, the latest case was filed in Washington and is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Continue reading...Rafael Caro Quintero arraigned in New York over federal agent’s death after years as one of US’s most wanted men
After years as one of US authorities’ most wanted men, the Mexican drug cartel boss Rafael Caro Quintero was brought into a New York courtroom on Friday to answer charges that include orchestrating the 1985 killing of a US federal agent.
Caro Quintero pleaded not guilty to running a continuing criminal enterprise. Separately, so did Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the leader of another cartel. Carrillo is accused of arranging kidnappings and killings in Mexico but not accused of involvement in the death of the DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.
Continue reading...Progressive Conservative premier of Canada’s most populous province retains office and vows to work with all sides of politics in ‘fighting back against Donald Trump’
Doug Ford, the incumbent premier of Canada’s Ontario province, has declared victory in an election returning his Progressive Conservative party to office for a rarely won third term.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) projected a sweeping victory for the Progressive Conservatives, with 43% of the vote.
Continue reading...Prisoners, including Rafael Caro Quintero, extradited as Mexico faces pressure to show it’s tackling fentanyl trafficking
Mexico has extradited 29 high-level organised crime operatives to the US, as it faces intense pressure from the Trump administration to show that it is tackling fentanyl trafficking.
Among the prisoners sent to the US was Rafael Caro Quintero, the drug lord who was convicted of the murder of an undercover US Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1985.
Continue reading...The PCC – First Capital Command – formed in a Sāo Paulo prison but is now spreading its tentacles around the world
In September 2020, the Australian Border Force intercepted 552kg of cocaine concealed in 2,000 boxes of frozen banana pulp that had arrived at the port of Sydney on a ship from Brazil.
Two years later, a diver was found floating dead next to 52kg of cocaine near the port of Newcastle, in New South Wales, Australia. Police later discovered that he was a Brazilian national who had been attempting to retrieve drugs from a cargo ship’s hull.
Continue reading...Canadian event loses three sponsors who also do business in the US to avoid being seen as supporting LGBTQ+ rights
Pride Toronto, one of the largest celebrations of LGTBQ+ people in North America, is reeling from the loss of three major sponsors who have pulled funding after Donald Trump’s purge of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes in the US.
Kojo Modeste, the executive director of the Canadian event said that the sponsors who also do business in the US are seeking to avoidbeing seen as supporting LGBTQ+ rights.
Continue reading...Tourism and local officials in Mexico deny any knowledge of proposed follow-up to disastrous 2017 event
When tickets to the second Fyre festival went on sale this week, there was just one concrete detail: it would take place on Isla Mujeres, a tropical island off Cancún, Mexico.
But the festival seems to be repeating its own history as an improvised disaster after the local government in Isla Mujeres denied knowing anything about it.
Continue reading...About 112 people held in immigration center deep in the jungle are unable to communicate with their attorneys
Lawyers for immigrants from around the world who were deported from the United States and moved to a remote jungle camp in Panama say they have been unable to communicate with their clients since they arrived there.
About 112 deported people are being held in the “San Vicente” immigration center deep in the dense jungle that separates Panama from Colombia, according to Panamanian authorities. Their future is uncertain as they wait to see whether they will be granted asylum in Panama or elsewhere.
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